Dear All,

At last, the international break is over and managers will be checking their team news to see if any of their star players have picked up a dreaded injury whilst on duty for their country.

It's the bane of a FF manager's life- after all who pays these bloody players' wages!!!

Anyway, as we prepare to get back to battle, with just eight weeks gone, we have one team making all the running at the top of the Premiership.

flexysmidniterunners are definitely on a roll and a 46 point haul before the break took their overall lead to 27 points - with the chairman and Guru Walls in second and third place.

Defending champ Harpic Amsterdam hasn;t had the best of starts and lies in 16th position but with less than 100 points separating the top 18 there's no point in getting hung up on positions at this early stage.

Still, I wouldn't like to be the Busted Sofas or True Blue Strikers would you?

In the Conferene League, it looks like the Prince of Darkness could be in for another eventful season. One minute he's struggling, the next he's at the top of the table. How did that happen???

The race for promotion gets tougher every year and this year promises to be an absolute bloodfest.

The Prince will be dying to get straight back up, and newcomers Inshallah will want to prove that their lofty position is not purely beginners' luck.

Some have tried, come close and failed to get out of this division, including Bazking, License to Roam, Joey's Monsters, Boys of Summer, etc.

Others have enjoyed the sweet taste of success in the elite Premier League and would cut off their right arms, and more besides, to get back to the promised land.

Anyway, I must head off now for a night's hob nobbing at the NI Travel & Tourism Awards.

Before I go, this week's top scorer was Dirty Dubs XI (53) followed by flexysmidniterunners (46) and Joey's Monsters (44).

In the 'piss poor pants' category this week are Gulladuff FF (12) alongside Minus Three FC and The Busted Sofas (each scoring 13 points).

So that's it for now. Hopefully, with the internationals over, we can settle into the season proper.

There's a long long way to go.

Until next week............

.............. READ 'EM AND WEEP!!!

Michael R.

Diving in the Box FF League Chairman

http://divinginthebox.blogspot.com/

DITB PREMIER LEAGUE

Pos		Manager	Team	Week 8 Pts.	Total Pts.	League Pos
1		Mr Brendan Kelly	flexysmidniterunners	46	345	3288
2	*	Mr Michael Rafferty	The Grapes of Raff	32	318	14090
3		Mr Conor Walls	Support your own LFC	27	313	17730
4		Mr Gary McDonald	Gazzas Piping Hots	19	304	25875
5		Mr John McDermott	Sofa King Easy	26	302	27898
6		Mr Mark Stevenson	Probably the best	27	298	32341
7		Mr Paul Brogan	Diaby Does Dallas	16	290	42344
8		Mr Kurt Festraerts	Ibiza Town FC	37	290	42344
9		Mr Brendan Devlin	Brendys Bruisers	17	289	43700
10		Mr Brian Shields	The Blue Monkeys	42	288	45093
11		Dr Owen McNally	Maclacticos	39	283	52323
12		Mr Kevin McCauley	KFC Academical	25	278	60072
13		Mr Francis Jones	Yer Mas Athletic	37	277	61680
14		Mr Declan Crudden	Bleedin Red	28	275	64836
15		Mr Andy Kirby	Kirbs Crawlers	31	268	76367
16		Mr Mark Molloy	Harpic Amsterdam	18	260	89814
17		Mr Geoff Johnston	Minus Three FC	13	257	94834
18		Mr William Cherry	Cherry United	14	250	106233
19		Mr Jules Eilledge	True Blue Strikers	29	238	124632
20		Mr Conor Donnelly	The Busted Sofas	13	238	124632

League Average	League Position
316.40	1810

DITB CONFERENCE LEAGUE

Pos	C	Manager	Team	Week 8 Pts.	Total Pts.	League Pos
1		Mr Gavin Sheehy	Prince of Darkness	43	317	14779
2		Mr Arnold Thom	Inshallah	39	316	15505
3		Mr Andrew McCabe	Joeys Monsters	44	308	21940
4		Mr Andrew Jenkins	The Rio Chargers	40	305	24829
5		Mr Barry Corr	bazkinginglory	37	303	26847
6		Mr Barry Jones	Gunning For Glory	46	300	30063
7		Mr Brendan Henry	SOMEMAN4ONEMAN	29	296	34755
8		Mr Gareth Bradley	Hoofers UTD	25	293	38444
9		Mr Simon Jenkins	Stickshifter United	24	291	41016
10		Mr Alan McCabe	Dirty Dubs XI	53	281	55367
11		Mr Philip Risley	LIQUIDATOR FC	26	277	61680
12	*	Mr Conor Nugent	the well hungarians	15	275	64836
13		Mr Austin McGinley	Boys Of Summer	16	262	86503
14		Mr Colm Mckenna	mugsys barber	30	260	89814
15		Mr Connell McGinley	Con Villa	33	249	107804
16		Mr Brendan Henry	GULLADUFF FF	12	246	112600
17		Mr S P O'Sullivan	LICENCE TO ROAM	40	244	115705
18		Mrs Claire McCabe	Minibabybelle FC	30	241	120158
19		Mr Christopher Cherry	Red Cherry Devils	18	225	141592

League Average	League Position
309.80	2580