Commissioner's Comments

MLB was finishing their horror season with a flourish.  HOB was finishing their very good season with style.  Who would hold the trophy?

WRR was going for their first ever Cup trophy.  KM was going for their 3rd and the Hall of Fame.  Who would hold the trophy?

Beta Group - Bowl
MLB took 3/4 of the season to get going, but when they finally did, they had some crushing results.  With by far the biggest T11 in the playoffs, MLB were predicted for glory.  They dispensed with ASM without much trouble.  HOB had made the playoffs on the back of canny managing, and with a bit of bad luck to help their opponent out the door, they got past AA and travelled to MLB for the final.

Steve was trying to be tricky, while Phil just put out a monster lineup.  8 minutes in, and all the aggression resulted in a penalty against HOB, which Kennison slotted home.  AA wriggled and jiggled like a worm on a hook, but they just couldn't get out from under the cats' paws.  A 2nd goal to Kennison on the half-time whistle gave them a mountain to climb.  A spirited 2nd half performance unfortunately didn't result in any goals, and the match finished 2-0.  MLB win the Bowl!

Alpha Group - Cup
WRR won't deny that a bit of luck saw them finish top of Alpha.  But it was no luck that saw them comprehensively put down DVV and set themselves up for hosting the final.  KM had the much harder task of getting past the mighty GM, and they could argue that their unlucky late season form continued when it went to penalties.  But they secured the win and went off to visit Willy the Rat.

KM-WRR matches are almost always mammoth, and this one was no different.  WRR glued their defenders to the potent KM FWs and were delighted to score first after only 3 minutes!  KM's fears that their unlucky post-season was continuing looked confirmed when a penalty was given against them 8 minutes later, which Ben Te Akau made no mistake with.  2-0 down and it was looking grim, despite the play being very even.  3 minutes later and Son of Ohaupo scored.  If ever a team had a right to drop their heads, it was now, but KM were not finished by any means.  They scored late in the half, only to see WRR score from the kick-off.

2nd half began with DW taken off injured.  KM responded by upping the pressure, and were rewarded by scoring again.  The comeback was killed in the 75th minute when the ref awarded another penalty to WRR and Ben Te Akau repeated his earlier effort.  11 shots to 9, 7 saves to 5, 43/57 possession; a thrilling finish to the season, but not the fairy tale ending that KM were hoping for.  5-2 to WRR and WRR win the Cup!

Bowl

Cup

Wanted / For Sale

Season 12 Awards Evening

Showered, changed, post-match interviews over, it is time to hand out season awards!  These awards are based on regular season play only.

Hard Rock Award
This award is for the roughest team in the league, at least as far as the referees saw it.  After 3 seasons of Argentinian domination, the dirty play appears to have moved to New Zealand!  For the 2nd consecutive season a New Zealand team takes the award.  The league's Dirtiest Team is Ashhurst Spectacular Moreporks, on 140DP! (+50k)

Dirty Harry Award
This award goes to the single hardest nut in the whole league, the one player every other player fears.  Also most of the coaches, spectators, little old ladies on the street....  This season there were 2 of them!  However, one accumulated his DP in 17 matches and the other in 20.  The Dirty Harry Award goes to Lake Superior Dragons rookie defender Drew Waters, with 20 DP for the season! (+50k)

Joe Cool Award
The Joe Cool award goes to the cleanest playing team in the league.  This season the award goes to those nice cartoon characters, the Spurs Auckland Toons, with 64 DP total! (+50k)

Golden Gloves Award
When your opponent has broken your defence there is just one player left to save the day - the long suffering GK (if he plays for LSD).  This award is for the best overall performance by a GK, based on save percentage and shots faced.

3rd place goes to the junior keeper who kept his senior partner on his toes, with every chance of taking his spot next season, Parongia from Waikato River Rats, with a rating of 68.75. (+25k)

This player is a veteran who had a significant part to play in the team's fine form this season.  Jumpy Eddi from AAvance takes 2nd place with a rating of 69.41. (+50k)

He won the award last season, and he showed it was no fluke by backing it up this season.  The Golden Gloves winner for Season 12 is Diego Fonseca Jr from the Holylanders, with a rating of 72.13! (+100k)

Golden Boot
At the other end of the field are the most potent scoring machines in the league.

This team might feel they are not performing where they'd like to be, but at least one of their players is performing up with the best in the league.  This season's 3rd place award goes to David Cadorin of the Pehuajo Expos with 19 goals from 25 shots. (+25k)

They might have taken a bit of a pantsing in the playoffs, but the 2nd place award goes to Elisha of the Ashhurst Spectacular Moreporks with 20 goals from 37 shots. (+50k)

This season's Golden Boot winner saw his team through to the final, but couldn't get a shot in the ultimate match.  To help ease the pain, the Golden Boot goes to Deco of the Hallcroft Old Boys with 20 goals from 31 shots. (+100k)

Player of the Year Award
Many players have the occassional standout game, but a select few manage to do it game after game.  This award recognises the player who received the most Man of the Match commendations for the season.  This player could wish for more support from the management, but despite the club's problems he stepped up match after match.  This season's Player of the Year goes to Michael Johnson from the South Essex Sprinters! (+1CP to team)

It only remains for us to reward this season's Bowl and Cup winners.

