- Jul 18, 2012
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There are very few things in the history of the Sweet F.A that have stood the test of time. Things that people remember fondly and are still being recalled upon as great memories of the league to this very day -- many years, even decades later. Events such as the nWo squad of Season 19, headed by The Filth Wizard and Danoz. _Cayz_ and his All-SFA committee room meltdown. Tarkyn_24 kicking his 1,0- oops, wait, that hasn't happened yet, because he is a flog. These are just two examples, but perhaps the most iconic, memorable, and most recalled event in the leagues, now 31 season history is indeed what we are going to be revisiting today; the Mod Squad, which very rarely, but alternatively may be known as the 'Cardies', headed by Sweet F.A immortal Fred, which was established and given a license to participate in the competition all the way back in Season 09. The club only managed just a mere two seasons in the competition, but the legacy and impact it had on the Sweet F.A has been rather monumental.
This thread will seek to give a brief rundown on how it came to be and the ultimate folding of the club at the conclusions of the 10th Sweet F.A season. In the closing chapters of this project, we will take a look at what a Mod Squad could possibly look like in the current day. There has been a new kit designed based upon various posts alluding to the original kit, as the image links are unrecoverable and no one seemingly had the original jumper for reference -- or perhaps I did not look hard enough.
I would like to just take a moment to say thank you to Fred for not only all he had done for the Mod Squad, but the league in its entirety. A much respected member of the community, who you would be hard pressed to find someone saying a bad word about. Unfortunately, Fred is no longer with us and I never had the chance to pester him on the topic, but hopefully I have done a decent job at representing the story of the Mod Squad.
Original Mod Squad logo.
The story of the Mod Squad goes back further than perhaps many of us think. The first reference that we could locate of relevance to this story does not actually come from the Sweet F.A board. On November 7th, in 2006 Fred makes a post on one of BigFooty's other fantasy sport leagues, the BigFooty Fantasty Cricket League, in a thread about a player, who might I add, also played in the Sweet F.A, that is moving clubs. Fred makes a suggestion, rather casually, that he still believes that the league (BFFCL) needs a team called, yep, you guessed it... The Mod Squad. This is roughly one and one half year preceding the formation, or beginnings of the Mod Squad we have come to know in the Sweet F.A. Gathering from this post, it is probably fair to suggest that this idea of having a Mod Squad as a fantasy sports club is something Fred had been fond of for a long period of time and possibly even thought it up even before 2006.
BigFooty in November of 2006 had a little under 30,000 members and just a little over 6 million posts. The board has grown, as has the league in its own right, by 71,000 members and 61,000,000 posts since. It was even using everyone's favourites forum software, vBulletin. The "Fantasy Footy League" forum as it was known at the time, was a sub-board under the "Australian Rules Football" main forum, inside of the "Footy Games" section/sub-board, which in its entirety (covering 5 boards) had just a total of 76,542 posts in comparison to its counterpart of modern times which has well over 2 million posts.
BigFooty home page. November 06, 2006. c: waybackmachine
(click to zoom)
In order to get the full picture of how the club came into existence, two years from the original suggestion by Fred, we must take a look at the Roys FFC, the club which Fred was a part of and would come to replace as a team in the competition the following season. Season 08 is by far not a season you would expect match thread numbers to be anywhere near where they are today, but as told by Mobbs in a discussion about the clubs, "the Roys limped through Season 08 on Fred's shoulders, losing most of their games with almost no activity." This seems to reflect accurately, at least with their on-field performance, having ended the H&A season in last position, missing the finals, and by quite the margin - just managing 4 wins and 17 loses from their 21 games.
It soon became clear that after debuting the club in Season 03, the Roys FFC would not be considered fit enough to continue in the Sweet F.A beyond Season 08. In the words of Mobbs, "it was essentially impossible to continue the Roys, and Fred would have communicated same to the league. I believe the Mod Saqud was his baby, as he didn't want to be without a team."
loopy_cam was one of many to question the existence of the Roys FFC, having asked "where the hell are they?" in a media thread that would be landfilled in todays era! This media thread coinciding with the leagues Grand Final (Season 08) on the same date - May 25, 2008. Tarkyn_24, ever the darling of positivity, states that he believes the Roys FFC will stay in the competition, while others, namely MannumPower gives full backing to the bid of the Swamprats. The conversation continues, with Tarkyn_24 making a plea to become a Moderator so he can play for a 'super mod team' which is rejected very swiftly by Fred.
Tarkyn_24, just as he has never reached 1,000 goals, also, to great sadness, never played for the Mod Squad.
