Back in the day of Manu Samoa village training camps, the team would stumble to camp tired and mostly thirsty rather than hungry after a hard draining workout.
The routine after shower is evening prayers before dinner. By then the meal truck from Aggie Grey’s hotel would be ready and set up for the players.
The main course is usually meat cooked with lots of vegetables either in thick gravy with beef, mutton or chicken.
Dessert is ice cream and everyone’s’ favourite, apples…’Alan’s apples’ to the players as they munched away happily.
When the team wins, ‘Alan’s apples’ will always take the credit in the fun and laughter of the after match drinks.
A loss and the team cooks take a verbal lashing for ‘what happened to the apples.’ The blame is on all the days of training they didn’t get their ‘Alan’s apples’.
There is a lot of quiet mumbling too during training that left the coach to wonder why his name and apples keep popping up in the players chatter.
Today it is a whole different story. What the players eat is all to do with body science.
‘Alan’s apples’ are probably still around but under some tongue twisting scientific name.
“….. isn’t there a Samoan f-word synonymous with nuts that Coach Alan Grey is fond of slapping on his complaining players when that happens, dear?
