Kevin Lisbie shared his delight after lining up with a team of fellow Charlton heroes at the opening of Ballerz in Dartford.
“It’s like old times when we get back together,” he said. “We’re a little bit slower than we were when we were playing, but every time we’ve got a game these boys turn up! They’re so keen to put the Charlton kit back on and represent the club.”
After reaching the final of the launch event at Bluewater Shopping Centre with a team including Johnnie Jackson, Jonathan Fortune, Jason Euell, Peter Garland, Lawrie Wilson and Chris Perry, Lisbie commended the former Addicks' relationships on the pitch.
“Once we got the call it was a no-brainer,” he said. “We always have a good time and obviously go over all of our good memories.”
The team returned to the field to test out the new immersive six-a-side pitches developed by the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Bobby Zamora and Mark Noble.
Despite losing 5-2 to the KISS FM team, Lisbie described the experience of rekindling the team on the pitch: “All the teams we were playing against were quite young. We had to make sure that we stayed compact and started running around in ones and twos because we wouldn’t have lasted that long.
“We all played our part and it’s just nice to play with people that understand the game and appreciate what it was like to be a footballer. It’s always nice to represent the club and hopefully we can have some more games.”
Lisbie is not content with their Ballerz appearance being the team’s only outing.
“My aim now as coach and manager is to ensure that we get at least three to four games over the year,” he said. “We are like young old men so we can move and we’re all still quite fit and active.”
(Article by Jessica Lee)
