Shanghai Premier League

Amigo's and Amiga's,

Last Sunday for the first time we got less rain than
predicted ! It was a perfect day to be out in Green City and
play our beloved sport. We had loads of goals (29 !!) and
even a new SPL record in our history books. Four games and
only three yellow cards is a clear sign of "Fair Play".

Japan - Lions 2-2 The BIG game of the weekend. Japan never
been in this position was eager to finish the Lions off. The
Lions looked crippled as they could barely field 11 players
due to injuries and lets blame the rest on the Iceland
Volcano. Within five minutes Japan took the lead but the
Lions fought back with two goals from Big M who left the
pitch after half an hour with a shoulder injury. Japan got
another goal and the Lions were looking tired versus the 30
Japanese players. However in the second half the Lions got a
goal disallowed and hit the post. Japan had a dangerous
header from the smallest and fastest player on the Pitch but
Nicolas saved it.  So both teams had to settle for a draw and
will have to battle it out for the SPL Championship in the
remaining 5 games !

Dulwich - Flamenkos 5-6
While I was enjoying an ice cold beer at Latina's I noticed
something was going on at the field. Goal another goal
another goal, goal goal goal.....everytime I looked I saw a
goal. First half score 6-4 an absolute SPL record ! For
Dulwich it was a painfull day as they were trailing from the
first whistle 0-3 down in five minutes. Flamenkos had lost
6-5 to the Galacticos this season and that bad experience
helped them not to let that happen again this time.

Bulls - ERS 0-4  Bilgins orders of elimination of the
opponent were not executed. Rumours were that he was sipping
champagne at the Formula 1 instead and the Bulls without the
Boss looked un-inspired. The French Friends were happy to
take advantage of it and took three valuable points.

Super 48 - Galacticos 0-10 Daniele got her third goal of the
season and the Galacticos enjoyed the afternoon as they got
almost all their players on the score sheet !

This coming Sunday we can experience the end of the winter
and a perfect Spring day in Shanghai ! Four pure
entertaining games on the menu ! Good time to bring your
Grandmothers and Ayis and Girlfriends to the field and show
them our skills !

9.30 Galacticos - Bulls Watch out for Bilgin's action but
can he stop the Galacticos winning streak ?

11.30 Japan - Flamenkos The Lions lost against the Flamenkos.
Was that an accident or are the Flamenkos that good ?

13.30 ERS - Lions How many French players will there be on
the pitch ?

15.30 Hawks - Dulwich Only a win for Dulwich will wash away
their frustration of the last two games but can they do it
versus the rested Hawks ?

See you all on a Sunny Sunday !

Cheers Freek SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee !

Amigo's and Amiga's,

Looking outside the window its hard to imagine that Spring
has arrived in Shanghai. Its Windy Cold Rainy and Grey and I
have no explanation for it but believe that it has to do
with the fact that the Expo will open on May the 1st and the
Chinese have "manipulated" the weather / I bet you know the
sky is crystal blue starting on May the first !

It did bring a special memorable Sunday for the SPL teams as
it was raining on Sunday but the Pitch was in Top Notch
condition and we could play all our four games !

Flamenkos - Lions 2-8 It was the first Semi-Cup-Final ! Both
teams were well motivated. Lions didn't want to lose twice
against the same team and the Flamenkos wanted to keep their
unbeaten record in 2010 ! Not sure whether the fact that "el
classico" took place the night before was part of the reason
some of the Spanish players were missing and that might have
been the reason of the rather large victory of the Lions.
First half was 1-4 and the second half was 1-4 ! Lions will
face either the Dulwich or the Galacticos in the final later
this season.

Dulwich - Japan 2-3 Typical "UK" Weather should have given
the home side a big advantage however before they new it
they were 2-0 down. Second half however it was Dulwich who
controlled the game and Japan decided to sit out the game it
almost cost them dearly as Dulwich leveled 2-2 and only 5
minutes before the end there was an unlucky handball due to
the wet pitch which was in the box. Japan converted and knew
that they were very very lucky this game. Dulwich could have
easily gotten more out of this game if they would have spend
less time arguing with the referee and focus more on the
finishing !

Bulls-Galacticos 1-1 Bilgin escaped Shanghai knowing the
rain was coming but the field condition was too good to let
go this weekend. So several text message later it was good
to see Bilgin at the side-line shouting at his players who
were 1-0 down. Galacticos thought they made it but another
last minute penalty forced them to share the points.

ERS - Super 48 5-0 As rain intensity was getting worse and
worse we made a last minute decision to play or not to play
! For the Honqiao players among us luckily we could play.
Think both teams were happy with the score ERS got a win and
Super didn't lose double digit !

Next Sunday we have another "Full Program" with rain in the
forecast so we will stay alert !

