Dear All,

Ooh I could crush a grape!

The first round of the FFA Cup has come and gone and we have some shocks in store for teams involved.

As Man Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and Everton all kiss goodbye to the FA Cup, so too have some big names in the DITB world.

And just as Reading, Derby & co progress to the last 16, so too have a number of crap teams made it through in our own FFA Cup!!!

It's been a high scoring weekend, leading to some very high scoring encounters - and some heart breaking results.

The following is not for the faint hearted... you have been warned!

Cherry Utd (P13) 36 vs 55 Hoofers Utd (C5)

Conference leaguers Hoofers Utd put paid to Cherry the Elder's hopes in our first Conference vs Premiership clash. Shame on you Cherry!! Congratulations to Brother Bradley whose decent form continues.

License 2 Roam (C12) 52 vs 40 The Blue Monkeys (P8)

Another Premiership team bites the dust at the hands of Conference League opposition as Ancelotti plays musical chairs at the back and Chuckle Brother junior rams home his advantage. Devastation in the Blue Monkeys camp but jubilation for the Roamers - despite watching the gooners succumb to Delap & co yesterday. I know Paddy didn't mean to put a scud on his beloved Arsenal but maybe his quote at the ACP will indeed come back to haunt him? (“You heard it here first – Arsenal will win everything! Yip, Champions League, Premiership and FA Cup!”)

Minibabybelle FC (C13) 66 vs 45 KFC Academical (P12)

What is going on here!!! Brother McCauley is not only beaten by a girl, but a girl in the bottom half of the Conference!!! Congratulations Claire. So far it's Conference 3 Premiership 0!!!!!!!

Flexysmidniterunners (P3) 60 vs 43 Stickshifter Utd (C14)

High flying Flexy scores a victory for the Premier League at last with a comprehensive win over Stickshifter Utd, who failed to live up to his preliminary round promise.

Dirty Dubs XI (C8) 34 vs 56 Joeys Monsters (C1)

The Battle of the McCabe brothers ends with comfortable win for the fancied Joey's Monsters, with Andy joining his missus in the next round!

SOMEMAN4ONEMAN (C7) 53 vs 51 Bleedin Red (P6)

It's the awkwardly-named Brother Henry Snr who claims another Prem scalp in the Battle of Gulladuff- by a mere two point margin. If only Evra hadn't been subbed Dec? Or just that one booking too many?

Support Your Own LFC (P14) 44 vs 38 The Well Hungarians (C17)

His score of just 44 points would have lost every other match to date but Guru Walls will count his lucky stars that he was drawn against a team as shit as the Well Hungarians. Victory for the Premiership but not one to be proud of!

Kirbs Crawlers (P19) 35 vs 54 Maclacticos (P18)

At this year's ACP, Brother Kirby pronounced that his team was too good to go down"! Unfortunately, they're not too good to go out of the FFA Cup!!! The Doc McNally made sure of that with an easy away win. Still so confident Kirbs?

Minus Three FC (P16) 73 vs 56 Ibiza Town FC (P1)

High scoring Brother Johnston springs a major upset with a fantastic win over the hotly fancied Professor and his Ibiza Town mob. Nothing left for Brother Festraerts to do now but turn his attentions to the premiership and, as he claimed at the ACP, “just sit at the top watching everybody else trying to catch me!" Like the rest of you, I too am gutted that the league is already over.

Yer Ma's Athletic (P15) 63 vs 62 Gazzas Piping Hots (P5)

I almost cried as I typed this... it's just so cruel. No-one deserved to lose this battle of the old Conference rivals but Brother Jones has once again emerged the victor - by a single solitary point!!! Brother Gazza now has his very own Nemesis.

Gunning for Glory (C15) 69 vs 72 The Rio Chargers (C3)

Ouch!!! The gunners lose at home despite scoring 69 points as the Rio Chargers squeeze through - surelt the tie of the round. Not much consolation for Brother Jones II though!

