Yakker
Fisherman
- Apr 7, 2016
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Dragons FFC v Las Vegas Bears at Shark Park (Heritage Round)
Story by Yakker
Matchday graphic by kdavva74
Hello and welcome all to Round 8: Heritage Round. In Season 26 we explore the City of Sweet and delve into stories behind some of the historical venues that have shaped the culture of the league and by extension Sweet. Today’s match is Dragons FFC vs Las Vegas Bears at Shark Park.
Shark Park is actually the name given to the more widely known Van Cortlandt Park situated on Coney Island and the current home ground of the Warriors. In the past it has also been named “Titanland and “Titan Park” under team Kornikova / Titans FFC. Shark Park was the home of the Southern Sharks FFC.
It is not widely known throughout the league that Coney Island is no longer an island in the true sense of the word. In earlier times Coney Island sat close to the mainland off the land of Sweet separated by a narrow stretch of water known as Sweet Sound. As the city grew and land was at a premium Coney Island was reclaimed. The venture was approved by the Sweet City Council and it was announced it would reclaim the island using a polder designed by Royal HaskoningDHV with local partner Sweet Jukon that will add 1,810ha to the city of Sweet.
Traditionally, sand has been used to fill the area to be reclaimed above sea level. This new approach involves building a dike around the area to be reclaimed and draining the water from it – a 400 year old Dutch proven method. This will allow the reclaimed area to be built at a lower level and hence significantly reduce the amount of sand needed for land reclamation.
Work commences of Coney Island Reclamation.
Artists impression of the finished project
As a result Sweet FA fans no longer had to catch the ferry over to Coney Island and crowd figures soared with the easier access to the grounds. With the growing popularity of the Sweet FA and on the back of increased gate takings, Van Cortlandt Park (Shark Park) underwent a refurbishment. An additional stand was added however this was not without controversy as players past and present along with Sweet FA faithful fought the municipal big wigs to save the now famous whore tree from destruction which was proposed in initial plans. The tree stands to this day and is a Sweet FA icon.
Early days of Shark Park (now known as Van Cortlandt Park. Note the grove of trees in the right foreground contains the now famous “Whore Tree”)
The new stand shortly after completion.
The Game:
This Game is an important one for both sides as they sit a game clear of 8th spot on the ladder howver so do 3 other teams. Should The Hawks defeat the Gumbies the loser of this game could well drop out of the eight.
FORM: The Bears have not been able to string back to back wins together for a while and if their WLWLW pattern continues you would expect a loss. The Dragons on the other hand had been on a winning streak and showing good form until they came up against a red hot Gumbies outfit last week.
Bears – WLWLW
Dragons – WWWWL
Who’s Hot.
Bears –
gym4life the LVB big man is in career best form and has had a dominant start to the season in the ruck. He sits second in the league for hitouts and is well entrenched in the SFA DT top ten points table.
Dragons –
PhenomenalV1 has his kicking boots on this season sitting 5th in the race to the Fred. Can he continue his good form and shoot straight on Sunday?
Who’s not –
Bears –
JoshWoodenSpoon has the unenviable honour of holding down top spot in the DERF (Most goals conceded as a fullback) after 5 rounds. Mooch kicked 9 on him last week. When will the match committee do what’s right? Could he be the one to cost them the win?
Dragons –
Blaze Storm has struggled to find the form that saw him push the league’s best last year for the Sweet FA’s highest award. He will need to lift this week after a poor showing last week.
Prediction –
Dragons by 13 points
Story by Yakker
Matchday graphic by kdavva74
Hello and welcome all to Round 8: Heritage Round. In Season 26 we explore the City of Sweet and delve into stories behind some of the historical venues that have shaped the culture of the league and by extension Sweet. Today’s match is Dragons FFC vs Las Vegas Bears at Shark Park.
Shark Park is actually the name given to the more widely known Van Cortlandt Park situated on Coney Island and the current home ground of the Warriors. In the past it has also been named “Titanland and “Titan Park” under team Kornikova / Titans FFC. Shark Park was the home of the Southern Sharks FFC.
It is not widely known throughout the league that Coney Island is no longer an island in the true sense of the word. In earlier times Coney Island sat close to the mainland off the land of Sweet separated by a narrow stretch of water known as Sweet Sound. As the city grew and land was at a premium Coney Island was reclaimed. The venture was approved by the Sweet City Council and it was announced it would reclaim the island using a polder designed by Royal HaskoningDHV with local partner Sweet Jukon that will add 1,810ha to the city of Sweet.
Traditionally, sand has been used to fill the area to be reclaimed above sea level. This new approach involves building a dike around the area to be reclaimed and draining the water from it – a 400 year old Dutch proven method. This will allow the reclaimed area to be built at a lower level and hence significantly reduce the amount of sand needed for land reclamation.
Work commences of Coney Island Reclamation.
Artists impression of the finished project
As a result Sweet FA fans no longer had to catch the ferry over to Coney Island and crowd figures soared with the easier access to the grounds. With the growing popularity of the Sweet FA and on the back of increased gate takings, Van Cortlandt Park (Shark Park) underwent a refurbishment. An additional stand was added however this was not without controversy as players past and present along with Sweet FA faithful fought the municipal big wigs to save the now famous whore tree from destruction which was proposed in initial plans. The tree stands to this day and is a Sweet FA icon.
Early days of Shark Park (now known as Van Cortlandt Park. Note the grove of trees in the right foreground contains the now famous “Whore Tree”)
The new stand shortly after completion.
The Game:
This Game is an important one for both sides as they sit a game clear of 8th spot on the ladder howver so do 3 other teams. Should The Hawks defeat the Gumbies the loser of this game could well drop out of the eight.
FORM: The Bears have not been able to string back to back wins together for a while and if their WLWLW pattern continues you would expect a loss. The Dragons on the other hand had been on a winning streak and showing good form until they came up against a red hot Gumbies outfit last week.
Bears – WLWLW
Dragons – WWWWL
Who’s Hot.
Bears –
gym4life the LVB big man is in career best form and has had a dominant start to the season in the ruck. He sits second in the league for hitouts and is well entrenched in the SFA DT top ten points table.
Dragons –
PhenomenalV1 has his kicking boots on this season sitting 5th in the race to the Fred. Can he continue his good form and shoot straight on Sunday?
Who’s not –
Bears –
JoshWoodenSpoon has the unenviable honour of holding down top spot in the DERF (Most goals conceded as a fullback) after 5 rounds. Mooch kicked 9 on him last week. When will the match committee do what’s right? Could he be the one to cost them the win?
Dragons –
Blaze Storm has struggled to find the form that saw him push the league’s best last year for the Sweet FA’s highest award. He will need to lift this week after a poor showing last week.
Prediction –
Dragons by 13 points
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