Let's introduce some of the Avornian football teams that will debut this season.  Please remember that these are simple looking teams due to the simulator (and my lack of designing ability).   Imagination may be necessary at times.

Earch (Pronounced as AIRch, 1 syllable): The capital city of Avornia where King Mikelangel III lives in his castle.  This massive city is the biggest in the Avornian kingdom, with massive white buildings in its richest districts that have distinguished red onion shaped spiral domes.  The castle's towers also have these red topped domes through its many shining white towers, which have become famous worldwide.   This team's design is very simple, an all red look inspired by the Avornian national flag (which is red, with a black falcon, though the team does not wear black at this time).  

Tomen (To-Men): Named for the river it lays next to, Tomen's strategically advantageous location has allowed its citizens to be able to utilize the river for easy access to many cities in the realm.   Tomen is easily the trade capital of Avornia, and as such, it's ideal economic opportunity has allowed it to become one of the largest cities in the kingdom.  The uniform selection is a very clean white, with blue sleeves and pants to represent the Tomen River's blue hue. 

Anjocca (An-JOCK-a): A fort city located near Earch, it's location is by 2 mountainous passes (the Andices pass and the Klossjocca pass.  And yes those passes combined make up the city's name).   This locale made Anjocca a vital defensive location during the War to End All Wars, and it's mighty walls made it a near impenetrable fort.  After the war, Anjocca became something of a military city, all men are trained very strictly on the art of war, and living by a disciplined lifestyle.  As such, the people of Anjocca have an earned reputation for being rather tough and uptight.   This football team's design is another simple one, an all-yellow look with a navy collar.   This design is inspired by their current mayor's family crest (yellow, with a simplistic navy shield).

Silagnak (See-lag-nak): Another large city, Silagnak's location by the Tomen River has helped its economy over the years. For whatever reason though, while Tomen has proven a relatively safe city, Silagnak has turned into a rather rough city, with crime being sky high, (rumor has it it could be due to the city's unusually large amount of pubs and lax local government, though it's denied by their clearly corrupt mayor).  Interestingly, Silagnak is home to Irongate, the largest dungeon of the kingdom, yet its presence has done nothing to stop the crime-spree.   Perhaps in a nod to the city's rough and tough reputation, its football team will be wearing a black shirt with blue pants, indicating a likely physical approach to its games.

Dobo (Doh-Bow): Located near Anjocca, Dobo couldn't be much more different from its neighbor.   Whereas Anjocca is militaristic and its citizens aggressive, Dobo is a very religion oriented city, being named after its deity, Dobotitus (Doh-Bow-Tie-Tus).   Dobo's location is spoken in legend as the location where Dobotitus supposedly sacrificed himself during the War of Immortals (a battle between many gods, its end apparently beginning the 1st Age).   It is easily considered the most holy of lands in Avornia, a place where devout followers make a trip to at least once in their life.   Dobo's residents are considered among the most gentle and peaceful of Avornia.  It's team will wear blood red (to represent Dobotitus' blood he spilt during his sacrifice) with blue sleeves, the blue being used to differentiate Dobo from Earch's uniform.

Chalmblaank (Chalm-blonk): Another city located by the Tomen River, Chalmblaank is yet another wealthy city that takes full advantage of it's location.   While the money coming in lags behind Tomen and Silagnak slightly, the main appeal to Chalmblaank are it's many bountiful vineyards and cooler temperature, making it an ideal location for many of Avornia's richest citizens to call home.  Perhaps it's no surprise that Chalmblaankians are a bit reviled by the rest of the kingdom for its citizens being very arrogant and standoffish towards others.  Also famous for being the birthplace of Leorux, the great commander who led the frontlines of the 1st Battalion of Knights during the War to End All Wars (he was slightly lower on the food chain than Mikelangel, and fiercely loyal. Thus, he never attempted to claim the throne after the war).   As a nod to the brave knight, Chalmblaank will wear dark gray (attempting to look like knight's armor), with red sleeves and pants (a nod to the Avornian flag).

