Saturday, May 26, 2007

5v5 Indoor Soccer Challenge

For the second year, Contact Sports organized its’ 5v5 Indoor Soccer Challenge with the aim to promote the sport in the region of Penang. This year, we saw participation of 10 teams for the challenge held on 26 May 2007 at the Indoor Premier League, Gembira Parade. We were gald to have 5 teams which participated last year and were back in action again this year. They are Inti A & B, Legend Killer FC, Sri Pelita Tigers and One United FC. This time they came back with more force and substance to make it to the finals, and ultimately to take home the gold medals. The teams were divided into two groups through drawing of lots. Preliminary matches were played simultaneously with the top 2 teams from each group moving on to semi-finals. Every match was intense since the preliminary as every team determined to stay on top. One can see true colors of each person through the game. A slight commotion happened during one of the semi-final match. An unsporting behavior and crude language by the player resulted in getting him a yellow card. Overall, it was truly a challenging ‘Challenge’. The Challenge was won by Gelugor Football Club (GFC), followed by SPG FC and Inti A. Prizes courtesy of Indoor Premier League, Fuji and Yeos.

Sunday, May 20, 2007

PFA Challenge

Penang Floorball Association recently organized its’ 2-days tournament, the PFA Challenge 2007 at Dalat International School. The tournament was organized with the aim to foster closer bonding between the different clubs in Penang as well as Selangor Floorball Association (SFA). A tournament of the same was previously jointly organized by SFA and UM (Universiti Malaya in March.

This state-wide tournament was one that the clubs are looking forward to, especially for Contact team. With all energy and force concentrated on the tournament, Contact was determined to make it to the final. The participating clubs were Innebandy! Co, Salibandy! Co, Frontliners, Selangor Floorball Association, Dalat Moldy Oldies, Dalat Eagles and Contact. The preliminary matches were played in round robin system with top 4 winners qualifying for the semi-final.

Our very first match against SFA proved to be very demanding to our spirit and strength. Playing against the giants of SFA, Contact played a very tight defensive game. Petit scored the first goal in a counter attack that gave us the lead of 1-0. However, we lost the match by 2-1.

The subsequent matches against Innebandy! Co, and Dalat Modly Oldies were more or less due to our lack of stamina and focus. We lost in these 2 matches. Our match against the Frontliners was just as tough. They fielded in their better and faster players. This match was a draw for both teams. The goal was scored from the side by their man who was unmarked. The mistake of our defenders!

The other 2 matches against Dalat and Salibandy! Co was slightly easier. We won both matches. Dalat was down to only 5 players including their goalie. Our hats off Dalat for displaying such good spirit of sportsmanship! As for Salibandy! Co, it was a favor to us to not have Deswyn, their key player in the match. (He was injured prior to our game!)

Contact who has always been known as the underdog of floorball due to the many young players. However Contact unbelievably proved the crowd wrong by qualifying for semi-final. Contact would have made it to the final if not for the last minute disputable goal. Some said that it was a not a goal, while others said it was. As the rules said, referee’s decision is final. Thus, it was the referee’s call that gave the ultimate score of 1-0 for Dalat Eagles and Contact.

It was truly a very good experience for all of us in Contact although we did not make it to the final. We are certainly proud to be in this team for making it so far! We will continue to strive and make our efforts count in the coming tournaments!