Amigo's and Amiga's,

Now it's the time we have been waiting for. The Pitch is
perfect, the weather is perfect, the restaurants and pubs
surrounding the field are full with people enjoying the food
and beers outside. We can enjoy our favorite game while our
friends, wives and children are watching. This year a load
of new talents were born as the SPL is a strong breed and is
expanding very fast !

We had two games plus the formula 1 last Sunday !

ERS - Lions 1-3 Lions blamed it on the nice weather as they
started without any conviction. Soon they were punished as
Yannick managed to slice through the Lions mid-field +
defense and had no problem with the goalie. 1-0 half time.
Lions knew they needed a win to stay on top so they came out
stronger and equalized 1-1. Ten minutes before the end the
turning point turned out to be a deflected "lucky" goal plus
a quick goal there after.

Japan - Super 48 3-0 It looked like a J-League game and both
teams brought many supporters. First half was 0-0 and Super
48 started to celebrate already, however Japan claimed that
they fielded only over 40 players the first half. Don’t
think we can accept that excuse as the second half they put
their under 30 team and only managed 3 goals !

So we will hide some eggs at the field this coming Easter
Sunday and please do come and watch our games !

10.00 AM Galacticos - Hawks

12.00 PM Japan - Flamenkos

14.00 PM HDN - Lions

One Note to the Captains ! From now on we will and can not
approve any postponements anymore as we are running towards
the end of the season and the school closes early this year
! Pls keep in mind !

Happy Easter in Shanghai !

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

Amigo's and Amiga's,

Nothing better than spring in Shanghai ! Don’t think anybody is particular fond of winters here except for the power companies of course, so we are glad its over for another year ! Spring means a comfortable 20-25 degrees and most of the time a blue sky. For the SPL Spring means that we are going into the final rounds which are always exciting and enjoyable. More people will come and watch our games and enjoy the nice environment of Green City in Jinqiao !

Last week we had two games :

Hawks - Hard Days Night 9-3 
The monster score didn’t reflect the whole game as it was a close game (first half 2-1) until the last 20 minutes when the legs of the HDN'ers were running full with lactic acid and they couldn’t move anymore. Maybe some of them had ran the 8km Jinqiao run in the morning just like Kevin our referee who ran very fast and finished below 30 minutes, these are his own words as don’t think anybody has a proof of his actions  !

Super 48 - Flamenkos 0-5
As usual Super got the first two chances but failed to score this time. Flamenkos will remember this game as the "most missed opportunities" however there will be an investigation whether something was "fixed" here as especially their manager Bart seemed to be heavy involved in the missing........ !

This weekend is F1 weekend that means parties and fast girls and cars however the SPL will take the centre stage with two games !

1200 - ERS - Lions Expect goals and an open game of (French) Football ! Allez Allez !

1400   Super 48 - Japan Lets see whether this all Japan game will lead to a surprise. Will they settle with a draw ?

Enjoy Spring in Shanghai enjoy the SPL !

Amigo's and Amiga's,

The Qin Ming festival is upon us next week and that means it should  be the arrival of Spring in Shanghai. Lets hope we get a long Spring and a short Summer ! Local people will be busy burning casino's , cars, villa's, schools, computers and I Phones ! I would not be surprised if the would burn soccer fields as well ! Don’t worry as they will be burning only paper replica's as its their believe that all their ancestors will need these things for their after life. I just wonder how the traffic would be there up stairs ?

We had two games last Sunday and recently we noticed some developments in the Top of the SPL. The teams who were in the sub-top started to lose points versus the lower ranked teams. On the other hand the Lions and the Flamenkos are now showing a few points distance with the rest of the team !

Galacticos - Hawks game was postponed as Galacticos were down we food poisoning and Hong-Kong 7's fever !

ERS - Hard Day Night 2-1 The French we losing the first half but were determined to make a come back. They increased the pressure on the HDN goalie Maxi and HDN was pushed back. We heard very loud cheers and celebrations in Jinqiao and it were the ERS players who were delighted with their three points.

Pistolera Bulls - Lions 0-3

The Tactics of the Lions was not to make the Pistolera Bulls upset so they started very slow and seems to take it easy.
However a sending off of one of the Lions players was needed to turn the game around. 0-0 half time but the second half the Lions showed their teeth with 10 man it looked if they played with 13 versus 9 Pistolera Bulls players. Charles of the Lions was a happy man with his Hat-trick moving him up to the shared second position of SPL topscorer 2010-2011 !

Enjoy the break next week it’s the right time to heal the injuries and get your squad in shape for the final matches of the Season !

Cheers Freek SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee !

Amigo's and Amiga's,

The world is shaking ! we have so many issues to deal with nowadays. The news stories keeps on coming earth-quakes,tsunami's, radiation, airstrikes, the largest moon since ages shining at us, injected pork in china you name it !
God Bless we have the SPL where people from all over the world can forget what is happening in the world for two hours and focus on the game they love the most Football !
All I can say enjoy these moments its really valuable what we have in Green City ! As well now that the weather is improving bring your friends and family to the field  and show them your skills !  
They are all part of our SPL family!

We had three games last Sunday. It rained the whole Saturday night but our field was in very good condition thanks to our Grasmaster Adam !

Super 48 - Lions 1-4
Good result for Super 48 as last time versus the lions is was 11-1. Their first attack they straightaway scored that’s what you call a wake up call.
Lions could have scored more but most shots were blocked by either the cross-bar or the Japanese Samurai Wall.

Galacticos - Japan 0-4
Finally Japan is getting back in form and they played very well today. A wonder strike (35 yards) gave them the 0-1 lead at half time. Galacticos kept fighting but they lack a bit of confidence in front of the goal ! Japan was very happy with the result esp during these difficult times.

Flamenkos - Pistolera Bulls 5-0
Back to back victories for the Flamenkos who are flying now second in the SPL and title talks floating around in Jinqiao ! Bilgin summed it up for
the Bulls who had a bad day in the office " My header was the only chance we got during the whole game !"

Three games ahead of us with perfect weather in the forecast 20 degrees and sunny !

10.00 AM Galacticos - Hawks

12.00 PM Pistolera Bulls - Lions   

14.00 PM ERS - Hard Days Night

Enjoy these games and for two hours just forget about the world !

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

Amigo's and Amiga's

Before our games on Sunday we held one minute silence in honour of the victims of the horrific earthquake and tsunami which happened in Japan last Friday. The heart breaking images on the TV I will never forget. I had never seens such an amount of mass destruction in just a few minutes. I didn’t realize how fragile we actually are as human beings against the force of natural disasters. On behalf of all the players and friends of the SPL I wish all the people in Japan a lot of strengths and power in order to overcome this disaster !

We had a full program of 4 games and good weather finally.
All games were played in the right SPL Spirit, only one yellow card and 19 goals !

Japan - Hawks 0-1
Japan was showing their fighting spirit throughout the whole game and made this game the most entertaining game to watch.
Hawks got a lucky goal in the last minute of the first half. Second half both sides were attacking both goal keepers and Japan thought they had the equalizer in their pocket only to see their jumping stiker missing the header in front of an open goal !

Flamenkos - Pistolera Bulls 5-1
First half 1-0 for the Flamenkos and second half the Spanish and belgium mix started to enjoy the goal fiesta. Flamenkos looking strong this season and aiming for a top spot in the SPL this season.For the Pistolera Bull the new yellow jerseys doesn’t seem to bring them a lot of luck as they have not won a game with those.

Galacticos - Lions 1-6
First Half a comfortable 0-2 lead for the Lions however a fast second half goal from the Galacticos could have turned the game around but the Lions had other thoughts and netted another 4 behind Santi the great goalie. Not sure whether It would have made a difference if Ned Kelly would have played........!

ERS - Super 48 5-0
No Surprise here but would have expected Super 48 to score at least a goal

This Sunday we have perfect weather in the forecast 18 degrees and Sunny !

10.00 AM Lions - Super 48

12.00 PM Galacticos - Japan

14.00 PM Pistolera Bulls - Flamenkos

Enjoy our lifes Enjoy the SPL ! Cheers Freek SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee 

Amigo's and Amiga's.

Many league's around the world are running into their final rounds and the SPL is no exception! We cannot ask for more excitement you all need to come down and watch ! I would like to say a big thank you to all the teams and captains to display the most entertainment pieces of football in Shanghai ! It doesn’t matter whether you are in the bottom or the top of the SPL all of us want win and it shows in the scores ! We stand for attacking football and and fairplay where can you find that nowadays !

Super 48 - Galcticos 0-5
Well I Can tell you that the Supers 48 scared the hell out of the Galacticos after they went into half time with 0-0 / No tea for the British but a commando talk form Ned at half time that they cannot be the first team to lose versus the Supers was enough to change the tide...........
5 goals followed but the fear factor was surely there !

Hawks - Pistolera Bulls 5-2
Hot game as per the SPL history but an outstanding game from Kevin the referee resulted in a fair game without any cards ! Even Bigin failed to get his usual yellow card !
3-0 win half times for the Hawks / Both teams were missing their star strikers which weighed on the result but the Hawks overall were the better team / Pistolera Bulls kept on fighting until the final whistle but on the day the gap was too big !

Flamenkos - Hard Day's Night 3-1
Important win for the Flamenkos who from the start showed their intentions that it was a "MUST WIN" game for them / Hard Days Night had no answer to the fast attacks from the Flamenkos and found themselves 3-0 behind at half time !
Excuse of the HDN was the veteran  tournament in Manila leaving them without their star "Old and Experienced" players......!
Haven't we heard that before ?

Weather this coming weekend will be surely warmer ! So no excuse to stay back home ! Please come and see the action  !
We have a 4 game program and as we are going forward each game becomes important !

11.00 AM Hawks - Japan Absolute topper as Japan needs to come out of their crisis and Hawks cannot afford to lose any more game to clinch the title !

11.00 AM (rugby pitch) Pistolera Bulls-Flamenkos Well no need to say that this game is key to either team and we expect open play and a lot of goals and hopefully no cards !

13.00 PM Galacticos - Lions Classic games and Lions will need to play their best to get all three points against the "Angts Gegner"

15.00 PM ERS - Super 48 Come on Super 48 one point is enough to write history !!!

Lets enjoy the fact that we have 8 teams in action and we can show Shanghai that we are the most entertaining and fair league in Shanghai !

Looking forward to see you all at the Fields !

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

Amigo's and Amiga's,

We are experiencing a new phenomena in the SPL after the games on Sunday. Instead of texting us the result of the game the first question we got from the Capitano's is what did the others do ? Reason for all this is that we have never seen such a close  Championship in our history. Every weekend we have massive games which can change the standing of the league over-night !
I am waiting for the day they that some Captain will ask me what Super 48 has done ! I am sure that day will come one day !
We are as well experiencing more and more local spectators around the field and they all seems to enjoy our games !

Last Sunday games result :

ERS - Hawks 4-4
Absolute thriller, everybody enjoyed this game.
Hawks were not ready to start maybe the "After Blues" of the Brazilian Carnival and found themselves 2-0 behind in the first 10 minutes. That Surely woke them up and they got a beauty back. Soon after the break ERS extended the lead to 3-1 but the Hawks were not going to lose their face and turned the game around 3-4. ERS has been unlucky in their last couple of games but this time they got their deserved point in the last minutes of the game.

Japan - Flamenkos 1-2
Is Japan in a crisis ? Last year second in the league this year close to the bottom ! We know they have less numbers this season but last year they always complained about having too many players / Yamada-san escaped to the USA as it was all to much for him to bear !
Flamenkos liked this win as they quietly are moving up in the standing and who knows what will happen next ! 

Lions - Hard Days Night FC 6-2
The winner of this game would go on top so the stakes were high ! On the day Lions proofed to be better scoring 3 goals in the first half and one of them left a hole in the net....! Second half HDN had a good spell and credit to them never gave up to fight for the glory they came back to 4-2 but at the end they ran out of steam and gave up !

This coming Sunday the games are MASSIVE again and hopefully the weather will not turn too bad !

10.00 AM Galacticos - Super 48
Could be the first victory of the Super 48'ers if the Galacticos players don’t wake up !

12.00 PM Pistolera Bulls - Hawks
Big game for both teams as they both want to stay in the title race !

14.00 PM Hard Day Night - Flamenkos Another Big Game both teams to play with a lot of ambition as they want to end high in the standing !

Fair Play First and For All ! Lets enjoy another MASSIVE weekend of the SPL !

Cheers Freek SPL President on behalf of the SPL Committee !

Amigo's and Amiga's,

We had 4 exciting Cup Games on the menu last Sunday ! Cup games are always interesting as the surprises willl come from the fact that the traditionally stronger teams tend take it too easy and the underdogs (in England the teams of the lower divisions) are playing each Cup Game as if it is the final !

Galacticos - ERS 1-0
ERS was in control of the game and had most of the ball possession. Asking how much opportunities they got to score they lost count but as it goes in Cup Games the under performer got away with the Victory. A former SPL Cup winner the Galacticos will go all out to go into the finals again !

Hawks - Super 48 9-2
Actually no surprise here. Goal fiesta for the Hawks !

Pistolera Bulls - Flamenkos 1-2
By far the most entertaining Cup Game. Flamenkos took the lead after an own goal from the Bulls defender. But trailing Pistolera Bulls are good to watch they never gave up and one minute before they end they got a penalty awarded and leveled ! Everybody was preparing for the decisive penalty shoot out when a long ball from the Flamenkos landed on the head of their tall striker and left stand in goalie Xavier helpless as the ball went in in the last second of the game.

Lions - Hard Day's Night 2-0
Man of the match by a mile was the HDN's goalie with outstanding saves ! Lions had a love affair with the wood work hitting it 5 times. Lions cruised into the semi's after this fair played game.

