Dear All,

As we prepare to enter the busy festive period, our leader at Christmas is Brother kelly with flexysmidniterunners.

Looking back over the past two seasons, the leader at Christmas time in 2007 was Prince of Darkness (now in the Conference League) and Minus Three FC (currently bottom of the league).

Neither team, of course, went on to win the title that year. So, Flexy, the omens are good lad. be prepared for a tough few years ahead!!!

Out of interest, last year's winner was 9th at Christmas, while the previous season's winner was 7th at Christmas.

Therefore, recent trends tell us that this year's winner will be Brother Crudden's Bleedin' Red, Brother Shields' Blue Monkeys or Brother McDermott's Sofa King Easy. Scrap that theory then! ;-)

Anyway, all the above goes to show is that nothing is decided at this point in the season and what's to say 2010 won't see a total reversal of the pre-Christmas form. As I've said many times, and yes I WILL say it again, anything can happen...........

.......... and it usually does!

Back to the Premiership and Flexy is being chased by the Grapes of Raff, Gazza's Piping Hots and Ibiza Town FC, with a slight gap then to the improving Diaby Does Dallas and Probably the Best.

Apart from Cherry United, there are a couple of very surprising names in the relegation zone - namely bottom-placed Minus Three Fc and, even worse, defending champion Harpic Amsterdam!!!

However, they'll be happy to see the likes of the Busted Sofas, True Blue Strikers, KFC Academical and Kirbs Crawlers ahead of them. If you can't catch that lot, then you deserve to go down!

Turning our attention reluctantly to the Conference league, an amazing turnaround has seen the Prince of Darkness open up a 29 point lead over Joey's Monsters who themselves had a clear lead only a couple of weeks ago.

Brother McCabe remains second but is now under pressure from the Rio Chargers, Hoofers Utd and Dirty Dubs XI, all of whom are closing in fast. Yes it looks like we have a promotion battle on our hands.

Con Villa is still stranded at the bottom of the table, now joined in the bottom three by brother Austin and the Red Cherry Devils.

This week's highest scorer was Brotehr Brogan with an impressive 86 points, narrowly pipping Brother Sheehy's 85 points and Brother O'Sullivan (aka Chuckle Brother Junior) whose score of 82 has leapfrogged him from the relegation zone to 12th position!!! Surely this is a lesson to everyone in what can be achieved in one week.

The worst scorer of the week was the Blue Monkeys by a distance on 23 points - followed by drinking buddies Arnie (is he really fourth from bottom now?) with 34 and Baz with 37.

So that's about it my friends - our last score update before Christmas.

Tomorrow, Brother Johnston and I will be conducting the draw for the Preliminary Round of the FFA Cup - which as always will feature only teams in the Conference League as they battle it out to join the big boys in the first round proper (i.e., last 32).

In the meantime........

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


Michael R.
Diving in the Box FF League Chairman
http://divinginthebox.blogspot.com/


DITB PREMIER LEAGUE

Pos. Manager (Team Name) Week Pts Total Pts National Pos.
1 Brendan Kelly (flexysmidniterunners) 53 669 9970
2 Michael Rafferty (The Grapes of Raff) 51 661 12731
3 Gary McDonald (Gazzas Piping Hots) 70 653 16209
4 Kurt Festraerts (Ibiza Town FC) 52 650 17607
5 Paul Brogan (Diaby Does Dallas) 86 623 34362
6 Mark Stevenson (Probably the best) 45 622 35128
7 Declan Crudden (Bleedin Red) 48 616 39917
8 Brian Shields (The Blue Monkeys) 23 610 45054
9 John McDermott (Sofa King Easy) 71 605 49470
10 Brendan Devlin (Brendys Bruisers) 57 603 51208
11 Conor Walls (Support your own LFC) 49 588 65327
12 Owen McNally (Maclacticos) 41 584 69347
13 Francis Jones (Yer Mas Athletic) 46 579 74334
14 Andy Kirby (Kirbs Crawlers) 66 576 77436
14 Kevin McCauley (KFC Academical) 39 576 77436
16 Jules Eilledge (True Blue Strikers) 57 571 82481
17 Conor Donnelly (The Busted Sofas) 73 564 89593
18 Mark Molloy (Harpic Amsterdam) 61 559 94516
19 William Cherry (Cherry United) 56 549 104322
20 Geoff Johnston (Minus Three FC) 50 545 108082

The average points scored in your league is: 651. The league position is: 2189.



CONFERENCE LEAGUE

Pos. Manager (Team Name) Week Pts Total Pts National Pos.
1 Gavin Sheehy (Prince of Darkness) 85 661 12731
2 Andrew McCabe (Joeys Monsters) 45 632 27949
3 Andrew Jenkins (The Rio Chargers) 59 630 29305
4 Gareth Bradley (Hoofers UTD) 59 626 32141
5 Alan McCabe (Dirty Dubs XI) 72 621 35903
6 Colm Mckenna (mugsys barber) 62 612 43278
7 Brendan Henry (SOMEMAN4ONEMAN) 54 608 46787
8 Simon Jenkins (Stickshifter United) 45 603 51208
9 Philip Risley (LIQUIDATOR FC) 60 601 52964
10 Brendan Henry (GULLADUFF FF) 74 587 66318
11 Barry Corr (bazkinginglory) 37 582 71344
12 S P O'Sullivan (LICENCE TO ROAM) 82 570 83526
13 Conor Nugent (the well hungarians) 51 568 85572
14 Barry Jones (Gunning For Glory) 53 558 95523
15 Claire McCabe (Minibabybelle FC) 56 555 98452
16 Arnold Thom (Inshallah) 34 551 102371
17 Austin McGinley (Boys Of Summer) 54 546 107094
18 Christopher Cherry (Red Cherry Devils) 46 542 110867
19 Connell McGinley (Con Villa) 52 505 140487

The average points scored in your league is: 634. The league position is: 3474.

