"ok..anybody knows where the toilet is?" 

The sexiest man in our team...Guy... 

Posing for the our first music album cover...The Fab Five 

Pictures from previous match

Here are the pictures taken by Peter from pur previous match. I had to crop some of it though...so that it looks more professional...hehe...Anyway, he did a very good job with my equipment...wish he could have taken more of me....hahhaa

Anyway, do take the captions in jest...do feedback to me if u find them offensive....

cheers

Training Update....Thursday, 30 June 2005

For the first time, there were about 23 players who turned up for training today. It was inclusive of 5 Nigerians, 2 Australians and a few new faces....

Absentess: Fuad, Jie, Tommy, Shamsul, Sazali, Zul,

We did tactical movement during our training sessions and the inexperience from the team was evident. The players seem lost during training and sometimes incurring the wrath of the coach. Nevertheless, I hope everybody understands that in order to improve in football, we need to always be on our toes.

Although we have a few Nigerians players in the team, we are unable to rely much on them because of their visa status. Nevertheless, their inclusion in the team is definitely an asset.

Again, many thanks to all the players who attended the training session. It is truly an achievement for a small team like us to get such high attendance.

ESPZEN League update ..not too good of a news

I received this email from Lee Taylor a few days ago. It seems the league is left with only 6 teams. Sol Invictus has withdrawn from the tournament. Here are excerpts from the email.

"In what has turned out to the most amazing season ever in ESPZEN history - this morning Sol Invictus were withdrawn from the league - Sol Invictus committed the worst offense possible in amateur football (in my opinion) by failing to turn up (without notice) for their game against Numero Uno last Sunday - leaving Numero Uno FC and the referee stranded on Sentosa Island on a Sunday morning... this actually takes me back to the reason why we created ESPZEN was to avoid this situation quite common in friendly football in Singapore happening in our leagues...

I really do not understand the thought process of some teams like this - and there is no excuse - hence Sol Invictus who have been struggling for players over the recent weeks agreed to leave ESPZEN.

As such we are now left with 6 clubs which I know are good footballing teams, committed to ESPZEN and are well organized - as such we can look forward to completing this first season (and many more to come) with no more interruptions.

Following the article in the paper today I received another 3 teams registering for our tournament - hence I now have 9 teams on my waitlist to join our Sunday tournaments - I need to filter these teams as to whether they are morning league teams or Sunday Division 5 teams.

Next season we still plan to merge the mini morning league with the morning league to create two leagues of 8.

The morning league table will be amended once more - however as SOL INVICTUS has played each team once and some teams twice all round 1 match results will stand good, their round 2 games will be void. In total each team will now play 11 games."

It seems that the results for the second round match against them (5-0) has been classified as void. Nevertheless, we will strive to win all our matches.

ESPZEN update...(more good news)

I received an email from Lee Taylor right after coming back from training. Here are excerpts from the email.

Dear All ESPZEN Morning League Teams,

There will be major changes to the website fixtures late on Friday
night please look out for the changes (which will kick in for the 2/3rd July
Games) - we will also be issuing a revised league table.

Note SMUS manager called me on Thursday evening stating their team will be "folding", despite riding high in the league the manager is unable to get his players to commit to playing regular football (especially once the school term ended) and as such have been turning up for games often short of players and each game with many outsiders who were not part of their original squad... the SMUS team - as you would have seen was also unable to finance themselves with a set of team jerseys - relying on the blue jerseys lent to them by ESPZEN.

SMUS were a very similar team to ACSIANS - ie a brand new team created to join the ESPZEN league by very pro-active individuals who suffered from their team mates not sharing their passion and drive. Both managers wanted to create successful clubs but were let down by their players who were not willing to invest in the team to purchase a full team strip or meet the financial obligations of playing in a competitive tournament. The sustainability of these two teams was for us always in question once I had seen the teams play. My initial doubts have been realized.


NEVERTHELESS - ESPZEN moves onwards - the league table is now extremely interesting with the games void of SMUS, ACSIANS and GIVAUDAN. The league table is now a lot tighter with many teams in with a chance to claim the first Morning League Title. The withdrawals also allow us to complete the league by Mid August.

It seems that with the withdrawal of SMUS and Givaudan, the team has actually lost only 1 match, that is to Great Messinah. God works in mysterious ways.....

Training Update...Thursday, 24 June 2005

There were about 11 players who attended today's training. It was not a good sign, though there were some who genuinely were unable to attent due to work commitments. At least, what they could have done was to call me. That would be basic courtesy.

Attendees: Francis, Juz, Rafi, Naj, Botak, Yazid, Yus, Tommy, Guy, Shamsul, Roy (new)

The best thing about training on Thursdays at Farrer Park was that we could have half of the field to ourselves. Today, we did a bit of heading practice and shooting practice. Overall, we it was a good training session. Too bad the others couldnt make it.

We ended the trainnig with a short sparring session with East Changi FC..i think..there are inone of the NFL leagues. Though they were fast, I told the boys that all we need was a bit of confidence to take them on. Obviously, players like Tommy, Yazid and Juz are a standard above our sparring partners in my opinion.

Anyway, I was down with flu but still decided to attend the training. I think I gave my all during the training as I have set a standard fro my self before I retire.

ESPZEN update....(great news)

I just received the latest update from Lee Taylor. Givaudan has decided to pull out from the league. This is due to the fact that they were unhappy about ACSians pull out from the league. Here is the email that I received..

" Dear All ESPZEN Morning League Teams,

ESPZEN regrets to inform all morning league teams that team Givaudan has been officially withdrawn from the ESPZEN league.

Following the withdrawal of ASCIANS FC, Team Givaudan Management were unhappy with the withdrawal rule that ESPZEN had stated in our rules and regulations and the rule which ESPZEN applied to all teams.

Despite ESPZEN explaining that the rules were available to all teams to scrutinize before the start of the season and all teams accepted the rules by joining the league when registering on line - Team Givaudan issued ESPZEN with an ultimatum to either amend the rule so their victory over ACSIANS would stand or they would withdraw from the league.

ESPZEN was not willing to allow a team to dictate terms to ESPZEN that not only affects the Morning League Teams but also affects 55 other teams in our various leagues and as such accepted the withdrawal of Givaudan. ESPZEN will always hold our rules in the highest regard which indeed are the foundation of our football platform.

That being said, team withdrawal is disappointing as it disrupts our season and our league table. Givaudan has played 9 games but has yet to play FORCA FC in the round one and as a consequence all games against Givaudan will be classified as void - note when we classify games as void we DO NOT adjust top goalscorer or the fair play league tables. "

I find it rather amusing that Givaudan tried to dictate the rules and gave the organizer an ultimatum. We too has suffered because of the pull out of ACSians, but again..the rules clearly stated that if a team pulls out, then the result of those matches would be considerd void. Peter have diplomatically tried to reason with the organizer and has given an alternative rather than an ultimatum to them, but at the end of the day, we do see and accept the organizer's decision.

No doubt that Givaudan is a very organised team, however I definitely feel that they should have approached the matter more diplomatically. They could have approachedd all the other team managers and have a unanimous agreement to amend the rules, rather than giving an ultimatum to ESPZEN.

I now realise that Peter is truly an asset to the team as not only is he able to see the big picture, he is rational and always put the team before himself.

Anyway...its good news for us. It means our two losses to Givaudan is considered void. Therefore, we have only lost to SMU and Great Messinah....which we wiil definitely beat the next time we meet.

Our target will still be the champions of the league...and I look forward to the match against Numero Uno.

Welcome

Welcome to the Mandai United Sports Club blog. This will be a platform for me to share the events and happenings in the team.