“Success is a process… During that journey sometimes there are stones thrown at you, and you convert them into milestones.”
– Sachin Tendulkar
This week the BFFA held its 4,000th game! Congratulations you lot.
As is traditional at these moments, prepare for some unsolicited statistics to be thrown around.
Sporting Wicker Park have been involved in more games than any other team – 247. Still fighting for the Champions League, they will play their 250th game in two weeks. They’ve won a mighty 135 of their games, just eight less than Bigo1 (who have won 143 in 245 games, which includes the most League wins of any team – 123).
The most successful team in knockout competition is Smash & Grab. They’ve won 29 KO games, including the most in the BFFA Cup (13). As a measure of that success, they’ve scored 852 matchpoints in the Cup, that’s 88 more than Wijnaldum Leviosa and a whopping 284 more than anyone else!
In the Champions League, no-one flies quite like current holders All Star Gunners. They’ve won 24 CL games, five more than any other team, and this week they became the first team to score over 1,500 in the tournament.
Finally, there are five teams that have passed the 10,000-points mark in all competitions – Bigo1 (11,103), Sporting Wicker Park (10,933), KH Granitza Sting FC (10,424), SB Town UAOB (10,162) and Vanishing Spray (10,146). Kudos.
“It’s clearly a budget, it’s got a lot of numbers in it.”
– George W. Bush
Premier League
Five of the top six won this week. Boss, in third, lost to FC Santa Barbara, in fourth, giving up third place in the process. FCSB got their own back in some style, returning with a 17-point thrashing to avenge a 12-point loss from the last set. The other team to requite a loss this week was Bigger than Brolin who, with one of the lowest winning scores this week, took three points away from a Vanishing Spray side that beat them 59-31 in GW4. MFF ended ASG’s 4-game win streak and their own 5-game losing streak with a 9-point victory and “move” from joint-sixth to joint-fifth. Kinda.
So the top four remain only a point apart. Next week, Smash & Grab play Vanishing Spray, who drew with them in GW5. Spray later beat them twice in the Champions League, but Smash will no doubt claim that they’re focusing solely on the League this season. And why wouldn’t they, sitting second only on matchpoints. The team at the top, Money, are also playing a team they drew with earlier in the season. They tied 34-34 with Boss in the CL QF’s, before Money knocked them out in the second leg.
Championship
The game of the week was won by League leaders Tralfamadore Zoo 47-27. Their lead at the top is now six points (plus a 70 matchpoint advantage for good measure). AFC Chester’s struggle continues into their fourth week of a losing streak and GoFYS beat Chucky Pad Warriors, pulling them level on points with second and help CPW slide into the relegation zone. Banana Swans did their bit too, their win over ELU lifted them up into seventh.
Next week AFC Chester will look to change their fortunes against East Loop United, a team they beat 38-33 last time they met. Top plays bottom with Branwellington hoping to repeat their shock 10-point win over the Zoo. The other two teams in the relegation zone play each other for a chance to escape, or come close to escaping, while Banana Swans will be looking to gain momentum and keep GoFYS from challenging for second.
League One
Cornballers took home a big win last weekend and extend their lead at the top to a comfortable five-points. RelicFC move off the bottom of the table for the first time this season and move out of the relegation zone in one big jump.
Next week Cornballers take on a struggling Web City that havent won since GW6; KH Granitza Sting play Hung LaB with both teams level on points in second and third. Some distance back in fourth, Cabezazo play tenth-placed stilluvQPR and Goleta, just a shade behind in fifth, play Relic who are now themselves within reach of sixth place. Currently in sixth, just one point behind Cabezazo and Goleta, Bacuna Matata have a grudge match with Route 57 and will have their eyes on the Champions League qualifying places.
League Two
Tiger Tail, Harambe and The Globes all won this week and make up the top three going into the busy fortnight ahead. Yer Man broke their 7-game losing streak to return to the top half of the table and keep Sugar Daddies rooted to the bottom. Chicken and Bacon beat Gloopy Yarbles for the first time after losing all five of their previous encounters.
Nine weeks ago there were a few close games in League Two. Wijnaldum beat C’n’B Sané by a point. Today, they are level on League points and both fighting to get away from the bottom three.
Nine weeks ago, Tiger Tail beat Sugar Daddies by two, leaving them second and third. This weekend they will play as top and bottom of the League, eight wins apart. Since that close call in Week 5, TTR have won seven and lost one, whereas Sugar have won one and lost seven.
Gloopy started GW5 in fourth place, one win behind third but with a better points tally. They also start GW14 in that same scenario but this time they’re against a Hotspur team that are in second-place-limbo, unable to drop down but weeks and weeks behind top spot.
National League
Currently the tightest league of the five, the gap between top and bottom was made even smaller this week as the top two lost and Slab Head FC beat fellow strugglers Gooners to climb off the bottom for the first time since GW7. Wins for DS7 and Cumberland bring them level on points with second place and wins for Ole’s at the Wheel and Katner FC bring them to within a win of stealing second place too. Katner, who have not been affected by the low-scoring weeks recently, are the Association’s top-scoring team for the second week running.
Housewives’ Favourite play Cumberland tomorrow. A win for the Favourite would keep them top, but a loss would move them below the Northerners, who also beat them by three in the last set. Chi Spurs play the resurgent Slab Heads; Diego Stamos 7 could go top if they beat in-form OatWheel; the Gooners face a difficult game against the hard-hitting, high-scoring Katner and Jaysokker play K&R with both teams needing points to move closer to the dizzying heights of mid-table.
Say Something About This