17th December 2006 - Cup Games

The last weekend before the xmas break - lovely sunny weather on our beloved Sunday football Barnesalona day.

Barnes and Bob had to play away from our beloved hallowed ground Barn Elms Pitch 1 for more northern climes over the river at Dukes Meadows - the council are to plug the holes/valleys/troughs on that pitch, re-sprinkle seeds and grow a little more grass.. look forward to seeing it in the New Year 2007.

Results were interesting.. in parts.

WKK 4 Cosmopolitan 2
Madras 2 Hendrix 0
Loko 3 Celtic 2
Barnes 4 Uncle Bob 4

Comments?.. well.. WKK have found goalscoring touch scoring 9 goals in the last 2 weeks which almost equals the total amount scored prior to the last 2 weeks.. Loko had a great win over last years finalists Celtic, Madras had a good win over Hendrix, and Barnes a good draw against Bob.

Check out the website for standings..

And its the end of the 1st half of the season.. what is there to tell of the 06-07 season so far.. well, I think the major major plus is how open the league competition has been so far. Its all very close.

Celtic and Uncle Bob are both on the same points 19 points (Bob have the GD advantage)
Madras, Loko, Hendrix are all in close contention 13-14 points
Auckland and WKK then follow close behind 10 points
Barnes not far behind either 8 points
Groovers and Cosmopolitan fighting for last spot 4 points

Nice to see teams improvements from previous seasons - notably for Madras and Loko. Well done. Interesting to see WKK who are the usual suspects for league winners down in bottom half of the table - consistency of a regular team rosta showing its importance. A nice healthy competition for Celtic and Uncle Bob to stay at the top - a clash between the 2 will be a good match to watch. Auckland are in their usual mid-table area. Barnes need to win a few games to get back up the league standing. And of course, history dictates that new teams always find it hard to do well which is the case with both Groovers and Cosmopolitan - another season or two under their belt, wiht consistent teams I am sure will change things.

We've had some ups and downs, with occasional handbags at twelve paces, sometimes at 2 paces, some good refs, some not so good, some teams happy to lend other teams players in order to have proper games, some good turnouts at the Club House, our first managers meeting, some new blogs, new players, some old coming back, and so it goes on. But I think what pleases me the most, and what I feel is my important goal, or my mission, is for all of you to play healthy competitive football in a friendly manner. That is all that I want. The day that happens is the day I feel I will have achieved. And it seems to me, that albeit, occasional bouts occur, the dialogue between teams is improving, is happening, and is helping reach that point where we all understand what we all want - to play and enjoy our football, and to respect eachother for who and what we are.

Kna wat eye meen. ;-)

10th December '06 Cup Weekend

I had a hangover.. and hence, haven't much to report on this Sunday's football activities, as I couldn't get off my bed except to get to my sofa... and then getting up to return back to my bed.. birthday's hey..

Good news was the games took place. I did take a walkabout the day before to check the pitches both at Barn Elms and Barnes Common, and providing it did not rain, I thought them fit to play on the next day. Thank God the weather report was correct in stipulating no rains due until late on on Sunday. Anyway, enough about that.

Results

Groovers 1 Loko 2
Auckland 3 Madras 1
Celtic 5 Barnes 2
Hendrix 1 Wkk 4

Comments..? humm.. well... uuhhh... Auckland took revenge from their defeat to Madras in the League few weeks prior... and ... erm... Wkk seemed to have found the goal touch finally... although is that just a one off...? ... erm... Celtic beat Barnes ... and Groovers didn't beat Loko..

Goodnight.

More rain but still they played..

Weather was ok throughout the week - things were looking good. And then.. an ever so slight deterioration on the Saturday night through to the morning, where ridiculous rains and heavy heavy winds took it upon themselves to appear.. which prompted my first call of the day at 8h30 am (lets not mention the text received the day before..). And then, they stopped.. blue skies appeared.. the wind dissapeared... maybe the games will go on..

I managed to get there for 10am - pitches looked ok considering, and more importantly, all teams seemed to be ready to play.. relief on my part.. no need to extend the season ! Go go go.

And then, I was invited to play for Loko who only had 10 men.. should I? shouldn't I? The call of the muddy pastures beckoned, the round circular ball lured me in, the dream of playing with 10 others, the... sod the knee.. lets play. And so I did. Without getting too detailed, there were times when I stopped in my tracks after an accomplished pass here and there.. thinking christ I can still do things ! Thank you for the opportunity. Making me more determined to sort my knee out.. maybe I'll be ready for tail end of the season.. enough about me. Sorry, just got excited at the idea of playing footy again !

Results this week were:

Loko 3 Bob 2

Barnes 8 Hendrix 2

WKK 2 Groovers 1

Celtic 3 Madras 0

Auckland 6 Cosmopolitan** 2

** reminder these were Nellie's.

Uncle Bob lost their first game of the season.. wonder if it has anything to do with the fact that I played... mmmm... naahh. Meaning both Celtic and Bob have the same number of points (Celtic, you can thank me later), with Bob just ahead on goal difference. Then, we have Madras, 5 points behind, followed by a possy of teams looking to secure at least 3rd place (Loko, Hendrix, WKK, Auckland), with Barnes just behind the possy, and finally Cosmopolitan, and the Groovers at the bottom end of the table.

We also had our first Managers Meeting which went very well, lots of positives, decisions taken, points discussed, etc.. and am glad to hear that all are happy to make these a regular monthly occurence. I can only see positives on all domains with these meetings taking place. Lets look to keep it up.

Right, I think I've waffled way too much, too long, too etc.. so I'll shut up now. Have a good week.