The DFL boys retained their title as DUPLAYS Ultimate Frisbee champions when they convincingly defeated the Dubai Flying Carpets on Monday evening at the Metropolitan fields.
DFL 10 – Fly Carpets 3. Ryan stars as DFL retain Spin Doctors title. By Mohamed Suleman
14 June, 2010, Dubai. Nine weeks of grueling Ultimate Frisbee culminated in a re-match of last season’s final, with the Dubai Flying Carpets taking on the DFL’ ers.
Although the match did not live up to the nail-biting encounter the two teams produced last time around, high quality Ultimate was still in the cards and in the end, it was DFL who took the crown.
The game got off to a tentative start as both teams passed the disc around in search for an opening. The Carpets Patrick tried to hit Chilly going long, but the throw was just wide.
A victorious DFL team
It was DFL who got on the board first through a towering Ryan catch. But the Carpets equalized soon after through Andrea, who finished off a pretty passing play.
However, the tie did not last long as Jack set up Dina in the end-zone to get DFL up by one again. The point opened the floodgates as they started to dominate proceedings, and were soon ahead by a handful.
Chilly got one back for the Carpets when the ever-reliable Led hit him with a delectable forward-flick from a whopping forty feet.
The Carpets tried to seize on the momentum, but were met by airtight defense from the DFL boys. They restricted them to short passes and kept the disc away from their end-zone. “We tried to keep the disc moving and stay smart on defense,” said DFL’s Robin after the game.
DFL were strong offensively as well. They circulated the disc superbly and hit the open man more often than not. The height of Ryan helped as well, as he made a few smart catches closer to the stars above, than the grass below.
Paul gave the Carpets supporters’ something to cheer about when he made a splendid jump and pick in the end zone
The game ended with Chilly, who once broke the sound barrier with a forward flick, holding on to a tight catch in the end zone to salvage some pride for the Carpets.
“I think we played pretty well,” said Chilly after the game. “Congratulations to DFL, they played a great final.”
All in all, it was an enjoyable final to watch between the two best teams in the league.
The season ended with Captain Led enlightening the players as to how he invented the game of Ultimate Frisbee decades ago, and how he proudly introduced it to the ‘nation of Dubai’.
It was a cracking end to what had been a memorable season. Spin Doctors III kicks off on June 28th. Expect some more pulsating disc action from DUPLAYS, the UAE’s largest sport and social club. http://duplays.com/ultimate-frisbee
Forty-eight teams represented 27 nations and competed in DUPLAYS 2-day 5v5 futsal tournament — the UAE Nations Cup by Gillette.
The indoor football action was intense with lots of great goals and gritty defense. Congratulations to all the teams and a special thanks to Gillette for making the tournament possible with their generous support.
1st place: UAE Legions
2nd place: Iran Fabexi
more photos from the event below…
DUPLAYS is the UAE’s largest sport & social club with over 14,000 members.
With Snickers’ support, DUPLAYS organized 36 footballers to play 1 match for 42 hours and 5 minutes in Doha, Qatar from May 28-30.
An official from Guinness World Records certified the event as the longest football match ever played! After 2 months of preparation the nearly 2 days of football went surprisingly smoothly with only a few players having minor injuries. Players slept and ate on the sidelines of the pitch, keeping a rotation that balanced playing time with rest/sleep. The final score of the match was 293-236 — “Crunchers” (green) over the “Challengers” (orange).
City 7 TV and Sport on 7 host Graham Clews filed this video report from the match:
Mars GCC – the leading regional manufacturer of confectionary products in the Middle East and its famous brand Snickers ® proudly announces it has stepped up to the challenge and broken the current Guinness world record for the longest football match by bringing together 36 real football fans from 10 different Arab markets to play a historical match that lasted for 42 hours and 5 minutes in Qatar. The match kicked off on Friday 28th at 8 am and ended at 2.05 am on Sunday.
Throughout the years, Snickers ® has been always associated with football. One of Snickers’ ® main aim by organizing the event is to challenge and unleash the football potential and create a tremendous amount of excitement among Arab youth in the region.
Commenting on the event was Omar Salim, Marketing Director, Mars GCC: “Snickers ® is proud to have achieved its goal in breaking the record for the world’s longest football thanks to the determination of the selected team. This accomplishment reflects the players’ high level of excitement about the game and the sense of closeness among Arab youth. Snickers ® succeeded in bringing Arab youth together to step-up to the challenge “Tahadi” and be more active while having fun and learning from others. Breaking the record by those youth echo a sense of responsibility and passion for the sport.”
This record-breaking attempt is done under the umbrella of the Snickers brand which stands for: “Don’t stop” and “Step-up”.
Mohammed Badri from KSA, one of the on-line winners of the Snickers “Make football history campaign” commented: “This has been one of the most exciting experiences of my life. I feel blessed to have been given the opportunity to participate to such an enriching and unique adventure and to have bonded with mates from across the region that share the same passion for football as I do. The strong spirit of achievement we shared throughout the whole event has contributed to create very special friendships which we know will last forever.”
The game followed standard FIFA rules for a friendly match, with teams limited to 11 players on the pitch and 7 substitutes each. There was a set up for sleeping and resting and food/beverages.
There were a total of 36 players who participated in breaking the world record. Ten players were selected from users who played the online football game. The other 26 players were recruited among football fans who stepped up to the challenge.
A studied rotation was put in place to make sure no players run the risk of extreme over-exhaustion. A team of experienced sports organizers were in charge of setting schedules and managing players and their substitutions to make sure every player received adequate rest and care during the whole game.
The event was supported by City 7 TV as the exclusive media partner of the event.
Looking for a great event for your company? DUPLAYS recently held a 3-day corporate event for Johnson & Johnson in Dubai. The theme: “Making the Impossible Possible / Together MENAP”. Click below to view a photo slideshow.
Contact corporate@duplays.com for event details and packages.
Enjoy the photos below from our 1st Beach Olympics and sign up for the next one on March 5th! We had 32 teams of 8-15 participants enjoying beach games at Shoreside’s beach resort in Dubai.
At this first event we had beach volleyball, beach dodgeball, tug-of-war, great raffles prizes, and more. If you participated in Beach Olympics I, then please give us your feedback hereso that we can make Beach Olympics II even better!
You can enter a full team to compete, or join as an individual or small group of friends and we’ll place you on a team. You’re guaranteed to meet new people and have a great time!
With DUPLAYS 1st ever Social Event / beach party on June 5th, we’ve been sorting through our best photos from past seasons. We’ve got photos of recent champions in many sports, some even dating back to late 2007, when DUPLAYS began. If you have some more great photos please email themto photos@duplays.com.
Football fans, have you noticed how there have been a string of upsets lately? The King of Clay losing to an unknown 23rd seed, Man Utd’s greek tragedy in Rome, Brawn GP’s dominance in F1, the non-goth guy winning American idol, Night at the Museum raking in more money than Terminator at the box office, could the summer throw anymore curve balls at us? Maybe there’s time for one more summer surprise.
It all culminated on the 30th day of May, in the sweltering heat, the top 12 teams of DUPLAYS NikeFive tournament converged at Raffles North and South to battle it out. At stake, the title of the Best Futsal team in Dubai, a glittering trophy, Nike gift vouchers worth AED 1,500 for each player of the winning team and of course, most importantly, bragging rights.
It was clear from the beginning that the likes of Ahdaaf, Faris Abu Mayaleh, Lambo and Unknown would be vying for the title, each of them were the table toppers in their respective qualifying groups. The format of the playoffs was such that, the 12 teams were split in half, one half at North and the other at South, each team would play 5 games each, and the team, from each location with most wins [most points] would then qualify for the final. The teams that qualified second in each location would then play a match to decide the 3rd placed team.
As it stood, in the South campus, Faris Abu Mayaleh, Big Sky Wings and Unknown were tied for the top spot, with Faris having a game in hand. The calculations showed that if Faris won their last game they would qualify for the finals along with Unknown, placed second. The team that stood between the much fancied Faris and the final was, Showtime FC. The match started and after going 3 goals down, it was Faris looking down the barrel of the gun and not Showtime, they did an excellent job of containing a cereberal team. The game ended 3-1 and it was time for some recalculations as 4 teams stood level at the top, to everyone’s utter shock, it wasn’t Faris Abu Mayaleh or Unknown but Showtime FC who qualified for the final due to their superior goal difference. They qualified by a mere 1 goal difference, ten to second placed Unknown’s nine. Shocked? Hey, welcome to the summer of upsets!