Inshallah (C4) 65 vs 48 Sofa King Easy (P7)

Brother Arnie is definitely back in top scoring form with a home thrashing of former champ Sofa King Easy. Brother McDermott becomes the fifth Premiership manager to fall to Conference League opposition.

Diaby Does Dalla (P9) 66 vs 48 The Busted Sofas (P17)

Not a good weekend for teams with the word 'sofa' in their name as Brother Brogan cruises past Brother Donnelly. Foregone conclusion really.

Prince of Darkness (C2) 60 vs 64 The Grapes of Raff (P2)

It was billed as a potential tie of the round and it certainly lived up to that billing. Bad news though for the Prince of Darkness as The Grapes squeeze through by the narrowest of margins (well almost!). Honest guv... I thought I was out!!! The Chairman is suitably delighted while The Prince can now concentrate on winning promotion. Unlike many others, The Grapes restore some pride to the Premiership.

True Blue Strikers (P10) 35 vs 66 Brendys Bruisers (P11)

Easy peazy lemon squeezy for the Bruisers with a comfortable away win.

Harpic Amsterdam (P20) 44 vs 64 Probably The Best (P4)

It's been an awful season so far for Brother Molloy and that shows no sign of easing up as his cup campaign falls at the first hurdle. Defending cup champion Brother Stevenson wins the DITB's very own charity shield. Could someone send Harpic a number for the samaritans?

So that concludes the results of the first round proper of the Diving in the Box FFA Cup.

The draw for the second round will take place tomorrow.

To remind you, the 16 teams going into that draw (and just four games away from lifting the cup) are as follows:

Hoofers Utd (C)

License 2 Roam (C)

Minibabybelle FC (C)

Flexysmidniterunners (P)

Joeys Monsters (C)

Someman4oneman (C)

Support Your Own LFC (P)

Maclacticos (P)

Minus Three FC (P)

Yer Ma's Athletic (P)

The Rio Chargers (C)

Inshallah (C)

Diaby Does Dallas (P)

The Grapes of Raff (P)

Brendy's Bruisers (P)

Probably The Best (P)

A total of nine Premiership teams and seven Conference teams will go into the hat with ties to be played on the weekend of February 13/14.

Congratulations again to all our winners and good luck in the next round.

Cheers,

Michael R.

Diving in the Box FF League Chairman

http://divinginthebox.blogspot.com/

Dear All,

Welcome to Belfast and the live draw for the first round proper of the DIVING IN THE BOX FFA CUP.

This year, I will once again be ably assisted by independent adjudicator Brother Johnston (Minus Three FC).

Brother Johnston will draw the home teams while my good self will draw the away teams.

This year's prize will be £50 for the winner as well as the coveted FFA Cup trophy, currently held by Brother Stevenson (Probably The Best)

Runner-up gets zilch, diddly squat, sweet FA, BFH... bus fare home, nothing in this game for two in a bed... etc, etc, etc.

Anyway, to repeat the rules...

To coincide with the fourth round of the cup, the first round of our very own FFA Cup randomly pits one team directly against another in a knock-out situation.

Our 16 winners will progress to the second round and so on, with each round coinciding with that of the English FA Cup - right up until the final.

The winner of each match will be the team that scores the most points in that particular week.

In the event of a draw, there will be a replay between the teams concerned the following week. If, in the unlikely event, of another draw, then the team with home advantage will go through.

We have 20 Premier League teams in the hat, alongside 12 Conference League teams so will we witness any giant killing feats?

Will there be any close friends or allies pitted against each other in the first round?

Will teams sacrifice their league position for the chance of FFA Cup glory?

There's only one way to find out...

Brother Johnston, can you stop playing with your balls and start the actual draw....................

Cool Dude Zoo, I'm not sure if you still exist any more but if so can you give us a feckin' drum roll....................

Before we kick off, every team's league position is in brackets beside their name (for example, P8 means eighth in the Premier League, while C5 means a crappy battery powered car designed by Sir Clive Sinclair - I hope I draw that one!!!).

And we're off. Just scroll down.....

