Kevant Serbony.
Corinthian-Casuals.
Centre-midfielder.
Kevant, we're stood here in the sweltering sun,
exactly how it was in Budapest this time last year
when we played in the Egri Erbstein Tournament.
As a man who played
in 180 minutes in that kind of heat,
in order to bring a trophy back from Europe
to Corinthian-Casuals,
how do you reflect on that weekend a year on?
It was amazing.
It was very hot,
but other than that, it was just amazing.
Being out there on the pitch, with the heat again,
and working our socks off to win that trophy
is something that you just won't forget.
I think one of the things
that we wanted to achieve with that tournament
was to give players
from the amateur and semi-pro game
an opportunity to play for a title
against teams from other countries of a similar ilk.
- Yeah.
- Which you don't normally get here.
You know, it's very regionalised,
football at that level.
And I wondered if that was something
that felt special on the pitch,
if you were aware at the time that you were playing
against a team from another culture?
Definitely. Definitely.
Especially because, when I joined,
I just missed out on the time where they went to Brazil.
But the players that went,
when they came back,
they said it was the most amazing time they had,
and stuff like that.
So, even before Budapest, I always hoped
that me and this club could go somewhere again,
playing internationally against other teams.
And on top of that, to win something
and just bring it back home. So, it felt good.
The team that we played against, BAK,
in the first game,
they commented on the fact that you could tell
that the English teams play slightly differently
to the opponents they play in Hungary.
- Yeah.
- Did that work in reverse?
Could you tell that they played slightly differently
to the teams you play in England?
I'll say we were more physical.
Definitely more physical.
But then, at the same time,
as you know in England,
it's more about physicality and fitness,
rather than other countries, where it's more technical.
So, yeah, when I was on the pitch
playing against other teams,
I could see they had technical ability,
but apart from that, nothing much, no.
Was that part of the atmosphere of the weekend as well,
that there were fans from Hungary there
as well as people who'd flown over from Tolworth?
Yeah, but to be honest, all I could hear was our fans!
Our fans were the loudest.
I've just got to say, they're amazing.
Because even over here, they always show up,
regardless if we're losing or winning, drawing,
even last season
when we were going through a bad spell,
almost getting relegated,
they were always behind us, supporting us.
So, without the fans… I mean, they're just great.
They're just actually great.
You spent a lot of time together
as a group, as a squad,
is it nice to travel like that
and have a full weekend with the team?
Yeah, definitely.
If anything, it brought us closer together.
Obviously, most of us know each other outside football.
But to be away in a different country
with each other,
it just brought us closer together
than we were before. So, yeah.
We'll talk about the winning goal.
You had a part to play in the build-up.
- Yeah.
- The tension had built, to be honest,
because it was a really tense game.
- It was goalless.
- Yeah.
- It was the last minute, and then we counter-attacked.
- Yeah.
First of all, talk me through how it felt
when you saw Harry Ottaway finish
and win the game for us.
I had a lot of emotions running through me.
I didn't know...
As you could see, I just jumped in the air filled with joy
and just ran over to Harry Ottaway.
But it was so tense, because as you said,
there was, like, I'll say two minutes remaining
before the final whistle.
And before we went on the counter,
I even spoke to the ref, "How long have we got left?"
He said, "This will be the last attack,"
kind of thing, you know?
So, OK, when Hamilton got the ball,
passed it to me, I just played it out to Emile.
To see Emile take on this player, cross it into Harry
to then score the goal, it was just amazing.
I won't forget that day.
I was just filled with joy,
ran straight over to Harry, hugged him.
You know, that was it.
That was the story.
It tells us that this competition
immediately became important to people.
- Yeah.
- That trophy, the Corinthian Cup,
someone hadn't played for that
for something like 70 years.
And then, we went over there
to re-inaugurate the tournament in Egri Erbstein's name.
And the first final ever, you see how competitive it is
and how much it means to the people that won it,
how competitive was that final?
It was very competitive.
Like, they just wanted it as bad as we did.
For example, if you see a team
coming out of England on your turf,
you’re going to want to win the trophy
because you're at home, you've got the advantage.
But at the same time, I can big up my team,
because as I said, we're an amazing bunch of lads.
We always bond,
we always train together and what not,
and to go over there and beat that team
in that atmosphere, it just...
I can't describe it, to be honest.
How did you celebrate in the evening as a group?
So, obviously, when we won the trophy,
James gave us a bit of leeway
to just go out, have a good time.
We went out to eat at first
at a restaurant,
and then afterwards,
it was just, like, "Go off and do your own bits."
But me, I just went back to my hotel,
and just rested.
As you said, 180 minutes of football
in that heat, it's not easy,
so I just went back to my hotel and rested.
The following day, we just came back.
What was interesting is that people
were filming the whole time,
so we had the footage on the coach
from the way back from the nightclub
with the lads who went out,
singing with distorted faces, let’s say.
Yeah!
And then, we had the footage of you,
fresh-faced the next morning.
Yeah, yeah!
Running through the airport with the trophy.
I think you came out as the winner in that sense!
Did you have to convince airline security
to take the trophy on board?!
- No, nothing like that at all!
- You expected to be taking it home. It was prepacked!
Yeah! I thought, I'm taking this home!
Like, I didn't even know
it was going to come back here,
but if it was up to me,
I would've taken that trophy home,
and just put that on top of my cupboard.
Do you think there could be something special
to hold this tournament on a regular basis
and maybe welcome teams
from abroad that play at this level
to King George's Field in the future?
Yeah, definitely.
I think that would be amazing.
But if it was up to me, I would prefer us travelling,
rather than them coming here!
But if teams could come down here internationally
and play us,
that would be good, too,
that would be amazing, too.
So, we walked out to the final
wearing special Corinthian tour jerseys,
the plain white classic.
And on the back were the names
of the Grande Torino players,
the tournament's in Egri Erbstein's name,
they were his players at Torino.
When you're paying tribute to the memory
of a great team like that when you go on the pitch –
I suppose you're used to it
doing it all the time at Corinthian-Casuals –
but does it add something special to the occasion?
Yeah, definitely, because if you look at the history,
as was mentioned before,
those great players that we were wearing
on the back of our shirts died in a plane crash.
So, when we came out,
it was about not just doing it for ourselves,
and not just for the fans,
but also for the past players that came in on that day,
and unfortunately, didn't make it.
So, to win it on that day,
for them and the fans, and us,
it was just the best feeling ever.