Petorvale (Peet-or-vail): A mid-sized city, Petorvale has the feel of a blue-collar town despite its wealth (obtained through its well earned reputation as the blacksmithing capital of the kingdom, as their smiths make nearly all of the kingdom's weapons and armors).  This may be due to its close locale to Chalmblaank, whose citizens often mock the locales during visits to Petorvale.  Not surprisingly, there's a bit of disdain between the 2 cities.  When it comes to style, Petorvale has choosen a near all green look, save for white shirt sleeves.   This literally is only because their mayor wanted the team to stand out among all the red teams in the Avornian Football League.

Leorux (Lee-o-rue, the x is silent): Leorux is named after the great knight mentioned for Chalmblaank.  After the war, Leorux choose to move to a new area until his death (choosing to quietly retire in a then uninhabited place to avoid causing controversy over who should be Avornia's first king).  The former commander choose wisely, as Leorux is near plentiful farming lands and the Great Woodlands, the largest forest in the kingdom.   Leorux's economy mostly consists of selling its plentiful wood and grains.  A very nice area to live in, Leorux is actually a rather safe city, due to its mild mannered population. Appearance-wise, Leorux wears the same red that's in Avornia's flag (no surprise, given Leorux's influence during the war), and also wears yellow pants and shirt collar to represent the large grain fields that make up a large part of its economy.

Jahnsel (John-Sell): Near Leorux, Jahnsel is the smallest town in the new league, being one eager to get into this football obsession.  The epitome of a farming town, Jahnsel's economy is all growing crops, being responsible for harvesting most of the kingdom's food that is sold throughout.  Jahnsel is a simple community, the dream life is working hard, putting food on the table, and getting excited for its one big festival each year (the Harvest Dance).  There normally is no room for aspirations and alternative motivation.  The elder residences are non too pleased with this obsession over a silly child's game suddenly taking over the town, especially since some of the community's strongest and most able bodied workers are now playing football instead of working the fields.  The uniforms are very basic, just a white shirt, with navy pants.  No real motivation was behind the design, Jahnsel just happened to have a lot of white shirts and navy pants.

Hanuna (HA-new-na): Located right by the massive Lake Bluefin, Hanuna is a bit further away from most of the cities in the new league.  Perhaps that distance is one reason why, unlike most of the rest of the kingdom, Hanuna doesn't follow the religion of Dobotitus.   Rather, they worship their local gods, Sunai (Sue-nigh) the sun god and Munightta (Moo-night-a) the fish god.  This has caused friction with other more religious cities, especially Dobo.  The name of the economy game in Hanuna is fishing, where the large and delicious Bluefin Gully (a giant fish that's 3 times as large as the average fish) is a prized delicacy throughout Avornia.  Their football team wears blue shirts (to represent the Bluefin Gully and Munightta) with golden sleeves and pants (representing Sunai).



That's all for today.   Next time, we'll briefly go over the season format and simulate the first season.  C&C always welcomed!

Last edited by Stickman (11/13/2022 7:00 pm)

Never expected to see anything like this. Well done Stickman!

Hello again!  Before we do complete the writeup for the first season in Avornian football, here’s a brief summary for how the league will operate.   This is just my attempt to answer any potential questions there may be before we get going.

Each team will play all the others twice in a Double Round Robin system (ensuring everyone gets to host all opponents once).   Winning a game will net the victors 3 points.  A draw will grant both teams 1 point.  Obviously no points for a loss.  Much like the vast majority of football leagues (in other words, unlike Major League Soccer), there are no playoffs at the end of the season.  Whoever is at the top of the standings at the end of the year are declared the champions.   

If two or more teams are tied with points at the end of the season, the team that has achieved the better goal difference (literally just goals scored minus goals allowed) will be granted the higher placement in the standings.

While we are a few years away from this occurring, there will eventually be a promotion/relegation system in place, (I haven’t decided yet how large the league will eventually get just yet, but it will definitely not be anything like the English Football system, which has 4 professional divisions and at least 10-11 divisions total once you account for semi-professional leagues.   Realistically, this will remain a 2 or 3 division system at most).   I’ll go over more information once we get to that point.