2008 -
March 21, 2008 - With the acceptance that the Roys FFC are on the out as a club, Fred takes to the BigFooty Moderators behind the scenes in an effort to drum up interest in what is a rather unique concept club.
"Seeing as the Roys team is struggling for posters (and wins) I was thinking of entering a mods team next season to be known as The Mod Squad.
We need about 22 players so if you're interested in being part of a killer team, put your name down here. I'm looking for players that will be reasonably regular posters in the match threads."
- Posted by Fred on the Moderator board, March 21, 2008.
We need about 22 players so if you're interested in being part of a killer team, put your name down here. I'm looking for players that will be reasonably regular posters in the match threads."
- Posted by Fred on the Moderator board, March 21, 2008.
On June 16 of 2008, Sweet F.A Administrator at the time TFLUA-Tiger would post, what you might call a state of the league thread. Point three of the update touches on the structure of the league going forward in regards to the participants, confirming that the Roys FFC will be replaced by the Mod Squad, pending the confirmation of their captain, Fred. You will also note that the Sin City Swamprats are deemed as "not going ahead" too (spoiler: they did, but that is for a different thread). The thread is rife with contention about the Roys FFC as a squad, and the impending permission being granted to the Mod Squad. It seems rules were just as important back then, as they are today! Fred in this confirms to future Administrator boncer34, that the club will field a full team and not just 15 players.
It is at this point my view is that the club was well on its way to being formed. However, on June 17, 2008, just one day after the league update provided by TFLUA-Tiger, Fred issues a private message to 45 BigFooty Moderators in an effort to really get this unique concept for a club off the floor and running down the track. Not being comfortable in posting private correspondence, I have passed on directly quoting it. It is, what I would describe as a rather stock standard pitch about the league, team, and the expectations that would (very low!) ideally be met.
Two days later (jeez, moved quick did the champion!), on June 19, 2008, Fred, on the second day of official squad submissions, submits the first Mod Squad squad. Headed by himself as captain, the list comprised of some BigFooty's biggest hitters and recognizable names. Deestroy, The Old Dark Navy's, Mr Eagle, Mobbs, Itsmyshow, and Dingster. The list also consisted of Chief, BigFooty Administrator, who I suspect, as did boncer34 who said "untill Chief posts I refuse to believe he would partake in any form of amusment.", at the time was more of an unwilling participant in this venture.
The concept should be obvious by now, but in case it has flown over your head, the squad was comprised of BigFooty Moderators. There was an effort to try and track down which board each player was a Moderator of, but I really only got so far as Dingster telling me he was a North Melbourne board, Bay 13, and possible Basketball board Moderator. I would love for anyone who has any recollections or memories of which board each poster belonged to to post a response in this thread.
A month out from the season, on June 22, 2008 the first official team thread of the Mod Squad appears on the Sweet F.A board titled a very generic "Mod Squad thread". No fancy tag line (that comes in the OP!), no fancy yellow prefix. Upon opening the thread you are greeted with a very, horrifyingly scary post by the great Fred: "Be afraid, be very afraid." This tagline is a clear indication of the manner in which they would operate as posters and participants in the league.
okeydoke7, Hall of Famer, who has played a major role in the Sweet F.A and was around during this period, described the way the Mod Squad went about business in the following terms: "The Mod Squad had a bit of an identity of being a little superior without taking it too seriously. They were calm but funny. And despite me being a little critical of them throughout the journey, I used to enjoy their wit."
The sentiments offered by okeydoke7, were not reflected in comments received by fellow Hall of Famer and leading goal kicker, Tarkyn_24, who had this to say about the Mod Squad:
"I actually don’t really remember (a common response) the mod squad. They weren’t a great side to banter against, but this is back in the days where I was a hyperactive spammer so I’m not surprised my prints were all over that thread. "
Tarkyn_24 does not mince his words on the quality of the Mod Squad, rounding out his comments saying he feels they represented a "dull week":
"My main recollection was really that various mods were recruited to play for them, but the only ones that I really took notice of were Fred and Deestroy, and the latter only because he was my predecessor as Mount Buller captain. I think Ding and perhaps Larri or Mr Eagle were other current day contributors that played for the side, but realistically I felt they only really represented a dull week."
It has become common place for clubs to host off-season practice matches, and no different was the case back in Season 09 as the Mod Squad looked to steam in to their first season in the league. A practice match played on June 23, 2008 was organised between the well-established East Side Hawks and the newcomers, the Mod Squad. In the first of two practice matches, both played in warm conditions, the Mod Squad would defeat the East Side Hawks by eight (8) points - 19.6 (120) to 19.14 (128). YOTC named best on ground for the Hawks, with Benevolent Ert taking two votes for the Mod Squad, and Hawks1523 picking up one vote for the Hawks.
