Great Football Gags Part 1

The old "Metal Football" gag - a classic. Some of the more discerning amongst you may find this in bad taste...

Fights, fouls and an electic mix of music...

The third one will make you wince...

Fact!

The first ever Premiership goal was scored by Brian Deane of Sheffield United in a 2–1 win against Manchester United.

Manchester United became the first team to have scored 1,000 goals in this league after Cristiano Ronaldo scored, in a 4–1 defeat by Middlesbrough, in the 2005–06 season, having been the first team to have conceded a Premiership goal following the League's inception.

Promoted as "The Greatest Show On Earth", the Premier League is the world's most popular and most watched sporting league, followed worldwide by around half a billion people.

In the People's Republic of China, matches attract television audiences between 100 million and 360 million

Despite being an English competition, no English manager has ever actually won the Premier League.

The highest paid player in the premiership is Wayne Rooney who takes home £9.7m a year (including endorsements). Though based on weekly salary alone, John Terry is the biggest earner. Chelsea pay him £131,000 a week - £6.8m a year.

The top earners by salary alone are:

Premier League's top earners

1 John Terry (Chelsea) £131,000 a week

2= Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Ballack (both Chelsea) £121,000 a week

4 Steven Gerrard (Liverpool) £120,000

5 Cristiano Ronaldo (Man Utd) £119,000

6= Wayne Rooney (Man Utd), Michael Owen (Newcastle) £110,000

8= Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Man Utd) £100,000

10= Fernando Torres (Liverpool), Didier Drogba (Chelsea) £90,000.

The Greatest Goals of all time

According to the Telegraph and world soccer.com.

20. Helmut Rahn83 mins, West Germany 3 Hungary 2, World Cup final, July 4, 1954
19. Gerd Muller 106 mins, West Germany 3 England 2, World Cup quarter-final, June 14, 1970
18. George Best84 mins, Manchester United 2 Sheffield United 0, October 2, 1971
17. Roberto Baggio78 mins, Italy 2 Czechoslovakia 0, World Cup first round, June 19, 1990
16. Michael Owen 16 mins, Argentina 2 England 2, World Cup second round, June 30, 1998
15. Esteban Cambiasso31 mins, Argentina 6 Serbia & Montenegro 0, World Cup first round, June 16, 2006
14. Dennis Bergkamp90 mins, Holland 2 Argentina 1, World Cup quarter-final, July 4, 1998
13. Rivaldo 89 mins, Barcelona 3 Valencia 2, Spanish League, June 17, 2000
12. Ryan Giggs109 mins, Manchester United 2 Arsenal 1, FA Cup semi-final, April 14, 1999
11. Ricky Villa76 mins, Tottenham 3 Manchester City 2, FA Cup final, May 14, 1981

10. Lionel Messi 28 mins, Barcelona 5 Getafe 2, Spanish Cup semi-final first leg, Camp Nou, Barcelona, April 19, 2007

9. Diego Maradona 63 mins, Argentina 2 Belgium 0, World Cup semi-final, Azteca stadium, Mexico City, June 25, 1986

8. Ferenc Puskas 22 mins, Hungary 6 England 3, friendly, Wembley, November 25, 1953

7. Carlos Alberto 87 mins, Brazil 4 Italy 1, World Cup final, Azteca stadium, Mexico City, June 21, 1970

6. Archie Gemmill 68 mins, Scotland 3 Holland 2, World Cup first round, San Martin stadium, Mendoza, June 11, 1978

5. Pele 55 mins, Brazil 5 Sweden 2, World Cup final, Rasunda stadium, Stockholm, June 29, 1958

4. Saeed Owairan 5 mins, Saudi Arabia 1 Belgium 0, World Cup first round, RFK stadium, Washington DC, June 29, 1994

3. Zinedine Zidane 44 mins, Real Madrid 2 Bayer Leverkusen 1, Champions League final, Hampden Park, Glasgow, May 15, 2002

2. Marco Van Basten 53 mins, Holland 2 Soviet Union 0, European Championship final, Olympic stadium, Munich, June 25, 1988

