Behind closed doors, eight teams have been playing out the early stages of the BFFA’s secondary inter-league tournament.
Somewhere in the dark, damp and dingy corners of the BFFA office, the poorly-fed and underpaid elves have been working indolently on bringing the IML back to life.
Two weeks ago, they entered eight teams into a bracket to play for a tiny imaginary tin trophy, and a more tangible $50. In order to leave their small mark in the history books, the teams will not only have to get past the other seven entrants, but also see off four Champions League dropouts.
The teams in the First Round of the tournament were:
About to get Messi
East Loop United
FC Santa Barbara
Goleta Hotspur
Jaysokker
Sporting Wicker Park
Vanishing Spray FC
Wijnaldum Leviosa
The First Round Results
Now the Quarter Finals look like this.
The SB Town Baggers were overwhelmed in their final Champions League group game against The Money Team, who overtook them with a giant 79-31 victory. But with three wins in the round, and a heavy defeat for Smash & Grab, the Baggers held on to third place and were given a second kick at the can. They have been put up against a team that they have met once before, in last season’s Spring Cup Third Round. There, the Baggers beat Jaysokker 46-41 and qualified for the Quarter-Finals. This time, an IML Semi-Final is up for grabs.
Round One also saw a Spring Cup match replayed when Sporting Wicker Park beat Gloopy Yarbles for the second time in a row. Sporting Wicker Park have been to a Champions League Final, a BFFA Cup Final and a League Play-Off Final. This is their first time in the IML and they are two wins away from featuring in another finale. Their Quarter-Final opponents Ole’s at the Wheel are also appearing in their first IML after falling out of the Champions League by a very narrow margin. That one-point loss to StilluvQPR cost them the privilege of a QF match in their debut CL, but their third place finish has earned them a shot here in the IML instead.
Funnily enough, Wijnaldum Leviosa and East Loop United had also met in the Cup before crossing paths in the IML this year; twice in fact! Wij Lev beat ELU in the First Round in 2020, whereas ELU ended Wijnaldum’s first Cup run with a 38-37 QF win in 2017. Not only that, but the two enjoyed an IML/Championship double-header in Week Eight where Wijnaldum cruised past ELU by 12 FPts. ELU handed them another one-point defeat just a week after, but it was too little too late. Wijnaldum make the IML QFs at the second time of asking and line up against the Premier League’s All Star Gunners for the first time.
The final game of the four presents us with another double-up in GW10. The all-Premier League tie this weekend will be the 17th and 18th meeting between the sides, and will be followed up by the Second Leg a week later. The last Drafty–Spray match in Gameweek One kicked off the season with a bang! Spray strode away from that barnburner with the win and the Premier League’s Opening Day top spot. Another big score for either team this week could have huge implications.
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