With that out of the way, let’s get down to business!

It was a crisp autumn day when the Avornian Football League made its debut.   The league organizers tasked with the making of the schedule choose the first week’s matchups carefully to make it a special occasion.   Earch of course was chosen as the site for the first ever game, with King Mikelangel III himself eager to be present for the festivities.  Their opponent was Leorux, seen as a nod to country’s history as Mikelangel the first and Leorux were considered the two most important figures during Avornia’s first years.  Earch would win that game 1-0 off of a 40th minute goal.  Other intense rivals that squared off were Chalmblaank vs. Petorvale (Chalmblaank winning 2-1) and Hanuna vs Dobo (Hanuna also winning 2-1).   These matchups served to pique interest for potential fans, and it worked wonders.   So filled were arenas throughout the year that at times fans were lined up literally shoulder to shoulder (richer fans despised this but league organizers loved the revenue coming into the league and so did nothing to prevent the overcrowding).

When describing the general performances of the teams this season, the best word to use was parity.  As this was the first ever attempt at a professional football league (and that was generous to say, players weren’t paid particularly well, most having to work their normal jobs while making whatever time they could to play football.   In fact, Chalmblaank’s team- made up of wealthy elites- actually made less money playing football than they would have working), there was a real sense of evenness.   Nearly every team had major ups and downs, and several teams took the lead in the standings at various points of the year, including Silagnak, Tomen, Chalmblaank, Anjocca, and Earch.  

Silagnak had a hot streak to start the year, starting the year with 8 points after 5 games (2-2-1 record).  It appeared that their bullying, physical style of play (involving several clearly cheap tackles on players that resulted in some injuries) was going to work.   However, after several complaints from Dobo that Silagnak appeared to be trying harder to injure players than they were attempting to score goals, the league intervened by instructing game officials to crack down on penalties.  Fun fact, Dobo still won that game.  As the penalties began to mount, so too did the losses.   Combined with an anemic offense that only scored 15 goals all year, Silagnak would only win 2 and tie 1 of their final 13 games to earn the honor of worst team. 

Tomen also began the year strong, gaining 13 points (4-1-1 record) after 6 games and being in 1st place.   Completely led by their athletic and charismatic captain, Loeb of House Gammiz (who looked to be the league’s first true superstar after scoring 8 goals in that time frame), was well on there way towards the championship when disaster struck.   While charging for the ball in Week 6 against Earch, Loeb collided with a large defender and stumbled backwards.   During that stumble, Loeb would completely destroy his left knee after it buckled violently.   He would never play football again and with his absence, Tomen fell apart, failing to win even one game the remainder of the season.  A truly sickening tragedy to watch and one wonders how long it takes Tomen before they can mentally turn things around.

Leorux clearly appeared to be one of the weakest squads throughout the year, as they had had the fewest try outs out of any team (only 22 men even attempted to join the team).  Their limited roster was undersized, clumsy, and frankly looked overwhelmed on the field.  Yet, through hard work and lots of heart (and probably divine intervention), at the halfway mark, Leorux somehow held their heads above water with 13 points (4-1-4 record), within striking distance of first place.   However, an ugly 6 game losing streak followed, putting paid to any hopes of a title, as the team’s overworked crew finally succumbed to fatigue.   None the less, there is hope that with the team’s spirited efforts may encourage more tryouts next year, which could lead to a deeper roster, which could lead to better results.

Dobo is a very peaceful, religious town, and their players (not surprisingly very devout) did their best to avoid being too physical with other teams, preferring a more gentle style of play involving lots of speed and short passes to try to gracefully defeat their opponents.   While they definitely were among the least penalized teams in the league, their unwillingness to play physical ball allowed other teams to push them around, which made scoring off of corner kicks and getting the ball off throw ins near impossible.   Worse, their defense was horribly leaky, allowing 28 goals while only scoring 20.  Dobo at least managed to avoid ever landing in last place at any point in the season, but they’ll need to get over their timidness (that or just getting a whole lot better at playing pretty ball).