1. Diego Maradona 54 mins, Argentina 2 England 1, World Cup quarter-final, Azteca stadium, Mexico City, June 22, 1986

The grandeur of Diego Maradona's second goal against England was almost overshadowed by the furore about the cheating cheek of his first, in one of the most contextually dramatic World Cup ties of all time.
Argentina, inspired by their captain, were favourites to win the trophy and in pursuit of sporting revenge for national humiliation in the Falklands/Malvinas war. Maradona said later: "It was as if we blamed the England players personally for all the suffering of the Argentinian people."
The first half was goalless, then Maradona punched his side ahead with the incompetent compliance of Tunisian referee Ali Bennaceur and his linesman.
Four minutes later Maradona struck again, after a fabulous 10 seconds. Fed by Hector Enrique, Maradona turned through 180 degrees out on the right, on the halfway line, before slipping between Peter Reid and Peter Beardsley.
Next he sped inside centre-back Terry Butcher and fended off a challenge from Terry Fenwick, who had been distracted by the lurking presence of the advancing Jorge Valdano. Maradona slalomed on deep into the penalty box, waited for Peter Shilton to step from his line then dummied left before stepping right to slip the ball past the keeper and over the line just as the recovering Butcher launched another, vain tackle.
England pulled a goal back through Gary Lineker but Argentina hung on to win and proceeded to take the title.
England manager Bobby Robson fumed that Maradona would not have been granted the space in which to score his second goal had he not been "gifted" the first by such inadequate refereeing.
Later Robson acknowledged: "His second was a goal of staggering brilliance. There was no lack of discipline on our part, no errors, just the genius of one player who went through half our team to score. I thought that was the end."
Maradona said: "It was the goal you dream of as a kid. Whenever I see it run again on television I still cannot believe I managed to score it. Actually, five years earlier on a European tour with the national squad, I had set off on a similar raid against England at Wembley. But that time I had sidefooted the ball wide when the goalkeeper came out. Maybe, subconsciously, I remembered that moment and, this time, got it right."

I still maintain it was poor defending. Make your own mind up (sorry everyone):



Messi's interpretation (at no.10) is superior in my England opinion. Freakishly similar to Messi's fellow Argentinian's goal:



Though, for me, nothing beats Carlos Alberto's goal (at no.7) (except a cracker I scored once in mate's back garden 6 years ago in Suffolk).



Full descriptions and videos of the top ten can be found here

How the bookies see it

William Hill's odds on this coming season's top scorers:

Didier Drogba 9/2

Dimitar Berbatov 10/1

Wayne Rooney 11/1

Carlos Tevez 12/1

Andriy Shevchenko 12/1

Michael Owen 14/1

Cristiano Ronaldo 14/1

Benedict Mccarthy 14/1

Fernando Torres 16/1

Robin Van Persie 20/1

Eduardo Da Silva 20/1

Darren Bent 20/1

Andrew Johnson 20/1

Obafemi Martins 25/1

Nicolas Anelka 25/1

Frank Lampard 25/1

Dirk Kuyt 25/1

Robbie Keane 33/1

Mark Viduka 33/1

Emmanuel Adebayor 33/1

Peter Crouch 40/1

Jermain Defoe 40/1

David Nugent 40/1

Claudio Pizarro 40/1

Aiyegbeni Yakubu 40/1

Leroy Lita 50/1

Kevin Doyle 50/1

John Carew 50/1

Dean Ashton 50/1

Craig Bellamy 50/1

Steven Gerrard 66/1

Salomon Kalou 66/1

Ryan Babel 66/1

Rolando Bianchi 66/1

Andriy Voronin 66/1

Robert Earnshaw 80/1

Michael Chopra 80/1

Dave Kitson 80/1

Diomansy Kamara 100/1

Marlon Harewood 125/1

David Healy 125/1

Rooney's not looking too bad pre-season...

Shenzhen - Man Utd | 0-2 Rooney
Uploaded by GOAAAAL

Theo Walcott

At only 5 points and no Henry to keep him out the side, is Theo Walcott the bargain of the season?