9.30  Lions - Japan Massive game as these two teams or going
for the SPL Championship this season and cannot afford to
lose.

11.30 Flamenkos - Dulwich Two teams in form and aiming the
third position this season.

13.30 E-Rouge-Bulls After Bilgin hammered his team mates in
public on the site we can see whether the psychological war
fare will have an impact or not.

15.30 Super 48 - Galacticos  Formula 1 is back in town is
the "Hamilton" effect over or it will give Super 48 their
first win !

A gentle reminder to everybody on the Pitch and in the
Clubhouse you are not allowed to smoke ! Smoke Outside !

We wish everybody Great Games and a lot of Goals and
hopefully no rain this time !

See you all on Sunday  ! / Cheers Freek / SPL President on
behalf of the SPL Committee !

Amigo's and Amiga's,

Well for the lucky ones who had a game this Sunday the
weather couldn't be better 15 degrees and a blue sky !
Thanks to the hard work of Adam our grass-master the field
is in perfect condition as well !

Believe it or not Eastern is around the corner and we can
look for some century eggs ! This means that the SPL
competition will heat up and the teams will go all out to
score points and write SPL glory !

Hawks - E-Rouge 5-0  Mr Romilson was in good form and was a
permanent threat to the French defense ! He added 3 goals to
his tally and is now the number two SPL top scorer with 13
goals right after Alex of the Flamenkos who has 16 goals.
E-Rouge tried hard during the game but were lacking the
finishing power in front of goal in order to match the Hawks!

Bulls - Super 48 15-1  Please check out Bilgins blog on the
under teams Bulls ! He ordered his team to destruct Super 48.
With Bilgin not being in Shanghai it looked like the Bulls were
revived and were executing the Boss order's !
15-1 victory is the highest score ever in the SPL !
We can call it an off day for our Japanese friends but they got
the consolidation goal !

On april 11th we have a four game schedule which is a
perfect occasion to come out and watch the action "life" by
yourself with family and friends !

9.30 Lions - Flamenkos (semi-cup SPL final) Lions will be
motivated to get into the SPL cup final because of last
years "great train robbery" by the Galacticos, while Flamenkos
will be trying their best to repeat the result of last fixture vs Lions.

11.30 Dulwich - Japan Who can take points from the Japanese
as they have not lost any games this season ! Are they too
fast and too many ? Its up to Dulwich to give us the answer !

13.30 Galacticos - Bulls Piece of advice to the Galacticos
check out Bilgins Blog before the game so that you know the
strategy upfront !

15.30 Super - E-rouge I am sure the French would be glad to
celebrate a victory with an ice cold beer after the game !
Super can they surprise all of us ??


See you all 11th April on a Sunny Sunday in Green City !

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

Amigo's and Amiga's,

Spring is around the corner and we all know that this will
be the best time to play soccer in Shanghai ! The
Competition is heating up with Japan and the Lions battling
for the Title and two heavy Semi-Cup Finals ahead of us ! We
have the Worldcup Fiesta confirmed on the 20th of June and
that will be one of our biggest events ever so we are glad
to announce that all the SPL teams will be part of it !

We had three league games this Sunday with a total of 23
goals !

Dulwich - Galacticos 5-3  It looked like a Premier League
Match two teams fighting for glory. Excellent refereed by
Kevin it was the Galacticos who were missing their
"birthday-boy" Captain Ned as he was still celebrating the
fact that he just turned 40, who scored three times in the
first 20 minutes of the game. Daniel who already wrote SPL
history by being the first Girl to score in the SPL added
one more thunder ball free kick to her tally ! That was
enough for Dulwich who after the tea break came back as if
the game never started and step by step started to demolish
the Galacticos defense. A great come back resulting in 5
goals and it could have been more and three points.

Flamenkos - Bulls 6-0 Indeed its better not to let Spanish
players play against Bulls as they were ready to kill.
Flamenkos after beating the Lions are running on a high and
are well motivated to keep their winning 2010 record !

Super 48 - Lions 0-9  First half was interesting to watch as
the Super 48 defense was buried in the 16 m box and whatever
the Lions tried they couldn't find the net / Lions even had
to put their captain as striker to break the ice and it
helped as they got the first goal. Second half the Lions
were motivated to get a better goal difference than Japan
and they needed 9 goals. That's what they got in the end !

We have two games this Sunday :

11.00 E-Rouge - Hawks

13.00 Bulls - Super 48

All the teams will need the points so pls come out and watch
the games !

Captains as you noticed we have a great addition to our
website " the "Team News"  It makes are SPL alive and
kicking please add your team news on the side ! You can
contact Frederick and he can educated you how to post it !

See you all on Sunday Spring Day ! Cheers Freek / SPL
President on behalf of the SPL Committee ! 