Dear All,

As another exciting weekend of Fantasy Football approaches, it's time once again to look at the scores on the doors in the DITB Premier and Conference Leagues.

In the Premiership, The Blue Monkeys have taken over the top spot and look likely to remain there, having witnessed Chelsea's ruthless demolition of Arsenal.

Yes the blues are looking like strong contenders for both titles - but while Chelsea have experience of winning the top prize, Brother Shields has only 'won' the Dalkon Shield to date - the prize, you may remember, for the king of mid-table mediocrity.

Undoubtedly, the Monkeys have come a long way since those halcion days and Shieldsy has a burning determination to succeed - but it remains to see if he'll have a burning hole in his keks once the pressure is on.

There are some wiley campaigners on his tail, including the Grapes of Raff and the professor's Ibiza Town FC, just waiting for The Monkeys to slip up.

Probably The Best, in his first premier league season, is holding his own (not for the first time I hear!) in fourth position, having won a Conference League / FFA Cup double last season. Brother Stevenson has shown already that he has bottle and can't be discounted for the title at this stage.

In the relegation zone, Cherry United are bottom of the table, one point behind the Busted Sofas and eight points behind Kirbs Crawlers and defending champion Harpic Amsterdam.

Brother Molloy's title win of last season is already looking like a total fluke - but there is a long way to go and plenmty of time to turn things around.

In the Conference League, Joey's Monsters have set a furious pace and are almost 50 points clear of second place. Brother McCabe is a hot favourite to escape the cess pit this season while the rest fight it out for the remaining two places.

And a close battle it is too with just 30 points separating the next nine teams.

Already, Con Villa looks stranded at the bottom of the table while Paddy Sulls' LICENSE TO ROAM team doesn't look like it will be roaming out of the relegation zone any time soon.

Like father like son, Cherry Junior's Red Cherry Devils, despite an excellent score this week, have that look of relegation fodder about them.

Top scorers this week were KFC Academical on 64 points, ahead of The Grapes of Raff on 63 and the aforementioned Red Cherry Devils on 62.

Arsenal fans LICENSE TO ROAM and Kirbs Crawlers scored just 2 and 5 points respectively, while Musgy's Barber clocked up 10 points.

So, apart from Joey's Monsters, the tables remain quite tight and the chairman's tip is don;t panic - so much can happen in one week.

The season is still but a pup and won't be over until the fully grown beast barks.

Until next week my friends.........

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

Michael R.

Diving in the Box FF League Chairman

http://divinginthebox.blogspot.com/

DITB PREMIER LEAGUE

Pos.	Manager (Team Name)	Week Pts	Total Pts	National Pos.
1	Brian Shields (The Blue Monkeys)	54	562	5678
2	Michael Rafferty (The Grapes of Raff)	63	558	6593
3	Brendan Kelly (flexysmidniterunners)	35	541	12080
4	Mark Stevenson (Probably the best)	55	527	18626
5	Kurt Festraerts (Ibiza Town FC)	40	526	19176
6	Gary McDonald (Gazzas Piping Hots)	40	516	25293
7	Owen McNally (Maclacticos)	43	499	38360
8	Declan Crudden (Bleedin Red)	45	487	49717
9	Kevin McCauley (KFC Academical)	64	485	51672
10	Conor Walls (Support your own LFC)	33	484	52756
11	Paul Brogan (Diaby Does Dallas)	40	480	56881
12	John McDermott (Sofa King Easy)	49	470	67568
13	Brendan Devlin (Brendys Bruisers)	31	467	71062
13	Francis Jones (Yer Mas Athletic)	39	467	71062
15	Jules Eilledge (True Blue Strikers)	47	463	75695
16	Geoff Johnston (Minus Three FC)	38	450	90801
17	Mark Molloy (Harpic Amsterdam)	31	448	93000
17	Andy Kirby (Kirbs Crawlers)	5	448	93000
19	Conor Donnelly (The Busted Sofas)	26	441	101089
20	William Cherry (Cherry United)	34	440	102197

The average points scored in your league is: 542. The league position is: 1278.

DITB CONFERENCE LEAGUE

Pos.	Manager (Team Name)	Week Pts	Total Pts	National Pos.
1	Andrew McCabe (Joeys Monsters)	48	563	5453
2	Brendan Henry (SOMEMAN4ONEMAN)	40	514	26686
3	Simon Jenkins (Stickshifter United)	46	504	34228
4	Barry Corr (bazkinginglory)	51	503	35043
5	Colm Mckenna (mugsys barber)	10	498	39225
5	Andrew Jenkins (The Rio Chargers)	49	498	39225
7	Gareth Bradley (Hoofers UTD)	53	492	44768
8	Philip Risley (LIQUIDATOR FC)	49	489	47682
9	Gavin Sheehy (Prince of Darkness)	48	484	52756
9	Arnold Thom (Inshallah)	41	484	52756
11	Alan McCabe (Dirty Dubs XI)	16	477	59996
12	Conor Nugent (the well hungarians)	33	474	63131
13	Barry Jones (Gunning For Glory)	36	471	66476
14	Brendan Henry (GULLADUFF FF)	41	446	95297
15	Claire McCabe (Minibabybelle FC)	36	437	105583
16	Austin McGinley (Boys Of Summer)	33	427	116515
17	Christopher Cherry (Red Cherry Devils)	62	418	125703
18	S P O'Sullivan (LICENCE TO ROAM)	2	410	133282
19	Connell McGinley (Con Villa)	21	377	156782

The average points scored in your league is: 516. The league position is: 3233.