News from the North came in that the other team to qualify for the final was Ahdaaf FC, no surprises there, still unbeaten and still the favorites. Lambo qualified second.
To say that the final was a match up of David vs Goliath proportions was saying the least. Showtime had lost 4 games on the way to the final and Ahdaaf were unbeaten. Ahdaaf, with their emarati flair, was a team full of strikers while Showtime’s main weapon was an exceptional goalkeeper. The whispers in the crowd resonated loud and clear, there was no way Showtime stood a chance, the final was going to be a sham and their victory over Faris Abu Mayaleh was a mere accident.
Showtime knew what lay ahead, a juggernaut by the name of Ahdaaf, a hostile crowd, which was expecting them to fail and the subconscious understanding of their own flaws as a team.
The final was split into two 15-minute halves. The crowds gathered, the whistle blew, everyone braced themselves for a barrage of goals in Showtime’s net, the goals never came.
Showtime employed the same tactics that helped them defeat Faris, tight man to man defence, and attacking on the counter. Ala, Showtime’s talismanic goal keeper dominated his team’s proceedings like a general controlling his battalion, fearless, the ball had to go through him before hitting the net, and he would not have it, such was his authority that the ball would have frozen in mid air if so he wished. With the athleticism that would be a young man’s envy, he dove, he flew, he screamed orders, he taunted the opposing strikers; take your best shot! <
There are moments in great games, that help define them throughout history, it was Steven Gerrard’s first goal in that famous final against Milan, that spurred their comeback, it was Iniesta’s late strike against Chelsea that will forever be remembered in their campaign to win the treble, and Showtime were just about to experience their moment.
In an apparent effort to clear the ball, Ahdaaf’s defender headed the ball back to the goal keeper, the goal keeper was caught offguard, the whole crowd watched in slow motion as the ball landed softly in Ahdaaf’s net, silence, disbelief, jubilation. The own goal may appear as a tame way to take a lead in a final, but Showtime realized something else very quickly, they had just discovered Ahdaaf’s achilles heels: their goal keeper.
The first half ended in Showtime’s favor , 1-0.
All wasn’t lost for Ahdaaf. All they had to do was equalize to restore their confidence. One goal would open the flood gates. One goal to restore the crowds’ faith. But it wasn’t meant to be.
The second half started, within minutes, Alex scored Showtime’s second. The chinks were starting to appear in Ahdaaf’s armour, in order to score a goal they were leaving their defences wide open. Showtime scored their third goal before Ahdaaf could score their first. Towards the end of the game Showtime was clearly controlling the pace, they scored twice more, before the game was brought to an end.
In 40 minutes, Showtime changed the entire course of the tournament, beating two teams who were all but assured of winning the tournament. Everywhere you looked there were knowing smiles, everyone knew they had witnessed something special, an unfancied side had just routed the unbeaten.
It takes a team of men to accept defeat, not only were Ahdaaf gracious in defeat, but they played with the same modesty with which they dominated the entire tournament. I’ve seen too often teams resorting to fouling and shoving when defeat is apparent, but not Ahdaaf, their conduct; impeccable. It was almost heart breaking to watch them lose and I really hope, next time, they manage to finish what they started in this tournament.
Lambo finished in 3rd place after their encounter with Unknown. A special shout out to the boy’s in Lambo, they drive down all the way from Abu Dhabi to play football in the DUPLAYS leagues, real commitment to the sport they love.
So that’s football ladies and gentlemen. Today’s lesson: maybe it’s not about the fancied or the team with the big billing, maybe it’s about who turns up and puts on a show, and this time, it was unmistakably, Showtime!
NikeFive blog post by Muhammad Nauman. DUPLAYS would like to thank Mohammad for his great writing and work on the whole DUPLAYS NikeFive event.
DUPLAYS first league to launch in Abu Dhabi did so with a flourish of spinning runs, slashing cuts, interceptions, and touch downs. Six teams laced up their cleats and enjoyed recreational flag football action. Here are a few photos from the opener.
We’ll be adding to this gallery photos of all 72 teams in action! Each week we’ll be taking more and posting them to the http://DUPLAYS.com/NikeFive page
Here is the first batch of action shots, celebrating weeks 1 & 2 of the league.
