Saturday 19 January 2013

It's just a bit of fun... Part 2

I started something last week and now I just cant stop and so I present the "Stupid Tournaments based on Team names" Part II.

Lets start off with the Military Cup Final shall we? 
Rajnavy Rayong vs El Nacional

Rajnavy Rayong are the team of the Thai Royal Navy and El Nacional are a team of the Ecuadoran Military forces. The Ecuadorans would be strong favourites as they are one of that countries most successful clubs and the Ecuadoran League is stronger than the Thai one. 

There's always the Perth Cup
Perth Glory vs St Johnstone
Perth in Western Australia is the most remote city in the world and has a population of almost two million people including it's surrounding environs whereas Perth in Scotland is just touching forty five thousand. Despite this I'd fancy St Johnstone to beat the Glory based on current line ups. For the record St Johnstone was the historical name of the town of Perth thus the club name.
 
How about the "Not where you think they are" Cup quarter finals?
 Barcelona vs Juventus
Here we have two of European footballs big hitters, or actually we don't. This Barcelona hail from Ecuador and Juventus from Brazil. Like their European namesakes you'd fancy Barcelona to win this one.
 Arsenal vs Everton
White the Gunners versus the Toffees is a staple fixture in the English top flight but this game would be between sides from Argentina and Chile respectively. I imagine that most times arsenal would win this as you would expect with the same game in England. 
Boston vs San Francisco
At first glance you'd expect this to be a tie between the Eastern Seaboard and West Coast of the USA but surprise surprise you'd be wrong. Boston United are based in plain old Lincolnshire rather than Massachusetts and San Francisco are in fact not from California but Panama. Put your money on the Panamanians to win this one.   
Santiago Wanderers vs Bohemians
Ok so far all the teams have been from countries you wouldn't expect but in this one Santiago Wanderers are actually from Chile. For reasons best known to themselves they aren't based in that long skinny country's capital city of Santiago. As for Bohemians, where's Bohemia? I'll tell you where Bohemia is and it's basically the western half of the Czech Republic. It's a long, long way from Dublin where the football club are based. I'd imagine the Chileans would win this.

How about another historical one? Here's the final of the Age of Discovery Explorers Cup Final.
Columbus vs Vasco da Gama
For a man who never set foot on the mainland of the Americas and thought he had found eastern Asia Christopher Columbus doesn't half get a lot of credit. Columbus crew are not directly named after him but their home town of Columbus, Ohio is. Vasco Da Gama, from Rio de Janeiro, are named after the famous Portuguese explorer of the same name and another man who never so much as visited the New World. The Brazilians would be the winners of this one. 

Some more modern history now with the "Warsaw Pact countries that don't exist anymore" cup final. There's not a huge number of entrants for this one.
Yugoslavia vs USSR
The break up of these two countries spawned no less than 23 new footballing nations in Asia and Europe so there was obviously a bit of talent there. Even though the Yugoslavs were  excellent you would still imagine the sheer power of the Soviets would win this one.

Here's one with a more domestic flavour. It's the Fictitious Sides Cup Final
Harchester United vs Warbury Warriors
Harchester United were the team which the soap opera "Dream Team" revolved while Warbury Warriors are the team featured in the newspaper comic strip "Striker". I've never followed either to be honest as while I am clearly a sad individual as this blog suggests I do have a bit of a life. Who knows which side would win. That would be a stupid thing to ponder, not like the rest of the blog, right?

I'll stop there but I may well be back with this. I've got loads more of these...






Sunday 13 January 2013

It's just a bit of fun. Well it's fun if you're geeky enough.

Hi again. 

Apologies as always for not blogging more often but I have been focusing on getting the site up to date and apart from anything else I hate the verb "to blog". The site is now as up to date as it can be for now and I've had a chance to draw breath. It's given me a chance to write up an idea I've been knocking about in my head for a while - stupid tournaments based on team names.

Firstly we have the Peloponnesian War Cup final:


Spartans vs Corinthians
Now I know that technically the city states of Sparta and Corinth were nominal allies during the Pelopennesian War but overlook that for the sake of a rather laboured little joke. Given that the conflict in question took place in Greece, admittedly 2500 years ago, it's unusual that neither side here hails from Greece but from Edinburgh and Sao Paulo respectively. Ah well they do say Edinburgh, home of "The Spartans" is the "Athens of the North". For the record Sparta won the Pelopennesian War although I suspect the Edinburgh based semi-professional outfit would be rather unlikely to beat the reigning Copa Libertadores and World Club Cup champions.

While we're in the classical world let's look at the semi-final draw of the Herculean Trophy shall we?

OFI vs Hercules
Hercules is the individual whom I believe has the most team named in his honour, even given that he's a mythical figure. OFI are based in the capital of Crete, Iraklion a small city which is named after Hercules while Hercules are from eastern Spain and have adopted the Latinised form of the demigod's name. I'd fancy the Spaniards to make the final where they'll play the winners of:

Herakles Almelo vs Iraklis
Herakles Almelo  from the Netherlands use a version of the her's namemore akin the original Greek while Iraklis, from Thessalonika use the actual Greek for obvious reasons. Iraklis even have picture of Hercules and his famous brass bound club on the badge. This semi final would be too close to call but the winner of it would do well to beat the Spanish side from the other semi. 

I'm not finished with the classical world, not by a long way. Here's the final of the "I'm Spartacus" Cup

Spartak Moscow vs Roma

Spartak Moscow are named after the Thracian gladiator Spartacus who led a rebellion against the Romans in the First Century BC. In this particular scenario the Roman legions are represented by Roma, obviously. I suspect that, just like the original Spartacus the Russians would lose to the Romans although with a lot fewer crucifictions afterwards.

OK, this is the last one form the ancient world I promise. How about the Trojan War Cup semi finals?


Paris (St Germain) vs Achilles '29

Paris, as I'm sure you know was the Trojan prince who kidnapped/ran off with Helen of Troy to trigger the Trojan war. Achilles was the preeminent Greek (or Achean to be more correct) warrior leading the attack on Troy. In the legend Paris killed Achilles with a poisoned arrow wound in the heel. I suspect PSG would heavily beat the amateur side from the Netherlands who would have more than an Achilles heel to worry about.


Ajax vs AEK Athens
Ajax was a Greek warrior who went mad with anger and hung himself after not being awarded Achilles armour after Achiulles funeral. Athena, the eponymous deity of the city of Athens meddled in the Trojan war all through the legend. all things being equal I suspect the Dutch giants would beat the Greeks in this one but PSG would win overall.

I could go on and on with these things related to the classical world like Sparta Rotterdam vs Sparta Prague but I promised I'd stop with them. Let's move onto the Historical Monarchs Cup Final shall we?


Willem II vs Dom Pedro II

There aren't many teams named after historical monarchs bet here's a couple of them. Willem II (1792-1849) was the king of the Netherlands and has the club from Tilburg named after him for some sort of tenuous reason. Dom Pedro II (1825 - 1891) was the Emperor of Brazil which is something of a surprise as most people outside South America probably don't even know Brazil had emperors. Put your money on the Dutch side to win this one as the Brazilian side are small fry.

Enough history for a while. Lets have a game between two big names of Scottish football shall we. I don't actually have shirts of the biggest teams in Scotland for my own reasons but we can still look at the semi-finals of the "Not The Old Firm" Cup:


Stafford Rangers vs Stalybridge Celtic

These two English non-league sides share names with the Glaswegian giants but as far as I know have no other affiliations to them. Stafford Rangers, hailing from Stafford surprisingly, would be the underdogs here against Stalybridge Celtic who are based in Greater Manchester.


Beijing Celtic vs Rangers De Talca
Beijing does not have any particular love for Celtic or indeed any other Scottish team but clearly has enough ex-pats to get some sort of team together. Rangers de Talca from central Chile were apparently named by a Scotsman so may well be named after the Glaswegian side. The Chileans would be very heavy favourites to win this one.

I'll stop there but I really could go on and on with these, in fact I might do some more some other time. Alternatively I might get myself a life but that's unlikely.