October 4th — #drazahDay

[GremioPower]

Sin City Holiday

Vale drazah, jackster83 ‘s brother, who lost his fight against depression 4 years ago.

#RUOK
#drazahDay

 

[BLUEALLTHRU]

Sin City Holiday

Vale drazah, jackster83 ‘s brother, who lost his fight against depression 4 years ago.

#RUOK
#drazahDay

Your a legend jackster83 and I'm thinking of you today, take care my good mate!

 

[Dingster]

Turn those frowns upside down. #doitfordraz

 

[BLUEALLTHRU]

Turn those frowns upside down. #doitfordraz

Good call and done!

 

[Ant Bear]

 

[GotTheGoodes]

On ya jackster83. #doitfordraz

 

[Catsnlakers]

Yep thoughts are with my great mate jackster83, & this week we will. #doitfordraz

 

[philreich]

Such a sad day when we lost you - we'll never forget you mate!!!

 

[GremioPower]

#DoItForDraz: S24R10, Wonders - Swamprats

by Ant Bear​

WON, 15.16:106
SCS, 18.11:116



On the face of it, there was very little to recommend this game as the second most important game in Swamprat history. A mid-season game in a dismal season in which the Swamprats would claim the wooden spoon is usually anonymous, but one single occurrence in this game united and defined the club.

It delivered a sense of purpose that would reap 6 consecutive preliminary finals. This was the drazah's Match.

Season 24 was the most enduring season of the Rats’ History. The club couldn’t catch a break. Sin City had lost the first 8 games of the season; and we were coming off our owen-breaking win, when we were rocked by the death of a team-mate, drazah.

To make things worse, we became aware of the tragedy only after the teams had already been named. In consultation with administrator Hate, we were told that there could be no late change. The game would go on, simmed with draz on the HFF. We proceeded with heavy hearts.

The match started, and it didn’t take long before the Sim showed what a campaigner it can be:

spookism said:

2 : 1.03 - <<< ChristopHaha is coming on to replace drazah >>

This was after a high-scoring first term, where full-forward Cloud_ had kicked two of the Rat’s 5 goals. With drazah on the bench, we took the lead as Fizzler, MaxMinch and ChristopHaha converted.

However, in the next period, the Sim realised its error and reinstated our friend on the field as full back:

spookism said:

3 : 4.09 - <<< drazah is coming on to replace katmanblue >>

The third term was a see-sawing affair, where the margin never exceeded 10 points either way. Gray Day took all his chances with two majors for the term, as the Wonders squandered countless opportunities to put the game beyond doubt.

As we entered the final term 7 points adrift, calls of #doitfordraz came from across the league. Early goals from gaskin and Ant Bear put the Rats in front; but the team couldn’t hold it on. As it had been the nature of this match, everything should be hard-fought.

The Wonders stayed in touch and actually hit the front at the 17 minute mark. However, the Swamprats were never going to roll over in this game, and some of drazah’s closest mates in ShaunDuggan and MaxMinch converted difficult chances to put us back ahead.

That brought up the opportunity for the Sim to show what a campaigner it can be – in the good sense of the term, if such a thing is possible. The Wonders had a last-ditch attempt to steal the game:

spookism said:

4 : 23.45 {CHB} - Butler has it.
4 : 23.49 {CHB} - In danger.
4 : 23.53 {CHF} - WaLkEr_ThE_StAr takes off.
4 : 23.57 {FF} - That's a real finger-breaker in the direction of dogs105.

But then drazah was there to be the hero of the hour:

spookism said:

4 : 24.01 {FF} - dogs105 is outmarked by drazah.
4 : 24.06 {FB} - The ball is now with drazah.

We wanted to #doitfordraz, but it was him who did it for us. The Rats had won the match in its hardest week ever:

spookism said:

=====================================
SIREN SOUNDS FOR THE END OF QUARTER 4
West Coast Wonders : 15.16.106
Sin City Swamprats : 18.8.116
=====================================

Draz’s heroism aside, the best players for this game were gaskin with 26 touches, and Ant Bear with 19; with special mention to Draz, whose 13 touches were all cheered mightily by the massive crowd. Fizzled kicked 3 goals, with Cloud_, Gray Day, MaxMinch, NEGAN, and gaskin each getting a brace.

But one cannot put Draz’s heroism aside. This will always undoubtedly be the drazah’s Match.

Tears were shared that day; understandably so. It left a sense that, despite the early departure of a friend, at least in Sweet, drazah was still around and helping the club. Perhaps the win meant that things were beginning to turn in favour of the Rats. Well, if they were, it didn’t happen that season. The emotional victory against the Wonders had been special, but it wasn’t enough to avoid the spoon.

However, in S25, the qooty gods decided the Rats had suffered enough. The club not only went back to SFA Finals, but back to the Grand Final. But that’s another story…

 

[GremioPower]

Next time I see someone saying that the Sweet F.A. is a fantasy game made up of fake clubs, I will show them the drazah's Match.

Nothing can get more real than this.

Sweet is an actual community. Our clubs are meaningful. Respect them.

#DoItForDrazah

 

[haydo]

Rest easy drazah