Walcott - This could be a big season for me
Uploaded by Nvboy

Classic Commentary

'It's one of the greatest goals ever, but I'm surprised that people are talking about it being the goal of the season.' - ANDY GRAY

'Germany are probably, arguably, undisputed champions of Europe.' - BRYAN HAMILTON

JIMMY HILL: 'Don't sit on the fence Terry, what chance do you think Germany has got of getting through?"
TERRY VENABLES: 'I think it's fifty - fifty'

'Once Tony Daley opens his legs, you've got a problem.' - HOWARD WILKINSON

'I think that France, Germany, Spain, Holland and England will join Brazil in the semi-finals.' - PELE

'Well, I've seen some tackles, Jonathan, but that was the ultimatum!' - ALAN MULLERY

'I'd say he's the best in Europe, if you put me on the fence.' - BOBBY ROBSON

'If history is going to repeat itself I should think we can expect the same thing again.' - TERRY VENABLES

'If there are any managers out there with a bottomless pit, I'm sure that they would be interested in these two Russians.' - DAVID PLEAT

'England now have three fresh men, with three fresh legs.' - JIMMY HILL

'The lad got over-excited when he saw the whites of the goalpost's eyes.' - STEVE COPPELL

'Korsten is making a meal of it...er...that's clearly a penalty, yes.' - TREVOR FRANCIS

'Neil Sullivan has stopped absolutely everything have thrown at him...Wimbledon 1, Manchester United 1.' – MIKE INGHAM

'It's now 1-1, an exact reversal of the scoreline on Saturday.' – RADIO 5 LIVE

'Celtic manager Davie Hay still has a fresh pair of legs up his sleeve.' - JOHN GREIG

'Strangely, in slow motion replay, the ball seemed to hang in the air for even longer.' – DAVID ACFIELD

'Scoring the first goal in soccer is very important, because your opponent is then faced with the task of having to score one to draw level and two to take the lead.' - GRAHAM LEGGATT

'...and tonight we have the added ingredient of Kenny Dalglish not being here' - MARTIN TYLER

'And for those of you watching without television sets, live commentary is on Radio 2' - DAVID COLEMAN

'The one thing England have got is spirit, resolve, grit and determination.' - ALAN HANSEN

'It's just like they always say - too much too late' - TERRY BUTCHER

'Tempo, now there's a big word' - BARRY VENISON

'The time in the world has gotten shorter so it doesn't take so long to get to Australia.' - PHIL NEAL

'Manchester United will find it very intimidating with 100 screaming fans in the Bernabeu' - BOBBY ROBSON

'Michael Owen is not a diver. He knows when to dive, and when not to' - STEVE HODGE

'It's what I call one of those 'indefensible ones' - you can't defend against them' - ANDY GRAY

But the Americans always do it best –

"Nobody in football should be called a genius. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein." JOE THEISMANN

Should have been a keeper

Fact

The highest transfer fee records in Premier League history - and you can buy Shevchenko for a mere 8 points!

• £3.75 million in June 1993 (Roy Keane, Nottingham Forest to Manchester United)
• £5 million in July 1994 (Chris Sutton, Norwich City to Blackburn Rovers)
• £7 million in January 1995 (Andy Cole, Newcastle United to Manchester United)
• £7.5 million in June 1995 (Dennis Bergkamp, Inter Milan to Arsenal)
• £8.5 million in July 1995 (Stan Collymore, Nottingham Forest to Liverpool)
• £15 million in July 1996 (Alan Shearer, Blackburn Rovers to Newcastle United)
• £18 million in November 2000 (Rio Ferdinand, West Ham to Leeds Utd)
• £19 million in May 2001 (Ruud van Nistelrooy, PSV Eindhoven to Manchester United)
• £28.1 million in July 2001 (Juan Sebastián Verón, Lazio to Manchester United)
• £29 million in July 2002 (Rio Ferdinand, Leeds Utd to Manchester United)
• £30 million in June 2006 (Andriy Shevchenko, A.C. Milan to Chelsea)

The Poll Result

The popular consensus for the entry money is £10! That will mean the winner is guranteed £40 in hard, cold cash! The results were:

£3 - 0 (0%)

£5 - 2 (33%)

£7 - 1 (16%)

£10 - 3 (50%)

Of course, this is supposed to be a bit of fun and the poll is just an indication of the popular consensus of their preferred entrance fee level. The £10 entrance fee should not put anyone off from playing and if they feel that £10 fee is too steep, then the fee will be lowered for all. Let me know or we can discuss on the 10th August.

Mido leaves Spurs

"I believe we have signed an absolute top class striker" - Steve Bruce on Mido

Birmingham have captured Mido from Tottenham for £6m. He'll certainly get a lot more games (and probably a few more goals) at Birmingham than he did at Spurs last season. Is he now a bargain at 6 points?

