"We are the Champions"

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, welcome back to the blog. It won't be long before my stay will once again be wrapped - this time (most probably) for good. Less than three weeks left in Oz and, as usual, those last weeks will be very, very interesting and a lot of fun.

What could be a better way to conclude my floorball career on this continent than by winning the AFO! Glebe FBC is now officially the Australian National Champion. What a tournament and what a TEAM! Fifteen awesome guys who were committed to a common goal. This year, the AFO was played in Wollongong, NSW, just an hour south from Sydney. It started on Wednesday last week and the grand final was played on Saturday arvo. Due to work, Andrew and I had to manoeuvre between the office and the venue, but stayed in Wollongong (YHA) with the rest of the team after Friday.

There were two groups and eleven teams in total for the men's side and we were drawn in the same group with the Wollongong local boys, our practice partners Bondi Raptors, Pirates from Canberra and the kiwi side from Wellington. The draw was quite lucky for us as the only competitive tea m was the Bondi side against whom we played a tough match ending in our 2-1 victory. The rest of the teams we swept off with double digit margins. The Wellington team gets, however, a big hand from me as these guys travelled to Wollongong all the way from New Zealand and on top of this performed an awesome Haka against Story Bridge (Brisbane side)!

The playoffs started with a win over the Redbacks from Perth (6-2) and after this match, the games got serious. Newcastle, who beat us in the NSW Elite League semifinals (9-4, 7-4) were completely outplayed when we beat them in the AFO semifinals 2-0. They simply didn't stand a chance and had no scoring chances within 60 minutes of floorball! The grand final was then between Story Bridge from Brisbane (QLD) and us. Our opponents had a couple of imports from the top leagues in Sweden and Switzerland and were a strong, well-balanced side in general, but even they couldn't break our defence. The game was the longest I've ever played with 3x20 minutes stop time! We led the game 1-0 after the first period and the second one was scoreless. The third period was a thriller. Story Bridge tied it after around five minutes of play but we scored again a few minutes later (off the post). Story Bridge tied the game again with just five minutes remaining, but our star defender Jari's shot from the point was accurate and gave us yet another lead. Two penalties for each team ensued and Jari scored his second goal of the game thereby ending the thriller. The celebration was well deserved and kept on going till late that night.

Personally, the tournament went well. Could have gone a lot better but three goals and an assist is alright when you don't really let the opponent score and are able to create chances. We played really well together as a team and I think everyone played for the logo in the front instead of the number in the back of the jersey. I do admit that with even a satisfactory accuracy in my shot, I could have at least doubled my points but this time 90 % of them went over the goal...nonetheless, these four days I will never forget. A big thank you for our team and for this small group of people in Australia that work so hard without any pay or recognition to advance floorball and make it known on this continent. You're doing a great job.

Besides floorball, I have now only a week or so left at work. Actually, five days. In the meantime, it is nice to have another friend visiting from Finland and nice to go on a holiday to Fiji with her! The weather in Sydney totally sucks at the minute...we're having some heavy rainfall and low temperatures, but luckily it's supposed to be warm and sunny over there in the middle of the Pacific Ocean! We also just came back from Andrew's ranch again after quick visit - for the last time.

After Fiji, it's time to wrap it all up, catch up with friends before I go and host the final party at our place in Coogee! It's about time isn't it? The last one was held in August 2009 (the housewarming bash) and this time I will try to avoid the cops by writing a kind message on our whiteboard downstairs after the front gate telling our beloved British neighbours about the party and giving them my contact details so that before calling the cops, they can actually contact myself...if I'm in any condition to pick up my phone or hear the ringtone...

I will get back to you after Fiji with some stories from the Pacific. Meanwhile, make sure to check out our AFO pictures (more added as I receive them...) and enjoy the starting Northern summer! See you real soon...

CHEERS.