One thing fans couldn’t call Hanuna during the year was boring.   With 56 goals scored in their games (the most in the league), Hanuna’s games tended to be very interesting, as their offense was exciting to watch with their all-out blitzing offensive strategy.   Too bad you need defense to win games too, as Hanuna allowed 30 goals, worst in the league, and so wasted their offense’s hard work.  After 10 games, they only had 7 points (2-1-7 record) and were easily in last place.  In a bold move, Hanuna’s players made the decision to change their player-captain to midfielder Lellochatnim of House Gull in order to galvanize the team (in these days, there were no full time managers).   While the original captain would quit in protest, the rest of Hanuna responded well to Lellochatnim, getting 16 points in their final 8 games and showing much more effective game planning (even if their defense was still fairly dreadful).   There is some optimism Lellochatnim is proving to be a rather good strategist in addition to be a good midfielder, and with a full off-season to work with, he could turn Hanuna into a contender.
 
Some of the smarter analysts for the league (not that there really were any in these early years, other than a few of the league organizers that had the privilege of getting the inside scope on most of the football club) had felt Chalmblaank had a good chance at winning the championship.   Being a very rich community, there were plenty of young men with enough time on their hands to try out for the team (89 to be exact, though most didn’t make the team).   With team captain Frazciscle (Frass-Ciss-Cal) of House Ailian’s decision to only allow wealthy, elite players on the team, the rich boys even had the rare opportunity to make time to practice their craft all together.  Not that they did, of course.   They were special, clearly far too superior of specimens for the low class maggots that made up the other teams to stand a chance.  They were only trying to even the playing field by not practicing, really.    Of course, what they didn’t account for was that not practicing leads to sloppy play and bad conditioning, which cost Chalmblaank at several points this season.   Their plentiful resources and roster (they still had 37 “athletes” on the squad, the most in the league) meant that injuries and fatigue never really became a problem like it did for the other clubs.  This did help them as the season progressed, once they eventually got into playing condition, at one point only being a couple of points away from first place.  But their slow start lead to what ultimately was an very mid-tier result, finishing in with the 5th most goals scored, 5th least goals allowed, and 5th place in total.  

Jahnsel, the poorest and smallest community in the league, did actually try out this thing called practice (when they could, they still had a demanding jobs working the fields).    This resulted in a very disciplined and defensive group, only conceding 20 goals all year.   The team’s natural fitness from their field working made them a naturally athletic club and they proved a pesky squad to face, only losing 1 game in the first half of the season, with 18 points (5-3-1 record) and only trailing Anjocca by goal difference.   They did cool down slightly in the second half, finishing 5 points out of first place, but still resulting in a much stronger season than any of the league organizers’ pundits had expected.   What bit Jahnsel, ultimately, were too many draws (they lead the league with 6) and a strange achilles heel in Silagnak.   For whatever reason, Jahnsel managed to lose both of their games to the league’s worst team.   The brutish style of Silagnak just seemed to have Jahnsel’s number, (though Jahnsel players were none too pleased with many blatant fouls, leading to some bad blood between the two squads, a new rivalry created).   While they failed to win the league, the community was thrilled with the team’s efforts (even the older members of the community, who had been annoyed by the newfangled football obsession, started to get into the sport, being the loudest and most obnoxious supporters, of course!).