Has the decision in the Shanghai premier league been made this weekend? Who's to say... but Japan surely seems on the right track to the title, while the Lions have suffered a setback.

See the drama unfold over the next weeks!

Galacticos 1 - 8 Japan
With their trademark Tsunami style Japan FC have washed away the Galacticos. And Japan has now taken a 3 point lead over the Lions. Who will stop them? Who will hold this blue wave from snatching the title?

Flamenkos 3 - 2 Lions
The lions were missing their coach Freek and their target man Michael. This resulted in an unlionlike performance in the first half. But don't underestimate the part the Flamenkos played! They are deadly efficient and scored 2 goals out of 2 corner kicks in the first half.
The second half saw the Lions waking up and they came roaring to the attack, scoring 2 goals to equalize early on. They took charge of the game, but the Flamenkos goalie played a great match and preventi them from scoring further. Thus it came to be that with 5 minutes to go, Flamenkos had another corner kick and again they scored.


Coming up in the SPL on Sunday March 21:

11.00 Dulwich - Galacticos
The Galacticos will surely be looking to get their game back in track, while Dulwich have not seen action for quite some time now. This should be an equal game, so there will be suspense guaranteed!

13.00 Flamenkos - Bulls
Flamenkos are still unbeaten in 2010. Will they be able to continue that winning streak? Or will they strike out against the Bulls? Last game ended in a 3-3 draw, so lots of goals are to be expected from these 2 well scoring teams...

15.00 Super 48 - Lions
After the defeat of yesterday, Lions captain Freek is coming back from USA just in time to take charge of his team. Trailing 3 points to Japan, he doesn't want to take any risk. For Super 48 could just as well deliver the surprise of the season!


See you all out there on the pitch!

Frederik - on behalf of SPL Committee

Tomorrow - Sunday March 7 - games are postponed.
Those who'd still like to come are most welcome to try some other sports...

Amigo's and Amiga's,

Finally we were back into action after the Chinese New Years
Celebrations. Its good to see all our friends competing
again with a fair-played spirit. Interesting to see that the
Chinese Soccer League is currently under scrutiny and
several clubs and officials have been detained and fined.
Its seems almost every game have been fixed and one scandal
after the other is coming out. I believe the SPL could be a
role model for them as since we exist we have been free
from scandals, or are we missing something ?? I saw Kevin
our referee recently running around with a brand new fake
rolex !!

We had 4 quarter finals of the SPL Cup on Sunday :

ERS - Flamenkos 0-2  Flamenkos were missing their Spanish
topscores that's why it was a bit more difficult to score.
ERS for a long part was still in the game but as well missed
the finishing touch in front of goal.

Hawks - Dulwich 3-6 I noticed that Dulwich are trying to
copy the Japanese style by having several players showing up
one hour before the game and they were doing a serious
warming up ! It seemed to help them as a solid performance
secured them a semi final spot. Hawks are still trying to
rebuild their team and I am sure they will get back into
winning mode soon.

Japan - Lions 0-4 Lions played a tactical game whereas they
decided to play deep with only one front man. The result was
that Japan couldn't counter attack as this is their
strongest weapon. The game was slowed down pace but Lions were
deadly in front of the goal !

Bulls - Galacticos 4-6 Both teams were going for the win
with attacking football. Unfortunately the game ended in 2-2
so the winner had to be decided by penalties. Galacticos
Goalie Chris had bought a new shirt which was so bright that
it surely must have influenced the Bulls penalty takers as
they missed a few. Also check the 'galacticos page' under teams for a report from their perspective.

This coming Sunday we have two massive semi-finals of the
SPL Cup don't miss the action and come out and watch the
games. The weather for now is still lousy with 8 degrees and
on and off rains, but they say Sunday will be dry, lets hope
so !

10.00 Flamenkos - Lions 

12.00 Japan - High school team (friendly)

14.00 Galacticos - Dulwich

Enjoy the Cup Games ! Cheers Freek SPL President on behalf
of the SPL Committee !

Amigo's and Amiga's,

Last Sunday our "Broom Lady" went missing as our Cup games were cancelled because of the rains ! However we will have our SPL Cup quarter final now scheduled on 28th of February, weather permitted of course !

9.30 Flamenkos - ERS

11.15 Japan - Lions

13.00 Dulwich - Hawks

14.45 Galacticos - Bulls

Before we are heading into Chinese New Year celebrations, would like to share with you some of the Fengshui Master predictions for 2010, the year of the Metal Tiger !

Tiger Woods will have a rocky year ahead of him because actually he is not a tiger but a rabbit as per the Chinese Astrology.

Last time we had a "Metal Tiger Year" it was 1950 and that was the time of the Korean war, the masters predict more violence in 2010 and difficult times for Korea.

