Berlin Crocodiles Newsletter

Crocs vs Dockers – June 30th 2007

We’ve done it!!! By god, we’ve done it!!! The Berlin Crocodiles have finally had a win! The team’s first in over 15 months!

Three weeks ago, they were calling us ‘The Toothless Crocs’ and ‘The Un-geil Crocodiles’, but the players answered their critics on Saturday with an inspired 34 point victory against the Hamburg Dockers. And while the win sent the streets of Berlin into a wild frenzy on Saturday night, it also left a bitter taste in the mouth of one taxi driver from Spandau who had vowed to eat his turban if the Crocs ever won a game this season.

The Hamburg side arrived for the match without some of their big guns, and for the first time this year, the Crocs out-numbered their opponent. But in the true spirit of sportsmanship, two of Berlins most experienced players Benno and Commrade Frank, both volunteered to wear the very, very purple Dockers gernsey. The big guy Uwe offered to play for the opposition too, and as the sides lined up to start, they looked quite even. Amazingly, the Berlin side was made up of 6 first-timers with Alex, Big Lukas, Little Lukas, Detective Patrick, Inspector Georg and Reece all wearing the green and yellow for the first time.

The match started at a very fast pace with Hamburg bursting out of the blocks early and kicking a goal in the first minute. But the Crocs, kicking against a strong breeze, replied almost immediately. A quick break out of the middle brought the ball into the hands of Big Lukas at full-forward who slotted through his first goal for the club. This guy has some amazing natural football talent and it’s hard to believe he’s never seen the game before, let alone played it. Anyone watching would have assumed he’d grown up eating vegemite sandwiches and watching “Hey Hey” on Saturday nights. The Crocs worked hard against the breeze to keep the Dockers to 3 goals for the quarter. Michael kicked his first and Big Lukas his second and by the end of the quarter, the scores were almost even.

In the second quarter, with the wind behind them, it was all Berlin! Adam, Captain Marvellous and Daniel controlled the midfield, winning many of the centre breaks. Johannes and Reece dominated in defence, rebounding almost every Dockers attack. In the forward line Alex, Little Lukas, Haroon and Fabian all worked hard, pressuring the opposition and creating several scoring chances. Daniel ran forward and kicked a couple of great goals, Michael chimed in with another couple and the Crocs stormed in front. Late in the quarter it was all happening: Benno, (perhaps phased by just how purple his jumper was), managed to smother someones kick beautifully! with his head! Umpire Christopher Jones sent a Hamburg player from the ground after the player questioned Mr Jones’ parentage one too many times. Minutes later, Captain Marvellous had a magnificent run down the ground, bouncing and evading the opposition with ease. He must have run 30 metres before someone had the heart to tell him that he was running in the wrong direction! Towards the end of the term, Michael kicked his third major and then limped from the ground and straight to the frozen foods section of Real supermarket to pick up a bag of peas. He spent the rest of the game watching from the sideline, but not only did the frozen peas prevent his injured hamstring from swelling, they also made a tasty addition to his plate of steak and kartoffel puree later that night.

The Crocs continued their great form in the second half. Detective Patrick and Inspector Georg came on for a run and immediately impressed with their strong tackling and hard running. You wouldn’t want to be a criminal in Berlin with these two cops on the force as they clearly spend more time in the gym than they do at Dunkin’ Donuts. In the second half, the Crocs midfield really dominated. Adam had the ball on a string, Marvin picked up possessions at will, and Daniel was simply everywhere, winning contests, taking marks and kicking goals. He finished the match with 3 goals which is a superb effort! Big Lukas also finished with 3 goals in a great first match, Captain Marvellous kicked 2 and Little Lukas kicked one in what was an excellent first match for him. All of the new guys were simply outstanding and the talking, shepherding and tackling from everyone was most impressive to watch. The final scoreline of 12 goals 9 behinds : 81 to 6 goals 11 behinds : 47 is a testament to how well we worked as a team.

The after match celebrations back at Belushi’s were rather tame by Crocs standards, (No organic banana stories here!), but the boys got stuck into the 2 for 1 Becks and quietly basked in their winning glory. Unfortunately, the Hamburg players had opted to leave straight after the match so they couldn’t join us back at the pub for presentations. But the Berlin players had a special presentation of their own to make following news that club legend Andy will be heading back home to Australia next month. The boys signed a Crocs t-shirt and presented him with it in gratitude for his outstanding contribution to the club over the past 3 years as a player, organizer and coach. Good on ya Andy! You will be missed here mate.

Enormous respect must go out to Benno, Commrade Frank and Uwe, for helping out the opposition, and, in fact, they should all be applauded just for wearing the very, very purple Dockers gurnsey despite their best fashion instincts. We all know the winning margin would have been much greater if we’d had you guys on our side! Big thanks to Christopher and Robert for a superb umpiring performance and to Reeces kids for officiating behind the goals. Special mention to Adam who played his last official home match for the club (we hope he will be able to join us in Munich for our round 10 match there!) and again to Andy for his great contribution to the club over the years.

Finally, good luck to Benno, Johannes, Marvin and Fabian who are playing for Germany against Sweeden in the Tri-Nations Cup this Saturday.
(mf)

Germany vs Sweden Tri-Nations Match – Saturday 07.07.07

This is the biggest football event in Berlin this year with the Crocodiles hosting the Germany versus Sweden round of the Tri-Nations Cup. It will be big! with the best and biggest German born and bred boys against the best and biggest Swedish born and bread players. From each club, player nominations have been collected and a German National Team put together with (Australian) coach David Mudge.

Game Start 2pm on Saturday 7th of July
Location : Schiller Park oval in Wedding

The Crocs players are all supporting this event (from 12:00 noon sharp) and we look forward to having lots of spectators, The Australian Embassy know about it, the Swedish Embassy know about, we have our professional Aussie Rules Photographer coming along and have a big surprise planned; you just have to be there.

And if that’s not enough, the After Party will absolutely go bananas

Start 8pm
Location : Beluschi’s – Rosa-Luxemburgstr. 41, 10178 Berlin
(opposite the Volksbühne and U2 U-Bahn Rosa Luxemburg Platz)
http://www.belushis.com/venues/belushis-bars-in-berlin

Don’t forget to ask Aussie for the world famous 2 for 3 Euro Beck’s Beer offer (it runs until 10pm…. so stock up). They also have good food and it will be a big night as the Aussies, Germans, Swedish and other Expats show who is better off-field. And if anyone has a spare tea-towel they could donate, I know one taxi driver in Spandau who is in desperate need of a new head-piece!