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Match Results |
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| Jul, 12 2008 |
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| Bintangs vs Navy 2008 |
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In the navy, you can sail the seven seas.
In the navy, you can put your mind at ease.
In the navy, the Bintangs will make you look like pansies.
A number of questions are asked when the Navy come to town. Why are they here? Does anyone know where the Trophy is? Do they have a good footy side? As it turns out they were here for no particular reason, the trophy was at Aphros, and they didn’t have a good footy side. On only 1 of the previous 4 occasions have the sailor boys managed to get their name on the trophy, and in 2008 the Tangs were not about to allow them a second. Come on a journey with me as I unravel the weekend from the classy cocktail party hosted by the Navy Friday night, to the drunken debaucheries after match show hosted by the Bintangs.
COCKTAILS
While most of the team were mentally preparing themself for the big game the following day, The coach, The Landlord, and yours truly The Little Master were making their way to a cocktail party hosted on arguably Asian football’s best function centre, the HMAS Diamantina. Upon entering Jakarta’s biggest working harbour the three of us were pleasantly surprised by the order and cleanliness of the premises. Wait, order and cleanliness are not the right words...Chaos and rubbish. The three of us were unsurprised by the chaos and rubbish around the port. Poor lighting, old shipping containers, patrolling security guards, all that was missing was a shady business deal and some bad pop music and we could have been in an 80’s cop movie. As excited as I was at the prospect of being Axel Foley in Beverly Hills Cop there were no time for games, we representing the Bintangs after all.
The boat had been turned out immaculately, the crew were all dressed in their best whites, and the beer had been on ice for at least a couple of hours. If we were ever wondering how to make a touring party feel welcome we could do a lot worse than take a leaf out the Navy book. I almost felt guilty about beating them so badly the following day. Almost. As the bottomless esky began to run dry and the seemingly endless supply of hors d'oeuvres came to an end, we decided it was the perfect time to introduce our sailing counterparts to some of Jakarta’s finest nightlife. After a quick starter at the Bintang favourite, Aphros, we directed the boys to B.A.T.S, X2 and any other venue that would guarantee a suitable hangover for the game, before heading home ourselves for a good night sleep.
THE GAME
After arriving early it’s fair to say the Bintangs were a little pensive. Whilst our opposition did look a little hungover they also looked big, that being said most people look big in my eyes. We didn’t know anything about our opposition all we could do was prepare and execute our own game plan, which is exactly what we did. We ran the footy, had good intensity, and hit our targets. Smouch was dominating, Bandy, Yatesy and MJ were untouchable, Fester refused to move from the ‘G’ spot, and the back line was as impregnable as a medieval stone fortress to a band of ill-equipped foot soldiers. Across the park, from back to front and top to bottom. Whichever way you look at it, everyone won their position.
I was going to deconstruct the game quarter by quarter, but in the end there’s just no point. We led by 6 goals at quarter time, 7 at half, 11 at the turn for home, and a cool 15 goals at the final siren. When a team loses by such a margin it’s probably hard to find a lot of good things to say about their game, but I can say this. They were tough. Maybe not the best footballers but certainly knew how to make us earn our kicks, from the moment we picked the footy up to the point of disposal they kept the pressure on. Special mention must also go to Mick W, who in his first ever game consistently found himself in the right spots and was responsible for at least 2 of our goals.
With a final score of 22 – 3, just goes to show why new coach MJ stresses to consistently find the ‘G’ spot and begs the question, Jakarta Bintangs; arguably Asian football’s straightest kicking team??
POST MATCH
Undoubtable the highlight of the post match function was the ease at which the Navy boys were able to convince Jerry to not only repeatedly hit himself in the back of the head, but even get a run up before hitting himself in the back of the head. All it took was the moist indent of a 500rp coin. Congratulations Jerry, 23 hits before you realised there was no coin... It’s a new record.
Unlike earlier in the day the post match boat race was a close affair, also unlike earlier the Tangs heartbreakingly went down by mere seconds. Training and discipline is required before the champs in Singapore. As the night rolled on and the beers continued to flow there was a sudden and unexpected turn of events.... We went to X2. I’d like to tell you more about the night but the fact of the matter is, I just can’t remember, but I hear Bintangs were involved in some late night illegal trolley drag racing, before feeling the wrath of the establishment. Big thanks must go to the Navy for coming to town and MJ, Bandy and anyone else involved in the organising. It was a great game, and a good day all round.
SCORES
Bintangs 7.0 11.1 15.2 22.3
Navy 1.2 4.4 4.7 7.8
GOALS
Fester 7, Bandy 5, Butcher 4, Bob 2, Yatesy 2, Reece, Wally
BEST (Unofficial) Bandy, Bob (Navy), Yatesy, Reece, Sick Mick |
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