Dos Girls, One Schlupp: Durham’s best social five-a-side football team on and off the pitch

Keen to discover more about one of Durham’s best social football teams, I strolled down to the hallowed turf of Collingwood crumb on a typical Monday night to meet the notorious “Dos Girls, One Schlupp” ahead of their weekly five-a-side matches. For anyone clueless to the reference, “dos” is Collingwood terminology for two, “Schlupp” is a nod to Jeffrey Schlupp, a Ghanaian international footballer who plays his game at Crystal Palace, and the less said the better of the historical usage for the conventionally better known words either side of “girls” and “one”.

Who are Dos Girls, One Schlupp?

The Schlupp’s are a group of Collingwood third-year students who play social football together every Monday night in an organised, but casual, tournament. There is a large range of ability, from university standard footballers to rugby lads who haven’t played football since primary school, but the ultimate goal is quite simply to have a good time together. The Schlupps were founded by Henry Lees, who rounded up a handful of mates from various social circles at the start of first-year, with the intention of bringing good football and good socials together.

Dom Wood, Adam Leigh and Josh Krahe

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With founder Henry now on a year abroad in France, along with three other early members of the team, the Schlupps’ roster has developed over the past two years – it is now just Dom Wood, Josh Krahe and Adam Leigh who have been there since the beginning. The Schlupps play in trademark blue; whilst they do not have an official kit, it is an expectation that no other competing team wears their well-established colour. After Monday night games, they frequent the Stag’s Head, where they have their very own corner – once again, this corner is predictably named after the icon that is Jeffrey Schlupp.

Schlupp corner in the Stag’s Head, with most of the current team present

How good are they at football? And how does their league work?

The Schlupps celebrating a goal

Despite on-field performance being of perhaps lesser priority than off-field performance, the Schlupps have some pedigree in the Collingwood five-a-side system. After a last-ditch goal from Josh in the semi-finals, the Schlupps made their way to the cup final last season, losing out narrowly to their arch-rivals, the Wood Merchants. Most of the boys play in the top two divisions of college football, and the addition of rugby players Ethan “The Beerman” Berman and Felix “Big Daddy” Leckie has also enabled an element of physical dominance.

Typically playing two fifteen-minute matches per Monday, the first few weeks of the season determine which stream teams end up in. Losing does not equal elimination at this stage, but it does mean less money is up for grabs when it comes to the knockouts. Teams in the highest bracket played for £150 in last year’s final – in other words, a very healthy bar tab.

An injured James “Jevans” Evans, now taking on more of a managerial role, talked to The Durham Tab about the Schlupps style of play: “It depends on the opponent, but it’s largely very Brexitball – we operate a policy that if you make a mistake, you’re subbed off.

“It means that everyone gets good playing time as mistakes are common.”

Dom Wood also added: “We also like to shoot low and hard, it is the best way to score in the smaller five-a-side goals.”

What about the social side of the club?

The Schlupps celebrating their season at an end of year dinner

The Schlupps have a strong, but very inclusive, culture of drinking – one team member does not drink alcohol, and is still involved just as much as all others. The Schlupps have casual pints after matches, but really tend to come into their own on separate club socials. Sticking to their theme of blue, the end of year dinner saw most team members only consuming blue-coloured alcohol (white ace, blue VK, blue Woodgate).

James said: “We’re all friends, but a lot of us are from slightly different friend groups, if that makes sense? For us, this is a really nice way to make closer bonds with a lot of boys we otherwise wouldn’t know well enough.”

Additionally, towards the end of post-match pints, the Schlupps traditionally engage in “story time”, where they all tell funny stories in their life throughout the week.

James said about this tradition: “We genuinely don’t know what half the team has been up to over the past week, so it’s quite wholesome and has been described before as therapeutic.”

The aftermath of a Schlupps social

The end of year dinner was considered to be the best social of the year, but it did not come without a bit of chaos. Under the impression that he had received three free pizzas in Paddy’s, one Schlupp woke up to see £34 mysteriously missing from his bank account. Another ended up vomiting blue liquid (this must surely be a first), with the rest of the boys very proud that he had stuck to Schlupp colours, after making sure that he was taken home safe.

What does the future of the Schlupps look like?

With the majority of the boys set to graduate this summer, the Schlupps will inevitably be lower on numbers next season. However, the return of those on placement and abroad years, plus a couple of members studying four-year degrees means that the legacy of the Schlupps will live on for another year.

Dos Girls, One Schlupp (2023/24). Image features those on years out: Billy Hutchings, Tom Glaister, Tom Hay and Henry Lees

A group of girls who are friends with the Schlupps, known as the Goal Diggerz, has recently joined the league. With claims that one of their players previously played for QPR, they could provide a challenge to a few teams and are a very welcome addition to the league. Just like the Schlupps, this is an opportunity for them to meet up and bond at an organised time in the week and take a break from the stress of a Durham degree.

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