Geographically the best places to be in the Tiger Metal year will be China / Japan / Canada and Australia.

Worst place are India / Africa and South-America as well Thailand / Indonesia / Philippines.

There will be a rise of conflicts in 2010 and the key words will be Drama, Intensity, Change and Travel.

Natural disasters will strike esp floodings as water is on top of the earth this year !

Overall there will be an economic recovery but it will be a choppy ride with steep falls and sharp increases !

Unlikely that in the year of the Tiger the Lions will be Champion of the SPL !

SPl will be a bench mark of harmony and will be a show-case and role-model of how to run a league in China in 2010 and we will be exempted of conflicts !

SPL will set an all time record of Goals in 2010 and will increase the number of teams for next season !

Looks like we are in the right place at the right time !
Enjoy the "Long" Holiday and we see you all back in the year of the "Metal Tiger" !

Cheers Freek / SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee

Amigo's and Amiga's,

You will wonder who on earth is Sao Ching Niang....? Well
actually she is not on earth as she is a famous Chinese
Godess in charge of the weather. She is nick named the
"Broom Lady" as she uses a broom to move clouds whenever
there is a big occasion, like the Beijing Olympic games for
instance ! Well Saturday night it was raining and with a
full 4 games program on Sunday I knew we could be in a bit
of trouble.  Luckily ms Sao helped us out as exactly at 9.00
AM the rain stopped and the games could go on as planned. In
the evening its started to rain again, all I could do was
look up and smile to Shao Ching who was waiving with her
broom !

Flamenkos - Super 48 7-1
This was a SPL Cup qualification game which was a good warming up for the Flamenkos. Hans commented after the game that Super 48 was playing decent football, keeping apace with flamenkos for a good 20 minutes, even making them a little nervous, which indeed is good to see that they are improving week by week !

Hawks - Galacticos 6-1 
I received a text message from the Galacticos Manager/Captain Ned at 3.00 AM in the morning. "Iassume the games are off tomorrow right" ?  Think half of his team got stuck in the nightlife and never made it to the
pitch ! Still the ones who made it had a good game of football.

Dulwich - Bulls 1-0
Bulls were low on numbers as well and Dulwich was at full strength. Very even game in the first half 0-0. Second half Dulwich had more energy and power so actually they wasted quite a few good opportunities but
managed to score one which gave them all three points.

Japan - ERS 8-4
Very entertaining game ERS decided to attack in full style which resulted in quite a spectacle. Goals everywhere and the first half score was even with 2-2. In the second half ERS had their defense exposed a few times
and that's dangerous vs Japan esp when our French Friends were running out of battery.....!
On a positive note no other team managed to score 4 goals against Japan this season who are now top of the SPL equal on points and goals with the Lions !

Right before the start of the year of the Tiger we will have
our SPL quarter finals on 7th of February. As these are
outright Cup ties I don't dare to make predictions and would
recommend everybody to come and see for themselves !

9.30  AM Flamenkos - ERS

11.15 PM Japan - Lions

13.00 PM Dulwich - Hawks

14.45 PM Galacticos - Bulls

The weather forecast calls for rain but hopefully we can
count on Sao Ching's broom again ! 

Cheers Freek / SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee

Amigo’s and Amiga’s,

We are happy to see that the Fairplay is back at the SPL ! The above picture taken by ERS was a nice gesture and appreciated by everybody. This Sunday was “cardless” which of course is always a positive sign as well !

ERS – Super 48 5-0 
We cannot deny it anymore as Super 48 is clearly stronger in 2010, the days of double digit losses are over for them, however the three points were very welcome to the French Red Stars as they struggle this year to win games.

Flamenkos – Hawks 6-0
Andrea struggled to get a team out and flamenkos came out with full force hungry for points and goals.

Lions – Galacticos 6-0
Lions were more hungry to win and 2 goals from Big Michael within the first 5 minutes set the tone for the rest of the game. Both teams enjoyed the ice cold beers at Latina after the the game and Lions are back on top of the SPL.

This coming Sunday we will have a full four games program. Weather forecast calls for some rain so pls keep an eye on the weather !
Ps note the new times for this weekend !

9.30 AM Flamenkos – Super 48 
The winner of this game will be allowed to enter the Cup Competition next week the loser will have a bye next week !

11.15 AM Galacticos – Hawks
Galacticos lost two in a row now and would like to get that winning feeling back and for the Hawks it will all depend whether they can field enough players.

13.00 PM Dulwich – Bulls
First game of the Dulwich in 2010 and a big one as the Bulls are strong this year: expect a lot of goals in this game.

15.00 PM E-Rouge – Japan
Last year around the same time ERS beat Japan 5-2 one of their best victories. Will history repeat? Come and see it for yourself.

See you all on Sunday ! Cheers Freek / SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee !