Spa-tastic!

The Belgium Grand Prix always promises to be one of the most exciting races to watch and this year’s race lived up to its reputation. The changeable weather at Spa had the drivers in a quandary over tyres and a rain shower on lap 42 had drivers struggling to complete the final two laps or pulling into the pits for wets. From the start the race was look as though it was going to be a corker with McLarens Lewis Hamilton spinning on the second lap, Nelson Piquet retiring after a spin into the tyre wall and Barrichello pitting never to be seen again after losing 6th gear. But the big event was the battle between McLaren’s Boy Wonder Hamilton and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. The two battled through the entire race but it was a misjudged corner that was not only the start of a chain of events that saw Kimi out of the race but saw Hamilton awarded a 25 second penalty.

Hamilton was forced to give the lead back to Kimi after jumping in front by cutting across the chicane. Formula One rules forbid drivers from gaining an advantage by cutting a chicane. He then proceeded to chase the Finn down on the next corner, taking back the lead with 2 laps to go. The penultimate lap saw both Hamilton and Raikkonen spin off, only Raikkonen lost control trying to get back on the track and the Ferrari ended up in the tyre wall. Drivers cross the line with Hamilton in first followed by Massa and Heidfeld. A stewards post race decision feels Hamilton did not give enough of the lead back to Kimi before regaining first place and so the McLaren driver was given a 25 second penalty putting him back to third place. Brazilian Massa is now only two points behind Hamilton with five races to go, the first of which is his Ferrari team's home Italian Grand Prix this weekend. McLaren has registered its intention to appeal this decision. In a post race interview Hamilton said “That was one of the most exciting races of my whole career – it was incredibly tough. My spin on lap two put me on the back foot for the rest of the race, but I could see Kimi ahead and I was just pushing, pushing, pushing to close that gap, hoping he would catch traffic and allow me to get nearer. When the heavens opened, Kimi was a little cautious under braking and I was able to get really close. When I had a look around the outside at the chicane, we almost had an accident, and I needed to steer left to avoid him. As we crossed the start/finish line, I left him the space to get back ahead and then managed to get my car up the inside at La Source.”

Although no official Ferrari press release commented on the incident, Raikkonen’s official website simply stated the facts “I came here to win and I came close. In the final laps the track conditions were very critical and unfortunately I ran wide and when I tried to get back on track, I spun and ended up in the wall. It was a shame because today the car was working really well. “It’s the second race in a row that I’ve failed to score points. Clearly the championship situation is what it is, but I’m not the sort to give up that easily.”

So has Hamilton added the Finn to the list behind Alonso?

Next race September 14th, Italy, Monza. Start 1400 CET

Ocean Marathon

After a 10 day Atlantic crossing, Il Mostro (PUMA Ocean Racing) arrived in Alicante Spain, the start port for the Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09, from their home port of Newport, Rhode Island USA, also completing their 2000 mile qualifier for the race en route. The Volvo Ocean Race 2008-09 will be the 10th running of this ocean marathon. Starting from Alicante in Spain, on 4 October 2008, it will, for the first time, take in Cochin, India, Singapore and Qingdao, China before finishing in St Petersburg, Russia for the first time in the history of the race. Spanning some 37,000 nautical miles, visiting 11 ports over nine months, the Volvo Ocean Race is the world's premier ocean yacht race for professional racing crews.

The scoreline is not a true indication of the game. SPAIN beat BOSNIA 1-0 in a match where Spain could have scored more had they not hit the bar or missed a penalty, all in the 1st half. Spain was the superior team all night but did not manage to convert
their numerous chances into goal. The Spanish midfield is perhaps the best in the World & gave opportunities all night, but with only one forward upfront it was difficult to transform all the chances. DAVID VILLA scored the games & Spain´s only & winning goal in the 57th min after side passing the goalkeeper & squeezing in a goal from a difficult angle. INIESTA was absolutely brilliant with midfield control, creative play & was the goal opportunity supplier that warrants ‘Man of the Match’. Great game from Spain, dominated all night but just needs to transform the brilliant one-twos into goals.

REAL MADRID Coach Bernd Schuster is not a happy man in his sporting role having not received the new signing that he requested for the 2008/2009 season. The anger is such that local sporting media talk of a "schism" between Schuster & Directives, in particular President Calderon & Football Director Mijatovic, were Schuster insinuates lack of consultation & unilateral decisions from Directives that were not checked for his advice. There is a "smell" in the air that Schuster maybe contemplating resigning, plus this option will not go down badly with President Calderon because his outspoken Coach is "ruffling Directives feathers". Spanish paper "AS" published a list of players that Coach Schuster asked for, only Van de Vaart arrived, the rest were missing and that has