Tevez - Worth a gamble?

"Manchester United expect the Carlos Tevez saga to be resolved before the transfer window closes on 31 August.

United and West Ham have asked Fifa to settle a dispute over who owns the Argentine striker."

According to the BBC. Will anyone be brave enough to take him on as their striker in TAFPG while he is still at West Ham?

The greatest tackle(s) of all time

Oop... oooop.... waaay!

Iron Mike

I know it's not football, but this is impressive. If it wasn't for his penchant for surprise sex, he may well have gone on to be the greatest of all time. Some of these clips would not look out of place on a Rocky film -

Alastair Levy's Biog

Alastair was born on a small farm on the Isle of Sheppey and spent his formative years accruing the skills of herding, breeding and slaughter passed on by his ancestors. A brief spell in a young offenders unit for stealing and abusing livestock from a neighbouring farm was followed by a turbulent and short-lived football career playing for Sheerness Athletic u-19s and Queenborough Reserves. Forced into early retirement by a recurring coccyx injury he joined the British Army on a smallholders recruitment scheme and served in Korea, Burma and DRC. On his return to permanent residence in the UK he set up his own small business selling second hand coffins. He currently lives with his partner Jan in a bungalow on the north Kent coast.

STRIKERS:

Berbatov & Lita

Breaking News

Poll Result & New Poll

The final result in the poll to decide how the prize money should be split was won by the "First, second & third" option with three votes (out of seven).

I would like to shake the hands of the two kahunas with the big conjones who voted for the winner takes all option. Now that is the type of unfounded confidence in ones own ability I like.

The next vote is for how much the entrance money should be. Given that we have a first, second and third place system I will break down the prize money for each option. Note, there are 8 participants in this years competition.

Option One: £3 each

First - £12
Second - £8
Third - £4

Option Two: £5 each

First - £20
Second - £13
Third - £7

Option Three: £7 each

First - £28
Second - £18
Third - £10

Option Four: £10 each

First - £40
Second - £25
Third - £15

Vote in the right hand column

Available Now!

The season's first major event

Support flooding in for Gray

James Gray's Biog

James “The Football Guru” Gray is in this competition for one reason and one reason only: to see someone else finish last. Rather like the Doc, James is able to predict the future with the use of his home made flux capacitor – though he does need a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity that are needed to make time travel possible; which at times has posed a problem.

James is by far the most intelligent participant in this year’s Amazing football prediction game, which makes treating his fellow participants as equals rather challenging. However, such is his competitive nature he rises to this challenge with aplomb and humours his ignorant mongoloid competitors with grace. He expects to walk away with victory with a few weeks to spare and promises to take his victory in the worst possible manner.

James’s prediction for the coming season include Tottenham walking away with the Premiership, Arsene Wenger becoming England manager after McClaren is sacked for failing to qualify for Euro 2008 and Andy Mayes' coming last. Again. He sees his biggest threat from winning the competition as himself – in fact he is his only real competition, though he expects to win that battle too. If James does not win this year's competition (unlikely, I know) it will only go to prove that this whole thing is a game of chance.

James’s message for his fellow participants is “It’s not the winning, it’s the laughing at whoever finishes last that counts”.

Breaking News

Add in the comments ASAP if you can not make this date - it is the day before the Kick Off to the season so you may have to provide your list of preferred strikers to a trusted participant. That is to say, not James Edmondson or John Gall.

Live Transfers

There are currently no live transfers

Transfer Listed

There are currently no players transfer listed

The Strikers

Drogba Chelsea 10
Rooney Man. United 10
Ronaldo Man. United 10

Torres Liverpool 9
Tevez West Ham 9
Kuyt Liverpool 9
Berbatov Tottenham 9
Eduardo Arsenal 9
McCarthy Blackburn 9
Saha Man. United 9

Martins Newcastle 8
Keane Tottenham 8
Owen Newcastle 8
Shevchenko Chelsea 8
Anelka Bolton 8
Johnson Everton 8
Crouch Liverpool 8
Bent D Tottenham 8

