Time Out Dubai recently came down to Barasti Bar for some summer beach volleyball action in Dubai.

Dubai’s brave fitness fans head down to Mina Seyahi every Wednesday night for Duplays’ 10-week beach volleyball league. We went to watch and were soaking within the hour, so imagine the players – some had trouble with ball handling as arms and hands were so slippery from sweat. The night ended with a casual half-hour of play, which was our favourite part: pop to Barasti, hit a ball or two, pop back to Barasti – our favourite kind of exercise. Fancy playing? The next league starts mid-September: see duplays.com.

Check out the feature on Time Out Dubai’s website and see all 11 (sweaty!) photos from the night.

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.

Play sport. Be social. DUPLAYS.com

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:

For more photos from the game you can visit the official Snickers website makefootballhistory.com and the Snickers WLFM facebook group.

Check out the official press release below…

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.

Over 400 Brookfield Multiplex employees enjoyed another great DUPLAYS corporate event — “Beach Games”! Check out this video from the intense battle for tug-of-war first place.

Want to organize a unique, sport-filled fun day for your company? Contact corporate@duplays.com for event ideas and packages.

Play sport. Be social. http://DUPLAYS.com

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.

DubaiOne TV show recently interviewed DUPLAYS co-founders Derv Rao and Ravi Bhusari at Ski Dubai.

The full episode from Dubai One is available here: Episode 18 – Winter Wonderland

Play sport. Be social. DUPLAYS.com

Recently DubaiOne TV aired this video about DUPLAYS social sport leagues in the UAE: Punam and Layne from “Out & About This Week” discover DUPLAYS — the UAE’s “Sport & Social Club”.

The full video from DubaiOne TV is here: http://bit.ly/dxb1DUPLAYS

Joining a sport league is easy! Visit DUPLAYS.com homepage for Dubai or for Abu Dhabi.  Then you just need to 1) register on the site, 2) sign up for your sport, and 3) we take care of the rest — you’re ready to play!

Play sport. Be social. DUPLAYS.com

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 here so that we can make  Beach Olympics II even better!

Sign up now for Beach Olympics II

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!

We’ve posted more photos to our DUPLAYS facebook account: http://facebook.com/DUPLAYS

Play sport. Be social. DUPLAYS.com

Hey sport lovers!

This is it, your last chance to join one of DUPLAYS 30+ new sport leagues in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. New leagues begin next week — January 24th! If you haven’t yet, sign up now! …or wait until April.

This Wednesday and Saturday night we will be accepting payment (cash/cheque only) at two locations listed below. Paying this Wed or Sat guarantees your team’s (or individual) spot in the league. Teams paying in full will receive their DUPLAYS team shirts on a first-to-pay, first-to-choose basis for team shirt colours & sizes.

Payment times & locations
In Dubai at Barasti Bar, Le Meridien Mina Seyahi (Dubai Marina)
Wednesday, January 20, 7-10pm OR Saturday, January 23, 5-8pm. You are invited to come and play beach volleyball (after paying!) during those times.

In Abu Dhabi at Reem Dome @ Rawdhat (across from Zayed Sports City, off Airport Rd; if leaving Abu Dhabi then left at first lights after Carrefour).
Wednesday, January 20, 6-9pm OR Saturday, January 23, 5-8pm.

Some more notes

• Want to pay by credit card? You can! Just goto http://DUPLAYS.com, login and click the link under “my leagues”. On the league page scroll down and click the large black button that says “update my league settings”. From there you can select PayPal and use a credit card to pay.
• If you are an individual (you don’t know your team yet), your team shirts will be provided on day 1 of league play but payment must be made at one of the locations above in advance to secure your spot!
• What if you don’t pay for your league before the start date? Your spot cannot be guaranteed until payment. Also, top choices for shirt sizes and colours may no longer be available. It’s best to pay this week. Make it a fun team night out!

Team Members
All members of a team must sign up for the league online, to be eligible to play.
Why? All communications (last minute updates, scheduling, standings) are sent only to league members. Also, there is an online waiver that must be accepted in order to play.

Schedules, Rosters (Teams), Standings
Schedules and Rosters will be posted 48 hours before league start date (please check your starting dates on the league page, they may have been adjusted). Each league will send a mailer to league members only the night before games begin.

See you soon, on the court/field/sand/pitch!

Team DUPLAYS.com