s04m03 - 06/Apr/2008

Bangkok Veterans League
Season #4, Month #3
06/Apr/2008 • Harrow School

In Cosmos's absence, Apr/2008 Vets League ends with Harrow Cooks returning to winning ways

Date: 16/Apr/2008

We've had another successful monthly edition of the Vets League on Apr/6th at Harrow School. After sorting out how many teams registered and how many teams actually showed up, we were ready ready to roll with a 14-team competition this month. Despite the commotion in figuring out on exactly how many teams we had, we started only 15 min late, and still were able to finish on time, thanks to the skillful management of the Captains, positioning their teams at the right pitch at each round of games.

Nevertheless, a sense of jubilation was palpable in the air, as many Captains felt a real opportunity to win the championship this month with the uncommon absence of Cosmos, including, Crossbar, British Club, Anatolia, and, of course, the most expectant — Winking Frog

..!

This time, the 14-team, 47-game fixture was familiar to all of us, as we have done it successfully in Feb/2007 , Jul/2007, and Nov/2007 before, but this time noone was sure which team would come out on top.

Thankfully, the early morning rain and the overcast up above allowed all the Vets to have a relatively cooler day on the pitch, and there weren't many emergency runs to the water bottles.

In the 2-group x 7-team Group Stage formation, the were some interesting matchups that saw some real action on the day. For example, in Group-A:
    • British Club -vs- Anatolia: a narrow 1-0 win for Anatolia
    • Anatolia -vs- Winking Frog: a 3-0 drubbing by Winking Frog
    • British Club -vs Crossbar: another narrow 1-0 win for Crossbar

And in Group-B:
    • LeCoq -vs- Germans: a decisive 2-0 victory for the Germans
    • Cooks -vs- LesGaulois: a 2-0 win for the Cooks in this "early final"
    • BU Japan -vs- Japan FC: JFC showing their strength again in a 1-0 win
    • LesGaulois -vs- LeCoq: LesGaulois triumph 2-0 over their countrymen

The end of the Group Stage saw the usual suspects like Winking Frog, LesGaulois, Harrow Cooks and the supposed-newbies Crossbar (or formerly the Vikings

) finish at the Top-4 of their groups, and there were familiar faces like Japan FC and the Germans. On the other hand in Group-A, surprisingly, British Club and BSL Veterans narrowly edged out Anatolia on goal difference to advance into the Cup Division, due to a totally unexpected loss of Winking Frog to a extra-strength BSL Veterans this month.

Surprising results in the Cup Division QFs were losing Winking Frog to LesGaulois on a sudden-death penalty-shootout (in another "early final"), and the Germans to to BSL Veterans in another sudden-death penalty-shootout that went all the way to the 9th kick! By this point, BSL Veterans were exploring unchartered territory in the Cup Division SFs. Other Cup Division QFs saw Crossbar and Harrow Cooks smoothly advance to the SFs over Japan FC and British Club.

In the lower Shield Division, while BU Japan was pulling all the right moves minute after minute, LeCoq's day, despite their respectable 3-point 6B group placing, was sharply heading to south Antarctica, with Medicals, Anatolia and Nextstep sprinkled in between. And, in a totally unprecedented and rare turn of events, BU Japan carried home a non-BadCup! silverware — the Shield! (9th overall) trophy.

The Cup Division SF losers competed valiantly in the Plate Division, where Winking Frog pulled out another silverware on the day by taking home the Plate! (5th overall) trophy for a 2nd time in the Vets League history (similar to their Jun/2007 campaign) triumphing over the resurgent Germans.

Before the tournament (Cup Division) final, the whole Harrow venue was cleared and the center-stage Pitch #1 was readied for a very important match of the day — the BadCup! final — pitting LeCoq and Amadeus against each other in "a final of their own"! Vets League record books were dug out and dusted off, aging historians were summoned to ask their knowledge of the results and their advice on the tendency of these 2 teams in key matches like this.

The only known facts were that they met only twice (Feb/2007 and Dec/2007) and that they were at 1 game a piece so far. To make pundits even more confused on their predictions, they both played in the BadCup! final once before (against other teams), while LeCoq (who never won a BadCup! before) narrowly escaping BadCup! against BSL (Apprentice) Veterans in Feb/2008, Amadeus falling prey to "first-ever" participation jinx a year before in Feb/2007 against BSL (Master) Veterans. The rest was a total unknown.

And, all eyes were on Pitch #1, where both LeCoq and Amadeus took their time to warm up, or rather, played out the 13 min to a cautious end. A few faint chances on both ends, but no decisive finishing. So, we moved into the dreadful penalty-shootout, in which Amadeus nicely converting their kicks while LeCoq bungling it all. Amidst the much cheering of the crowd lined up all around the Pitch #1, in rare occasion, we witnessed LeCoq proudly lifting their "first-ever" BadCup! in the history of the Vets League.