Bowl Winner
This season's Bowl Winner is the Missouri Legal Beagles! (+0.05 bonus to rating next season.)

Cup Winner
This season's Cup Winner is the Waikato River Rats! (+0.10 bonus to rating next season.)

Death Valley Valiants PR - Denis Fras

We achieved the biggest success in club history. We managed to reach the playoffs, before that a fifth place was the highest league position. In the half final we travelled to WRR. We knew that it is going to be a hard job to make it through to finals. Because we don´t have enough experience we thought there were supposed to be two games played and not one. That´s why we didn´t give everything we got and i feel a little disappointed about that. But on the other hand when i look at WRR ratings it would be very hard to match that. We still had the chance in the game but we missed a penalty and the dream came to an end. All i can promise is that next year i will try my best once again.

Play-offs - Steve Turner

We’re in the final. I suppose with our stats we should be but there were times when I didn’t think we’d make the play-offs at all. With four losses in the first six Beta games we seemed to be dropping out of contention. But six undefeated games steadied the ship. Meanwhile AA went unbeaten in Beta until the final game. MLB meant business in what seemed like an unimportant game, except that it decided who played whom in the play-offs.

And so it was the nightmare scenario of playing AA. Brian likes to play ball control and he knows I know it – and he knows I’ve toyed with counter-attack, which isn’t too bad against that tactic with the DF bonus. So I hoped he’d play normal and I did as well as this gave the best GP+DEF+OFF. My line-up was simply to get the most SL on the park as possible and that meant a GK at sweeper and five defenders. I didn’t really expect to be 1-0 up so early, maybe I forgot the T>=45 for going to counter-attack when I expected Brian to press for an equaliser. AA got more shots than us, and we got a penalty despite playing more aggressive players. Luck does even out after all.

I looked at the stats, and assuming I’m right in that the shot chance is INTed it turns out that we both had a 2% chance per minute of a shot, even though we were the better team. HOB were at 2.8% and AA at 2.1%. And believe it or not the home bonus of 10 took it just above 2%. A home bonus of 7 would have given us 3%. Such small margins make all the difference.

Should we play all aggressive against MLB? I have no idea. I could see what numbers they might put up and work out if ‘a’ rather than ‘n’ makes any difference at all – but then I have to guess Phil’s tactics. Similarly I could work out if longball is better as well – it terms of GP+DEDF+OFF normal is the best, but reducing defence might still mean 2% for MLB put increasing offence could mean 3% for us. So I guess it’s going to come down to a gut feeling.

One Defining Moment - Kevin Martin

FLATNZ is so different from the other leagues.  No one particularly remembers who won Alpha or Beta any given season.  The Cup and Bowl are all that matter in the long run.  Particularly with regard to the Hall of Fame.  If you want in that hallowed ground, there is only one way in.  That run is through a grueling gauntlet of games and sudden death all-aggressive grudge matches against the best the league can throw at you.  Your squad has to survive that onslaught three times to be the last team standing.  KM is on hold for two… and this may be their final shot for the fabled #3.

I am retiring from e-soccer at the conclusion of this season.  Having already stepped down from the other leagues I have been involved in over the past seven years, this is the final season to come to a close.  It’s also the most important of the final matches I was to face.  A win and the team retires into the Hall of Fame and the book is closed with a fitting finish.  A loss and the team yet again falls to our nemesis the Rat and their devious manager, Mr. Given.  Matches against Tim have almost always come down to “T11 and pray for luck to fall your way.”  Here’s hoping for one more blessing from Ol’ Stoneface, the all-vexing Olmec.

Either way this game concludes, thank you all for the fun and memories.  Phil gets a special nod for roping me into these games in the first place.  Rob has a final salute as our top opponent for the last six seasons.  AVL always got the best we could offer and they gave the same begrudging back.  Though his team beat us into the Hall of Fame, we will still never admit that they were better than us!  Thanks to Tim for running a truly unique league that was challenging and entertaining in its own particular idiom.  We hate WAM/WRR.  Much respect for the manager of such evil teams though.  Best of luck to you and your families, gentlemen… and the cats.

While my history with the rest of the league is slightly less storied, it is no less fondly remembered.  Mike and his warriors from PEX who never saw a fight they would even consider backing down from… Brian and his off-the-wagon ramblings backed up with a similar fevered approach on the pitch… hard-luck Al and his “one match from glory” Moreporks… Melo and his EL-be-darned tactics… and Ales with his particular title of “thorn in my side” for all those lucky results against us anytime we gave them even a hint of daylight to slot a goal through.  For those newer to the league that I knew more from SESL and MSWL, stick with this one a few more seasons and it’ll grow on you in ways the other ones can’t.  Money’s tighter, development is far more important, tactical building can sustain or destroy you for the next three seasons, and there is no luck auction buy to save your team from the fryer in week 9 or 10.  Best of luck to all in the coming years.  Enjoy the ride and more importantly each other while it lasts.