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Cherry Utd (P13) vs Hoofers Utd (C5)

And we kick off with a Premier v Conference battle of the uniteds - and there goes the Clive Sinclair car!! :-(

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License 2 Roam (C12) vs The Blue Monkeys (P8)

Another Prem vs Conf tie - and a juicy one at that. Hopefully both teams have recovered sufficiently from the weekend's ACP to field a full strength team. Early possibility for tie of the round.

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Minibabybelle FC (C13) vs KFC Academical (P12)

We all know how Brother McCauley loves the pressure of playing against a girl (no offence Claire!) - especially when they're in a lower league too!!!

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Flexysmidniterunners (P3) vs Stickshifter Utd (C14)

High flying Flexy fancies his chances but Stickshifter scored 71 points in his preliminary round tie! That puts a different perspective on things, doesn't it?

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Dirty Dubs XI (C8) vs Joeys Monsters (C1)

Ouch!!!! Battle of the McCabe brothers. Could get ugly - but what else would you expect from a match between two Conference teams. Avoid like the plague if you don;t want to be caught in the crossfire!

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SOMEMAN4ONEMAN (C7) vs Bleedin Red (P6)

Another tie that keeps it in the family as Brothers Henry Snr and Crudden battle it out for bragging rights in Gulladuff. Can Brother Henry please give us all an explanation of that horrible team name?

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Support Your Own LFC (P14) vs The Well Hungarians (C17)

A good local derby to whet the appetite as Brothers Walls and Nugent clash head on! The guru will fancy his chances but the only thing the Chairman can predict is that there will be a lot of crying from Brother Nujo if he loses. And for the last time... NO!!!! THE WINNER OF THE FFA CUP DOES NOT GET PROMOTED!!!!!!

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Kirbs Crawlers (P19) vs Maclacticos (P18)

Two of the worst teams in the Premiership do battle in an effort to try and salvage something out of a piss poor season to date.

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Minus Three FC (P16) vs Ibiza Town FC (P1)

Brother Johnston gets the worst possible draw - a home tie against The Professor / aka Brother Festraerts / aka Premiership leader. Can Johnston spring an upset - very interesting tie!!!

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Yer Ma's Athletic (P15) vs Gazzas Piping Hots (P5)

Old Conference rivals do battle again with Brother Gaz on a revenge mission. McDonald has adapted to the Premiership better than Brother Jones and must be fancied.

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Gunning for Glory (C15) vs The Rio Chargers (C3)

Another all Conference clash. Enough said really.

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Inshallah (C4) vs Sofa King Easy (P7)

Tough away tie for stalwart McDermott away to Brother Arnie who will be cock-a-hoop (or have his cock in hoops) after scoring 70 points in the prelim round. Intriguing!

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Diaby Does Dalla (P9) vs The Busted Sofas (P17)

Although both sides are in the Premiership, Brother Brogan will fancy his chances at home to the struggling sofas.

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Prince of Darkness (C2) vs The Grapes of Raff (P2)

Ouch again!!! Another local derby as second in the Conference takes on second in the Premier League. Can Cheeko spring an upset on the Chairman - another tie of the round candidate.

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True Blue Strikers (P10) vs Brendys Bruisers (P11)

A true battle of mid-table mediocrity. Too tight to call.

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Harpic Amsterdam (P20) vs Probably The Best (P4)

And finally, another cracking tie as defending Premier League champion (champ turned chump anyone?) takes on the defending Cup (and Conference) winner. It's like our very own DITB Charity Shield. Hard to believe but Stevenson must be favourite on paper - who would have imagined that a year ago. Come on Molloy - get your act together!!!

So that concludes the draw for the first round proper of the Diving in the Box FFA Cup. Ties to be played on the weekend of January 23 / 24 (inclduing tonight's matches).

There you have it folks! The countdown is on again to FFA Cup glory. Anyone can win a one-off game and the magic of the cup should ensure that we have plenty of thrills and spills at the end of the month.

I'm looking forward to the pre-match mind games which I hope will be put on screen for all to see. Let me know your thoughts too on the tie of the round.