Immediately after, the final on the other end, the Cup Grand Final got underway, with Harrow Cooks and Crossbar Strikers deservedly facing each other. After playing 6 games already, these 2 teams still had the stamina to run another 13 min thoroughly thirsty of the championship. Many chances on both ends, with Crossbar's notorious Anders coming close in a couple of occasions, but Harrow Cooks getting 1 pass the Crossbar keeper midway through the match, and another at the very end of it.

Congratulations to Harrow Cooks and to all the other teams and players who took part in this monthly celebration of Vets football in Bangkok.

At the end of the day, the following were the full list of rankings, the winners joyful in their well-earned trophies, and the losers enjoying their hard-fought beer-bucket coupons from our new sponsor, DownUnder Sports Bistro in Sukhumvit Soi 23.

    1) Harrow Cooks <== Champ!
    2) Crossbar Strikers <-- beer-bucket!
    3) BSL Veterans <-- beer-bucket!
    4) LesGaulois French <== FairPlay!
    5) Winking Frog <== Plate!
    6) Germans <-- beer-bucket!
    7) Japan FC
    8) British Club
    9) BU Japan <== Shield!
    10) Medical Gear <-- beer-bucket!
    11) Anatolian Turks
    12) Nextstep Steppers
    13) Amadeus Bookmakers
    14) LeCoq French <== BadCup!

Here's the complete scores of the day ==>

With this opportunity, all the Vets thank Kh. Sorot of ChefsXP for taking care of the free-flowing beer that allowed us to stay back a little bit after the trophy presentations, and had a chance to chat about the world events (on a fully drunken head

).

Also thanks to those few individuals who lent a hand during the beginning part of the day, like Yingcharoen's Sirichai, Anatolia's Beyhan and Halit, and Winking Frog's Graham, and BSL's Marc. Hope to see more of you getting in the act in the upcoming months.

Looking forward to the next edition on May/11th.

Kind regards,
-Eralp

Website: http://www.vetsleague.com/
Community: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vetsleague/

Photos:

Picture 1 — Winking Frog lads surveying the competition ahead in the day.

Picture 2 — British Club look thin on the ground in the beginning of the day.

Picture 3 — Millions of spectators watching the competition in genuine awe.

Picture 4 — Nextstep in their Sepak Takraw style warm-up drills.

Picture 5 — BSL assembled a decisively strong squad this month.

Picture 6 — Eventual Champ! Harrow Cooks joyful no matter how the results end up on the pitch.

Picture 7 — Another strong showing from Japan FC, finishing the day at 7th overall.

Picture 8 — Medical Gear showed up late to the competition, and their results were indicative, finishing 10th overall.

Picture 9 — The British Club gang lined up for a lovely picture with the Formula-1 Trophy Girls.

Picture 10 — The 15-strong BU Japan, without their legendary leader Mori San, happily grabbed the Shield! (9th overall) trophy.

Picture 11 — Medical Gear giving all they have to the crowd-favourite Harrow Cooks.

Picture 12 — Medical Gear Medicals and LeCoq French pictured after their grueling Group-B play-off penalty-shootout.

Picture 13 — BSL's Kevin eying the bottom-left corner against the Germans's Matthias in the Cup QF4 penalty-shootout.

Picture 14 — LeCoq determinedly advancing the ball onto Amadeus in the day's BadCup! final.

Picture 15 — Amadeus taking their penalty kick in the penalty-shootout against LeCoq in the BadCup! final.

Picture 16 — Both Amadeus and LeCoq are elated that the day is over, despite being featured in the day's BadCup! final.

Picture 17 — ChefsXP's Kh. Sorot and Kh. Fern dishing out all the beer available.

Picture 18 — The day's Grand Final kicks off.

Picture 19 — Midfield battle heats up in the Grand Final.

Picture 20 — Harrow Cooks and Crossbar Strikers caught in a photo-op following the Grand Final match.

Picture 21 — The crowd is assembling in Harrow's amphitheater for the trophy presentations.

Picture 22 — Eralp the Organizer presenting a special shirt to ChefsXP's Kh. Sorot.

Picture 23 #8212 LeCoq French (featuring the new transfer Keith) singing their hearts out for their "first-ever" BadCup! trophy in the Vets League.

Picture 24 — Wakana San showing off BU Japan's rare Shield! (9th overall) trophy.

Picture 25 — Germans (surprisingly without the singing) grab the day's free beer-bucket coupon for finishing at 6th overall.

Picture 26 — A somber looking Winking Frog Captain Kevin lifting their Plate! (5th overall) trophy.

Picture 27 — Martin handing over the days FairPlay! (4th overall) trophy to LesGaulois Captain Dominique.

Picture 28 — Captain Marc and BSL Veterans take the stage en masse for their rare but well-deserved 3rd place finish.

Picture 29 — Crossbar Captain Terry resolutely lifting their 2nd place trophy.

Picture 30 — Kh. Somboon and the Harrow Cooks gang with their 2nd Champ! trophy in the Vets League, in front of our beers sponsor banner of ChefsXP.

Links:

• Summary at AAFC.hk

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