David Seymour
Name: David Seymour Age: 29 Nickname: Big Dave

Joined club:
1996

Other clubs I have played for:
Everton and Merseyside

Position:
Goalkeeper, Defender, Striker

Football career highlights (with club or other club):
I was chosen by Tony Larkin to play in goal for Great Britain partially sighted team in an open tournament in Loughbrough. I also played as both an outfielder and goalkeeper for the Regional PAN Disability Centre for Excellence in 2 national tournaments in Burnley and Newcastle. At the Newcastle tournament in 2002, I was chosen as captain of our A team and with my performances in goal helped the team to finish as runners-up and was voted by the other teams coaches as being our regions player of the tournament.

Successes with club:
Finishing runners-up seems to be something that is following me about. With South Shields I have finished runners-up of the Premiership in the 2004/05 and 2005/06 seasons, and also finished runners-up in the 1997 and 1998 BBS 7-a-side tournaments. We also finished as champions of the BBS 2 nd division in 1999/2000 I was quite proud of this as it was in my home town of North Shields. In 1997 I was voted as the Most Improved Player of the South Shields Tournament weekend and received a cheque of £50 for this from the South Shields Rotary Club. I have since went onto bigger things having won the Players Player of the Year trophy in 1997/98 and the Player of the Year in 2001/02 and 2004/05.

My favourite goal/save for the club:
I have 2 favourite goals the first and most memorable was at the end of my first season with the club. Having not played many games that season I was picked to play the last game of the season in South Shields against the champions of that season Metro Sports. I won the ball off the defender on the half way line turned and hit a shot with power into the goalkeepers far post, my goal winning the game. The other was a goal I scored in January 2006 against QAC. After intercepting the ball in my own half I took a couple of steps forward and saw a gap in the defence. Hitting a powerful shot the ball somehow curled in front of the keeper and dipped just in time to go in the top corner. My favourite save would be a one handed save in the South Shields 7-a-side tournament in 1998 against London Sports. The ball was hit from distance and I didn’t see it until late due to defenders being in the way I managed to dive across and push it wide before it went in the corner of the goal. The referee came over to me and said he didn’t believe I was partially sighted after saving the shot and said it was the best save he had ever seen.

My favourite game with the club:
I have been lucky to have experienced so many good games and tournaments while with the club. A few stand out more than others though. In Exeter during the 1997/98 season I played in goal for the B Team which only had 4 players, myself, Bob, Mick and Andrew. Against all the odds we managed to win 2 games. The most significant one being a 3-2 win against London Sports who finished 2 nd in the league. This was despite being 2-0 down at half time. All the other teams had been watching the game and we got a huge round clap at the final whistle. Another game was against Birmingham in Stoke we were down to 4 players against a Birmingham team who were pushing for promotion to the first division. I played brilliantly in goal and we got beat 1-0 by a lucky goal in the last minute The players of the 2 teams coming onto the pitch both shook my hand to say how well I had played. My performance was also commented upon to team mates by the Great Britain manager Tony Larkin.   The other 3 tournaments that stand out for me are the Slough tournament where we beat Inter Cosmos and drew with Loughbrough. The 1 st Telford Tournament of this season (2006/07) as we won 4 games out of 4. Finally the North Shields Cup Tournament of this season too, the game of the day for us was beating West Bromwich Albion A 3-2 in the Semi-final after being 2-0 down. The reason I chose these games was because you could see how special it felt to all the players, coaches and fans. It is one of those moments where you know you have been part of something special and the memories will leave with the people who attended for a long time.

Professional football:
Football Team(s) I support and why:
My favourite football team is Newcastle United because they are my local club. I have to admit though that I enjoy watching Arsene Wengers Arsenal side as some of the football they play is just out of this world.

My favourite football player(s) and why:
Peter Beardsley because I think he was an all round player and gave each game everything he had. I think it is a shame he wasn’t appreciated more as a player. I also like Gazza, Zinedine Zidane, Marco Van Basten and Thierry Henry because some of the things they can do with a ball the rest of us could only dream of doing.

My favourite game(s) and why:
When Newcastle beat Man Utd 5-0 and when they beat Barcelona 3-2. When Newcastle got beat 4-3 the first time off Liverpool it was a good game even though Newcastle lost as it had everything you would want to see in a game of football.

My favourite goal/save and why:
Gazza’s goal against Scotland In Euro 2006, and David Ginola’s goal against Fenebache where he flicked the ball over the players head before volleying the ball into the net from the edge of the area.

My ambitions as a player:
I would like to loose weight and get fit so that I can be as good an outfielder as I was a goalkeeper (if my eyesight lasts that long). It would be nice to win some more trophies with the club.

Other sports and hobbies I am interested in:
Pool, swimming, music and my favourite one going to the pub.

Other comments:
When I joined the football club in 1996 I had no confidence or self esteem and my life seemed to be going nowhere compared to what it was like 2 years earlier. After my first season things weren’t much better and I considered quitting. But thanks to the support of the players of the club and in particular Lee Cawkwell and Mick Shaw I was persuaded to carry on. If I had of quit I would of missed some of the best moments of my life so far and wouldn’t have so many special memories to think about in the future. One of my reasons for approaching Lee to start the club again in 2004 was so that we can hopefully change the lives of others who may be in the same position as I was in 1996. Part of the recent success of the clubs has also been down to Joseph Barron (coach) who’s enthusiasm has changed the club around and we can hopefully build on this, so thanks go to Joseph and his assistant Steve for their hard work.