Most of all, beat down WRR whenever the opportunity presents itself.  As a longball disciple I can testify with full certainty that Ball Control is the tool of the devil.  Heed these words and you’ll do well.  Don’t succumb to the lures of the dark side!

By the time you read this, I hope to be working on the Hall of Fame acceptance speech.  If not, then WRR just claimed their first Cup and I’ll have to pass the Marauders to another fitting manager who can lead them to the promised land that proved to be just beyond my grasp.  Best of luck to the new management if that should happen.  Of course, if that’s the case then for the record, Tim: “WRR got lucky in the final, just like they did all season.” ;-)  God bless you all.

See you on the pitch, for one last time…

Kevin

 A note from the desk of the self-appointed league historian.

Regular Season Records Chase Update

Records set or tied this season:

There will be one final update of the team and individual records following this season.  I will then submit the master database I’ve compiled over the years to Tim.  If anyone wants to step up and be the new “self-appointed league historian until someone else really wants it,” let Tim know.  The database is the compiled season and career totals for every player who ever appeared in a FLATNZ roster.  It’s an Excel file, and I can run anyone through my own peculiar way of keeping and updating it if they want the task.  You can then do as you will with the overall records posted on the FLATNZ history pages.

Thanks,

Kevin

Lake Superior Dragons PR - Rob Anderson

Last press of the year. Good luck to the teams left in the playoffs. May the best manager win.  LSD had a good season. We set four goals and surpassed them all. For the record we wanted two wins and doubled that. 25 pts and we cleared that by 5. 7 goals and we crushed that with 30. And finally 2800 in cash and with this press we should have 2854. Looking forward to next year.

Red Wings cleared the Predators in the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Avalanche up next. Ducks got eliminated! Life is good.

Good luck,

Rob-LSD

GLITCH AT MLB HQ - Phil McIntosh

Meow. And greetings, from MLB. We had little or no hope of winning the Supper Bowl this season, so we put everything we had into a last gasp effort versus Mighty, Mighty Brian in the last match of the regular season. We achieved all we could hope for in this season of disappointment. Mind you, Brian was in no ways interested in this matchup. He was rightly focused on resting his players for the Supper Bowl fiesta. MLB had never finished a regular season with a losing record, and so we really needed to go for the win here to bring our record up to .500. We sat at a dismal 3-3-8 at the mid-point, so we are delighted with our finish. Apologies to Brian for the run-up in our match when we knew he would be resting, but we needed the W to pull to the .500 mark. The leapfrog over Steve was icing on the cake, though we didn't see that one coming.

Best wishes to all in both competitions. We'd like to see KIN in the HOF.

Meow,

Clyde & Calvin

Not Even The Last Match - Mike Hernandez

Well, 5th. place for the PEX.

Not that bad the people thought in the middle if the season. I know a bunch of managers was organizing a party to ease PEX team for their awful season... but in the last half, we did it a little better.

But the goodbye was not the best.

A lost against SAT... could it be worst? Yes... not a fudging goal from our striker Cadorin, so he could be the Golden Boot. Ok, no problem. Let's wait the next chapter.

Capone had their Ness. Given... who?

Wiley Willy Wins! - Tim Given

My goal for the team this season was to make the playoffs, as we dipped out last season. I didn't expect to make the top spot! So we met DVV for the semi and we won convincingly, despite having our captain (and 30+ SL) sent off the field in the first 20 minutes. Now Denis says he thought it was a double-header, home and away. All I can say is... how many seasons have you been in FLATNZ, Denis? No wait, I can also say, "Have you read the rules?"   Unfortunate for Denis; fortunate for us!

We meet the King in the final. KM going for a Hall of Fame victory to finish off their FLATNZ career with a flourish. Well, I'd be the first to say that Kevin deserves it, but life doesn't tend to work that way too often, and Willy the Rat will be doing everything in his power to upset the happy ending. I predict BC plays L with everyone aggressive on both teams. At this point it is seriously up to chance. A penalty, a red card, a 30% chance of scoring... that does. That's what this game rests on. Like every KM-WRR match (and KM-WAM before it), the score can be a 10 goal swing; anything from 5-0 to 0-5. But today I'm predicting that it finishes a draw and goes to penalty shootout, where KM probably takes it.

The Hamilton 400 went off in major style, and I was there to enjoy it! Sunday was a beautiful blue sky day, all day, the racing was fantastic, and it capped off a brilliant weekend. Like every street circuit, there was some major panel work damage, which adds to the fun. My boy, Jason Richards, worked his way from 23rd up to 9th, then got pinged for being a bad boy and sent to the back of the class. Very disappointing, but still a great weekend. One car going down Mill St at 240kph looks fast. 4 cars fighting to pass each other going down Mill St at 240kph looks scarily fast!!

The end of another season. Hope you all had fun. Congratulations to the various winners!