Specialists Score for Charity
02 Sep, 2008
Professional rivalry was put to one side on Friday 29th August
as three Woolley's specialists joined forces with other UK
auctioneers to take on the dealers in the annual Auctioneers vs
Dealers football match, held at the Bank of England Sports Club,
Roehampton. This event, now in its 6th year, is organised by
furniture dealer Lennox Cato, and sponsored by the Antiques Trade
Gazette, to raise funds on behalf of Breast Cancer Haven.
Flying the flag for Woolley and Wallis were Michael Jeffery
(20th Century Design) and Mark Richards (Furniture), both of whom
are regular participants. This year they were joined by Jim Gale
(Furniture), winning his first virtual cap for the Auctioneers'
team. All three, together with the rest of the team, played with
great enthusiasm; a strong pass from Michael Jeffery set up the
first goal of the match, and a sudden run by Jim Gale, very late in
the second half, came close to winning the match for the
Auctioneers.
The match ended with a very fair 2-2 draw, but organisers
insisted on a winner being decided by a penalty shoot-out. Not
wishing to become the industry's equivalent of Gareth Southgate,
our three players stood by and crossed their fingers (see
image). Their decision may have been a right one, as an early
miss by one of their team mates resulted in the Dealers going
through 5-4 on penalties.
However, there were no hard feelings and post-match festivities
of a barbecue, raffle and charity auction helped boost the total
raised for Breast Cancer Haven to over £10,000.