The Eagle's Cup XIV :: Cup of Champions :: RP/Scores

by **Tumbra** » Sun Sep 18, 2022 3:04 am

Anthoine, Steven. No World Cup for Us, Please: We're Tumbran — A History of Tumbran Football. Couno: AZ Publishing, 2028 (excerpts)

6
Coaching The Eagles — Selection Committees to Yuan Zilai

"IT'S REALLY THE hardest bloody job in Tumbra," said retired manager George Shawcross when I interviewed him for this book a few years ago. "I'd say it's more scrutinised than that of the Prime Minister — and even then he's only got to face down three hundred people every week trying to embarrass him. The moment you sit down behind that desk, the moment you sign that contract, you become public enemy number one whenever you drop points. Everyone's questioning you; everyone thinks they can do a better bloody job than you; everyone thinks you're an idiot if you lose a single game. Mind you, we're not talking about the House of Representatives here; at least there you've got allies. In the hot seat? You're all alone."

[...] The term "football manager" really only came into its own in the 1920s, with personalities like Charles Wordsworth at Lakewood United or George Bowen at Hesham having that level of complete control over almost every detail at the clubs that their names today are so intricately tied with affording them the status of "manager". Before then (and even during that era), most teams had "head coaches" rather than "football managers", the former term implying that they were merely in charge of training the players, with the businesses of player ins and outs managed by the other, more business-savvy wing of the growing corporate enterprises that were football clubs. Coaches worked with what they were given; if one day the chairman decided to buy a new winger it became their responsibility to fit that new player into their squad. They were occasionally consulted on the ins and outs; but were never given the final say on the transfer.

"Mr. GARDNER is an exceptionally talented player with skill on and off the ball, but I largely fear that the squad will struggle to support both his play-making efforts, and not to mention his reported problems with Ego, Attitude and his general lackadaisical view on Life" was one report that John Bamford, then head coach of Serrapince, passed on to his higher-ups in the mid-1920s. The club disregarded his advice, bought the player in question — attacking midfielder Henry Gardner — anyway, and Bamford quit after three months after struggling to fit Gardner into his squad. [...]

[...] That same mentality was imbued within the Tumbran Football Federation, who eschewed the chance of participating in the twenty-ninth World Cup (to be held in 1930)* because they simply believed that the World Cup would not provide an "adequate standard of competition" for the Black Eagles. The game may have arrived through Quebecois merchants along the east coast — much like how Grearish sailors introduced cricket to the country along its south — but by the thirtieth year of football on these merry shores Tumbra had already grown a footballing culture to the point that hubris over the way that Tumbra played football actively led to them missing out on this opportunity, as if they were the ones that had invented the sport. There was nothing to learn from foreigners, the prevailing wisdom went; we took the simple sport and ran with it, and now we're the best at it. Names like Liventia, Bedistan and Starblaydia, treated with absolute reverence by today's fans of football, were looked upon disapprovingly or just dismissed, as if they played the sport wrongly and would lose to any full-strength Tumbran team. Tumbra never played any of these nations, though; there was just a general belief that they would beat these nations if they ever did play. [...]

[...] So without any kind of trophy to play for until the foundation of the Tamarindian Trophy in 1950, the Tumbran national team was really just an exhibition team; they went around the world, playing friendlies and showcasing the "Tumbran style" of football wherever they went. In keeping with the dominant mode of how football teams were coached — the separation of business and coaching — most selections were made by a "selection committee" on the Tumbran Football Federation, who then appointed a head coach to bring these disparate players together and get them to play football, Tumbran style — whatever that meant. [...]

[...] The longest-serving, if not most famous, of these hapless coaches was Frank Rea, who served as head coach from 1942 to 1951. His diaries were full of complaints over the nature of the squads he was forced to lead; sometimes the selection committee would "give me too many blasted midfielders, and too little defenders; or too many players that could play on the right, and only one on the left [...] my recommendations to them have been ignored, several times, because the selection committee refuses to consider players who might actually play the way I want them to, and instead always goes for the biggest names, who, with little exception, often have preconceived notions of who they want to play under, how they want to play and with generally inflated notions of their skill." Rea did what he could with the players he was given; though after a dismal showing at the inaugural Tamarindian Trophy, in which a Black Eagles team that was slated to go all the way to the final exited in the group stage after two draws and a single humiliating defeat to the far-off nation of Sokoku, he was given his notice. Rea, however, did make clear that the problem did not lie with him; but rather, the selection committee; and in a highly-publicised interview after the team returned to Tumbra, he slated the Tumbran Football Federation in the press. This interview would serve as the direct impetus for the hiring of a permanent manager; the fury that had been directed at Rea after the defeat was now redirected at the Federation [...]

Tumbran NT managers, 1951-date
George Caddick (1951-1959)
Peter Dobson (1959-1965)
Benjamin Barker (1965-1970)
Henry Donovan (1970-1971)
Kevin Conway (1971-1973)
Henry Donovan (1973-1974)
Philip Crossley (1974-1979)
Robert Mansell (1979-1988)
Matthew McCallum (1988-1990)
John Moore (1990-1997)
George Shawcross (1997-2010)
Glenn Shand (2010-2016)
Bill Thompson (2016-2019)
Marco Hemmings (2019-2022)
Yuan Zilai (2022-present)

[...] George Caddick's three conditions to take the job were deceptively simple. One, he would be allowed to select whatever players he liked for the squad. Two, he would be allowed to bring in his own coaching staff. Three, he would be allowed to play however he wanted; instructions like "play entertaining football", he warned, would be ignored. The Federation, well aware that there were little alternatives, acceded; and thus today Caddick is widely regarded as the first proper manager of the Tumbran national football team. Rea et al. have been relegated to a historical footnote as "head coaches" [...]

[...] Swinging markedly defensive, Caddick's playstyle of patient build-up and counterattack — citing it as 'the easiest brand of football to impart into players' with limited time' marked a distinct upswing in the national team's fortunes, coming back to win the third edition of the tournament in 1954, with the final of that tournament — against Kyrast — seeing the Black Eagles win 1-0. That one goal would prove to be the only shot on goal the team had the entire match; and "football, Tumbra-style" was born. Marked by defensive efforts, counterattacking and a strict focus on the 4-5-1 formation, which Caddick had guided to victory, the style lasted long after Caddick left the job in 1959 to rescue an ailing Lakewood City [...]

[...] What had begun as a matter of pragmatism had since become the gospel, followed rigidly to the bone by almost all of Caddick's successors; there was space for the individually talented, like Ed Lang, but he cited his early retirement from the national team as one of necessity; Tumbran football wasn't "fun", in his own words. It brought results, but it was boring as all hell. The appointment of George Shawcross in 1997 tried to change that; Shawcross brought an energy to the national team that hadn't been seen for a long while, and his style of football — predicated on individual expression, style and generally possession football — led to headlines about whether Tumbran football was "fun" again [...]

[...] The appointment of Yuan Zilai seemed to be a direct response to the naysayers in the Tumbran footballing community who complained that Hemmings' approach to football was too "open"; Hemmings, of course, having been influenced greatly by Shawcross at Fraser Valley. There exists a concept of a "coaching tree" in other sports, tracing who "brought up" and influenced other coaches; Shawcross and Hemmings' link on any such hypothetical tree would probably be the most obvious [...]

[...] But it seems to have worked; the fourth-placed finish at the World Cup marking the short-term triumph of "football, Tumbran style". There are other names for it; Ko-orenites will happily accept the mantle of the world's most defensive team in whichever sport allows them to play defensively; while Audioslavia's "kontrapuntzeka" or "post-football", or whatever they might care to call it in the postmodernist nation, can claim its lineage from the Rejistanian turn of phrase "karela"; but "football, Tumbran-style" seems to have imbued itself into the mind of most Tumbrans as "counter-attacking, cautious, never too aggressive, relying on good technical skill." There may be breaks in the old family tree — Shawcross and Hemmings comes to mind, while other names like Riedweld, leading the dominant Lakewood City machinery and propagating a long-held, almost religious belief in one-touch, fluid football do too — but by far and large, the legacy of the Tumbran manager is that — "Football, Tumbran-style." Yuan may perhaps not realise it, but in playing the way that he does he carries on the legacies of people like George Caddick and Robert Mansell; and, if the rumour is true, that may have been the factor that gave him the job in the first place. It is very much like the Tumbran people to rely on what they know best to achieve results; after all, the ends justify the means.

And possibly nowhere is that more obvious than in the world of football.

*IC-wise the World Cup began in 1900, and was organised once every year until 1957, when it began the two-year cycle after World Cup 56. From 1950 till 2018 Tumbra partook in the "Tamarind Trophy", which was basically a World Cup but Shittier (read: filled with Tumbran puppets).

by **Nephara** » Sun Sep 18, 2022 5:38 am

Turori 4 - 1 Nephara
(4-2-3-1) 1 - Sebring; 2 - Kovac, 5 - Mitteager, 6 - Longstreet, 3 - Delasra (26 - Province 77'); 4 - Vol Brininger (21 - Sauber 77'), 8 - Desmond; 7 - Cadre, 14 - Laskaris (23 - Brewer 61'), 11 - Reader; 10 - Slazenger (17 - Valenza 61')
Goal:

Nephara 1 - 2 Zwangzug
(4-2-3-1) 1 - Sebring; 2 - Kovac, 5 - Mitteager (19 - Telford 71'), 6 - Longstreet, 3 - Delasra; 4 - Vol Brininger, 8 - Desmond (21 - Sauber 54'); 7 - Cadre, 14 - Laskaris, 11 - Reader (16 - Loeher 71'); 10 - Slazenger
Goal: Slazenger 16'

Baker Park 5 - 1 Nephara
(4-2-3-1 -> 4-4-2) 1 - Sebring; 2 - Kovac (18 - Kama 84'), 5 - Mitteager, 6 - Longstreet, 3 - Delasra; 4 - Vol Brininger (15 - Belltower 84'), 8 - Desmond (25 - Sebold 73'); 7 - Cadre (13 - Conder 57'), 14 - Laskaris (9 - Reisinger 57'), 11 - Reader; 10 - Slazenger
Goal: Conder 66'

Nephara had been Found Out.
"We have a lot of exciting talent," had been Koeller's line before the tournament. "It's about finding the right balance, the right mixture for them to thrive. We can't just throw in the eleven players with the best rating on the computer games, no. What system can they mesh in?"
It wasn't this.
"A bad result can happen against a world-class side," said Koeller after the 4-1 defeat to Turori, one where Nephara had been thoroughly outclassed. The tone was pragmatic, but it came across as dismissive. Particularly when she said, "I'm not going to reinvent the wheel after a single bad result."
It was a sensible approach, and the next game was... better. Nephara at least looked like they belonged on the same pitch as Zwangzug. A slick passing move allowed Idina Slazenger to rifle home Nephara's opener, beating Pimbura at her near post, refusing to be thrown by her eerie, serpentine undulations. But the Cormorants never seriously looked like scoring a second, while Zwangzug, pushed out of their shells, had less of the ball but far more penetration. In injury time, Sebring failed to claim a high cross and Valerie Waugh took full advantage to lunge in and drive home the loose ball.
Two games, two defeats.

The cause was obvious, to some experts and a lot more people who thought they were. An unforgivable sin in Nepharan circles: timidity.
On the football podcast Swinks and Roundabouts, their expert Lucian Stroud was as diplomatic as ever.
"What the fuck is the point in Rebecca Laskaris?"
A moment of silence. Kirsten Swinker, the host, eventually put forward; "She had a few good passes against--"
"I mean, not her specifically. She's just one aspect of it. I don't think anyone can see Laskaris being our starting attacking midfielder come the World Cup. Brewer's right there on the bench. And Loeher's ceiling is way above Isolde Reader, who has been at like three or four of these tournaments by now but never made the breakthrough."
"I think her approach is to ease players in," said a co-host, Bridgi, "and you're seeing that with these players on the bench."
"Fuck that. It isn't working, is it? And throwing players in the deep end worked for Vetiver. That was at the big stage, too. We're at an Eagle's Cup, which is meant to be this-- this celebration of the game, man, playing this stale double-pivot sufferball terrorism, right, with the same U-shaped possession from players with no chemistry and no ambition. And you're telling me that's really the best way of winning?"
"At least the young players made the squad," said Swinks, the eternal optimist.
"Even so! Even so," said Stroud. "That's like, guys 27 through 52 of the national pool. And you're telling me that there's no room for Tanith Xu in there? She could still declare for Yuezhou tomorrow, man! No, there's no point in playing like this unless you're going to win, and we aren't winning. So change it up. Rip up the blueprint."

And yet Koeller stuck to her guns. She reflected later that she would not have dug in her heels if she had not been so determined to be right.
She put out an unchanged XI against Baker Park for the third game straight. For the third game straight, they lost, and heavily.

by **Pemecutan** » Sun Sep 18, 2022 6:20 am

Redite Umanis Wuku Ugu, Pawukon 1783

And The Discussion Begin

Ampenan - Today, Pemecutan delegation consist of several ministers arrive at Cakranegaran capital, Ampenan to discuss over the position of Pemecutan Naval base in Gili Anakan. The discussion happened after President Hambali, the new president of Cakranegara speaking about the need to end the country's dependency towards Pemecutan. And he hopes Pemecutanian government will help them to reach the dream. And the President's first aim is to close off the naval base. But what about Pemecutan government side of view?

In an interview before their flight to Ampenan, Nyoman Agus Partayasa, Pemecutan Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that the government wants a win-win solution for the situation because Pemecutan can't runaway from their responsibility to protect the sea line in Cendana Islands. A task that the navy have taken after the Cakranegara Civil War. Pemecutanian navy patrol is tasking to counter illegal fishing which took place in Cendana Islands sea especially the south ocean. While they help to rebuild the navy in the area especially Toluiwa. This is because Cakranegara was banned to have a military force after the Civil War. The banned was lifted after the latest referendum which ended Pemecutan responsibility over Cakranegaran defense. But the naval base position is a crucial issue. In one side, the naval base is seen as Pemecutanian superiority and military oppression to the archipelago especially for Cakranegaran. Majority of Cakranegaran citizen have a negative view towards Pemecutan military presence in their country soil. (Gili Anakan where the naval base is location is part of Cakranegara). While opinion outside Cakranegara, Rarungani and Toluiwan, are happy with Pemecutanian navy presence because they help them for the archipelago defense.

In this first meeting, there are only 2 delegations involved. Pemecutan and Cakranegara. The Pemecutanian delegation is attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of Defense. While Rarungani and Toluiwan government are hope to be involved because the naval base presence is also affecting their country. However, Cakranegaran government stated that another meeting will be held for the four country to discuss about the issue. While back at home, the population are indifferent with the naval base presence. Older generation view that naval base as yet another Pemecutan proof of military superiority in the region. But the younger generation displeased with the naval base presence. They think that Pemecutan government must make a more peaceful approach to the archipelago. Despite the divided opinion, the meeting will be start on Monday to resolved the issue.

by **Flavovespia** » Sun Sep 18, 2022 12:16 pm

Flavovespia were able to get the win over Cassadaigua to confirm themselves as winners of Confederations Qualifying Group and see themselves into the Confederations Group Stage alongside Banija, Tumbra and HUElavia. Fans of Flavovespia were delighted with the performance both in this game and the previous 2, to take Flavovespia further on into the tournament.

There were no changes to the starting XI, as Augusto Rinaldi favoured continuity despite needing just a draw to make it through to the next stage, with Cassadaigua the ones for whom a draw may not have been enough. Tactically, there were also few changes for Flavovespia, although their direct style of play often suited this kind of situation anyway. Flavovespia and Cassadaigua looked closely matched in the early exchanges, a change from the starts Flavovespia had made in their previous games. Jonathan Bagshaw came close in the 20th minute, but he pulled his shot slightly wide of the post, sending it into the wrong side of the side netting.

It was the 34th minute when Flavovespia made the breakthrough. It was a bit of a scrappy goal in the end. Michael Jones underhit a cross towards Adrian Jones. Jones was able to adjust his position to at least get some contact on the ball. It wasn’t the cleanest of strikes, but at the near post it squirmed past Stacie Thornton and into the net. It wasn’t a thing of beauty, but it was enough for the lead to make it 1-0 to Flavovespia, and it would remain that way at the break.

The second half saw Cassadaigua commit more players forward from the start, needing to find a breakthrough to keep their Eagles Cup chances alive. This was their undoing in the 64th minute. Flavovespia made a quick break, and Jonathan Bagshaw hit a powerful shot towards goal. Stacie Thornton did brilliantly to parry it away, but the rebound fell to Adrian Jones who scored with a powerful shot into the net. 2-0 now, and a mountain to climb for Cassadaigua.

Cassadaigua got themselves a lifeline in the 78th minute. With plenty of players forward and chances created, inevitably they’d get a clear cut one it seemed. It fell to Chloe Anderson, just beating the offside trap, and then with the first touch firing past Aarif Muhammad and into the net. A well worked move to halve the deficit, and set up a nervous finish for Flavovespia. In the final minute, with practically everyone in the box for a corner, Cassadaigua came so close to the equaliser. Madison Rutland had beaten Aarif Muhammad with the header but Paul Taylor was able to volley a clearance off the line, to keep the 3 points in the bag for Flavovespia.

Flavovespia’s win over Cassadaigua sends them into the Confederations Group Stage. HUElavia join them with a 3 goal win over Tecoia, and Banija and Tumbra will also be in the single round robin group. Making it out of the Qualifying Group was a good statement of intent by Flavovespia, and they’ll be continuing their journey in the Eagle’s Cup, hoping to hsow that they can challenge the elite in football.

by **Graintfjall** » Sun Sep 18, 2022 3:30 pm

Aleirave – 1 (1)
(14’)

Græntfjall – 2 (1)
Björnólfur; Eyvar (59’ Alyssia ), Grímúlfur (71’), Svandís; Johanna (c) (70’ Kristmar ), Danny, Tinni (60’), Kæja (41’), Jan (59’ Jade ); Lara (59’ Röskvi ), Vanessa (72’) (84’ Tindra )

Once upon a time, Græntfjall would schedule a regular friendly against the incumbent Baptism of Fire champion. As KG’s friendly scheduling matrix fell apart, that tradition lapsed, but the Eagl’e’s’ Cup has provided a renewed opportunity, as the Snow Wolves travelled to Aleirave to meet the prior Baptism of Fire champions (Loyo’s recent victory having come too recently for the tournament schedulers). And if the Eagl’e’s’ Cup had been so far, so predictable, with two wins safely wrapped up Thor seemingly felt a little more willing to experiment on the trip. Supporters of Græntfjall, whose chief national export in recent years has been immovable center backs, adopting a three-at-the-back formation found little to cheer as not quarter of an hour in the defensive marking to gift an easy headed corner at the back post. On the other hand, the question mark over Johanna Álvgeirsdóttir’s captaincy is rapidly becoming indefensible: in what is proving a storming tournament for the woman who skippered the Snow Wolves to a maiden Copa Rushmori title, she had a hand (or, rather, foot) in both goals to come back, first firing a stinging shot off her unfavored left to force a fingertip save that Kæja Finnvarðsdóttir could turn in for one of her easier goals, then making an excellent run through the defense and threading a pass back to Tinni Grímólfursson to thump in with characteristic brute force. Three at the back? Probably not, for now. Three points? Wrapped up with a bow on top.

This RP takes slight liberties with characters belonging to Llama, Neph, Tequilo, and ESF.

0–0, 0–1, 1–0, 1–0, 2–2 (4–3 pen.), 1–0: the sequence that got the Snow Wolves to the World Cup final (where they won 3–1)

2–0, 3–2, 4–1, 1–0, 2–0, 2–1: the sequence that got the Snow Wolves to the Copa Rushmori final (where they won 4–3).

The Snow Wolves went from averaging less than a goal a game, to more than 2 per game, in the space of a year. Across the two tournaments they used broadly similar squads composed of most of the same players. New tactics? Different player chemistry? More attacking approach? Or just a small sample size leading to some random variation? Or, a mix of all of the above?

Græntfjall consolidated their reputation as 1–0 merchants during World Cup 89 qualifying – though the game which clinched their first ever qualification, against The Holy Empire (who, I don’t know if you know this, but, they were in the first ever World Cup) actually finished 2–0 (2–1 if you count the kraken that attacked and ate Petter Erlingsson); they scored 5 goals in 4 games in the ensuing finals. Yet in qualifying for World Cup 90, the Snow Wolves scored 35 goals in 14 games, and in the finals, 7 in 3 (while conceding 9!*). CR41 featured a string of higher scoring games, but not outrageously high scoring.

Tactically, the Snow Wolves have set up in fairly similar formations under Thor than under Igrene Cantor. Under Kang Guilin, they generally played 4–2–3–1, and established a reputation for defensive solidity but unimaginative attacking, heavily dependent on set-pieces. Not that Kang himself was to blame: he was cooking with the ingredients he had, and at the time, Græntfjall’s strengths lay in a deep-lying midfield and in counter-attacking wingers. Cantor generally preferred to play two strikers and made frequent use of a midfield diamond as the central midfield corps developed by Sopo Chacuzca, the maverick Tequiloan in charge of youth development for KG, began to mature. The Copa Rushmori side was built around a 4–1–3–2, anchored by Tinni Grímólfursson. It’s not a million miles away from the base 4–1–2–1–2 favored by Cantor; in fact, it’s barely an ice-unicorn-hair’s width apart.

As well as being more potent on offence, the Snow Wolves have been more profligate on defense: they conceded a goal a game in the Copa Rushmori, double what they kept their World Cup opponents to. Losing Emeli Vilbertsdóttir and Hjörleifur Reynarsson has undoubtedly been part of that, but hopes are high about the future defensive pairing of Eyvar Mathiasson and Asbjørn Vilbjörnsson, while for now Grímúlfur Gunnþórsson remains sufficiently respected that his teammates voted him captain against Eura, with Johanna on the bench. There’s more of a question mark at the full-back positions: Alyssia struggled throughout the World Cup (but after scoring that penalty has earned a long grace period) while Jasmijn Spiderlair, currently out injured, is watching Jan Játmundsson and Leona Jörvarsdóttir make some pretty good competition for her place.

Perhaps instead of treating goals in the abstract, we should look at who scored them. In the CR, Sara K, Kæja, and above all Jason Þórhallursson were responsible for the goal glut. Sara K had an excellent World Cup overall but her inconsistency from game to game means she’ll never top the goal scoring charts, while Kæja took a long time to find herself (though when she did, she guided the Snow Wolves to the title, so we’ll forgive her a rash of stage fright). Both are players whom Cantor backed, but whom Thor will probably reap the rewards of: they’ll score more under the Pasargan than they did under the Nepharan, but they wouldn’t be here were it not for the latter (and the Tequiloan, who helped them along the way). Jason is a more direct contrast and one of the few examples of a genuine contrast between the two managers’ approaches: Cantor never fully trusted him (unsurprisingly, given he was serving a drugs ban at the start of her reign, and that she was able to win the Cup of Harmony without his services) and preferred Eiríka and Justiina, and later Lara and Röskvi. Thor, who must see a little of himself in Jason, seems to have immediately established a rapport with the ageing striker and coaxed the best he has left to offer yet out of him in the Isles of Avon last summer. Whether or not he can repeat the trick, or whether this is one World Cup qualifying too far, we will see next summer.

Græntfjall are, for the moment, scoring a bit more, and conceding a bit more. It’s not a trend rooted in much more than the turnover in defensive experience at the back and increasing maturity of offensive weapons at the front. I wouldn’t read too much into it, or expect the trend to continue.

Especially because it takes so much ****ing longer to make box scores when there’s tons of goals.

* While the Snow Wolves did not actually concede 362,880 goals, they played so badly at World Cup 90 they might as well have.

World Cup 81/82/83/84

Baker Park's National Team have reflected the style of how the sporting public prefer action in the Commonwealth--attacking, high scoring, entertaining--since the beginnings of competitive athletics in this country.

The National League clubs were predominantly kick and run well into the 1950's as the 2-3-5 formed the default system in the pro game, and into the 1970's and 80's the concepts of Total Football manifested themselves in different fashions domestically and with the NT.

George Charleston began to shift the international style closer to what has become the recognized "Baker Park Way"--five across the middle, short triangle ball movement, offside trap--in the 1990's and Trevor Richmond took the concept further, carried on by Pam Scott, sharpened to a razor edge by Ichi Tuzzio and now continued by Jennifer Prescott.

Although domestic play has become more diverse, the "system" remains the basis for age group teams and FAC Development Charter training at under 13 level and lower.

There are numerous matches in the mixed gender era that exemplify the very best of the BP Way in action, but perhaps the third match between Chromatika and Baker Park in the Atlantian Oceania Cup 62 at Highland Road in Haddon Hill, Flavovespia is one of the most instructive; having swept both matches in the early group stage, the Anomalies were on a fast track to the title. Forward Reggie Laing had a hat trick, right wing Amy Reynolds scored a fourth and her replacement Freddie Altman added his maiden tally as the final score in a 5-1 win that propelled Baker Park to its eventual Championship.

by **Zwangzug** » Sun Sep 18, 2022 8:16 pm

The other day as part of some cultural event I joined a "walking tour" at a cemetery in a big city. Famous politicians, sculptures, public art, etc. I suspect Zwangzug would not have a lot of those kinds of places, both because religious heterogeneity meant there were some regions where cremation was more common and other small villages that had weird esoteric art. And even in the big cities, grief is likely a more private, familial affair than something that gets civic monuments built. But what about your countries? What do people do with their remains, or lack thereof? Are there any noteworthy mausoleums? And have your people ever stood in a queue to grieve a celebrity?

Eagle's Club Group
Nephara 0–1 Turori
Zwangzug 0–2 Baker Park

* Eagle's Club Group   Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Baker Park             4   3  0  1   12   4  +8    9
2 Zwangzug               4   3  0  1    6   5  +1    9
3 Turori                 4   2  0  2    5   5   0    6
4 Nephara                4   0  0  4    3  12  −9    0

Eagle's Select Group
StrayaRoos 1–1 Electrum
Ko-oren 3–5 Pemecutan

* Eagle's Select Group Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Pemecutan              4   4  0  0   15   9  +6   12
2 Electrum               4   1  1  2    7   7   0    4
3 StrayaRoos             4   1  1  2    2   5  −3    4
4 Ko-oren                4   1  0  3    8  11  −3    3

Champions Group
New Gelderland 1–4 Graintfjall
Aleirave 0–2 Eura

* Champions Group      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Graintfjall            4   4  0  0   11   4  +7   12
2 Eura                   4   3  0  1    8   4  +4    9
3 New Gelderland         4   0  1  3    2   7  −5    1
4 Aleirave               4   0  1  3    2   8  −6    1

Confederations Group

Banija 1–1 HUElavia
Tumbra 3–1 Flavovespia

*                      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Tumbra                 1   1  0  0    3   1  +2    3
2 Banija                 1   0  1  0    1   1   0    1
  HUElavia               1   0  1  0    1   1   0    1
4 Flavovespia            1   0  0  1    1   3  −2    0

MD5 and 6 in ~47 hours.

by **Nephara** » Mon Sep 19, 2022 8:49 am

Nephara 0 - 1 Turori
(4-4-2) 12 - Weaver; 18 - Kama, 5 - Mitteager, 22 - Muscat, 3 - Delasra (26 - Province 77'); 13 - Conder, 15 - Belltower, 21 - Sauber (23 - Brewer 64'), 11 - Reader (16 - Loeher 64'); 9 - Reisinger (14 - Laskaris 86'), 24 - Brass

They could have jagged a draw, but it felt fitting that they could not.
They'd played well for half an hour. They'd had their chances, finding openings through muscular, sharp play, with power and precision. But they did not break through, and Aikiki did, rifling a crisp finish below Weaver from a half-chance. That was the kind of killing edge that was missing, badly missing from the green shirts on the night.
Koeller was burdened unlike any watching at home. They could look at the bench and see possibility. The manager looked at the bench and saw only failure. The young guns, Brewer and Loeher, were thrown on; they ran on gamely and looked decent in stretches, but they did not, yet, have the ability in them to change a game alone. Cross after cross was hit vainly towards Vasya Reisinger. Visse Brass was invisible in her debut. Idina Slazenger was left to sit, and seethe.
They could maybe have got a point. But what did it matter? It was not going to save Koeller's job.
Not with Igrene Cantor a phone-call away.

She was unflinching in the presser, at least. She looked annoyed when a journalist appeared to take pity on her.
"That's always going to be the tough thing with the Eagles' Cup, isn't it?" he said. "You're playing top-quality opposition throughout, and it's a hard environment, isn't it, to blood new talent--"
"The Cormorants can never be in a position to lose five games in a row," said Koeller flatly. "Might be the worst run in our history. Don't know, haven't checked, not planning on it. It really doesn't matter. You say these are strong nations, and that's true, but we'll need to beat these teams if we're to win a World Cup. And that's the objective, isn't it? That's always got to be the objective."
And she went home, cracked open a fine bottle of whiskey, and sat in front of the television. Watched some football, but really, she absorbed nothing from it. It was there to be there.
She thought about legacy.
Three years was not long in international management. Her deal ran for four. But she was under no illusions she would see it to the end. They were looking for a pretext because Cantor was available. She'd won the last World Cup, beating Nephara along the way. She'd taken a year off. Plenty of plush club jobs had come and gone. Didn't take a genius to work out what she was waiting for.
Her tenure always seemed doomed to be a transitional one. Nephara had done well in every tournament she'd taken them to (except, well...) but not won any of them. She'd needed to steady the ship after Triffid Ramsey's tenure sputtered out, but Ramsey had, after all, won the big silverware. Her brief had been fulfilled. She could not be considered a failure.
Just, she knew, she would not be considered very much at all.
Ah, well. She smiled, grimly. She'd fulfilled a life's ambition. Maybe a lesser ego would let herself be consumed by what-ifs, but not her!
Not her. She'd land on her feet.

by **Tumbra** » Mon Sep 19, 2022 10:31 am

Tumbra 3-1 Flavovespia

TMB (4-2-3-1): 1 - Russell; 2 - Finney (18 - Renton, 80'), 4 - Kerr (20 - Proudfoot, 62'), 14 - Bond, 19 - Larkin; 6 - Harrison (15 - Cahill, 74'), 16 - Maguire, 10 - Knight (23 - Coleman, 62'); 7 - Reed (17 - McDermott, 74'), 9 - Hardaker; 11 - Henshaw

TMB scorers: Charlotte Henshaw (13'), Julie Hardaker (38'), Natalie Coleman (69')

Player of the Match: Julie Hardaker [TMB]

Randall, Julia. The First Days of the Republic: A History of the Federal Republic of Tumbra, 1864-1882. Straton: Excellent Reads, 1997 (excerpts)

IV.
Several Delicate Situations

On December 2, 1875, ninety days after the signing of the Treaty of Staplewood, King William V Terenberg — now referred to simply as William George Terenberg, a stateless citizen by request — departed the port of Kingsbury, and, by extension, Tumbra, on the steamship SS Atlantia.

He would never return.

Many a Member of Parliament had called for his head after the cessation of hostilities early in 1875; that the King should be put on trial for the brutal crackdown on the nascent democratic movements that had so defined Tumbra in the 1860s. The trial, of course, would be conducted impartially, and he would be judged by a jury of his peers, as was the newly-established system in the Federal Republic; but there was little doubt that the jury would return a guilty verdict. Whether or not he would be put to death was another matter altogether, though a speech by the famously radical MP Rufus Carruthers-Wexford hid little of his contempt for the former King.

AND I may rise again, to call for the ending of this Man — and lest anyone in this Chamber forget it, that is all he is, a mere miserable pile of secrets that God saw fit to place a crown upon — for he has waged war against his people; he lost the right to govern a long time ago, and what will the previous years of our toil and pain result in? Many a strong Republican mother have lost their children; many a strong Royalist mother have lost their children, too, lest I forget that they are part of our nation, as well, merely misled by the lies propagated by the Sovereign to die for a cause that was ultimately unjust. Allow his case to go to trial, for sure; for that is the standard of justice in our new Republic that was so cruelly denied to many of our peers in the old Empire; but should his peers deem him Guilty, I have no doubt that they should also call for his head, as penance for the brutal destruction he hath wrought upon our land.

Those in the White League — the cabal, for lack of a better word — that were still alive at the war's end, and had essentially established themselves as the respected elders of the modern Federal Republic, had a delicate situation at hand. Would they choose to go ahead with a trial, which would almost certainly not be conducted in the "proper manner in which Justice demands," as John Willock, the chief negotiator of the still-in-negotiation Treaty, privately mused in a letter to his wife, put it? Or would they simply allow the man who, for the past eleven years had waged war and destroyed the nation that they were trying so hard to build, walk free?

The President, Gordon Hamilton, by then in ill-health (though well-concealed from the public) and already looking forward to the end of his second term, deigned to provide advice to Henry Makepeace, the Prime Minister. Hamilton saying anything at all was a rarity; he ardently refused to exercise any of the powers afforded to him in the Constitution beyond what he needed to to keep the country going. An eye for an eye would prove the Republic to be no better than the Empire, he wrote to Makepeace; violence for violence was the rule of beasts, after all.

So it happened that Willock, reluctantly, allowed the former King amnesty; the only restriction was that he and the entirety of the House of Terenberg (excluding cadet branches, who were merely stripped of their status and became ordinary citizens) were to leave Tumbra and never return. The former King, realising he had little alternative, accepted. He had ninety days left in Tumbra. The SS Atlantia would give him a trip to whichever country he wanted and was willing to take him in; he chose the tiny duchy of Montego, a former holding of Tumbra that had declared independence from the Federal Republic after the dissolution from the Empire and had never been taken back. The Federal Republic had more important things to deal with, anyway. There were rumours that a pacification of the North beyond Westmond, home to the supposedly savage Clans, was on the cards; but in all likelihood the priority was re-building the economy of a shattered nation to begin paying off both its own incurred war debts and that of the Western Republic, which it had promised to pay off in return for the seven states of the west joining the Federal Republic.

Throngs had showed up to see the King leave; about a quarter were still staunchly loyal to the old regime, and another quarter were there to jeer him as he left. The Kingsbury Tribune proclaimed that the police had their hands full attempting to separate "the old Loyalists from the new Republicans; fisticuffs were thrown and copious arrests were made, particularly near bars and after the former King had made his way to the port." The other half was just there to see a public figure leave Tumbra. He had been, after all, monarch for nearly twenty years.

Four years later, he was dead. He had expressed a wish that his body return to Kingsbury Cathedral, the home of Emberican Christianity and the pulpit of the Archbishop of Kingsbury, to be interred in the royal crypt. The federal government, who wished to have nothing more to do with the House of Terenberg, refused thrice. It seemed that the King had prepared for this moment; contained in his suitcase on the day that he bade farewell to Tumbra for the last time, in the port city where he had spent most of his time and made his last stand during the War, was a jar of Tumbran earth gathered from the front garden of Thistlebury Palace. He would be buried in Montego with the jar of earth on his body, so that "even in death, I will have some part of the Kingdom I love with all my heart with me". Today the site of his grave, and all the following members of the House of Terenberg, is a tourist attraction in the tiny duchy — but there were some very awkward questions raised after his death.

What of the other bodies in the royal crypt underneath Kingsbury Cathedral? The entirety of the House of Terenberg's previous monarchs — all thirteen of them, their spouses, other children and their other children's spouses, totalling about fifty in all — were still laid deep within the tunnels of the Cathedral. Should the bodies be exhumed, signifying a clean break from the monarchy, or should they simply be left alone?

Carruthers-Wexford would once again, in his usual republican form, call for the complete exhumation of the bodies in the crypt.

TIME AND TIME again we return to the question of the former Royals, despite the fact that fifteen years have passed since the formation of our new Republic. This time, it seems, the matter seems to concern the former Royals interred in the crypt beneath Kingsbury Cathedral. I say, Mr. Speaker, that we exhume them. They were, after all, part of a system that violently came to power, violently suppressed all criticism, violently suppressed the progress of mankind, violently tried to put our Republic down, and took the nation's wealth for themselves. We are, and probably will continue to, suffer from it; I say, for the integrity of our nation, that we cannot afford to leave them as they are. Mr. [Michael] Smith implies that by disturbing their bodies we disturb their eternal souls; well my response to that is that I could not give a single damn about where their eternal souls land up.

The Archbishop of Kingsbury, Clement Wellerby, ardently refused to allow the bodies to be exhumed. This time, however, there seemed to be less of an appetite for debate; and Wellerby's refusal took all the wind out of the exhumers' sails. Both the Prime Minister at the time, Walter Robinson, nor the President, Michael Turner, had much of an appetite for the exhumation anyway; there were, by this point, really much more important matters to focus on. There were floods in Marcato; a bad harvest in Hamilton and a factory exploding in Millsburgh; whether the skeletons of people long dead, no matter their legacies when they were alive, should be moved from their slumber seemed positively trivial. Nor did this matter, unlike the one of whether William V should have been put to death, stir the public imagination. "Much Ado About Nothing," the Couno Evening Herald proclaimed on its forty-eighth page.

Nobody has been in the royal crypt for over two hundred years since; the business of the former royal family has scarcely been mentioned in Parliament either. Today, the House of Terenberg lives on in Montego, as "permanent honoured guests" of the Duke; far removed from the land they used to rule over. The skeletons of the Royal Family lie still beneath the Kingsbury Cathedral; an oft-forgotten reminder of the country's past before 1864.

by **Ko-oren** » Mon Sep 19, 2022 10:32 am

Rocky UICA, easy IFCF

Since World Cup 87, everything that Ko-orenite football touches turns to a valuable material. Not always gold, but it rarely turns to something bad. How good were we in the UICA era? And how good were we in the early IFCF days? Is it really that big of a turnaround? (yes) and is it really shared between the national team and the club teams doing so well at the same time? (Also yes).

All Group Stages - UICA and IFCF, CL and CC
             CC/CL GC/CC
Maethoru SC   2  7  4  1 includes Maethorü and Maethoru SC
Aminey CS        3  1  2
Straudum         2  1  2 includes Straudum and Straudum VV
Schemerdrecht    2  1  1 includes Schemerdrecht Metro and Schemerdrecht SVV
Branvon CD    1     2    includes Branvün and Branvon CD
ABC           1
Mazaj         1          modern day club: Grimhof VV
Tanques                2 includes Tangkü and Tanques AOE
Alara                  2 includes Álárá and Advance Alara
Liju                1    modern day club: Arendsvlucht FC
Jeknolr             1    modern day club: OV Eekeinde
Willowbourne        1    includes Willowbourne United and Cresthill FC
Miradela            1    includes Miradela Athletic and Miradela GD
Katashi                1 includes Kangutsu and Katashi-Kanatsu

Maethoru rules Ko-orenite football both in the UICA days (two CC group stage appearances versus everyone else's 1) and in the IFCF days (seven (!!!) CL group stage appearances) with the latter so high due to the guaranteed spot the Top League picked up recently. Aminey CS, purely through the modern IFCF successes, have risen to be the second club in the country in CC/CL group stage appearances, with Straudum VV and their recent championship as well as Schemerdrecht SVV and their co-dominance (with Maethoru, of course) when the Top League was established, coinciding roughly with UICA's exit and IFCF's emergence. From then on, you'll see clubs that have long slipped from memory: ABC, qualifying for the CC group stage in the second year of organised football in Ko-oren, back in Champions' Cup 30 - and only true nerds will know what the letters stood for ('Aldrainas Bovacem Combination'). Those letters have never emerged again and they haven't been claimed by phoenix clubs much like the names I'm about to drop: Mazaj (Grimhof), Liju (Arendsvlucht), Jeknolr (Eekeinde). All of them were instrumental to the development of professional football in Ko-oren and ironically only one of these clubs currently pays their players (Grimhof). This also highlights the dominance of Intermare - that's the narrow northern part of Ko-oren between the Bay and the Salamantic Sea - with Straudum, Schemerdrecht, Mazaj, Jeknolr, and Liju all from there.

Maethoru are the only club to qualify to all four forms of UICA/IFCF top competitions, including a late Challenge Cup qualification during a down year to complete the set. Branvon are the only club that can join them, but they'd have to qualify for both IFCF competitions, which given the current state of the Santa Teresan club is a big ask.

Looking at the eternal table of national, professional, organised football, we still see Maethoru in first and Branvon in second, well ahead of everyone else. They're also the only ones to play over 1000 games there.

All Group Stages
------------UICA------------
ABC: CC 30
Maethoru SC: GC 38
Maethoru SC: GC 39
Maethoru SC: CC 45
Maethoru SC: GC 43
Liju: GC 44
Maethoru SC: CC 47
Branvon CD: GC 45
Branvon CD: GC 47
Maethoru SC: GC 49
Mazaj: CC 53
Jeknolr: GC 51
Branvon: CC 54
Aminey SC: GC 53
Willowbourne United: GC 53
Schemerdrecht Metro: GC 54
Miradela Athletic: GC 54
Straudum VV: GC 70
------------IFCF------------
Tanques AOE: CC 2
Advance Alara: CC 2
Katashi-Kanatsu: CC 3
Maethoru SC: CL 4
Schemerdrecht SVV: CL 4
Schemerdrecht SVV: CL 5
Advance Alara: CC 5
Maethoru SC: CL 6
Aminey CS: CC 6
Maethoru SC: CL 7
Aminey CS: CL 7
Maethoru SC: CL 8
Aminey CS: CL 8
Straudum VV: CC 9
Maethoru SC: CL 9
Straudum VV: CC 10
Maethoru SC: CC 10
Aminey CS: CL 10
Schemerdrecht SVV: CC 11
Straudum VV: CL 11
Maethoru SC: CL 11
Aminey CS: CC 12
Tanques AOE: CC 12
Maethoru SC: CL 12
Straudum VV: CL 12

Ko-oren entered UICA just before its 29th cycle, so we've been involved in 41 UICA seasons as well as all 12 IFCF iterations. Despite that, our clubs have been in UICA group stages 18 times, starting with ABC's successful qualification in season 30. That started a trend that we're still seeing today, with Maethoru (the 'all greens', 'capital club', etc) the only team to do something internationally for the next decade and a half. After the 49th season, they wouldn't be back to the international stage until year 4 of the IFCF - that's 27 years, a hell of a drought. Eleven different clubs made a group stage in the meantime - and many of them would only do so once. The Capital Club couldn't be held down forever, and after that they'd be in the top three of domestic football pretty much every year. In fact, in recent years, we're only seeing a few clubs getting into the groups: Aminey, Straudum, and Maethoru. Not that anything is wrong with the rest, but we're seeing fewer miracle runs from other clubs and we have more guaranteed spots now. Yes, we only made the group stages 18 times in our first 40 seasons of trying, but then we went there 25 times in the next 12 seasons. To say that Ko-orenite football - both the clubs and the national team - have risen to unprecedented heights around World Cup 87 is an understatement. Muddled down in the international mid-table for decades and decades, only to finally find a rhythm and be among the dominant forces in football - and maybe even setting examples.

It's strange to say that, after football from the Dragonfly archipelago was looked down on for so long. Defensive and unsuccessful - that's not a combo that wins you fans. I mean, it shouldn't win over people's hearts, either.

All Knockouts
Maethoru SC: GC First Knockout Round (round of 32)
Maethoru SC: CC Semifinals
Maethoru SC: GC Second Knockout Round (round of 16)
Liju: GC First Knockout Round (round of 32)
Branvon CD: GC First Knockout Round (round of 32)
Maethoru SC: GC Quarterfinals
Mazaj: CC First Knockout Round (round of 16)
Jeknolr: GC First Knockout Round (round of 32)
Branvon CD: CC Quarterfinals
Aminey SC: GC First Knockout Round (round of 32)
Willowbourne United: GC Second Knockout Round (round of 16)
Miradela Athletic: GC Quarterfinals
------------IFCF------------
Tanques AOE: CC Round of 32
Advance Alara: CC Round of 32
Katashi-Kanatsu: CC Quarterfinals
Schemerdrecht SVV: CL Round of 16
Aminey CS: CC Round of 32
Aminey CS: CC Round of 32
Maethoru SC: CL Quarterfinals
Straudum VV: CC Round of 16
Maethoru SC: CL Quarterfinals
Straudum VV: CC Round of 32
Maethoru SC: CC Semifinals
Aminey CS: CL Semifinals
Straudum VV: CC 1st place
Tanques AOE: CC Round of 32
Straudum VV: CC Semifinals
Maethoru SC: CL Round of 16

One of the first times that a Ko-orenite club made it past the group stage (which our clubs did 28 times out of 43 group stage appearances - not bad) they immediately made the semifinals of the Champions' Cup. Was it a flash in the pan?

Yes.

It would take decades for a club to get into the final eight (this time, it was Branvon) with Maethoru themselves getting to the final eight of the Globe Cup.

And like everything else in Green-blue football, everything changed when the IFCF came around. Maethoru made it to back-to-back CL quarterfinals, before making a semifinal in the CC, while Aminey CL finally repeated the feat that the greens themselves did in year two of organised football - they made the semifinal. It took some 50 seasons, but we made it back. After that, it was Straudum VV who finally won us a trophy, but this time we didn't need to wait 50+ years for a club to make a run. Straudum did it the very next year. And the year after that, they made the CC's semifinals again.

by **Flavovespia** » Mon Sep 19, 2022 12:25 pm

Flavovespia’s opening game in the Confederations Group Stage turned out to be a tough lesson in top level international football, as Tumbra ran out comfortable winners. Flavovespia have been on good form recently, but were certainly second best today, a somewhat humbling result that necessitates quick improvement to stay in the Eagle’s Cup.

An unchanged line up from the victory over Cassadaigua took to the field for Flavovespia, this time adorned in an all yellow kit, adopting the away shorts to differentiate more clearly from the Tumbra side. It was Tumbra who made the quicker start, a theme of many Flavovespian games. This time Flavovespia were punished as well. 13 minutes in, and Tumbra were quickly playing through the levels. Charlotte Henshaw would get a clear sight of goal, and made no mistake to slot past Aarif Muhammad.

Flavovespia struggled to get back into the game, and despite hoping they could close out the half with just a goal deficit or even a surprise equaliser, it would be 2-0 before the break. Cathal Maguire played a great ball out wide into the path of Julie Hardaker. Hardaker would fool David Lyons with a body feint to open up the scoring opportunity. That opportunity was well taken, and Tumbra doubled the lead, 7 minutes before the half time break.

The second half began fairly slowly. Flavovespia were looking somewhat better now, but had a 2 goal deficit to try and make up, and a Tumbra side in front of them content to keep players back and capitalise on any misplaced pass. The third nearly came just 5 minutes into the second half on a break caused by that, but Stuart Cookson put in a brilliant sliding tackle to get the ball away from Charlotte Henshaw, where any mistiming would’ve resulted in a goal or a red card.

Just as Flavovespia seemed to be building in optimism, Tumbra got their 3rd. It was on the counter attack, Carole Bond’s clearance was picked up well by Natalie Coleman. Natalie Coleman broke with Charlotte Henshaw, and when Henshaw had her shot blocked by Aarif Muhammad, Natalie Coleman was there to fire in the rebound. 3-0, and by now it was all but over for Flavovespia.

The final burst of excitement in the game came in the 84th minute. Flavovespia’s attack seemingly looked rather unthreatening, with Michael Cole pushed out wide in the box, and not in a great position to shoot with few targets to cross towards. Cole ignored the odds to take a shot at goal, and defied the odds with a strike that curled late and deceived Richard Russell to fly in just inside the near post. A consolation goal for Flavovespia at least, and goal differences in these tournaments can be key, but it wouldn’t change the outcome.

Flavovespia and Augusto Rinaldi are left with work to do to make it through the Confederations Group Stage. A 1-1 draw between Banija and HUElavia at least keeps qualification in Flavovespia’s own hands if they can pull off a win against both, but there’s a lot less room for error now. All is not lost yet, but Flavovespia need to make sure they recover well and avoid a slump, not just for the Eagle’s Cup, but for the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers.

by **Graintfjall** » Tue Sep 20, 2022 8:37 am

New Gelderland – 1 (0)
Nesheim (83’)

Græntfjall – 4 (3)
Sana; Alyssia (66’ Eyvar ), Sveinbjörg, Svandís (32’), Leona (31’) (59’ Jan ); Johanna (c) (77’), Kæja (84’ Valtter ), Amanda; Vanessa, Lara (4’, 19’) (66’ Röskvi ), Amandara (54’) (66’ Tindra (74’))

Svandís Marcosdóttir and Amandara Thakur scored their first senior international goals, but otherwise this wasn’t the most memorable of games for the Snow Wolves, who rattled up a 3–0 lead by the half-hour mark and then hit cruise control, snoozing their way through a somewhat sleepy second hour, enlivened only by the spectacle of Johanna Álvgeirsdóttir unexpectedly missing a penalty, well saved by Charlotte Birdwhistle, and the best goal of the game’s five coming, somewhat unexpectedly, from New Gelderland substitute midfielder Aisha Nesheim, who ran onto a beautifully weighted ball over the top of the defense from Allyson McKenna and thrashed home a volley from a tight angle to spoil what had otherwise been a near perfect day for the Snow Wolves up until the horrifying moment they realized this had all taken place in a single sentence because I don't know how to stop abusing subordinate clauses. Lara Auðunsdóttir continues to make a case for World Cup selection, with a brace of functional goals. But she was perhaps the lone figure not celebrating as, afterwards, the team retreated to the hotel to watch the IFCF Challengers Cup final (featuring Sara Kristoffersdóttir, hence her absence), and watched as Mimír Waltheofsson continued to press his own case. Both seem likely to make the longlist mix; of the others auditioning in New Gelderland, Svandís’s neat header must have elevated her own chances, but she let herself down with sloppy defending to allow the assist for the consolation goal. The team – both male and female, this time – will have a couple more chances in the closing stages of the Eagl’e’s’ Cup group stage – and, with 12 points from 4 games, one further chance after that, being assured of a trip to the playoff round.

by **Pemecutan** » Tue Sep 20, 2022 9:23 am

Soma Paing Wuku Ugu, Pawukon 1783

POP Inaugural Edition Finally Opened

Pemecutan Puri - Nearing the end of 1783 year in Pemecutan and the country is celebrating one of its biggest event. The event is none other than Pekan Olahraga Pemecutan (English: Pemecutan Sports Week, abbreviated as POP). It is the first national-scale multi-sport event held in the country where the best athletes from all around the country (and Soracana Islands) come together to compete to become the best in the country. More than 2,000 athletes arrived at the capital city where the event is held with preliminary events have been started from last Thursday (Wraspati Wage Wuku Bala, 1783 or 15 September 2022). Three cities were bidding to host the event, Pemecutan Puri, Ubung and Mengwi. But the capital, Pemecutan Puri was selected by acclamation for its more prepared venues. Ubung and Mengwi however will held the next two events.

The opening ceremony was held last Saturday at Pemecutan main stadium, Tegeh Kori National Stadium. It was officially opened by Ngurah Agung Kusumajaya, Pemecutan Prime Minister. The ceremony was full of cultural representation of the country with the performance of several traditional dances such as Pendet as the opening, Tenun Dance and Baris Gede Dance. A short Sendratari (Pemecutan traditional musical theater) performance was also present with a sport theme as the main story. Gading Mahesa was present to sing the event's theme song, Langkah Pertama (First Step). Aside from Gading, Rani Purwani, Putu Sutha, Iktamila Kamnajada and Trisna Arya were also give their performance that night. Putu Oka Sulaksana, Pemecutan surfing athlete, was selected to lit the cauldron which continued by a fireworks celebration. The fireworks closed the opening ceremony who lasts for more than 2 hours.

The fireworks which end the opening ceremony

Tegeh Kori Sports Complex is the main venue for the event where most of the sport events take. There is a total of 311 events to be held from 21 sports (36 disciplines) with Short track speed skating become the only demonstration sport in the event. Actually, there were several sports that asked to entered the event as a demonstration sport. But they were rejected because of lack of participants. The sports are Curling, Baseball/Softball, Wrestling and Chess. Their participation will be reviewed again ahead of the second edition. While until this article is release (noon of 19 September 2022), Tambangan is currently in leading with 4 golds, 4 silvers and 2 bronzes. Followed by Ubung and Ulunusa in the second and third place. However, all the 8 participants have won at least 1 bronze in the first medal day. The competition is scheduled to be held until 4 October 2022.

by **Graintfjall** » Tue Sep 20, 2022 12:40 pm

(I'm sorry for ignoring what is a genuinely great and interesting prompt by Z, but I'm just not in the right mood for that right now. I may return to the topic another time. For now, a World Cup RP preview to decide whether this is a completely terrible idea or not)

If NS World Cup nations were guitarists...

1. Ariddia = Andrés Segovia

Where it all began.

World Cup 81/82/83/84

Belle Haven is in itself a monument to the people who have come before the current generation, an ever changing city still tied to customs and conventions that date back over 140 years>
As the capital and largest city of the Commonwealth, there are the requisite memorials and monuments commemorating people and events that figured prominently in the history of the nation; Monument Avenue runs diagonally between Front and Sixth Streets (southeast to northwest) bordered by Main and Victoria Streets (east and west), a six block by six block area that makes up the heart of downtown.

Main and Front Street serves as the intersection where Baker Square is located, dominated by the 8'7” tall statue of George W Baker, the father of the nation, located on a 76 foot tall column; the eye level is at the same height as the northern end of the Prince of Wales Bridge making it appear that he's monitoring the traffic going from and coming into the city.

At the opposite end of the Avenue, Queen Victoria sits in the center of the Square named for her; she faces the southeast, looking down the boulevarded thoroughfare, along which are the numerous tributes to military, political and historical memories.

At the Commonwealth State Museum, located east of Parliament House, a man made lake at the front of the building serves as the setting for the final resting places of the five Princes Regent who served as Head of State between 1893 and 1978; alongside four of the five are their spouses, and nearby are the Unknown Soldier Memorial and the Unknown Pioneer, representing the earliest settlers of the country who were unable to see their hard work come to fruition due to premature death.

Funerals as public spectacle have become less common place in recent times, but are not unheard of; the death of Kabaka Albert III of Banija set off a wave of mourning not only from the Banijan diaspora but among Parkers.

by **Zwangzug** » Tue Sep 20, 2022 7:08 pm

Cutoff time!

As we look forward to the knockout stages of this Eagle's Cup, we may (or may not) see the victory of a new Eagle's Club member, which would give them the rights to construct an Eagle's Club facility in their home nation and blah blah blah stop me if you've heard this one. But let's talk about construction, more generally! Are the stadiums in your country venerable fields that have stood the test of time, or modern facilities bankrolled by new sponsors? Is it easy or difficult to get approval for new construction, sporting or otherwise? What barriers, literal or figurative, do people face? And do your country's skylines feature brutalist blocks, gothic gargoyles, sleek skyscrapers, or something in between?

Eagle's Club Group
MD5
Zwangzug 3–2 Nephara
Baker Park 0–3 Turori

* Eagle's Club Group   Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Zwangzug               5   4  0  1    9   7  +2   12
2 Baker Park             5   3  0  2   12   7  +5    9
3 Turori                 5   3  0  2    8   5  +3    9
4 Nephara                5   0  0  5    5  15 −10    0

MD6
Nephara 0–0 Baker Park
Turori 0–1 Zwangzug

* Eagle's Club Group   Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Zwangzug               6   5  0  1   10   7  +3   15
2 Baker Park             6   3  1  2   12   7  +5   10
3 Turori                 6   3  0  3    8   6  +2    9
4 Nephara                6   0  1  5    5  15 −10    1

Eagle's Select Group
MD5

Ko-oren 4–2 StrayaRoos
Pemecutan 3–4 Electrum

* Eagle's Select Group Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Pemecutan              5   4  0  1   18  13  +5   12
2 Electrum               5   2  1  2   11  10  +1    7
3 Ko-oren                5   2  0  3   12  13  −1    6
4 StrayaRoos             5   1  1  3    4   9  −5    4

MD6
StrayaRoos 1–4 Pemecutan
Electrum 2–0 Ko-oren

* Eagle's Select Group Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Pemecutan              6   5  0  1   22  14  +8   15
2 Electrum               6   3  1  2   13  10  +3   10
3 Ko-oren                6   2  0  4   12  15  −3    6
4 StrayaRoos             6   1  1  4    5  13  −8    4

Champions Group

MD5

Aleirave 0–1 New Gelderland
Eura 1–0 Graintfjall

* Champions Group      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Graintfjall            5   4  0  1   11   5  +6   12
2 Eura                   5   4  0  1    9   4  +5   12
3 New Gelderland         5   1  1  3    3   7  −4    4
4 Aleirave               5   0  1  4    2   9  −7    1

MD6

New Gelderland 0–1 Eura
Graintfjall 2–1 Aleirave

* Champions Group      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Graintfjall            6   5  0  1   13   6  +7   15
2 Eura                   6   5  0  1   10   4  +6   15
3 New Gelderland         6   1  1  4    3   8  −5    4
4 Aleirave               6   0  1  5    3  11  −8    1

Confederations Group

MD5

HUElavia 1–1 Flavovespia
Banija 0–2 Tumbra

*                      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Tumbra                 2   2  0  0    5   1  +4    6
2 HUElavia               2   0  2  0    2   2   0    2
3 Banija                 2   0  1  1    1   3  −2    1
  Flavovespia            2   0  1  1    2   4  −2    1

MD6
Tumbra 4–1 HUElavia
Flavovespia 1–4 Banija

*                      Pld   W  D  L   GF  GA  GD  Pts 
1 Tumbra                 3   3  0  0    9   2  +7    9
2 Banija                 3   1  1  1    5   4  +1    4
3 HUElavia               3   0  2  1    3   6  −3    2
4 Flavovespia            3   0  1  2    3   8  −5    1

Cocoa-bo Challenge Trophy (in 48 hours):

Zwangzug vs. Electrum -- Eagle's Club, Forbridge, Zwangzug
Pemecutan vs. Baker Park -- Eagle's Club, Eelandii, Turori

Cup of Champions:
Graintfjall vs. Banija -- Eagle's Club, Dodoma, Banija
Tumbra vs. Eura -- Eagle's Club, Straton, Tumbra

by **Tumbra** » Wed Sep 21, 2022 7:17 am

Banija 0-2 Tumbra

TMB (4-2-3-1): 12 - Brennan; 18 - Renton (2 - Finney, 73'), 5 - Pritchett, 20 - Proudfoot (24 - Harcourt, 65'), 3 - Mercurio; 6 - Harrison, 25 - Hall (16 - Maguire, 73'), 23 - Coleman; 17 - I McDermott, 9 - Hardaker (21 - Bevins, 80'); 22 - Anderson (11 - Henshaw, 80')

TMB scorers: Natalie Coleman (28'), Julie Hardaker (71')

Player of the Match: Natalie Coleman [TMB]

Tumbra 4-1 HUElavia

TMB (4-2-3-1): 23 - A McDermott; 2 - Finney, 4 - Kerr (14 - Bond, 81'), 20 - Proudfoot, 3 - Mercurio (19 - Larkin, 69'); 15 - Cahill, 8 - Morris (16 - Maguire, 69'), 23 - Coleman (10 - Knight, 81'); 7 - Reed, 21 - Bevins; 26 - Canavan - inj (11 - Henshaw, 32')

TMB scorers: Jack Reed (19'), Charlotte Henshaw (48', 71', 86')

Player of the Match: Charlotte Henshaw [TMB]

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Sports > Latest
Eagles' Cup match against Eura to be held in Straton, but not at Eagles' Club

By Lauren Hemp
TBC Sport

STRATON — The Tumbran Football Federation (TFF) has released a clarifying note on the location of Tumbra's Eagles' Cup match against Eura, confirming that it will take place at the 63,000-capacity Straton Olympic Stadium instead of the still-under construction Eagles' Club.

The clarification was released three hours after Tumbra's 4-1 victory against HUElavia saw them advance to the semi-finals of the Cup of Champions, which will also serve as a quarter-final match for the fourteenth edition of the Eagles' Cup. Tumbra are the defending champions of the competition, having won the previous edition in extra time over Baker Park. Victory in the competition entitles the nation not just to permanent membership of the eponymous Eagles' Club, but also the right to construct a stadium called the Eagles' Club in their nation. Similar facilities exist in Dodona in Banija, Eelandi in Turori, Brinemouth in Nephara and Forbridge in Zwangzug, where the Black Eagles won their cup.

Tumbra's version of the Eagles' Club will be located in Straton and will stand on the location of the former National Stadium, which was demolished three months after the victory in preparation. The plans for the Eagles' Club include a proposal to revitalise the surrounding area, including the construction of a museum that will be dedicated to Tumbran footballing history and a park. While its planned capacity will be substantially lower than that of the former National Stadium — 88,000 as compared to 100,000 — the winning design for the stadium mooted that the stadium would provide a "drastically better matchday experience" for every fan, and would make the stadium one of the most modern in the entire world. Other in-stadium features mooted included 4K video scoreboards, compatibility with gridiron and complete 5G WiFi access throughout the stadium. Two years into a three-year construction timespan, the Eagles' Club is expected to be ready just in time for the fifteenth edition of the competition — but any hope of hosting a football match there seems to be a little off yet.

"We apologise for any potential inconvenience that the premature announcement may have caused," said the press release. "We hope to welcome football fans throughout the world to the Straton Eagles' Club when it is open, but for now, we invite you to the Straton Olympic Stadium to watch the eagerly-anticipated Eagles' Cup match against two-time World Champions Eura."

Tumbra, which so far has not lost a match in the Eagles' Cup thanks to the scoring heroics of Charlotte Henshaw, will face off against Eura at the 63,000 capacity Straton Olympic Stadium to determine who moves on to the final of the Cup of Champions — which will also be the semi-final of the Eagles' Cup. The competition, which has at times caught flak for its overly-complicated format, nature, and allegations of exclusivity, has its roots both in the old King's Cup and the original Eagles' Cup, which took place in the 1910s. This is Tumbra's third time participating; in its first run out the Black Eagles reached the semi-finals before losing to Turori, before winning on their next try.

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Atherton, Edward J. "The Politics and Economics of Stadium Development in Tumbra." Interdisciplinary Journal of Sports Studies 38, no.3 (2029): 107-129.

[...] There still remains a reticence within the footballing world of Tumbra, however, surrounding the concept of shifting stadium locations. Just three stadium moves have been conducted since the turn of the century — Lakewood City moving into the Lakewood City Arena in 2002, the Delphi Lionesses (then Lions) moving into Bexley Park in 2006, and Straton's move from the National Stadium to the Straton Olympic Stadium in 2029, marking any such stadium move as a momentous event in itself. Often, the most drastic action clubs will take will be to in actively engage in modernising their stadiums, entailing extensive renovations. The land which the stadium itself sits on, however, has achieved a near-mythic status amongst most fans, with proposed moves to other stadium locations met with stony rejections from the fanbase. This comes despite the stadiums of today looking nothing like the stadiums of yesteryear, leading to a potential real-life application of the Ship of Montfort paradox. Amongst one of the more humble suggestions provided by this article should be the renaming of that particular paradox to the Stadium of Tumbra paradox, although the author fully accepts it might not roll off the tongue as nicely.

Irregardless of paradox naming choices, the apparent contradiction between fans wanting modern stadiums and not wanting to leave their current stadiums has led to the situation of today; where stadium refurbishments seem to be on-going everywhere. A quick glance at the twenty stadiums of the Premier Division at the end of the 2027/28 season (the timeframe in which this piece was written) revealed that thirteen clubs had some kind of refurbishment or modernisation project either ongoing or planned to begin during the summer break. The average refurbishment project had been ongoing for 2.6 years, and a further look back to stadium refurbishments from the start of the 2000 calendar year revealed that the average refurbishment project took 3.4 years to complete for major projects like capacity expansion, new facilities or mobility expansions. Most refurbishments underway during the 2027/28 season were expected to finish in about that time-frame as well. Fans have proven to be generally welcoming of these expansions or refurbishments, despite effects on the stadium's aesthetics. Lakewood United's stadium, Trenton Park, has undergone a hodgepodge of refurbishments that have made the stadium look rather worse for wear, with unevenly-shaped stands at differing heights. When surveyed, most fans of Lakewood United rated their stadium's look as the worst thing about it; but when asked whether they would want a complete rebuild of the stadium or leave it as it was, a massive majority stated they would rather leave Trenton Park as it stood. One key reason behind the aversion was a reluctance to potentially move and share grounds with cross-town rivals Lakewood City, even if temporarily. It is important to note that Lakewood City themselves moved stadiums in the previous century, playing for a few years in the suburb of Thorndon while the new Lakewood City Arena was built on the site of their old stadium; that experience may have informed perceptions of United doing the same thing. Even when the prospect of groundsharing with Lakewood City was removed from the equation, the results were still markedly negative, highlighting the active trade-off that fans are making when they express their views on their home stadium, consciously or not.

The process of moving stadium locations has been linked in other literature to sentimentality and increased levels of stress not dissimilar to the moving of a house, and other research has shown that most sports fans have at least some form of memories with their chosen team's home ground, leading to a generally more positive view of the stadium. These feelings come despite certain negative views that fans may have of their home teams' stadiums, as shown above in the Lakewood United example and elsewhere, as a team's home ground may provide a key part of its identity, no matter its age. Straton Football Club's move to the 63,000-capacity Straton Olympic Stadium in 2027 due to the demolishment of the National Stadium is the only recent stadium move that has occurred within Tumbra, but the results of research conducted during that time by the author and their team did not conform to the expectation of negative feelings associated with stadium moves. The research team identified that Straton fans, on average, liked their old stadium less than most fans of other clubs, had a higher negative impression of their old stadium and were happier to move stadiums, with their only negative impression of the stadium being that it had a running track between the field and seating. When the suggestion of retractable seating was raised, this negative impression quickly vanished, marking mostly positive impressions of the club's new home stadium. This may have been because of long-running disputes between the city of Straton and the club itself over who owned the stadium*, and the general state of disrepair the stadium found itself near the end of its lifespan.

The situation of Fraser Valley's proposed move to a more central Serrapince location may provide a better counterexample to Straton's move to the Olympic Stadium. While most fans of Tumbran football will no doubt be able to recognise this incident, some context must be provided for international readers. Fraser Valley is a football club that has its current home on the outskirts of Serrapince, Tumbra's second largest city. Uniquely for such a large city, Serrapince only has one football team within the four-tier professional football structure of Tumbra, in large part due to an aggressive merger strategy undertaken by Serrapince Football Club in the 1960s to increase its market value. Fraser Valley, by then already playing in the eponymous valley that formed its own municipality, was also targeted for takeover; but a concerted effort by the club's fanbase managed to persuade the then-owners otherwise. Serrapince and Fraser Valley have had a heated rivalry ever since, which has only been further inflamed when the municipality that Fraser's stadium was located was merged into the city of Serrapince after the enactment of the Bechor Local Government Act 1986.

Fraser Valley's former owners, Frank and James Daly, introduced plans to move the club closer to the centre of Serrapince in 1997, arguing that such a move would boost the revenue of the club and make it more marketable to investors. The new stadium, to be called the Bexley Stadium after the district of Serrapince it would have found itself in, would have begun construction in 2000 and be complete by 2006, and have a capacity of 60,000. The move, however, received a near-unanimous negative reception from the fanbase, who, in a statement, decried the move as "giving in to Serrapince after we fought so hard for our survival" and accused the owners of "putting money above love of the sport itself". The plans were promptly withdrawn, an apology was offered and the stadium was eventually filled by Delphi in 2006, building a slightly more modest 46,000 capacity stadium. Long-running rumours that Fraser's current ownership are still pursuing a shift into the city proper have persisted and have lent themselves to a distinctly tense relationship between the fanbase and the club's brass as a result, despite repeated statements by the latter proclaiming that they were not seeking a stadium move. [...]

*OOC: please note that the link provided is not an academic citation IC-wise but rather just an OOC link to an RP that explains the circumstances behind straton and the city. do not use sports blogs as academic citations please i swear to god.

by **Pemecutan** » Thu Sep 22, 2022 8:56 am

Wraspati Umanis Wuku Ugu, Pawukon 1783

Does The Referendum Really Necessary?

Pemecutan Puri - Around 2 months from now, Soracana Islands, the state up north of Pemecutan will determine their future with a planned referendum which was already agreed by both Pemecutan and Soracana government following the failed Soracana's Coup d'etat. The referendum will decided whether Soracana will be merge with Pemecutan or they will be remain independent. However, with the massive integration of Soracanian entities in Pemecutan, a question arise whether the referendum is really necessary. Or can't we just proceed with a formal unification process instead?

Political expert, Jason Astaputra stated that the referendum is a must based on both countries agreement. It will be also validate the post referendum event. Unified or complete independence. If the government by pass the referendum, the fear is a demonstration can be happening if the decision that is made is not aligned with what's the population wants. Although Astaputra also highlighted the involvement of Soracana's entities within Pemecutan. Starting from sport institution to the parliament building. These facts indicating Soracana is ready even if the unification is the result of the referendum. But then, are the government is ready if the other option is winning? Less than a year after Pemecutan took control of Soracana's defense and internation representative while the area is rebuilding from the coup aftermath, Soracana began to integrated. Voluntarily or by force. Soracana's national football team was the first victim of a force integration by Pemecutan. PFA, Pemecutan football governing body, file a complain to CMFA and the then host, Choudal, to revoke Soracana Islands entry for Melayu Archipelago Cup. The police even denied Soracanian players to board in the flight to Choudal. The result is Soracana's domestic football league is included in the Pemecutan pyramid league system. And Soracana's players are able to play internationally under Pemecutan banner. The situation also spread into other types of sports. Basketball, volleyball and sepak takraw to name a few. Soracana unable to established their own league and the club from the state have to be joined Pemecutanian domestic league. Soracanian athletes are also joined in Pemecutan Olympic delegation. Jandiyuha Targaroha is the most successful Soracanian athletes in Olympic. The lightweight boxer success to collect 2 silver medals.

Soracanian then getting use to joined in Pemecutan institution for them to be able to involved in international stage. The example, Iktamila Kamnajada involvement in World Hit Festival, an international singing competition. Kamnajada become the first and only Soracanian singer to be selected for the competition. Yuhansa Radio and Television Network (YRTN) have to be put under Pemecutan banner when they apply for membership in IBA (International Broadcasting Association). While Pemecutan government revoking the military agreement between Soracana Islands and Jeltronia. And take over the ownership of Jading Joint Military Base. They were also took control of 6 new patrol boats that Soracana Navy bought just before the coup. Although the boats are placed for patrolling purpose in Soracanian waters. And the peak is during 1782 Pemecutan General Election. The election commission give 9 seats from 125 Pemecutan Krama Sabha seat to Soracana in a new redrawn electoral district.

Despite all the facts which indicating a strong integration, the latest poll suggest that the majority of Soracanian are still indifferent. Around 60% of the voters in the latest poll are still undecided whether they wants to integrate with Pemecutan or stay independent. While the result for both independence and integration are nearly the same at 20% with a slight win for independent. Political expert, Basuyuha Gadanmara said that after almost 5 years, the people of Soracana are getting used to be govern by Pemecutan in every field while Soracana's government have not showing a significant influence. But that is also because Pemecutan government fully in control of Soracanian government. On the other side, they are also wants to be independent without the control of Pemecutan just like before the coup. Gadanmara added that the citizens wants to see more action from Soracanian government. Because now they are only see the government as the extension of Pemecutan central government. While Astaputra stated that he is looking forward to the referendum. "It will be an exciting event", he said.

Poll: Soracana's Future


Independence      697     19.91%
Integration       686     19.60%
Abstain         2,117     60.49%


Poll is conduct from 3,500 sample voters
from all around Soracana Islands.
Margin of errors : ± 4%

The referendum is schedule to be held at Saniscara Pon Wuku Gumbreg - Redite Wage Wuku Wariga 1784 (3-4 December 2022). There are around 1.5 millions people that will cast their vote in the referendum.

by **Graintfjall** » Thu Sep 22, 2022 9:08 am

Eura – 1 (1)
(26’)

Græntfjall – 0 (0)
Björnólfur; Sigurbergur (50’ Eyvar ), Sveinbjörg (50’ Grímúlfur (80’)), Svandís, Leona; Tinni (c) (63’), Kæja, Amanda (64’ Jade ); Vanessa (64’ Johanna ), Röskvi, Ásvarður (79’ Tindra )

If NS World Cup nations were guitarists...

Previous entries
1. Ariddia = Andrés Segovia

2. The Holy Empire = Robert Johnson

Did you know Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads?!?!?

Græntfjall – 2 (1)
Björnólfur; Grímúlfur (85’), Eyvar, Svandís; Alyssia (86’ Sigurbergur ), Johanna (c) (45’ Kristmar ), Tinni (60’ o.g), Leona; Vanessa (66’ Amanda ), Röskvi (18’) (66’ Lara ), Amandara (10’) (45’ Tindra (54’))

Aleirave – 1 (0)

3. Crosshill = Charlie Christian

The original great.

The Eagl’e’s’ Cup campaign was continuing with what was resembling less an amusing meme – continually conceding goals from set-pieces – and more a disturbing trend, when Tinni Grímólfursson cleverly defended a free-kick against Aleirave, ensuring no Aleiravean striker could head the ball into the net. By doing so himself. Fortunately, after a somewhat quiet tournament to date, Kæja Finnvarðsdóttir showed up, magicking her way through the defense to set up two goals and secure a mathematically unnecessary win. Thanks to an earlier listless defeat to Eura, the Snow Wolves left the group stage with a solid but not perfect record, and will travel to Banija. Largely thanks to the Eagl’e’s’ Cup, Banija are one of the Snow Wolves’ most frequent opponents despite never having been drawn in a World Cup qualifying group together nor being from the same region. When they first met, the Lions were feared as the reigning world champions; the situation may now be reversed, but Banija remain a tough adversary and Thor will likely put out a team closer to the full strength side he’ll be taking into World Cup qualifying.

…which will be, what? Jason Þórhallursson may return for World Cup qualifying (he’ll be at the Banija match, but just as a spectator) so Röskvi Tyrfingsson and Lara Auðunsdóttir’s shootout for the #9 shirt could be academic, but there are rumours Thor is looking further afield anyway, and the recent IFCF results have done little to quiet the growing murmurs about Mimír Waltheofsson. Assuming she’s fit Jasmijn Spiderlair probably has a shot at taking back the left-back slot as Leona Jörvarsdóttir hasn’t really impressed and Jan Játmundsson doesn’t quite fit the current system. Purely by virtue of receiving more playing time, Eyvar Mathiasson and Grímúlfur Gunnþórsson seem to remain the first choice center backs and there’s little sign of a three-at-the-back experiment being tried in competitive fixtures. Tinni, Kæja, captain Johanna, and Sara K are all assured of their places, too. Vanessa’s inconsistent form means she probably depends on the system: if Alyssia is fully trusted as a wing-back, Danny Oddkellsson offers a more rounded midfield option. Amanda Guttisdóttir, who was excellent in the CR but has been totally anonymous at the Eagl’e’s’ Cup, is mostly likely to lose out. The era of the midfield diamond may be well and truly over.

Consider the cabbage.

Ah, the cabbage. Humble, hearty vegetable. Staple brassica of the Græntfjaller diet for centuries. The Græntfjaller cabbage (dark green with heavy outer leaves) has evolved to withstand the unforgiving climate and even grows wild along rocky cliff outcrops, while in the great southwestern agricultural heartland, hothoused fields grow cabbages in fields far as the eye can see. Cabbages are eaten steamed, stewed, or stuffed; cabbage rolls are popular snacks for older generations. Cabbage in its pickled or fermented form is the variant most associated with Græntfjallers; some foreign visitors report being unable to eat súrtkál because of its pungency and saltiness. Cabbage is also popularly used as a folk healing remedy, especially among the Kamdyr people and, again in the west, areas that have absorbed Kamdyr practices into settled communities. During the last Under-18 World Cup, promising young Kamdyr midfielder Erin Marshlily was struck down with what turned out to be indigestion caused by eating extreme amounts of cabbage, prescribed to her by a Kamdyr faith healer she had consulted in overcoming a minor injury.

Cabbages and football stadiums have a connection, too, perhaps surprisingly. In the southwest city of Búðarberg, home of Fliserboding, the Frei Stadion is a rather flat, drab, unremarkable block of concrete, indistinguishable from the many other flat, drab, unremarkable blocks of concrete that pass for sports stadiums in a country whose sporting infrastructure is still heavily indebted to years of communist brutalism. Indistinguishable by eye, that is. But anyone venturing within two city blocks of the Stadion will soon pick it out: thanks to their nose picking up the unmistakeable waft of rotting cabbage. The tradition of Locusts fans throwing cabbages onto the field before games has given their otherwise highly average stadium a very distinctive aroma; four years ago, during a rare heat wave, two games had to be rescheduled because the combination of unseasonable heat and clouds of noxious gases rising from rotting cabbage leaves were causing players to enter hallucinogenic trances.

This year, for the first time, the Frei Stadion will host at least one World Cup qualifying game, as KG seeks to diversify its hosting portfolio away from Háttmark, home of the country’s three biggest stadiums, the GT Estadio Fútbol De Musarañas De Oro (built with foreign money from Tequiloan multinational Grupo Taxhavn, who have retained sponsorship rights despite seeming to cease to exist), the Grand National Arena in Gunzlach, iconic former national arena, and the Grander International Arena in Steinaux, built with a seating capacity of 50,001 in a clear bit of cross-town rivalry with the 50,000 seater GNA. The only major stadium built outside Háttmark in recent years is the New Skoðarhüb in Hartburg, but that city’s proximity to Nyowani Kitara and the influx of Kitaran refugees has made it a less attractive hosting venue. Building new stadiums in Græntfjall doesn’t come easy; nor does building anything at all. The country’s bitter winter means construction has to be either extremely fast during the summer, risking shortcuts and poor workpersonship, or more expensive as a result of needing specialist equipment and staff trained to work in extreme cold conditions. A stubborn NIMBY strain also pervades the country’s building environment: even Kaija Michaelsdóttir, riding stratospheric popularity ratings in the wake of the Steinaux terror attacks, has struggled to advance much of her house building and transport infrastructure agenda.

One thing that does get built with striking efficiency and frequency is statues. The iconoclastic frenzy that accompanied the fall of communism saw many public squares and municipal buildings denuded of their statues of Marx and Lennon, of Græntfjaller communist leaders and theorists, and replacing them with royalist and folk-hero statues is an ongoing project. Outside, most Græntfjaller statues are built in the “Græntfjaller primitive” style, with rounded features lacking distinguishing facial characteristics, to avoid cracking in the winter. And it’s because of this simplistic style that so many Græntfjaller statues seem to be of… cabbages. No tourist trip to Græntfjall is complete without laughing selfies mockingly pointing to cabbages at the feet or in the hands of Græntfjall’s most iconic statuary heroes. When Zóphonías Juliusson refused to have his official statue as Prime Minister feature a cabbage, it was taken as another sign of his cultural radicalism; the calls of current Left-slate leader Ingiberg Leifsson to pull down the cabbage statues have shocked and appalled cultural conservatives. This winter, during a season of protests and counter-protests in the northern city of Laafjörður, which has for decades been the flashpoint of west-meets-east, new-meets-old, left-meets-right cultural warfare, protestors surrounded the mighty statue of Sankt Jakob and the Pyramid of One Thousand and Ninety Three Cabbages, only to be beaten back by counter-protestors wielding batons and singing patriotic hymns. There’s bound to be a cabbage statue outside every major football or sports stadium, even those that don’t reek of rotting vegetables.

So… why are Græntfjallers so obsessed with depicting cabbages in statue form?

The grim answer is that those cabbages are actually human heads, created in rounded and featureless form consistent with Græntfjaller primitivism. Heroes depicted with cabbages at their feet or in their hands or skewered on the points of their swords are really brandishing the heads of their slain enemies. And it goes further: cabbages are absent from statues of Viking or pre-Viking heroes, of legendary figures of the early Græntfjaller middle ages. It’s only really with Sankt Jakob – virtually every statue of the national saint features at least one cabbage – that they start showing up. Sankt Jakob was, of course, the victor at the Field of Cabbages, which took place not in the agricultural southwest, but the frozen northeast, far from any fields where brassicas were farmed. Instead, the ground was (supposedly) littered with the heads of the invading army of the Sultan, whom Sankt Jakob defeated and beat back from the Gates of Háttmark. (“The Gates of Háttmark”, is, incidentally, a song sometimes sung by Græntfjaller fans; considered racist and Islamophobic, its singing was a contributing factor to the nation’s IFCF ban.) Given the cultural context of these cabbages, then, some visiting tourists might wish to revisit the grinning selfies.

World Cup 81/82/83/84

Baker Park and Pemecutin will meet for the fourth time in the last 4 World Cup Cycles when they face off at the Eagles Club in Eelandii Turori in the Semi Final of the Cocoa-bo Challenge Trophy, with Zwangzug or Electrum awaiting the winner in the Final.

In Eagles Cup 13, the sides met in the Final of the Cup of Champions, a 4-3 BP win that sent the Bees to the Grand Final versus Tumbra; in another reversal of fate, the holders are competing the CoC semis against Eura, with the winner to face the survivor of Græntfjall versus Banija.

All three previous meetings have been decided by a single goal, as Pemecutin defeated the Commonwealth in the Group Stage of World Cups 89 and 91. Manager Jennifer Prescott has said that these knockout stage matches will be the "final exam" for many on this hybrid roster ahead of the start of World Cup Qualifying.

Lineup:
Johnston; Allen, Rasanamira (C), Edmonds; Park, Olivera, S Logan, McFairlaine; D'Amico; Mack, Obulundi
_______________________________________________________________________________

Sport stadiums and the replacement thereof is a lightning rod topic in the Commonwealth of Baker Park, reflecting the usual tribalism that sport brings out as well as civic pride and emotional attachment.
Eighteen of the twenty six largest stadiums in the country—those with capacity of 20,000 or larger used for soccer or gridiron football—were built originally prior to 1952, and 11 of those date from before 1933; most have gone through renovation, reconstruction or expansion on multiple occasions, but rare is it that an entirely new venue is built from scratch.

Baker Park has long been loathe to make change just for the sake of change; the most recent adoption of an increase to the number of House of Assembly seats from 175 to 231 ends the longest era of unchanged electoral districts in history, as the previous total was adopted in 1951, when the population of the Commonwealth was approximately 14 million. As of the most recent Census, there are over 54 million inhabitants currently living here.

Many stadiums here remain an integral part of the central downtown areas they are located in, harkening back to English traditional stadium design, much as the largest cities in the Commonwealth copy urban development characteristics from their late Victorian Age founding.

Except for the capital, most cities have only a few true skyscrapers, as 15 stories seems to be as high as most citizens want from their office buildings and condominium towers.

Building permits, planning permission, and approval for new construction is far from onerous here, excepting situations where public transit or right of ways are involved. Most cities in Baker Park have protected areas where architectural styles or uniformity is enforced, but generally the trend runs towards buildings post 1960 having a much more contemporary design.

by **Zwangzug** » Thu Sep 22, 2022 7:13 pm

Cutoff time!

Cocoa-bo Challenge Trophy:
Zwangzug 0–1 Electrum
Pemecutan 1–2 Baker Park

Cup of Champions:
Graintfjall 1–2 Banija
Tumbra 1–0 Eura

There will be third-place playoffs for each of the sub-competitions, making the next round of matchups:

(consolation matches)
Zwangzug vs. Pemecutan, Eagles Club, Forbridge, Zwangzug
Graintfjall vs. Eura, Eagles Club, Brinemouth, Nephara

(semifinals)
Electrum vs. Baker Park, Eagles Club, Eelandii, Turori
Banija vs. Tumbra, Eagles Club, Dodoma, Banija

(these are all technically scheduled for 48 hours from now but there will likely be a delay of a couple hours)

by **Tumbra** » Fri Sep 23, 2022 2:50 am

Tumbra 1-0 Eura

TMB (4-2-3-1): 1 - Russell; 2 - Finney, 14 - Bond, 24 - Harcourt (5 - Pritchett, 79'), 19 - Larkin (3 - Mercurio, 70'); 6 - Harrison, 16 - Maguire, 10 - Knight; 7 - Reed (17 - McDermott, 79'), 9 - Hardaker (19 - Bevins, 84'); 11 - Henshaw (22 - Anderson, 70')

TMB scorers: Susie Knight (25')

Player of the Match: Susie Knight [TMB]

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News > Top
Constitutional amendment regulating recall of MPs and Senators becomes law

By Peter Haldeman
TBC News

The latest raft of amendments to the Tumbran Constitution were ratified by both houses of Parliament, opening the way for MPs and Senators to be recalled; and intensifying debate over whether Georgia Senator Kathleen Nielsen will be the first member of the Federal Parliament to be removed in this manner.

After weeks of deliberation in committee, both the House and the Senate passed the proposed amendments to the Constitution by overwhelming majorities in their respective houses. The vote, which was taken near the end of the day's session, took advantage of a standing rule of Parliament that allowed for the immediate passage of a single law if both laws were passed in exact form. This process is known as unification. The process today is used sparingly, but has most often been used when there is broad bipartisan approval for a single law. The amendments to the Constitution were passed with other laws relating to the format of the recall elections, and all were passed with similar margins.

The House passed the Recall of Members of Parliament and Senators Act with 610 MPs voting for, 28 against and 2 abstaining, with both Conservative MPs Derrick Atkinson (Con-Havant) and Lucy Forde (Con-Salisbury) abstaining on the final vote. Ten other MPs were absent from the vote. The MPs who voted against the amendments to the Constitution, who all came from both the Liberal and Labour parties, criticised the speed of the amendment process as "overly hasty", cited the potential for "instability" that the amendments would bring, and called for a minimum period of service before allowing for the prospect of a recall. A website, aretheybentornot.tmb, which purportedly tracks corruption within Straton, revealed that at least fifteen of the "Group of Twenty-Eight" were facing some kind of ethics investigation for alleged misdeeds, including bribery, sexual harassment or driving offences.

At the same time, the Senate passed the exact same act with 183 Senators voting for, one voting against, and 11 abstaining. Six other Senators were absent. All eleven Conservative senators abstained from the vote, while the eight former members of the Conservative Party that left to form the Independent Conservative Group all voted for the amendment.Senator Kathleen Nielsen (Vang-Georgia) cast the sole vote in the upper house against the proposed constitutional amendment, which drew laughter after the result of the vote was revealed. Nielsen would later launch into a fiery tirade on the steps of Parliament House, accusing the "Tumbran deep state" of a "witch-hunt" against those in her party and like-minded "patriots."

That Nielsen was the sole vote against the amendments in the Senate was no surprise. Even Senators facing investigations of their own and may be subject to a recall depending on the result of said investigation, such as Michael Holloway (Lib-Marlsbruhe) voted for the bill. Nielsen has effectively become persona non grata in the Senate after her links to the ongoing Conservative Party money laundering investigation were revealed, in which the Conservatives illegally funneled money into Tumbra from foreign sources to fund Alan Spalko's 2026 presidential election campaign. The investigation tore the Conservative Party apart; thirteen of the fifteen Conservative MPs that were serving before April 2029 were unseated in that month's general election, while eleven of the party's twenty-three strong Senate caucus the party altogether — joining either the libertarian New Democratic Party or forming the Independent Conservatives Group, distancing themselves from the scandal-hit party. The eleven that stayed, including current floor leader Adam Nicholls (Con-Bechor), have all claimed innocence and a lack of knowledge of the events, condemned Spalko's actions and have largely floated out of the public eye as they gear themselves up for an uphill re-election battle in 2032, in which they face the prospect of being completely locked out of the Senate. Several Conservative Senators are said to have already privately expressed a desire to not run for re-election, leaving the Senate on their own terms rather than having to face the voters' wrath.

Nielsen is highly likely to be the first member of either house of Parliament to be recalled after the passage of the amendments, with a poll taken in Georgia three days before the passage of the amendments showing about two-thirds support for a recall election. The recall petition, which the Federal Elections Commission has confirmed can be lodged and signed online, will highly likely be the subject of litigation from Nielsen and the Vanguard Party as they seek to prevent the embattled Senator's recall. As twenty percent of the total number of votes cast from the previous Senate election are required to begin the recall process, this means that Nielsen will require just over a million signatures to be collected within one hundred and sixty days to be recalled.

Expected legislation to amend the system of voting in the Senate, however, was not amongst the raft of laws that were passed; the official statement from the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Sarah MacLean, mentioned that "several other" voting systems were being considered aside open-list proportional representation. One alternative that has been gaining popularity in recent months has been the panachage, which allows voters to vote for as many Senators as there are seats, while allowing for voters to split their vote; other alternatives mooted include the single-transferable vote, which works similarly to the panachage but is more well-known worldwide.

Related Stories

What is the Federal Parliament of Tumbra, and what do the two chambers do?
Read more about the proposals to change the Senate voting system here.
Who is likely to run in a Senate by-election in Georgia?

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by **Turori** » Fri Sep 23, 2022 4:19 am

While the Turori National Team's participation in the Eagle's Cup came to an early end after a 0-1 defeat by Zwangzug on the final matchday of group play, the Nation of Turori continues to be a part of the proceedings as the Eagle's Club in Eelandii will play host to the Eagle's Cup Semi-Final and Final of the Cocoa-bo Challenge Trophy. The Island Emirate of Turori has four main zones as part of is primary inhabited areas. The majority of Turori's Population resides on the south eastern portion of Turori's main Island. This includes the Capital City of Almintora, the surrounding capital region including Cednia and the purpose built sportropolis of Eelandii as well as on the Northern shore the city of Kionao. While Almintora is still the largest city in the Island Emirate, Cednia and its associate Beach life at the southern tip of Turori's main Island have become one of its most popular for entertainment as well as holiday style tourism. Outside of this, the large portion of Turori's remaining population are in the Mliona region of Turori's smaller Island, where folks who want to be detached from the hustle bustle of the Capital City life tend to reside.

Directly between Almintora and Cednia Beach sits Eelandii, a purpose built "Sportropolis" built midway between Turori's two largest cities, Almintora and Cednia. Eelandii itself is not a town or a city but a purpose-designated that initially consisting of just Eel's park - itself a state of the art sporting complex for football and athletics, the campus at Eelandii was quickly expanded to include the offices of the Football Association of Turori and a permanent training facility for the Turori National Team. 90% of Turori's Top Tier international talent spends time at the Eelandii Academy at some point in their development. The most popular souvenir in Eelandii currently is the Eelskin Brown Vuvuzela.

Location :: The Eagle's Club is located in the purpose built city of Eelandii, midway between the Turorian cities of Almintora and Cednia.

Capacity :: 8,000 + Add'l Temporary Seating

Stadium History :: Although Turori were champions of Eagle's Cup III, the purpose built Eagle's Club facility in Eelandii was not constructed until just prior to Eagle's Cup V. Prior to this, Almintora National Stadium in Almintora was Turori's designated Eagle's facility.

The main pitch at the Eagle's Club has only one permanent grand stand which sits directly over the facility entrance at the south end of the stadium behind the goal with a capacity of about 8,000. The main pitch is available as a practice facility for any Eagle's Club member, permanent or cyclic honorary members, when visiting Atlantian Oceania or Turori whether they are contesting an International Match or just holding a tour practice. There are additional pitches and sport facilities on the complex accessible only to Eagle's Club members. Additionally, all facilities in the purpose built sporting hub of Eelandii are available to Eagle's Club members on a first-come first-serve basis.

During Eagle's Cup events, temporary grandstands are constructed along the two long sides of the pitch supporting between 20-45,000 additional fans. The temporary grand stands are physically separated from the pitch by a Brick promenade covered in vine overgrowth.

The most important event held at an Eagle's Club is the Champions Ceremony. While the Eagle's Cup Final is typically held off-site to encourage larger attendance numbers, the final contestants return to the Eagle's Club to receive their medals. Prior to the medal ceremony, a third place match is held to determine which nation will receive the bronze medals. For logistical purposes, the Third Place Playoff match goes straight to penalty kicks if tied after 90 minutes, ensuring the medal ceremony is not delayed. This scheduling detail also makes the Eagle's Cup unique in that the third place playoff match takes place after the competition final. For the XIV Eagle's Cup Cycle, the Eagle's Club in Eelandii will double as a Semi-Final Venue and Cocoa-bo Challenge Trophy Final.

Primary Tenants :: All members of the Eagle's Club are the primary tenants at an Eagle's Club main pitch. The Eelandii Eagle's Club facility is dedicated to the championships earned by the Turori National Team. The expanded-seating capacity Eagle's Club venue is used only for Eagle's Club knockout round matches or matches between two Eagle's Club members.

Cocoa-bo Challenge Trophy Preview :: The Commonwealth of Baker Park, defeated finalists of Eagles Cup XIII, will be looking for a chance at redemption when they face off against World Cup 92 Co-Hosts Electrum for the Cocoa-bo Challenge Trophy and a spot in the Eagle's Cup Final. Electrum are competing in their fourth Eagle's Cup competition with a best prior finish of 4th during Eagle's Cup VII where they were defeated by Eventual Champions Cosumar in the Semi-Final. This will be the first meeting of the two sides during the competition.

Cup of Champions / Eagles Cup Final Preview :: The winner of the Cocoa-bo Challenge Trophy will move on to face the winner of the Cup of Champions in the Eagles Cup Final in Zwangzug. Defending Eagle's Cup and Campionato Esportiva champions Tumbra will be looking to make it a 5th-straight Eagles Cup Title for Nations beginning with the Letter "T", following in the footsteps of Eagles Cup X Champion Tequilo, XI-XII Champions Turori and themselves as holders of the Cup. In order to do so, however, they will first have to claim the 15th Cup of Champions Trophy. The Cup of Champions will be awarded in a rematch between the two teams advancing from the Confederations Group - Esportivan Champions Tumbra and Atlantian Oceania Regional Champions and former Cup of Champions winners Banija. The two sides played previously on Matchday 5 with Tumbra winning that match 2-0

Cocoa-bo Eatery ✓

@cocoabott
A Year's Supply of Cocoa-bo to whichever player scores the winning goal in the Cocoa-bo Challenge Trophy Final at the @EaglesClub? Fans can stop by our booth outside the venue for a chance to win a free Cocoa-bo Plush Toy!

#EaglesCupXIV : #CocoaboChallengeTrophy : #CocoaPlush

by **Electrum** » Fri Sep 23, 2022 7:54 am

The Turnip: We Will Crush Baker Park With The Force Of A Thousand Suns To Drink That Sweet Milk Elixir Called Cocoa-Bo
by Billiam Maskey, chief-editor-in-chief

In a stunning turn of events that no one could have ever predicted, the Electrumite football team has climbed the corporate ladder from Cup of Harmony Crash of Out to semifinalist in the Eagle Club's most prestigious (and therefore only) tournament, the Eagle'ss Cup.

And the stakes could not be higher at the Eagles' Cup because the chocolate juice slingers of Cocoa-bo have sweetened the deal by providing a year's supply of Cocoa-bo to the player that scores the winning goal in the Cocoa-bo Challenge Trophy Final. There weren't really any real stakes before hand but finally now there's a reason to win, membership of the Eagle's Club's be damned.

Already we've heard rumours from the Electrumite change rooms (thanks to a strategically placed string-and-cup-telephone) on how the next match is going to go down and no, this is not match rigging if it's for a good cause. The plan will involve Seb making that decisive goal. As an energy ball, Seb has no need for worldly pleasures which means that all of the human players will just have to 'assist' Seb in consuming the milky juice we call Cocoa-bo.

But why go to this effort of winning? Here's what we heard through out secret espionage technology.

It makes tum tums go yum yum.

It would quite frankly be offensive if we lost to a nation with such a simple name, it would be embarrassing, akin to losing to a nation named Cityville or Coconut Isle. There is, however, no shame in losing to a team named Zwangzug.

The brown milky juice will help us qualify for this cycle's Cup of Harmony.

This will be our second last chance we get to win a trophy, because we're getting too old and tired to play football.

We must win so that we may nourish our bodies with the essence of crushed up feathers of the cocoabo bird, a main ingredient in Cocoa-bo.

The cocoa-bo is our God given right. This God is called Mod and even if we lose, we will still call on God Mod to claim that we've won.

We cannot simply do an Ocean's Twelve style move of breaking in and entering the Cocoa-bo factory for some juice because we only have eleven players on the field and the twelfth will feel a whole lot of unresolved resentment.

Hey why the fuck is there a string and cup on the ground. What the fuck, who's spying on us?

Uh oh. Our spy cups have been compromised. Abort. Abort. Pretend you didn't read this article. Throw this computer into the trash. Hurry.

by **Graintfjall** » Fri Sep 23, 2022 1:33 pm

Græntfjall – 1 (1)
Björnólfur (c); Alyssia (66’), Eyvar, Grímúlfur (84’ Sigurbergur ), Jan (71’) (84’ Leona (90+5’)); Danny (48’) (66’ Kristmar ), Tinni; Amanda (66’ Johanna ), Lara (77’ Jade ), Kæja (34’ pen.); Röskvi (29’)

Banija – 2 (1)
(21’), (74’)

If NS World Cup nations were guitarists...

Previous entries
1. Ariddia = Andrés Segovia
2. The Holy Empire = Robert Johnson
3. Crosshill = Charlie Christian

4. Vilita and Turori = Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood

This entry represents that (a) Vilita has been around forever and is somehow still going strong, (b) "main" and "puppet" overlap like "lead" and "rhythm" where it's not really clear which is which (Turori, the "puppet" is currently prohibitive world number #1!), and (c) while I prefer Mick Taylor's work it'd probably be a bit cruel to compare any NS nations to him. Plus Vilita's "rebel" series last WC ties in nicely with the piratical Mr. Richards.

The Eagle's Cup XIV :: Cup of Champions :: RP/Scores

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