Anjocca is not a tiny city, yet surprisingly had a rather small player tryout turnout (the 2nd least, 31, ahead of only Leorux), with most of the city turning their noses up on the athletes for playing games when there was a city to defend (no actual attacks occurred in year 64).  Nonetheless, the militaristic training each footballer had received in life proved invaluable, as their conditioning could only be matched by Jahnsel, and that built in toughness allowed Anjocca to physically overwhelm their opponents early in the year, with an intense physical style (at least they played clean!).   Lead by brothers Markhen and Tobyas of House Stonner, (both players were positioned as forwards) Anjocca’s offense was difficult to stop, resulting in the yellow team being in first place for much of the season.   Unfortunately, as happened to several teams this season, Anjocca’s small squad eventually got hit with the injury bug.  Worse was the players’ stubbornness.  Perhaps it was due to the city looking down on them, but in an effort to not look weak, many players (including Markhen) refused to come out of games even when clearly hurt, (in particular, goalie Xaxi of House Pentuna, managed to play through over half the season with only one eye after a Silagnakian player stepped on his face, breaking the orbital bone in his right eye, leaving it horribly swollen shut).   While admirable, these actions resulted in a beaten down team choking its season away when even a few substitutions could have allowed them to win it all.  After a loss to Hanuna in Week 17, Anjocca’s dreams were as broken as their athletes, but they can be proud to have fought hard.   The question is, can they build on this good effort next year with all the injuries piled up and an apathetic community that may keep next year’s team undermanned?

Petorvale’s season couldn’t have started much worse if they tried, losing to hated rival Chalmblaank and being the last team in the league to win a game, (in Week 4).  The biggest issue was Petorvale’s inexperience with football, seeing as most of the athletes only recently got into the game and it showed.   However, they had the good fortune of having Hammen of House Tong as their player-captain.   The pudgy, yet surprisingly nimble goalie was one of the only members that had played football for fun before the season began and proved a master strategist, able to figure out potential lanes for his forwards to get goals faster than anyone else.   He was also blessed with having a foghorn of a voice, allowing him to scream out instructions to his less clued-in team all across the field effortlessly.   It took time, but by Week 8, things finally clicked for the green team, as they went on an impressive run that held onto through the end of the year, earning 26 points during that run (8-2-1 record).   Unfortunately, their slow start and inability to defeat Earch (they lost both games) prevented them from winning the championship, being formally eliminated in Week 17.   However, with Hammen’s mastery of the game of football, not to mention the team’s impressive goal differential (they led the league in goals with 29 and allowed the fewest against them at just 16 for the entire year) there is reason to believe Petorvale’s team of football newcomers could overachieve again next year.

Earch would also have a slow start to the season.  After winning the opening game against the overmatched Leorux, Earch would only win 1 of the next 5 games (against Petorvale).  The problem early on was their player-captain, Dennai (Den-Nigh) of House Endear.   A wealthy man from an affluential family, Dennai took the Chalmblaank approach early on, choosing to only play members of elitist families, despite there clearly being some legitimately great (but moneyless) talents on the squad.   In Week 5, that would change when an out of shape striker broke his ankle tripping over absolutely nothing.  Needing a new man to play the important position, he had run out of wealthy teammates and had to settle on playing Dabu of House Namacka.   Dabu was a young athletic guy that had legitimate speed and natural ball handling skills and once he finally got to start playing, he simply dominated, scoring a league high 12 goals.  So dominant was he that even the snobbiest fans of Earch couldn’t help but root for the poor kid from the slums, (of course, Dabu also happened to be a handsome man, the shrieks of young women fawning over him became a source of incredible annoyance for opposing teams).   The sudden injection of life from Dabu’s arrival definitely appeared to have awoken something in the rest of the team too, as they began playing with a new energy that simply wasn’t there before.  The result was an Earch team that from Weeks 7 through 17, never lost a game.   The 29 points (an impressive 9-2-0 record) they obtained in those 11 weeks quickly catapulted the team from near last place all the way up the first place, overtaking Anjocca in Week 16.  A week later, they’d clinch the first ever Avornian Football League Championship after beating Silagnak (who played remarkably clean that day at Earch, likely not wanting the fans to charge the field at them if they hurt Dabu).   After the game, in a moment that touched many at the stadium, Dennai would lift Dabu up on his shoulders as the team encircled them, happily screaming in celebration.   A clear symbolic win for the poor and working classes of Earch.  Dabu’s (and Earch’s) success is only slightly shadowed by accusations by opposing fans that throughout the year, referees were often awfully quick to call penalties on Earch’s opponents while seemingly being lax on the all-reds, suggesting a bit of favoritism towards the King’s hometown team.   Nonetheless, the first season of Avornian football came to a close, an undeniably huge success, with fans everywhere wanting more and being hardly able to wait for the next season.