Adebayor Arsenal 7
Van Persie Arsenal 7
Babel Liverpool 7
Carew Aston Villa 7
Kalou Chelsea 7
Pizarro Chelsea 7
Voronin Liverpool 7
Yakubu Everton 7
Viduka Newcastle 7
Defoe Tottenham 7
Bellamy West Ham 7
Ashton West Ham 7
Agbonlahor Aston Villa 7
Bianchi Man. City 7
Mwaruwari Portsmouth 7
Helguson Bolton 7
Tuncay Middlesbrough 7

Doyle Reading 6
Young Aston Villa 6
Forsell Birmingham 6
Nonda Blackburn 6
Roberts Blackburn 6
Diouf Bolton 6
Beattie Sheffield Utd. 6
McBride Fulham 6
Vassell Man. City 6
Sibierski Aston Villa 6
Smith Man. United 6
Ameobi Newcastle 6
Nugent Portsmouth 6
Mido Tottenham 6
Rigters Blackburn 6
Davies Bolton 6
Bouazza Fulham 6
Santa Cruz Blackburn 6

Walcott Arsenal 5
Vaughan Everton 5
Kanu Portsmouth 5
Kamara Fulham 5
Mpenza Man. City 5
Samaras Man. City 5
Solskjaer Man. United 5
Aliadiere Middlesbrough 5
Utaka Portsmouth 5
Lita Reading 5
Heskey Wigan 5
Bojinov Man. City 5
Bendtner Arsenal 5

Derbyshire Blackburn 4
McFadden Everton 4
Anichebe Everton 4
Healy Fulham 4
Corradi Man. City 4
Luque Newcastle 4
Lua-Lua Portsmouth 4
Kitson Reading 4
Zamora West Ham 4
Jutkiewicz Everton 4
Maloney Aston Villa 4
Miller Man. City 4
Camara Wigan 4

Moore Aston Villa 3
Jerome Birmingham 3
O'Connor Birmingham 3
Vaz Te Bolton 3
Howard Derby 3
Sinclair Chelsea 3
Earnshaw Derby 3
John Fulham 3
Dickov Man. City 3
Dong Man. United 3
Lee Dong-Gook Middlesbrough 3
Cole Portsmouth 3
Long Reading 3
Murphy Sunderland 3
Connolly Sunderland 3
Chopra Sunderland 3
Harewood West Ham 3
Folan Wigan 3
Mbela Douala Portsmouth 3
Aghahowa Wigan 3

Forssell Birmingham 2
Sahar Chelsea 2
Campbell Birmingham 2
Vine Birmingham 2
Gallagher Blackburn 2
Jeffers Blackburn 2
Harsanyi Bolton 2
Fagan Derby 2
Macken Derby 2
Runstrom Fulham 2
Sturridge Man. City 2

Elliott S Sunderland 1
John Sunderland 1
Stokes Sunderland 1
Cole West Ham 1
Cotterill Wigan 1

How should the prize money be split?

Vote in the poll to decide how we should split the prize money.

Of course, all entrants' money will go in to the pot - no one gets a cut without the glory.

So vote - winner takes all; winner and second split the money (winner takes more than second, obviously) or winner, second and third split the dosh (again, winner takes more than second, who takes more than third).

Vote in the right hand column...

Sorry "some of you", no prizes for coming last.

Calling all football gurus

If you would like to join in on the Amazing Football Prediction Game, let me know by email - james.jamesgray@gmail.com. You must be willing to submit ca. £5 entrants fee and be in the Westminster/Victoria area of London on Friday 20th July at roughly 5.30pm to pick strikers in one of the local boozers.

You must also be willing to make the six month commitment and dedication that the old pros showed last season.

UPDATE: The deadline is now 10th August - same place and time, however

Breaking news

And the 8 ball says...

James "Sloth" Edmondson's biog

James knows nothing about football. When he's ask about defence he starts mumbling about an independent nuclear deterrent. His top 10 hates include people wearing football shirts and he detests anything about the game, so he's got as much chance of winning the league as Boris does of becoming London Mayor.

As he does not know which teams are in the Premiership or who plays where, his only prediction for this season is he will get bad hay fever.

The biggest threat are the IT geeks who could pick up on the fact a majority of office bandwidth is being used to research football statistics and not sustainability issues.