Thanks to Brother Johnston for his assistance. Good luck to one and all.

This week's league tables are posted below so..........

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

Michael R.

Diving in the Box FF League Chairman

http://divinginthebox.blogspot.com/

DITB PREMIER LEAGUE

Pos.	C	Manager	Team	Week 23 Pts.	Points	Overall Pos.
1		Mr Kurt Festraerts	Ibiza Town FC	63	894	2580
2	*	Mr Michael Rafferty	The Grapes of Raff	52	871	5735
3		Mr Brendan Kelly	flexysmidniterunners	62	848	11230
4		Mr Mark Stevenson	Probably the best	56	818	23251
5		Mr Gary McDonald	Gazzas Piping Hots	48	812	26443
6		Mr Declan Crudden	Bleedin Red	59	808	28630
7		Mr John McDermott	Sofa King Easy	49	799	34042
8		Mr Brian Shields	The Blue Monkeys	48	795	36449
9		Mr Paul Brogan	Diaby Does Dallas	51	779	47390
10		Mr Jules Eilledge	True Blue Strikers	55	762	60261
11		Mr Brendan Devlin	Brendys Bruisers	33	760	61870
12		Mr Kevin McCauley	KFC Academical	53	755	65819
13		Mr William Cherry	Cherry United	55	754	66655
14		Mr Conor Walls	Support your own LFC	52	751	69137
15		Mr Francis Jones	Yer Mas Athletic	47	750	69967
16		Mr Geoff Johnston	Minus Three FC	47	737	80555
17		Mr Conor Donnelly	The Busted Sofas	55	731	85567
18		Dr Owen McNally	Maclacticos	36	728	87971
19		Mr Andy Kirby	Kirbs Crawlers	55	720	94653
20		Mr Mark Molloy	Harpic Amsterdam	42	713	100254

DITB CONFERENCE LEAGUE

Pos.	C	Manager	Team	Week 23 Pts.	Points	Overall Pos.
1		Mr Andrew McCabe	Joeys Monsters	55	831	17352
2		Mr Gavin Sheehy	Prince of Darkness	56	824	20336
3		Mr Andrew Jenkins	The Rio Chargers	55	807	29211
4		Mr Arnold Thom	Inshallah	72	797	35283
5		Mr Gareth Bradley	Hoofers UTD	66	795	36449
6		Mr Philip Risley	LIQUIDATOR FC	55	786	42398
7		Mr Brendan Henry	SOMEMAN4ONEMAN	45	773	51788
8		Mr Alan McCabe	Dirty Dubs XI	49	765	57862
8		Mr Christopher Cherry	Red Cherry Devils	50	765	57862
10		Mr Colm Mckenna	mugsys barber	36	760	61870
11		Mr Brendan Henry	GULLADUFF FF	48	758	63442
12		Mr S P O'Sullivan	LICENCE TO ROAM	48	754	66655
13		Mrs Claire McCabe	Minibabybelle FC	61	751	69137
14		Mr Simon Jenkins	Stickshifter United	71	747	72382
15		Mr Barry Corr	bazkinginglory	54	739	78876
15		Mr Barry Jones	Gunning For Glory	61	739	78876
17	*	Mr Conor Nugent	the well hungarians	56	723	92164
18		Mr Austin McGinley	Boys Of Summer	38	701	109417
19		Mr Connell McGinley	Con Villa	40	646	143794

Dear All,

The following league tables do not include any points scored last night - these will be included in next week's scores (which will determine the results of the FFC Cup preliminary round).

This week's update will be short and sweet due to time constraints.

First things first - how many of you are joining us on Saturday for the official DITB ACP? Please let me know if the weather has affected your travel plans.

Now let's get down to business.

The weather has played havoc with the fixtures of late but one man has weathered the storm and is now sitting proudly at the top of the tree this week - The Professor, worryingly searching for his fourth league title.

The only man close to Brother Festraerts at the moment is yours truly with The Grapes just 12 points behind, cursing all those managers who cleverly put Carlos Tevez into their teams for Monday night!!!

A futher 33 points behind is Flexysmidniterunners, followed by Gazzas Piping Hots and Probably the Best.

Kirbs Crawlers are bottom of the Premiership with defending champ Harpic Amsterdam still struggling, along with The Busted Sofas who are in danger of going straight back down again this season.

A rejuvenated Joeys Monsters have bounced back to take over the number one spot in the Conference League - 8 points ahead of the Prince of Darkness, with The Rio Chargers a further 16 points behind in third place.

And in an amazing show of brotherly love, it's great to see the McGinleys holdiung the entire league up and occupying the bottom two places.

Trying to muscle in on the act, the Well Hungarians occupy the third remaining relegation place.

Finally, before I finish, it's worth mentioning maclacticos at this stage as Brother McNally has clocked up the first negative score of the season - scoring MINUS ONE point last week. Nice one Doc!

So that's about it for this week. Enjoy the footie tonight and hopefully see you in The Botanic Inn on Saturday (please let me know).

Until then.........

............... 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	Kurt Festraerts (Ibiza Town FC)	30	831	3524
2	Michael Rafferty (The Grapes of Raff)	11	819	5395
3	Brendan Kelly (flexysmidniterunners)	7	786	14152
4	Gary McDonald (Gazzas Piping Hots)	7	764	24155
5	Mark Stevenson (Probably the best)	6	762	25231
6	John McDermott (Sofa King Easy)	15	750	32234
7	Declan Crudden (Bleedin Red)	27	749	32829
8	Brian Shields (The Blue Monkeys)	29	747	34096
9	Paul Brogan (Diaby Does Dallas)	4	728	47489
10	Brendan Devlin (Brendys Bruisers)	4	727	48284
11	Jules Eilledge (True Blue Strikers)	8	707	64787
12	Francis Jones (Yer Mas Athletic)	10	703	68227
13	Kevin McCauley (KFC Academical)	6	702	69043
14	William Cherry (Cherry United)	24	699	71648
14	Conor Walls (Support your own LFC)	13	699	71648
16	Owen McNally (Maclacticos)	-1	692	77773
17	Geoff Johnston (Minus Three FC)	4	690	79561
18	Conor Donnelly (The Busted Sofas)	8	676	92158
19	Mark Molloy (Harpic Amsterdam)	11	671	96536
20	Andy Kirby (Kirbs Crawlers)	6	665	101779

The average points scored in your league is: 792. The league position is: 1423.

CONFERENCE LEAGUE

Pos.	Manager (Team Name)	Week Pts	Total Pts	National Pos.
1	Andrew McCabe (Joeys Monsters)	22	776	18253
2	Gavin Sheehy (Prince of Darkness)	4	768	22064
3	Andrew Jenkins (The Rio Chargers)	2	752	30970
4	Philip Risley (LIQUIDATOR FC)	11	731	45236
5	Gareth Bradley (Hoofers UTD)	8	729	46728
6	Brendan Henry (SOMEMAN4ONEMAN)	18	728	47489
7	Arnold Thom (Inshallah)	5	725	49804
8	Colm Mckenna (mugsys barber)	6	724	50596
9	Alan McCabe (Dirty Dubs XI)	7	716	57140
10	Christopher Cherry (Red Cherry Devils)	23	715	58012
11	Brendan Henry (GULLADUFF FF)	2	710	62229
12	S P O'Sullivan (LICENCE TO ROAM)	22	706	65692
13	Claire McCabe (Minibabybelle FC)	5	690	79561
14	Barry Corr (bazkinginglory)	25	685	84083
15	Barry Jones (Gunning For Glory)	8	678	90351
16	Simon Jenkins (Stickshifter United)	2	676	92158
17	Conor Nugent (the well hungarians)	8	667	100098
18	Austin McGinley (Boys Of Summer)	0	663	103386
19	Connell McGinley (Con Villa)	8	606	143853

The average points scored in your league is: 751. The league position is: 4021.