There we have it!   Hopefully you all enjoyed this recap and I’ll see you next season!   C&C is always appreciated!

Last edited by Stickman (11/16/2022 6:00 pm)

Hello again!  Here's a brief overview for how the Avornian football teams’ off-seasons went!

Earch (Player Captain: Dennai of House Endear): Last year's champions were dealt a slight blow with the team cap limit, having to cut several players.  Unfortunately, most of the cuts were players from the working and poor classes.  Breakout star Dabu of House Namacka's story might have been inspirational, (and he notably was NOT cut) but Earch had plenty of wealthy elites on the team, from influential houses.  Politics being what they were, Earch kept a mostly affluent team.  However, Dennai has proven himself an excellent commander, able to communicate effectively what he expects each teammate to do.   With him running a well run squad and Dabu eager to once again dominate on offense, Earch is a team that could possibly win a repeat championship.

Chalmblaank (Player Captain: Frazciscle of House Ailian):  They also were hit hard by the team cap limit, but Frazciscle has notably spent the offseason nagging his remaining teammates to practice more to try and improve on last year's disappointing performance.  There are rumors that Chalmblaank’s got a new midfielder that’s making some waves, Alajandrus (AH-la-yan-drus) of House Capeburgh.  It sounds like he’s been responding well to the new workout program that Frazciscle came up with and is rather crafty ball handler.  Will making the team actually have to try to improve in order to keep up with low grade maggots get Chalmblaank to the top of the standing?

Silagnak (Player Captain: Borky of House Silvor): Last year proved that Silagnak can’t win by undisciplined brute force alone.   Knowing that the offense (one of the Achilles heels the team had) needed a total overhaul, Borky has benched or outright cut all of his forwards from last season and moved some new talent to the starting 11 that weren’t necessarily physical, but they are solid strikers.  Of particular note is the starting of young Boba of House Coldsteek, only 17 years old.   He’s pretty skinny, but he is FAST and early reports indicate that he’s got a powerful kick that gets the ball through the goal in no time, just don’t ask him to play any defense.   Speaking of which, Silagnak’s defense remains intact (meaning they are still unathletic brutes that will try to make opponents' faces match Silagnak's jerseys), so it’ll be interesting to see if the changes in offense make a significant difference or if the black and blues are in for another long year.

Jahnsel (Player Captain: Noman of House Talgrass): The small town boys from Jahnsel did well enough last year to draw up plenty more try outs.  They also made the decision to finally choose a player captain, as they hadn’t had on last year, picking Noman to lead.   The decision was made on a seniority basis as Noman is 42 years old, the oldest member from last year.   However, his reign is off to a rocky start.  It became obvious quickly that, after Jahnsel had to make cuts for the first time, that Noman was more worried about playing with his friends than he was putting the best team together, resulting in what is easily the oldest team in the league (there are 8 of 18 roster members on Jahnsel over the age of 35!).  This is leading to concern that Jahnsel will not be able to keep up in a youth based league.  Still, they should at least be the wisest team, right?

Hanuna (Player Captain: Lellochatnim of House Gull): Hanuna’s offense was dealt a blow with the retirement of two of their starting forwards, leading to some questions about if Hanuna will be anywhere near as good on that end of the field.   The replacements (Alfenz of House Mohr and Guacheemo of House Siwee) are awfully young and inexperienced.   In addition, there’s still the question about whether the defense can improve from its league worst performance last year.   Lellochatnim did earn high praise last year for his leadership that turned the team around mid-season, but he’ll definitely have his work cut out for him if he wants to build on that solid finish.

Leorux (Player Captain: Asa of House Waiseslen): Leorux remains one of Avornia’s smallest teams, though they did get a nice uptick in the number of people that tried out for the team, (from 22 to 44).  Leorux’s now having more players to choose from, the word on the street is that they’re very impressed with some of the youngest try outs.   The problem is, with nearly all the new recruits having next to no football experience whatsoever, it’s going to take some time before any of them are ready to take the field.  Expect Leorux to struggle next season, but there is reason to believe they could be able to build up in the future, it all depends on Asa’s skills as to how well he mentors and develops the younglings. 

