Amigo's and Amiga's,

Round 8 is behind us and one more SPL League Round and we can put 2011 in the History Books. Of course we will not finish the year without a Bang !
Santa was kind enough to do the draw for the third Santa Cup on a busy Nanjing Road. 12 teams will battle it out on December the 18th at the great facility of Waigaoqiao's Shanghai Rugby and Football Club. We hope for snow and stormy weather to add the atmosphere ! Cannot wait to see the action !

Ever wondered what referees are writing down in their booklet's ?
Here you go we got a peak WIKI Leak SPL Spy Cam insight of Kevin's notes during the Galacticos - Japan game. Lets call it a piece of art ! Any bidders ?

We as SPL are supporting the Chinese Football Association by bringing in young referees / linesmen/ladies and give them experience in our league before they will go to the professional leagues. Great idea ! Left is Leo and right is Cherry !

Believe it or not but our Vice President good old Yamada-san claimed he scored a goal ! His last goal was in 1872 so you can understand his state of happiness !

Cowboys - Pistolera Bulls 1-12
Bilgin was all smiles as after last week defeat versus the Lions he could claim that always when he is absent the Bulls lose and when he is there they win. Poor Cowboys this week as there was no "guanxi" but "mei guanxi". Nils netted 4 and is climbing on the topscorers chart !

Etoille Rouge - Hawks 0-1
Very competitive and even game with both teams trying to claim the mid-field. ERS was better in the first half but failed to finish it off. In the 85th minute disaster struck for them as a ball ended via the post through several players in the net. For the Hawks you can conclude that that is the way top teams win their games most of the times in the last minutes......!

Super 48 - Hard Days Night 1-6
You can conclude that Hard Days Night have had a succesfull recruitment strategy as two of their new comers Dave and Fedja keep on scoring goals. Hope that super 48 will get their fighting spirit back and win the Santa Cup !

Galacticos - Japan 2-6
The Japanese Captain looked rather upset when the Galacticos players were not on time but what can you do when the subway suddenly stopped in between two stations and you are on your way to Waigaoqiao! In the end Kevin with the CFA officials could start the game.
Galacticos under the leadership of Danielle stood up well against the two Japanese teams 0-1 first half but in the second half there were just too many Japanese too handle and Japan secured a badly needed win !

Capitano's please make it clear to your players that without Shin Pads you CANNOT play. Especially new players need to be informed about that so that it doesn’t interrupt the game all the time. As well please note that at all time smoking is not allowed at the field as this is a school field and we need to set examples to the children !

Last round of 2011 ahead of us this Sunday so come and watch the action at the field next the Dulwich School !

1030-1230 Japan - Lions

1230-1430 Cowboys - E. Rouge

1430-1630 Galacticos - Pistolera Bulls

1400-1600 Hard Days Night - Flamenkos at Waigaoqiao

Don’t miss the action of the most entertaining league in Shanghai the SPL !

Cheers Freek / SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee