The summer season of the Footy.ie 7 a-side soccer season
leagues has just finished. There were 48 teams competing in
6 leagues on Wednesday and Thursday evenings at Garryduff
sports Centre in Douglas, with about 400 guys and 1 girl
playing every week. And a brave girl she is too!
The Wednesday night division 1 league was won this season by
The Refugees – a team comprising of Polish, Ukrainian and
Irish lads. Their 100 per cent record was maintained until
the final night of the season when they played a 5 – 5
thrilling draw with Branigans. Racing Club, who are based
in Passage West finished runners up in this league.
The division 2 league on Wednesdays couldn’t have been closer.
Mercer and F.C. Balaga Tonga, the recently crowned African
champions, finished the final night level on points after
Mercer squeezed passed Bare Arse Alona with a last minute
winner. They were still tied on the head to heads, but Mercer
ended up as champions as they had a superior goal difference
of 1 on the head to heads.
QEF Global were the champions in Division 3 on Wednesdays.
But they didn’t have it all their own way. United and The Idle
Hour pushed them hard for the season. When interviewed on
United TV a few weeks ago Cian Kennedy, the United manager
said that the pre season training camp at La Manga made all the
difference this season. After a few weeks under the watchful
eye of Alex Ferguson, he could see how much sharper the boys
were. They are considering going fully professional next season
in an all out assault for the title.
The Red Army were the only unbeaten team this summer. The Douglas
lads had strength in depth and an outstanding goal scorer in
Kieran Oliffe. This is one of the best teams ever to compete in
the footy.ie leagues. Ray O Callaghan said the lads were mean
and hungry after their mid season trip to their Siberian Boot
Camp and as one can see from their results, they didn’t show any
mercy when they returned. Boca B – themselves twice winners, The
Dragons and The Thirtysomethings were the only teams that could
really compete with them. The Dragons were wrecked after their
pre season training in Barcelona. It took them about a month to
work off their hangovers.
Division 2 on Thursdays was another great league. Any team could
potentially defeat any other. The Ex Pats eventually were crowned
champions on the final night with a dramatic 3 – 1 win over the All
Blacks. They had just 1 point to spare over Heineken who were
defeated twice by their bogey team, The Booze Crew from Cobh. The
Bons and Celtic Hoops also had a lot of influence on the destination
of the title. The Ex Pats are already in pre season training for
division 1 this season and have a contract ready if Rafael Benitez decides
to leave Liverpool!
Raggyball Rovers were the top team in division 3 on Thursdays. They
were pushed all the way by F.C. Quintas, BNY, The Nuts and FBFC.
Nick Duff from FBFC said during his press conference after the final
match that the Douglas Street Outfit were in talks with one or two of the
top Premiership clubs about bringing a couple of household names
over to strengthen their squad for next season. However Kieran Maguire
said that it wouldn’t make any difference as they wouldn’t be able to
live with the speed and skill on display in division 3 of the footy.ie
Thursday night league – one of the toughest in the northern hemisphere!
I think Kieran is probably right.
The Footy.ie 7 a side Soccer league played in Garryduff, Rochestown has
always had its fair share of foreign players during the Celtic Tiger,
but the Footy league this summer seems to have attracted many players
from countries from all across Europe and beyond.
O.S.Tugas is a Portuguese team who play in Division 1 on Thursday nights.
Sometimes it takes a while for a team to get used to the surface and the
size of the pitch, but these Portuguese lads have hit the ground running
and it’s a joy to watch them pass the ball around while showing off their
natural technical abilities. Their team is entirely Portuguese with a Polish
goalkeeper who claims to be half Portuguese anyway as his wife is from
Portugal. His name is Rafael Kowdczyk, aged 25, is from the province of
Mazowiecki, in Poland and has been here in Ireland for 2 years. Joao Pereira,
Luis Seabra, Paulo Miguel, Emanuel Ferrera and Helder Martins all work in
construction and have all been here several years. Ricardo Barbosa aged 27,
who seems to be the most vocal member of the team and pulls the strings in
midfield, followed his sister to Ireland 4 years ago. Valter Martins aged
33 is the team Captain and organiser, followed his girlfriend here last year
who was attending UCC.
Another team full of Foreign Nationals is The Refugees, who play in Division
1 on Wednesday nights and are on course to become the Wednesday night Summer
league winners. The Refugees, who are probably the best team to play in
this league since it started 5 years ago, have many playmakers in their
side. A visit to Garrydff any Wednesday night is a must for any football
enthusiast to see the free flowing passing moves that are most enjoyable
to watch. The team squad is made up of 3 local lads four Polish and 2 lads
from the Ukraine. Pawel Pciak aged 28, who plays in their midfield, who was
the most Valuable Player award winner last season, is a skilful player with
excellent vision and always seems to have time on the ball. He came to
Ireland 5 ears ago with his friend Marcin Janiski, who plays up front. What
Marcin lacks in height is made up for in strength and pace and he is always
amongst the goal scorers for the Refugees. Piotr Perdas aged 30 and is
Polish, plays in defence, but loves to get forward in a very attacking team.
The 2 lads from the Ukraine are Father and son. They come from the City of
Odessa, in Ukraine. Alex Gorobets is 46 years old, but players like a man in
his 20’s. Alex likes to play in this league as he does not have to run long
distances and he lets the ball do the work. He is the coach of Garryduff,
who play in the 2nd Division of the Munster Senior League. His son Alex
Horobets is 24 years old, who works as a health insurance advisor with
Hibernian, is the team’s top scorer, and he also plays at Centre Forward
with Garryduff and finished up top scorer with them last season.
The Heineken team, who are in contention for the division 2 title, have one
foreign player in their side. He is 36 year old Adam Slinka from Lodz in
Poland and he plays with Grattan Utd at the weekends and works with Heineken
Ireland.
QEF Global who have already won the division 3 on Wednesdays, have 2 Polish
players. Pawel Smyrek aged 27 plays in Midfield and was instrumental in
helping his side to win their league. Pawel Wojtczyk has filled in as a
substitute goalkeeper with great effect.
Arek Jablonski from Lithinnuia plays in Midfield for M & P O’Sullivans in
Division 1. He is 28 year and is very strong on the ball and has considerable
skill.
Alex Abuladze from Tibilisi in Georgia is a big no nonsense defender for DJ
Cabs. He is 38 and is well known in the footy leagues forgetting forward to
use his pile driver of a shot. Also from Georgia on the DJ Cabs team is 18
year old Georgie Daredjanashvili. Georgie has tremendous pace and the ability
to beat a player. He is still in school at Mayfield Community School.
Peter Sekula, aged 25 from Poland plays this season with Racing Club. Peter
who plays his weekend football with Wilton Utd is a very strong player has a
tremendous long throw and plays as a defensive midfielder.
Chen Changyou from China also plays for Racing Club. He is 27 years old and
has the quickest feet of any player up in the Footy Leagues. He has won the
Most Valuable Player and Golden Boot several times over the last few years
and it is a joy to see him play each week. He is currently studying at CIT.
Gabi Lucas from Pamplona in Spain is here in Ireland for the Summer and has
fallen in with the MCFC team in division 1. He is a student who very
confidently told me he was the best player by far in the league. That might
be stretching it a bit, but nonetheless, is a player who has excellent ability.
Nicholas McWade is 28 and from Durban, in South Africa. He plays and works with
the Bank of New York. He plays in midfield and he is always among the goals
scorers for his team.
There is no doubt that these players have brought plenty of colour and flair
to the footy.ie leagues. Let’s hope that they continue to play despite the
changing economic conditions.