For the article published in Global times, click here.
Thanks to Chris for the great publicity.
One remark though: Flamenkos is a Spanish-Belgium team... That's why you'll never see us sport orange!

Amigo's and Amiga's,

What a perfect day we had last Sunday ! The weather forecast
was calling for heavy rain and I got several calls of
worried players and as well Latina of course. The rain never
came and gladly the temperature dropped to a comfortable 23
degrees !

First we had the SPL Cup Final between Dulwich and the Lions!
There was a big Dulwich crowd and they were delighted to
see their team taking the lead after an own Lions goal.
Confidence was growing and the Lions remembered the great
train robbery of the Galacticos last season so they felt the
pressure ! Second half Lions started to play better and got
the equalizer. A few minutes later there was a brawl
resulting in two red cards which was a real pitty as over
all the game played fair by both teams ! As the teams were
getting tired there was more open space on the field and the
Lions took advantage of that and made two clinical runs
through the Dulwich defense 3-1 final score !

12 o clock onwards we had 11 countries competing in the
World Cup Fiesta ! Everybody was in a good mood and trying
to get into the finals. There were loads of goals and some
really good football on the 3 pitches and all games were
fair played without red cards !!

In the final we saw Spain beating South-Africa by 1-0 ! Well
deserved as Spain played the best Football on the day.
South-Africa (lions) looked tired after they played two
finals on the day !

At the end of such a perfect day nothing is better than to
have an ice cold beer with a BBQ and all your friends at
Latina ! The price ceremony was fun especially when Kevin
tried to blow the vuvuzela but failed to make noise
resulting in having him to down several caiparina's  !

Perfect way to end our season and on behalf of the SPL
Committee we would like to thank all our Captains, Players,
Referee's, Cai from Dulwich, Adam our Grass Master and
Angela of Latina and supporters of the SPL for a Great
Season !

Cheers / Freek SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee!

You can flip through some pictures of the game and the party below.
You can download originals of same here

Amigo's and Amiga"s,

Finally the SPL Championship has been decided on the very
last playing day !

Yesterday was the BIG DAY for Japan as they could clinch a
first ever win of the SPL Championship against the Lions. As
usual they came early and in full force and with over 25
players they made the Lions look tiny with only 14 players.
The game started slow as both teams didn't want to make a
mistake and knew that one goal could be enough to win it.
The Pitch was wet and Japan hit a free kick low at Nicolas
the Lions Keeper. The ball was very difficult to hold and
the Japan forward were faster to react and tipped it in. The
lines man raised the flag for off-side, but Kevin already
gave the goal. So now we had a game Lions needed to score.
The pace of the game increased and it became a real battle.
Japan had fielded their fastest and best players and they
kept on running faster than Usain Bolt. However Lions tactic
was to play on the break and on their second break they got
the equalizer through Allan's header 1-1.
Second half was nail biting as a goal from either side could
seal the deal. Japan had a fantastic shot which looked to go
in but Nicolas saved it with his finger tops ! With 20
minutes to go the Lions got what they wanted as Uzi came
alone in front of the keeper and he kept his nerve and
scored the 2-1 ! Japan never gave up and it was amazing to
see the energy they had they never stopped running. However
the Lions managed to keep the ball more and more in
possession as they knew that they were very close to the
Champagne. When Kevin blew the whistle you could see
Japanese players falling on the field and :Lions jumping to
the sky !

This was a great final for our league season and one thing
is for sure our competition is getting stronger and stronger!

We hope to see everybody this Sunday 20th of June with
family and friends to enjoy our friendship and play our
favorite sport.

First we have the Cup Final and after that we have our own
World Cup Fiesta and the SPL Price Ceremony !! Don't miss
the action at Latina's 16.30 PM onwards !

Cheers Freek / SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee

Amigo's and Amiga's,

Soccer fever is spreading fast around the world ! There is
no vaccine for it whether you like it or not you cannot
escape football these days !

We are heading for a perfect finale of the SPL this season
as the Champions will only be decided in the very last game
! You can place your bets now ! Will Japan get their first
ever SPL Championship or will the Lions add one more to
their list of honours ! The game will be live broadcasted in
Tokyo and we expect all Japanese people living in Japan to
come to the field on June 14th and watch the game. The kick
off will be at 1530 PM !

Other teams will play their last games as well we have
Galacticos - Dulwich on Sunday 13 1600 pm and Hawks-Bulls on
14th June 1330 pm !

On 20 july we have the SPL Cup final between the Lions and
Dulwich and after that we have our own World Cup Fiesta with
12 countries participating in order to celebrate the end of
the Season ! After the tournament we will have the SPL price
ceremony and party at Latina next to the field !

Let everybody get the Football Fever !

Cheers !  Freek SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee
!

Amigo's and Amigo's,

What a perfect Sunday it was ! Crystal blue sky 26 degrees
and green smelling grass ! We saw the friends and family
coming out and watch the games and players laid back after
their game to watch the others compete ! Life is good !

There was a lot of excitement at the games and we got
surprising results which is good especially as we are in the
decisive time for the SPL Championship !

Super 48 - Flamenkos 2-5 Best score this season for the
Super Nova's who can be proud for their improvement week by
week. I guarantee if they stay on in our league they wont be
in the bottom next season ! Flamenkos ended one of their
best season on a high by clinching the SPL third place.
Already there were some rumors floating around that next
season the third place is not enough for them ! The Spanish
and Belgium blend has proven an instant hit maybe a trend to
follow for other SPL teams !

ERS - Dulwich 1-2 All red game both teams were eager to win!
ERS have been struggling this season because quite a few
of their best players left last year. Despite the fact that
their result didn't come out as they wanted they kept their
team spirit and fair play always in tact. For that they
deserve a big compliment !
Dulwich is on a high after qualifying fr the SPL Cup Final
and that was enough to give them the three points despite
the absence fo Jamie and John Hinde, or was it the otherway
round they won because they didn't play ??

Bulls - Japan 2-1 The game of the weekend. A master plan
created by Bilgin to eliminate a full squad Japanese
Pokemon's seemed not to work as in the first 15 minutes
Japan could have easily taken the lead. However when Bilgin
ordered his players to "play like a man" and not like
pussies they got the message. Two goals was enough to push
Japan further and further into their own half. Second half
the Bulls could have scored more goals and Japan got more
nervous by the minutes !
In the end Japan got one back but were never in the game.
The after game speech of the Japanese Captain and Coach
lasted for three days, still they don't know what went wrong!

Lions - Hawks 6-1 Lions were pleased with the Japan loss and
needed to win versus the Hawks which is easier said than
done ! First Half was very competitive with the Lions
getting the best scoring opportunities but failing to score.
1-1 the first half score / second half the Hawks were
getting tired as they had no subs. 10 minutes before the end
of the game suddenly 4 players of the Hawks went missing as
they needed to attend a Chinese wedding ! At 6-1 Lions
agreed to stop the game and go for beers instead of scoring
more goals !

So here we are the SPL title will be decided on the last
game of the season on June 14th at 15.30 don't miss that
game Japan - Lions !

This Sunday there are two postponed games :

13.30 PM Super 48 - Hawks
15.30 PM Lions - Dulwich

Weather will be great so come and watch the games with an
ice cold beer in your hands !

Cheers Freek / SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee
!