Dear All,

Many apologies for my lack of updates recently but I’ve been on holiday – a much needed break from the pressures of the rat race and, more importantly, the DITB title race!!!

As I write, it is indeed my good self who tops the Premier League table so that holiday in the sun has obviously done me a world of good.

However, I must admit that I’m far from comfortable at the top, especially with the record-breaking Professor breathing down my neck, followed by self-made Fantasy Football millionaire Brogan.

Whilst the Grapes have opened up a cushion of 35 points over this deadly duo, we all know that a couple of hat-tricks could easily wipe that lead out, not to mention a spate of injuries that is sure to affect all but the luckiest of managers lately.

Still, better to have that cushion than not so I’m not complaining.

Outside of the Champions League places, Flexy and Gazzas Piping Hots hold on to the remaining UEFA Cup positions ahead of Minus Three FC whose miraculous recovery from the bottom of the table must surely give hope to all those involved in this year’s relegation dogfights. Indeed many would say that Brother Johnston is now an outside bet for the league title itself!!!

Probably the Best occupies seventh place (maybe that should read Probably Seventh Best???) with a 30 point gap to eighth.

At the bottom of the Premiership, Brothers Molloy and Kirby are level on points but more importantly, both are within sight of safety, with Brendy’s Bruisers looking like the surprise team to be dragged into the relegation battle.

In the Conference League, it’s looking good for the top three in the promotion race. Brothers Jenkins, Sheehy and McCabe are 50 points ahead of the chasing pack.

Meanwhile at the bottom, Con Villa and the Well Hungarians look doomed with a battle between Red Cherry Devils and Mugsy’s Barber to see who joins these two idiots.

That’s it for this week.

Until next time....

...... 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 32 Pts.	Points	Overall Pos.
1	*	Mr Michael Rafferty	The Grapes of Raff	54	1364	1863
2		Mr Kurt Festraerts	Ibiza Town FC	43	1329	4981
3		Mr Paul Brogan	Diaby Does Dallas	57	1300	9791
4		Mr Brendan Kelly	flexysmidniterunners	28	1284	13604
5		Mr Gary McDonald	Gazzas Piping Hots	44	1283	13857
6		Mr Geoff Johnston	Minus Three FC	40	1268	18050
7		Mr Mark Stevenson	Probably the best	37	1261	20286
8		Mr Declan Crudden	Bleedin Red	56	1230	31882
9		Mr Conor Walls	Support your own LFC	34	1207	42258
10		Mr John McDermott	Sofa King Easy	34	1206	42723
11		Dr Owen McNally	Maclacticos	31	1198	46660
12		Mr Brian Shields	The Blue Monkeys	38	1196	47717
13		Mr Francis Jones	Yer Mas Athletic	43	1173	59501
14		Mr Kevin McCauley	KFC Academical	32	1170	61121
15		Mr Jules Eilledge	True Blue Strikers	28	1163	64891
15		Mr Conor Donnelly	The Busted Sofas	38	1163	64891
17		Mr Brendan Devlin	Brendys Bruisers	29	1135	79994
18		Mr William Cherry	Cherry United	30	1134	80512
19		Mr Andy Kirby	Kirbs Crawlers	35	1109	93829
19		Mr Mark Molloy	Harpic Amsterdam	37	1109	93829

DITB CONFERENCE LEAGUE

Pos.	C	Manager	Team	Week 32 Pts.	Points	Overall Pos.
1		Mr Andrew Jenkins	The Rio Chargers	32	1305	8761
2		Mr Gavin Sheehy	Prince of Darkness	35	1285	13336
3		Mr Andrew McCabe	Joeys Monsters	42	1284	13604
4		Mr Philip Risley	LIQUIDATOR FC	30	1235	29878
5		Mr Arnold Thom	Inshallah	26	1231	31501
6		Mr S P O'Sullivan	LICENCE TO ROAM	38	1210	40814
7		Mr Gareth Bradley	Hoofers UTD	39	1197	47165
8		Mr Brendan Henry	SOMEMAN4ONEMAN	43	1186	52784
9		Mrs Claire McCabe	Minibabybelle FC	37	1184	53803
10		Mr Barry Corr	bazkinginglory	29	1182	54809
11		Mr Alan McCabe	Dirty Dubs XI	35	1170	61121
12		Mr Barry Jones	Gunning For Glory	40	1148	72956
13		Mr Simon Jenkins	Stickshifter United	25	1144	75111
14		Mr Brendan Henry	GULLADUFF FF	38	1141	76778
15		Mr Austin McGinley	Boys Of Summer	28	1135	79994
16		Mr Colm Mckenna	mugsys barber	20	1096	100379
17		Mr Christopher Cherry	Red Cherry Devils	34	1093	101816
18	*	Mr Conor Nugent	the well hungarians	32	1043	123984
19		Mr Connell McGinley	Con Villa	44	1016	133834

Dear All,

The results of the DITB FFA Cup Quarter Finals are as follows...

The Rio Chargers (C1) 21 vs 36 Maclacticos (P13)

The Chargers are really charging ahead in their debut season in the Conference League, looking nailed on for promotion. Here’s a chance to see how they will fare against the big boys. Maclacticos are former cup winners but somehow I don’t get the feeling that Brother Jenkins will be shaking in his boots. Sorry Doc!!

The Doc shows the difference between the Premiership and the Conference League – one is brilliant, the other is shit. One nil to the Premier League and Brother McNally now has a second cup triumph in his sights.

License 2 Roam (C6) 13 vs 34 Support Your Own LFC (P11)

A possible corker which is sure to make their mobile phone companies a fortune. Texts will be flying when Chuckie Junior takes on the self proclaimed football guru in another Conference vs Premiership grudge match. Surely the tie of the round!

Hardly a corker as the Guru puts Chuckie Junior in his place with a comprehensive away win. Two nil to the Premiership as Brother Walls eyes up his first ever trophy.

Yer Ma's Athletic (P14) 24 vs 16 Minus Three FC (P7)

Funny how the least exciting game on paper looks to be the round’s only all-Premiership tie. Minus Three are the bookie’s favourites as Brother Johnston has shot from the relegation zone to the top ten as quick as he got married. Shotgun!!!

Wasn’t very exciting on paper and wasn’t very exciting in reality either to be honest. Good win for Brother Jones though over a very disappointing (and disappointed) Brother Johnston.

Joeys Monsters (C3) 32 vs 32 Diaby Does Dallas (P5)

The leading teams in the Conference have performed well in the cup this season but Brother McCabe faces a tough battle against ‘Triple D’ Brogan – that’s nothing to do with his team name by the way, just the size of the bra he needs for his man boobs.

Otherwise known as The Conference’s Last Stand, it was up to Joey’s Monsters to take the fight to the Premiership’s Diaby Does Dallas. A tremendous effort sees Brother McCabe steal a draw and earn himself a replay against the Brog-meister – with scors kicking off TONIGHT as a result of a few midweek fixtures. The Conference lives to fight another day as an entire league of no-hopers throw their support behind The Monsters.

So there you have it my friends. Congratulations to our winners and commiserations to our losers.

The four teams remaining in this year's DITB FFA Cup are...

Maclacticos (P)

Support Your Own LFC (P)

Yer Ma’s Athletic (P)

Joeys Monsters (C) OR Diaby Does Dallas (P)

The crucial draw for the semi-finals will be made next week – when we find out the winner of the quarter final replay.

League update to follow tomorrow.

Michael R.

Diving in the Box FF League Chairman

http://divinginthebox.blogspot.com/

Dear All,

The quarter finals of the DITB FFA Cup will take place this weekend, with five Premier League teams going into the last eight draw.

This should make for four very exciting and high scoring quarter finals!!! Now all we need to do is determine who will be playing who?

Brother Johnston, can you grab your balls and sack, and place them on the table so we can commence with the quarter final draw.

Okay, now we're ready.

Ciunas please........

The Rio Chargers (C1) vs Maclacticos (P13)

The Chargers are really charging ahead in their debut season in the Conference League, looking nailed on for promotion. Here’s a chance to see how they will fare against the big boys. Maclacticos are former cup winners but somehow I don’t get the feeling that Brother Jenkins will be shaking in his boots. Sorry Doc!!

License 2 Roam (C6) vs Support Your Own LFC (P11)

A possible corker which is sure to make their mobile phone companies a fortune. Texts will be flying when Chuckie Junior takes on the self proclaimed football guru in another Conference vs Premiership grudge match. Surely the tie of the round!

Yer Ma's Athletic (P14) vs Minus Three FC (P7)

Funny how the least exciting game on paper looks to be the round’s only all-Premiership tie. Minus Three are the bookie’s favourites as Brother Johnston has shot from the relegation zone to the top ten as quick as he got married. Shotgun!!!

Joeys Monsters (C3) vs Diaby Does Dallas (P5)

The leading teams in the Conference have performed well in the cup this season but Brother McCabe faces a tough battle against ‘Triple D’ Brogan – that’s nothing to do with his team name by the way, just the size of the bra he needs for his man boobs.

So there you have it my friends, three Conference vs Premiership quarter finals – we couldn’t have scripted it better!

That concludes the draw for this year's quarter finals.

Good luck to all involved (as if the rest of us care!). ;-)

Michael R.

Diving in the Box FF League Chairman

http://divinginthebox.blogspot.com/

Dear All,

There is still a third of the season left but my how the year has flown so far!

We’ll soon be approaching the business end of the season where dodgy decisions could cost you a title, a promotion, indeed league survival itself.

Not just dodgy transfer decisions but dodgy refereeing decisions as well. Believe me, a booking for Patrice Evra in the cup final cost me the league one year!

Looking at the Premier League, the lead seems to be shifting from one day to the next between The Chairman’s Grapes and The Professor’s Ibiza Town FC.

The incumbent at present is yours truly, having built up a 23 point cushion at the weekend, but Brother Festraerts is in his favourite position, sitting on the shoulder waiting to pounce – like Steve Ovett, or Steve Cram. Or Seb Coe.

Why don’t we remember runners now like we did then? Or is it just me?

Anyway, it’s shaping up for a ruthless run-in for the title and Flexy isn;t giving up without a fight either, scoring his way back into contention in recent weeks.

Gazza’s Piping Hots are showing surprising durability to remain in touch with the leaders while Brother Brogan is always dangerous.

These are our top five teams at present but European qualification is certainly not beyond Probably The Best in 6^th, who showed last year that they have game intelligence and teh right mentality – winning the FFA Cup and Conference League in their debut season – a feat that Rio Chargers are trying to repeat this year!

Minus Three FC’s recent form has also been a revelation. Frombeing a relegation candidate not so long ago, Brother Johnston is now on the brink of Europe and he should have the experience to make a good stab at it.

However, he’s just back from his honeymoon and take my word for it, he’s carrying a few excess pounds around the old gut and waistline. Marriage could be the death of him – or at least his season!

Outside of the top seven, there are still plenty of teams within touching distance and plenty who will be disappointed with how their season has gone (you’d think it was a safe move to choose the entire Chelsea defence but not so!).

Noone will be more disappointed however than ‘champ turned chump’ Harpic Amsterdam as Brother Molloy threatens to perform the biggest fall from grace in DITB league history.

And he’s in deep trouble! Not only is he 50 odd points behind perennial under achievers Cherry United and True Blue Strikers, the closest team to him (Kirbs Crawlers) is ‘too good to go down’ so he needs a minor miracle at this stage.

To be honest, all teams in the bottom half of the table are playing a dangerous game, within 30 points of relegation to the Conference League.

Did you hear that??? I said RELEGATION TO THE CONFERENCE LEAGUE!!!!!! Going down, never to return. Now get your fingers out before it’s too late.

I’m knackered now and I want to go home but I suppose I’ll have to give the lower league a quick look.

The Rio Chargers are still charging ahead although an excellent week for the Prince of Darkness has closed the gap to 28 points.

Joeys Monsters are still well in touch, with Inshallah and Liquidator FC still eyeing up a place in the Premiership.

Licence To Roam is hanging in there also while the Hoofers’ promotion challenge looks like it’s starting to fade.

At the bottom, Con Villa and the Well Hungarians (no sniggering please) look doomed while the Red Cherry Devils could escape the drop zone with a few good weeks under his belt.

Fair play to Brother McGinley the Elder who has managed to escape the relegation zone and restore some pride to the family name.

So that’s about it folks. We could be in for one of the most exciting title races to date.

Don’t forget that anything can happen.......

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

READ ‘EM AND WEEP MY FRIENDS, 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 29 Pts.	Points	Overall Pos.
1	*	Mr Michael Rafferty	The Grapes of Raff	61	1230	3240
2		Mr Kurt Festraerts	Ibiza Town FC	53	1207	6004
3		Mr Brendan Kelly	flexysmidniterunners	74	1189	9341
4		Mr Gary McDonald	Gazzas Piping Hots	49	1170	14014
5		Mr Paul Brogan	Diaby Does Dallas	46	1161	16696
6		Mr Mark Stevenson	Probably the best	52	1152	19666
7		Mr Geoff Johnston	Minus Three FC	47	1134	26348
8		Mr Declan Crudden	Bleedin Red	61	1104	40277
9		Mr Brian Shields	The Blue Monkeys	28	1091	46971
10		Mr John McDermott	Sofa King Easy	47	1085	50166
11		Mr Conor Walls	Support your own LFC	46	1084	50696
12		Mr Kevin McCauley	KFC Academical	67	1081	52427
13		Dr Owen McNally	Maclacticos	45	1074	56389
14		Mr Francis Jones	Yer Mas Athletic	59	1065	61406
15		Mr Conor Donnelly	The Busted Sofas	56	1062	63164
15		Mr Brendan Devlin	Brendys Bruisers	50	1062	63164
17		Mr William Cherry	Cherry United	50	1052	69023
17		Mr Jules Eilledge	True Blue Strikers	59	1052	69023
19		Mr Andy Kirby	Kirbs Crawlers	67	1004	96986
20		Mr Mark Molloy	Harpic Amsterdam	52	1001	98603

DITB CONFERENCE LEAGUE

Pos.	C	Manager	Team	Week 29 Pts.	Points	Overall Pos.
1		Mr Andrew Jenkins	The Rio Chargers	47	1202	6858
2		Mr Gavin Sheehy	Prince of Darkness	75	1174	12898
3		Mr Andrew McCabe	Joeys Monsters	53	1157	17996
4		Mr Arnold Thom	Inshallah	56	1129	28490
5		Mr Philip Risley	LIQUIDATOR FC	26	1122	31494
6		Mr S P O'Sullivan	LICENCE TO ROAM	48	1106	39274
7		Mr Gareth Bradley	Hoofers UTD	54	1082	51845
8		Mr Barry Corr	bazkinginglory	48	1079	53539
9		Mr Alan McCabe	Dirty Dubs XI	34	1078	54084
9		Mrs Claire McCabe	Minibabybelle FC	49	1078	54084
11		Mr Brendan Henry	SOMEMAN4ONEMAN	41	1070	58666
12		Mr Simon Jenkins	Stickshifter United	46	1062	63164
13		Mr Brendan Henry	GULLADUFF FF	51	1059	64883
14		Mr Barry Jones	Gunning For Glory	54	1030	82042
14		Mr Austin McGinley	Boys Of Summer	61	1030	82042
16		Mr Colm Mckenna	mugsys barber	40	1021	87228
17		Mr Christopher Cherry	Red Cherry Devils	45	1009	94184
18	*	Mr Conor Nugent	the well hungarians	33	935	129921
19		Mr Connell McGinley	Con Villa	34	906	140507