Petorvale (Player Captain: Hammen of House Tong): Petorvale got some rough news this offseason, as nearly all of the teams defenders have left the squad, leaving a very inexperienced group to take their place.  Worse, Hammen himself, already a bit overweight to begin with, has apparently gotten fatter and more out of shape since last year.   He’s clearly an intelligent footballer and was surprisingly swift for a man of his conditioning, so maybe it won’t be a problem.    Petorvale had better hope so, because he’s likely to see more shots on goal with all the newbies defending him.  However, to be fair, Petorvale had the best offense in the league last season and that squad remains intact (led by striker Svontal of House Dors), so even if the defense falters a bit, Petorvale will be able to stay in those games.   There is plenty of optimism that Petorvale will challenge for the championship again.

Dobo (Player Captain: Wahwmah (Wow-mah) of House Taccew):  Dobo was far from being a contender last year and unfortunately, nothing appears to have changed.   Wahwmah has the total respect of his team but seems clueless as to how to form a team to fit a gameplan.   Dobo appears to be at its strongest when utilizing lots of quick passes, then surprising teams with a big pass to any of multiple players suddenly making deep drives towards the goal.   However, Wahwmah’s roster cuts would suggest the gameplan has changed to a strategy revolving a time killing, possession based approach.   Worse, Dobo still looks like they are seemingly afraid of getting physical with other teams; they may still get pushed around just like last year.  Anything can happen, but there’s a solid chance Dobo will be the worst football team in Avonia.

Tomen (Player Captain: Mishakl (Mish-cal) of House Floddergrove): Tomen appeared to be destroyed mentally last year when potential star Loeb of House Gammiz ruined his knee and missed the rest of the year.   With Loeb clearly not able to come back (he’ll never play football again), Tomen decided to rebuild from the ground up, starting with a new captain.  New captain Mishakl is a first year player, having played football for years for fun but had been unable to sign up last year due to not being able to leave his job in time.  He’s completely changed the roster (with 7 new starters).  Tomen definitely has a great midfield, but the rest of the positions need a lot of help.  Mishakl himself is a capable center midfielder that can do just about anything well but doesn’t necessarily specialize in any aspect of the game.   His big weakness, though, is that he tries to do too much by himself and is struggling with passing directions off to his teammates during the game, leading to the team appearing directionless at the worst times.   He’ll need to improve on that front, or else his reign as Captain will be a short one.

Anjocca (Player Captain: Tan of House Browse):  The team's solid performance being met with general apathy didn't bode well for their future.  Indeed, once again, there weren't too many try outs for the yellow team, there were barely any cuts to be made.  There is clear talent on this team, (the Stonner brothers Markhen and Tobyas for example, both being great forwards) the question is can they get over the many bad injuries they suffered last season.   Goalie Xaxi of House Pentuna, for example, had to have a badly injured eye removed, making him officially the first ever one-eyed athlete in Avornian football history.   Keeping healthy may make the difference in whether the team contends again or not.

That's it for now, the next post will cover the Year 65 Season.   See you all then!

Steelman wrote:

Loving the write ups and detail so far! Such a unique series. I've decided to cast my lot with Anjocca. Let's go Tan Browse and the Stonner brothers! One-eyed Xaxi is going to be an incredible story.

Keep it up! Really enjoying this.

Thanks!  Appreciate the kind words as always!   

Anjocca is definitely going to be a fun team to watch for sure.   They're easily the most willing team to play through injuries and that toughness could one year carry them to the top of the standings.  The key is for them to get the city behind them.  Anjocca is a pretty tough city (being a very military fort city) and so far they haven't been keen to root for the perceived "weak"  football players.  Xaxi's determination to play with only one eye may go a long way to changing their tune, which could be huge for Anjocca's football future!