angered the Coach. CRISTIANO RONALDO is the main factor in explaining the Real Madrid woes & lack of effective planning for the 2008/2009 season. The Real Madrid directives "put all its eggs" in the Ronaldo basket. Such was the obsession & the confidence in getting Cristiano over to Real Madrid that it halted alternative signings. When it was clear that Cristiano Ronaldo was not coming, it was too late to react as the players market was virtually "shut". This is poor management & shows how badly Pedja Mijatovic & Calderon have handled the situation, at other Clubs they would have been fired! Schusters List also included DANI ALVES: Schuster asked for Alves so he can place him in front of Sergio Ramos in the midfeld. LUIS FABIANO (Sevilla FC): Schuster loves this Brazilian goal scorer. He put in 33 goals last season & Schuster wanted him for Real. DE ROSSI (AC Roma): Schuster considered the Italian the creative
midfield player however, Roma asked for 40M€, too expensive. CESC FABREGAS: another great midfield, Arsenal’s Wegner shut the option from day one. DIEGO (Werner Bremen): The Brazilian midfielder was out of the running from day one when the German club refused to deal. PHILIP LAHM (Bayern Munich): Lahm’s price tag would not have left enough for the much hoped for Ronaldo deal. DAVID VILLA (Valencia CF) : With Ronaldo confirmed OUT, the need to cover the forward suddenly came to emergency status. The negotiations were poor & too late. Result - no deal. In the end the only signing Schuster received was Dutchman RAFAEL VAN DE VAART, a deal which cost Real 13M€ this year but only 1M€  they had waited until next year. As you can see Coach Schuster has professional reasons to be angry. The Directive management has been poor & very amateur for a Club of Real Madrid´s standards. Responsibilities must fall on President Calderon & his Football Director Pedja Mijatovic who simply showed inexperience & bad business sense.


ALBERT RIERA: ANOTHER SPANIARD AT LIVERPOOL FC

LIVERPOOL FC has presented its new signing, Spanish midfielder ALBERT RIERA from ESPANYOL. It is easy to understand why the English Club is dearly loved & watched on TV by many Spaniards. Riera joins other Spaniards that already make up Liverpool, apart from coach Benitez, such as Torres, Alonso, Reina & Arbeloa. Albert Riera has "English Football" experience when on loan to Man City three years ago, but insists that he has improved since then & should not be jugded by his Man City period.
In fact SFS believes that Liverpool has a great player at hand. Give Riera time to settle in with the Club, Team & City; then slip him in easily into the games. Once he gets a few under his belt & he gains confidence he’s going to be a very decisive player. His big guns are his great arrivals into the goal area & his outside shot which will surprise many. Lets not forget he is already a Spanish International & always on the list (if not now) of the
national selector since a year ago. SFS wishes Riera all the luck.  

FC BARCELONA "GREAT CAPTAIN" JOAN SEGARRA DIES AT 80

Legendary FC BARCELONA player & "The Great Captain" JOAN SEGARRA has passed away at the age of 80. Segarra played 402 games with Barça until his retirement in 1964, playing in years that included the historical "5 Spanish Cups" in a row. Apart from these titles, he won 4 Liga - ‘52, ‘53, ‘59, ‘60 & Copa Latina (‘52).Segarra also represented Spain with 25 International Caps .
RIP

Striker

El Plantio 17th August.

A disappointing turnout for this match with only nine players. However in spite of the poor number those who played had an enjoyable day.

 

Competition was fierce with regular guest Richard ‘Birdman’ Finch taking the spoils with 36 points edging out Malcolm ‘Big Mac’ McGuigan on 35 points. For the first time we also presented a prize to the player who had the best value for money round taking the most shots for the green fee paid. This ‘bent putter’ prize went to another guest John Dean.

Nearest-the-Pin was Malcolm (Rules) Robins whose wedge was 30cms from the pin (and he did hole the putt).

Another momentous occasion occurred when Gerry ‘The Welsh Wizard’ O’Reilly (Welsh? with a name like that) paid his membership dues to become a full member of the Society. Well done Gerry and welcome aboard.

At the AGM held at Bar El Parque on the 25th August the following officers were elected for the ensuing year:

Captain: Peter ‘No Pay’ Gurney

Secretary: Malcolm ‘Big Mac’ McGuigan

Treasurer: Bob ‘The Banker’ Kear

Handicap Secretary: Malcolm ‘Rules’ Robins.

El Plantio 31st August

Twelve members and guests turned out for the match at El Plantio.

New Captain, Peter ‘No Pay’ Gurney welcomed two new members to the Society; Richard ‘Birdman’ Finch and Neil ‘Parley’ Hodgkins.

Also playing for the first time with the Society was guest Clare Goodfellow who went on to win the ‘bent putter’ prize.

The match was won by Bob ‘The Bandit’ Smith (again) with 38 points. He found his putter surplus to requirements on at least 2 holes where he chipped in. Also in addition to the first prize he also won a pack of three balls for a two on the par 3 fourteenth. Everyone was pleased to once again contribute to his retirement fund.

Second was Gerry ‘The Welsh Wizard’ O’Reilly with 33 points (in spite of not scoring on the first two holes) who edged out Malcolm ‘Big Mac’ McGuigan on the lowest handicap rule. Nearest-the-Pin was won by Richard ‘Birdman’ Finch. The bent putter prize went to the lady guest Clare Goodfellow.

Ronnie ‘Rollup’ Makin who has been off the smokes now for a few weeks let his nicotine deficiency show when he threw his club further than his drive on the twelfth hole.

