Balls Churning Elephantitis 'n all that

This rain sure ain't playing ball.. why on Saturday through the night into Sunday morning..? WHY !?

I rang the Groundsman at 8h45am : conversation was very simple..

- "pitches are playable..?" (ok, so this was wishful thinking)

- "waterlogged pitches"

- "no way games can be played?"

- "no way"

- "sure?"

- "sure"

Result as all of you know is that our games were cancelled.. again. Putting pressure on the fixture list.. and so Double Headers are required. Rather than have to graft some more comments, thought i would copy email sent to all managers..

Extract from my email to managers

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So, more waterlogged pitches and more cancelled games.. which is a bummer to put it mildly.

I have looked at the fixtures and the following will explain.

Groovers v Barnes

this is now to be played as a DH on 25th March / League and Cup game

Cosmopolitan v Madras

this is now to be played as a DH on 15th April / League and Cup game

Hendrix v WKK

this is now to be played on SUNDAY 6th May/ League - no DH possible

Celtic v Loko

this is now to be played as a DH on 4th March/ League and Cup game

Uncle Bob v Auckland Rangers

this is now to be played on SATURDAY 5th May/ League - no DH possible

Barn Elms is no longer available after end April, so need to play games at Barnes Common - can only play 2 games a day - already have 2 programmed hence to play this one on Saturday. Obviously, depending on Cup results and who goes through to semi's /finals, these can be amended.

We can discuss all the above at Managers Meeting which I will re-schedule for 11th March (next League games). F'n rain..

Reminder : DOUBLE HEADERS = full 90 mns = 2 resultsI know these are not ideal, but they are a necessary evil for catching up on cancelled games.

So, next week, we have 2 DH's:

Cosmo v WKK

Celtic v Loko

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With last weekends results (18th Feb), Celtic are clear at the top of the League, with Uncle Bob 3 points behind.. and they have 1 game in hand (worth more if it was in a bush..) mmm.... (....) ... ermm.. ok. WKK are 4 points behind Bob, but have also 1 game in hand (....) (...) (ok..) erm.... Loko are close behind WKK.. look, check out the website for the league standings, I am sure you can make up your own dialogue.. f'n rain.. I'm not bitter.

Here's a lovely pic.

Don't you think..?

Weekend Games Cancellation 11th Feb

Balls... or as one of you said... big fat hairy gorilla balls.. OUR games were all cancelled for the weekend just gone by. Gonna be fun clawing the 4 games postponed to a later date.. though, the silver lining (HI HOH) is that Barnes Common will be left open for the summer which means we have extra dates available. It does mean however that the season is extended.. or could be.. depending on how we pursue the catching up.. aaaaaaaaaaanyways, enough waffling.

Thought i'd add the email cancelling the games...

"Dear All
I am sorry to inform you that football is off this weekend, this is due to the fact that the pitches are frozen and are therefore a health and safety issue, also we have been unable to mark them, the forecast for the weekend is also very bad so we have made our decision... "

May as well add a pic or 2..

I'm back..

Taken me a little while to get this thing going again.. it wouldn't accept my login details, and on my nth try, it has worked.. whatever.

Much has happened since the last blog. For one, we are in a new year - 2007 .... Happys News Years to u's... I spent 3 weeks in Mexico, seeing Mexico City and its surroundings, and the Chiapas area which is extremely beautiful... extremely... Mayan and Aztec temples, waterfalls, jungles, tequila, tacos, and the mexicans themselves who are some of the most welcoming people i've met on this planet earth.

And.... I discovered that they (Mayans) used to play a ball game within proper ball courts... and that this game could be a precursor to our game of football as we know it now.. rules were different obviously, and method of play was also different... and reasons were slightly more worthy.. The players were revered, were stars, and high up in the echelon of society - which is sadly how it is now but for NO reason.! Here's some lit I found on the net just to explain a little more...

"Originating more than 3,500 years ago, the ball game was a political/religious activity widely played throughout Mesoamerica facing captured nobles against their conquerors. In this ritual game, considered a cosmic metaphor, the ball simulated the trajectory of the stars, and the players determined their path

through the firmament. During the conquest, the Spanish forbade the game and nearly succeeded in eradicating it. However, it survived in some regions of Mexico under the name of Ulama.Today, Xcaret presents a demonstration of this ancient game. The ball court new recreates the architectural style of Monte Alban (in Oaxaca) and Copan (in Honduras). The heavy rubber ball (weighing some 8.5 pounds) rolls and bounces against the sloped side walls. The objective is to pass the ball through the stone rings embedded high up on these walls, using only the hips".

In terms of Barnesalona, there have been some interesting games in the last few weeks, with some VERY close scorelines, and some surprising results. And the league standings are still all to be played for. And all that blabla stuff.

Thank you to everyone for paying their respect in holding the minute silence for James whose passing away was on the 4th Feb, 4 years ago. On a personal note, seeing all of you there emphasises the reasons why I keep his club alive. I was reading his diary only last night which he wrote only 1 month before he left us, and its incredible how much he wanted this club to succeed. I can only keep it alive, but cannot take it to where he wanted to take it - I have my own other interests to deal with ! But, its nice to see you guys taking part and enjoying (most of the time!). There was one thing I would like to add... it is a comment he makes in I believe it was an old email to all managers - that is that should a team want to win so badly as to look to hurt / abuse other players, then he would gladly hand over the cup to that team, and that other teams would probably be happy with that - as most are there to play in a friendly manner, and not in an abusive way. I think we all think that way, but that we sometimes lose site of that.

I think I've said enough for now. There are another 10 weeks left in the season. Lets enjoy these !

And THANKS DOZZZZZZZZZZZZZER for looking after things whilst I was away.. I must remember to bring that KEG of beer in for ya...

Oh.... and the corner flags ;-)