Coming Sunday believe it or not the winter will be over and we get a taste of Summer, they are calling for 24 degrees !
Perfect conditions for our 3 SPL League games !

10.00 AM ERS - Hawks

1200 PM Japan - Flamenkos

1400 PM Lions - HDN

Enjoy the warm weather and ice cold beers !

We promise you entertainment so please come to the feld and watch the games !

See you all on Sunday ! 

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

Amigo's and Amiga's,

We cannot say the winter is over but because of the lack of snow or rain since November we were lucky not to have to cancel any of our games ! It was Chilly last Sunday especially for the spectators but the large amount of goals added to the entertainment level !

Lions - Super 48 11-1
Rather clinical game from the Lions who were voted best Sports Team of Shanghai 2010 before the Chinese New Year by That's Magazine. They wanted to increase their goal tally and that’s what they did 5-0 first half and 6-1 second half ! Happy for Super 48 that they got their goal to celebrate !

Hard Day Night - Galacticos 4-2
Better start for Galacticos this time however with 15 minutes to go they found themselves losing 3-0 ! HDN was taking the gas of the pedal and Galacticos scored two goals in two minutes to  make the last minutes exciting to watch ! 
Last minute goal from HDN secured the three points and put them second spot in the SPL ! Was good to see that both teams were fielding talented young players and we hope that the SPL can be a good platform for young players to mature their talents !

ERS - Japan 1-0 Cup qualifying game very hard fought game where both teams could have won it. Absolute fair-played with no cards.  The French sealed it 15 mintues from time by a perfect header after a right wing cross !

So we have a full menu coming Sunday ! 4 exciting Cup Games in Green City ! Will not predict the results but I am sure there will be surprises to reports next week ! If you want to see it for yourself come out and watch the games !

9.30   AM  ERS - Galacticos (alarm clock on pls.....!)

11.30 AM  Super 48 - Hawks

13.30 PM  Pistolera Bulls - Flamenkos

15.30 PM  Hard Day Night - Lions

Enjoy the Cup Ties / Fair Play / Ice Cold Beer or Gluh-Wein after the Game ! Shake Hands always win or lose !

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

Amigo's and Amiga's,


After the year of the Tiger which brought a lot natural disasters we are heading for the year of the Rabbit.
Rabbit's are calm, gentle and persistent and usually years of the Rabbit are peaceful and quiet. A few famous Rabbit's include Einstein, Brad Pitt, David Beckham,Tiger Woods and My Self.....!! Rabbits like home and family not sure what kind of Rabbit Mr Woods is ?? We can call him the "Jumping Rabbit" !

Recently I have to get used to phone calls from anxious Capitano's asking about scores from other teams. It’s a good sign and it means our league is living to its full potential. We have several title contenders this season and we got some surprise results for you !

Flamenkos - ERS 4-1
Some things don’t go together.....If you have an all French team and they go home and celebrate Christmas and New year and come back and try to beat the world Champions Spain and Belgium. The extra kilo's proofed to be a burden to the French Players and the Flamenkos cruised to a comfortable win.

Hard Days Night - Pistolera Bulls 3-2
Well we asked who could end the Bull run and the boys from Hard Day's Night just did that ! First half was 1-1 and even but the second half Mike Mcgoo of HDN thought it was time to go for the "goal of the season" glory and passed five Bulls players to score with the help of the post. Another low strike from Dan sealed the victory for the HDN'ers but a game is never over versus the Bulls, they got one back but too late as Kevin the referee called it a day ! 

Hawks - Lions 3-3
Great entertaining game ! Hawks had the best of the field possession and controlled the match with fast passing Brasilian Samba Moves. But the Lions were dangerous on the counter attack they took the lead three times but every time the Hawks managed to get one back, 3-3 a fair result !

So we will enjoy the Chinese New Year Break and we will restart on February 13 with a full program 3 postponed games
+ the SPL Cup extra game !

9.30   AM Flamenkos - Pistolera Bulls
Let's see whether the Bulls can bounce back fm their loss or that the Flamenkos are going to be unbeaten in 2011 !

11.30 PM Lions - Super 48
Lions would like to increase their goal tally but will face the famous Blue Wall !

13.30 PM HDN - Galacticos
Revenge for the poor start of their last game against HDN is what the Galacticos are looking for !

15.30 PM Japan - ERS Cup Game anything can happen and by the way congratulations to Japan to reach the Asian Cup Finals !

Don’t forget to come to the Camel Bar tomorrow as there will be the Shanghai's First Sport Awards Party organized by That's Magazine.
The Lions are in the running this year and your team could be there for the 2011 awards !

Wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year !

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