This year Södermalm Blues went down to Gothenburg and Sweden Cup with only 9 players, of which 1 had never seen an Australian football before (although when he got his hands on it you really couldn’t tell). First up was Landskrona (or was it Helsingborg, or Rainbow Warriors…) who put up a good fight in the first half. In the second Söder unleashed its secret weapon, first gamer Niklas Sahlgren who booted two goals and the boys won comfortably in the end. A solid start in the second game against home team Berzerkers put Söder in front by 3 goals at half time. A premature siren 3.5 minutes before the end gave Söder false hopes cause after that Gothenburg piled on. Winning everything in the centre and kicking a couple of goals put them within a sniff. Finally the real siren went and Söder escaped with only a 5 point margin. Mick Larsson’s second goal of the tournament meant 100 Söder career goals, only the third player in history to achieve that. Next up were last year’s champions the Oslo Crows. An easy win for the Blues and a spot in the Grand Final started to look like a possibility. First loss of the day came against an undefeated Port Malmö. Söder played well until the break but couldn’t cope with the Malmö onslaught in the second half. So far no serious injuries, a couple of limping players and a cramping Dylan. Söder had already secured a spot in the final going into the last round robin game against Norrtälje so the boys took it easy, way too easy. The Dockers dominated the first half and it looked like it was going to be a thrashing. However with the wind in the second quarter the Blues made a massive comeback and got in front by 7 points. After a day of hard fighting without a bench could Söder put up a fight against a more numerous and experienced Malmö side? Well, Coach Mick knew what was required; firstly bring in Gurra from the Dockers to help out, secondly a healthy yoga exercise and thirdly an inspiring speech. “Let’s do it for Bluey!” The boys ran onto the field without a thought of their aching bodies and pumped with energy. Söder got the first goal but Malmö was quick to reply. The teams traded hits and kicks during the first half and went into the break pretty much even. The Malmö side wasn’t expecting such resistance from Söder and showed signs of frustration. The even battle continued in the second half. With a couple of minutes to go Söder was trailing by only 2 points and fired on all cylinders to get in front. But the Maulers stood firm and a couple of late goals, the last one kicked as the siren went, sealed the win for Malmö. Final score: Malmö 4.5  29; Söder 2.3  15

It is a cliché and a poor excuse but sometimes it’s true, this year Söder didn’t lose gold rather won silver.