DATA

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

It is a beautiful day today in Deeside, but the downside of the clear blue skies is that the temperature has dropped again and the milder, damper air of the last couple of days has gone, and it now looks unlikely that DATA will be clear of snow by Monday. This was the scene this morning:

We do have enough willing to play if Gary, John McW, Jeb and I all turned out - we would then have 15, with a couple more possibles. However, a number of the players have indicated they would like to play at DATA - I don't think we'd get enough willing to travel to Strikers again on Monday.

I'll keep you posted, but it looks a long shot now.

Boxing Day Fun Run

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

All the pub talk in recent weeks - including as recently as Friday - came to nowt when it came to the crunch - with one exception - our man from Houston turned up raring to go:

The weather conditions had severely reduced numbers - normally there's a three figure turn-out, but I only counted 16 at the start this time, all of them younger and including some regular runners. Understandably, Malcolm lurked at the back a bit:

Here he is hiding behind the beefcake:

and off he goes:

but by the time he had crossed Dee St and headed along Bridge St, poor Malcolm was already trailing by 50 yards or so:

Still, at least he had the bottle to do it, unlike everyone else. I met Malcolm at the end and he told me he had done it in 40 minutes - although there was a suggestion that he had perhaps cut off a bit of the route. He had got a bit distanced from the rest of the field and had to make up his own route back!

Well done, Malcolm!

Dave's 58th

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

A couple of late cancellations (CK & Sharpy) plus a couple of latecomers (Messrs Moir & MacIndoe) meant that we only had 12 of us in the team photo at Strikers:

The match went well - it was nip and tuck all the way, but the birthday boy eventually emerged on the winning side. Back at the Douglas, Dave did the honours:

Soup and sannies went down well, but eventually some of the drivers had to leave. Here's the east wing team:

On the south side of the snug in the Douglas, Dan, Malcolm, Colin and Tim were in earnest conversation:

The west end of the snug were a bit more light hearted:

Super day out - and, despite my fears that everyone had left without making a suitable contribution to the kitty to cover the soup and sannies, we ended up leaving a reasonable tip for the staff and still having £60 to carry over to the next gathering - hopefully on 3rd January, which will be the 23rd anniversary of the formation of BVFG - with any luck at DATA, if we get the forecast thaw next week. Watch this space. Should the match not take place, the surplus funds will go in to the Football Forecasts charity fund.

Friday night in the Stag

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

The planned discussion about the Boxing Day Fun Run/Walk didn't last long - and, to nobody's surprise, was inconclusive. I did, however, manage to collect £10 from Steve Paterson and also prise £5 from Sharpy's wallet for the football bets. There's only 2 weeks left to make changes to your bets this season - ideally, I'd like to have them by next Friday at Dave's birthday match. The more people make changes, the more money we collect for the winning charity.

The Stag has got a cracking coal fire and it was very welcome last night - even if it tended to toast you on one side and leave the other feeling comparatively cold. Ian enjoyed it:

Of course, the main event was the rake of drams that birthday boy McRae bought:

and yes, as the sign says, there was karaoke on last night - Sharpy picked up the book of available songs, but that's as far as we got - we weren't that drunk!

As the cold weather continues, it's looking increasingly likely that DATA will not be playable next Friday, in which case we will have to revert to Plan B - Strikers. There are still pitches available there, but the latest time is 1:30 pm. Watch this space.

Cash collections

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

We bumped in to Chris Dickinson last night in the Douglas and he was quick to hand over £10 in payment of his football bets fee for this season - including the extra £5 for the 5 changes that he's planning to make this month. Chris wanted to make sure he featured on the blog for the first time, so here he is handing over the cash:

So, a useful reminder that time is running out to make any changes to your bets - let me know asap please.

Pub talk

From http://bvetsfootballgroup.blogspot.com/

On a cold, wintery night in Banchory, we thought it was only appropriate to have a warming dram in the Legion last night:


The combination of Macallans and several beers was followed by discussion about the old Fun Run photo circulated earlier this week - we even talked about us doing the Boxing Day Fun Run again this year! Mmmm ......