Saturday the 12th of may,
The Blues travelled to Norrtälje for the new franchise club’s debut in the SAFF.
After a strong win in the opening game against Årsta the confidence in the squad
was high, although, there was an air of trepidation on the one hour bus trip north
as the blues were still missing some big name players and they were up against
the unknown quantity of Norrtälje.

Welcome Dockers

Greeted by former Blue Ryan “turncoat” Tucker, he showed why he left Söder
as he gave us a rare glimpse into the lifestyle of big bucks, fast cars, world class
facilities, and magnificent playing surface on offer at Norrtälje, the Blues were
still not over awed. They strutted out to the game in a cocky swagger, amidst talks
between themselves of gaining a 7 goal lead by half time so they could give new
recruit Dan a run. By bounce down Norrtälje had other ideas, as they come out
swinging. Their bigger bodies were laying on the big hits creating plenty of run
for their quick players to assert the early dominance and by Qtr time Södermalm
stumbled to the team huddle down by 4 points. A few choice words and a good ol’
rev-up from coach Stephens got the Blues going as they started the 2nd Qtr with
determination to wrestle back the lead. People will talk about the team talk at Qtr
time or that the wind was in their backs that Qtr being the reason for the Blues turn-around,
but they are wrong. It was the crafty positional change made by coach Stephens to get
team hard-man Murf in the middle, needless to say Söder wrestled back the lead.
By half time Söder were up by 5 goals.
The new franchise Norrtälje showed plenty of fight in the 2nd half but up against the
seasoned professionals of Söder, it was always going to be tough. The hard running
of new recruit Kaj combined with veterans Larry SOS and Tarzan in the back line
shaped to be an impenetrable force and nearly proved so, leaking only minimal
points for the 2nd half. Skipper Max, faithful as a blue cattle sheep dog, as ever
dominated the ruck and when asked to go forward banged in the goals. Södermalm
eventually ran away with it and after a poor 1st Qtr performance it was good games
had by all.
Next on the roster for the Blues is the Sweden Cup in Norrtälje on the 2nd of June.
A special thank you Jordo who umpired surperbly and Norrtälje footy club for the great
hospitality!

Match Highlights:-
Brissles’ Dunstall like mark and finish after the 3rd Qtr siren
Big Dave breaking free on the wing and going the bounce
Any time hard-man Murf had the ball

Match Lowlights:-
Brissles’ constant bickering at the umpire. Unjustified.
Larry and Tarzan playing together in the forwards
Any time Larry and Tarzan tried to score