The League Table

Pos	Name	Cor Sc	Cor Res	Striker	Str. Cts	Points	TOTAL
1	Tim	29	119	35	17	148	166
2	James G	20	129	30	14	149	165
3	Andrew	26	122	30	17	148	161
4	Joel	26	120	18	19	146	145
5	John G	17	114	26	13	131	144
6	John N	26	118	10	16	144	138
7	Alastair	19	114	12	14	133	131
8	James E	13	118	9	18	131	122

Striker selection and scoring

1. Each player must have two strikers at all times
2. Strikers will score one point per goal
3. Double points will be scored for each hat trick - but only for the goals that make up the hat trick. If a player scores four goals, for example, he scores 6 points for the hat trick goals and a further one point for the fourth goal.
4. Selection of the strikers must take place before the start of the season
5. Selection of the first striker will be by ballot - the first out the hat will have first pick and so on. The order will then be reversed for selection of the second striker.
6. Strikers can only be selected by one participant - e.g. Michael Owen can not be selected by two different participants
7. Strikers are given a value at the beginning of the season ranging from one to ten inline with their perceived strengths. These values will not change after the start of the season
8. When strikers are chosen, the value of the player will be deducted from the participant's score. Therefore, if a player chooses two players with a value of ten each they will start the season on minus twenty points.
9. No transfer of strikers can take place until the participant has a positive points score.
10. Strikers can be swapped but the difference in value will be deducted or added to a participant's score
11. Participants are free to swap strikers with other participants by negotiation. A participant can add or devalue up to 5 points on the value of their striker.
    
12. Points will be added and deducted from a participant's score total as a result of transfers
13. All transfers between two participants must be made public on the website to allow counter offers
14. Other transfers must also be publicised but take place on a first come first service basis
15. Transfers take 5 days from the moment of them first becoming public to take effect. If a counter offer is made the transfer will still place within the 5 day period.
    
16. Transfers will not be allowed within seven weeks before the end of the season see rule amendment below
    
17. There are two exceptions to rule 15. Firstly, all outstanding transfer will be completed at the 7 week transfer deadline, regardless of whether 5 days have elapsed.
18. Secondly, if a player is sold to a club outside the Premier League, you are forced in to a transfer which will take place with immediate effect. This is only likely to occur before the transfer window closes on 31st August. See rule amendment below
    
19. Once an offer has been excepted and made public, participants are tied to the deal. If either party backs out they will deducted a point. The only exception being, the seller can sell to a higher bidder if her receives such an offer.
    
20. Points for goals scored are doubled during the last five weeks. Therefore, each goal is worth two points and a hat trick is worth 12 points. See rule amendment below
    

Amendment 1 - The last day that transfers can go through is 9th November 2007. If a player is transferred to a foreign club after this date, a contestant has to replace him with a player of equal or lower value. However, the handicap score will remain as it was even if you pick a player of lower value. The transfer will take immediate effect. If a player is injured after this date, the contestant may replace him with a player of equal or lower value. However, the handicap score will remain as it was even if you pick a player of lower value. The transfer is temporary and will automatically be swapped back once the player recovers from injury. If they are injured for the duration of the season, then the replacement player becomes permanent. It is up to the contestant to identify when their player is injured and needs transferring and also when they are back from injury. During the period after the 9th November and until the end of the game, all striker points are doubled. (Mon 1st October 2007)

The Amazing Football Prediction Game: The Rules

1. Predictions will be for all full weekend fixture rounds in the premier league
2. If there is a full fixture list mid week, it may also be included
   
3. All predictions for each round must be in before KO of the first game in that round
4. Points are scored - One for a correct result, two for a correct score, one per goal per striker. Strikers score double points for a hat trick
5. The tie-breaker is greater amount of correct scores, greater amount of correct results, then highest scoring striker, then highest scoring second striker
6. See separate rules section for striker scoring and selection
7. Any disputes will decided by popular vote - those who are directly affected by the vote are not eligible to vote. In cases where all are affected, all are eligible to vote
8. Prize money will be £40 for the winner, £25 for second place and £15 for third place
   
9. The season runs from 12th August 2007 with the final game on New Year's day 2008 (see amendment 2 below)
   

Amendment 1: - All goals scored by strikers will count towards the points total, regardless of whether it is a prediction round (Tues, 14th Aug 2007)

Amendment 2: - The season runs from 12th August 2007 with the final games on Wednesday 30th January (Tues 4th Sept 2007)