The next match is at Bonalba on Wednesday 10th September at 12noon.

If you are interested in joining us please contact Malcolm McGuigan on 607165792 or email at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

The start of England’s World cup qualifying was not what the fans were expecting from Fabio Capello’s team. Joe Cole spared England's blushes by scoring 2 goals against Andorra. It was Capello's first competitive match and the discontented fans booed the players off the pitch at half-time. The 2nd half saw Cole came on and have an instant affect, volleying home Frank Lampard's free-kick on 49 minutes. He followed this up on the 55th minute by putting home a Wayne Rooney pass. So is the face of things to come? The Mighty England struggling against a team ranked 186th in the World and the least of the teams concerns in Group 6. The next match will have been played by the time we go to print as the team jet off to Zagreb to play Croatia on Sept 10th - the thorn in McClaren’s side in his failed Euro 2008 bid.

Come on England show them what you’re made of!

Thanks to Charlie Wood from Bradford for his great England player pictures – he’s been busy over the holidays!

El Cid Bowls Club Competition

Sunday 7th September at El Cid Bowls Club saw the end of the “Carrian 3-2-1 Competition”. Competitors braved the summer heat over this 3 day competition and there were some very close games. The runners up were Keith & Jan Vertigen and David Bluff, but the winners were Ian & Hazel Brown and John Rawlings (see photo). Photo shows the winners with sponsor Jesus Carrian, President John Dugdale and Captain Adrian Lambert. Well done to all.

Some events for your diary: Monday 15th Sept, friendly game Swords vs El Cid Winter League. Friday 19th Sept, friendly game Scimitars vs El Cid Winter League. All games are 9:30 for 10am start.  Also, on the social calendar another Ten Pin bowling evening has been arranged for 6pm on Friday 2nd October at the bowling alley at the new Ondara Shopping centre. All members and their guests are welcome, please put your names on the list found on the social notice board.

Finally, all club members, El Cid management and staff would like to wish Keith and Jan Vertigen all the best for their return back to the UK and we hope all goes well for them there and that they return to see us all very soon. Also, we would like to thank Keith for all the work he has done over for the club over the many years he has been here. They will both be missed.

New members are always welcome and training sessions can be arranged for new bowlers, please contact El Cid Bowls Club on 96 640 4364.

Have a good week of bowling!

Sponsored by MATRIX 35 finance

This week we held the Hillbury 3-2-1 which was kindly sponsored by MATRIX 35 finance. Fourteen teams were split into 2 groups of 7 to play in a round-robin format, with the winners of each group progressing to the final. It was very pleasing to see some of our newer members competing and enjoying the chance to knock some of the established players down a peg. In the first group Los Azuls got off to a flying start and built up a significant shot difference that proved decisive come the final match, as they finished level on 37 points with Nails & Co. (Barry Elms, Joan Moss & Clive Corbin). The other group went down to the final match, with Also Rang narrowly defeating Sin Nombre, (Jan Phillips, Martin Hughes & Tony Nicholls), to book their place in the final.

Many thanks to the Javea members who stayed to watch the final & they were treated to an absolute cracker of a game by Los Azuls with Lynne Eldon, Alan Phillips & Derek Eldon and Also Rang with Jenny Rich, Brian Rich & Trevor Neale. Lynne Eldon had a fantastic game, as end after end she put woods around the jack. But Jenny, Brian & especially Trevor, kept attacking the head and with good shots & good fortune and despite dropping a 5, the game remained a tight affair. Eventually going into the last end with a 3 shot lead & with Lynne again getting to the jack, Alan & Derek were able to cover all eventualities & deny Trevor the chance to convert the end in his favour. The prize money was presented to the winners, (see photo) & runners up by MATRIX 35 finance. Thanks must go to Ken Davey for organising & running the event, well done Ken.

The draw for the Javea Green Iberian Open has been made and is on display at the Club. The Competition starts on Monday 8th September and Club Members should look at the Notice Board for details of Club Day availability.

Enjoy your bowling.

F1 Tables

Drivers championship 2008
Name	Car	Nat	Points
1 Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	GB	76
2 Felipe Massa	Ferrari	Brz	74
3 Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	Pol	58
4 Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	Fin	57
5 Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	Ger	49
6 Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren	Fin	43
7 Jarno Trulli	Toyota	Ita	26
8 Fernando Alonso	Renault	Spa	23
9 Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	Aus	19
10 Timo Glock	Toyota	Ger	15
11 Nelson Piquet	Renault	Brz	13
12 Sebastian Vettel	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	Ger	13
13 Rubens Barrichello	Honda	Brz	11
14 Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	Ger	9
15 Kazuki Nakajima	Williams	Jpn	8
16 David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	GB	6
17 Sebastien Bourdais	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	Fra	4
18 Jenson Button	Honda	GB	3
19 Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	Ita	0
19 Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	Ger	0
19 Anthony Davidson*	Super Aguri-Honda	GB	0
19 Takuma Sato*	Super Aguri-Honda	Jpn	0

* Super Aguri dropped out of championship following Spanish Grand Prix because of lack of funds

Positions after Belgian Grand Prix