A second practice match took place against one of two remaining current foundation clubs, the West Coast Wonders. This match took place in the following month, coming after a solid hit out in their first foray into the Sweet F.A. The West Coast Wonders showed no mercy and perhaps reminded the Mod Squad that they are the newcomers around town. The Mod Squad suffered a 19.9 (123) to 10.11 (71) defeat, with the only bright spot being Chief coming off the bench to kick 6 majors.
The Mod Squad after a lengthy build up, a league high with anticipation, were now ready to participate in the 9th season of the Sweet F.A, which had its first games played on July 27, 2008; 6 days after their last of two first practices matches.
"We're the all knowing mods,
We're the card giving mods,
We're the team that thinks me and not you,
We're the emblem of everything we love,
The team that hands red and yellows to fools,
Every time we lose we’ll take our free booze,
As we infract all of you
(ALL OF YOU!)
Should anyone complain of us,
A few bannings will make your team lose!"
-Team song penned by Deestroy, Moderator Board. Later publicly posted here.
The following two sections will, for the most part, cover on-field performance.
In what was an historic season for the club, being its first in the Sweet F.A competition, did not come with the joy and excitement it had been slowly building towards. That is not to suggest that the season was not eventful in the slightest. In a rematch of their first practice match, the Mod Squad would face the East Side Hawks in a Round 01 showdown at the Junction Oval for their first ever official (home) and away fixture. Unlike their first encounter, the East Side Hawks truly put the newly formed club to the sword, giving them a 66 point hiding in their first game.
Mod Squad, Round 01, Season 09 - First Fielded Squad
It was a rather agonising start for the Mod Squad, but it was only about to become worse. At this point, the Sweet F.A had only previously had 9 drawn matches. The Mod Squad, in their second match, would produce the leagues 10th drawn match, against fellow newcomers the (Alberton) Sin City Swamprats. I imagine that they had probably thought there was not much more they could experience to make this venture worse. Until game 3, against the Baghdad Bombers, where they suffered an excruciating ONE (1) point loss. So the Mod Squad, by this point had really had it all... Except for one thing. That elusive first victory. That came in Round 04 against the Dragons FFC, by 13 points before they would suffer a string of 6 loses, including a second to the East Side Hawks. By Round 12, Benevolent Ert and marcuz had become the first casualties of a side suffering severely.
The backend of Season 09, the clubs first, was a bit like a rollercoaster from Round 11 onwards: W-L-W-L-W-L-W-L.
The vibrant (that is debatable: they would have been sporting black kits with skull and crossbones plastered on the front) new Sweet F.A club had the air sucked right out of it, managing just one more win than the club they had effectively replaced in the Sweet F.A. A record of 5 wins, 12 losses, and 1 draw saw the club win its first wooden spoon. Deestroy (13) and Itsmyshow (12) were valiant performers throughout the season, losing out to BlueFan4 in the Mobbenfuher Medal, who polled 17 votes for the Gumbies FFC.
Media, not being a huge deal back in Season 09, during the season had not much Mod Squad related content. Although the trade period, despite not featuring the Mod Squad, was rather lively and full of discussion.
Season 09 concluded on January 25, 2009 with the Grand Final being contested between East Side Hawks and Baghdad Bombers at Waverley Park. The match was won by the Baghdad Bombers by a margin of 38 points. Wally of the East Side Hawks was awarded the Deestroy medal for being Best on Ground.
After a dismal entry in to the Sweet F.A, the Mod Squad, once again lead by Fred would remain in the competition for one final season. Season 10 would see 6 new players, rather Moderators, play their first games for the club. Most notably, and the only one who remains an active participant in the Sweet F.A, larrikin, who tells us that he thinks that the idea of "the Mod Squad was unfortunately better than the execution, at least in my time. "
Much of, if not all, the attention surrounding the Mod Squad in the media would come towards the closing rounds of the season, as the club would come to near its ultimate fate, which we will cover in the following section. On-field, it was a considerable better effort than their first season. In what was a lengthy home & away fixture of 21 Rounds, the Mod Squad would finish the season regular with 11 wins, 10 loses and no draws. This would be enough to see the club reach its first and only, to this day, finals series. For an interesting sequence, starting in Round 5 they went L-L-L-L-W-W-W-W-L-L-L-L-W-W-W-W to close the home and away fixture out.
The Mod Squad would face the Fighting Furies in their first final, a Qualifying Final to be played at Punt Road. 2 days out, PHX of the Fighting Furies posted "Let's get this over with, sick of this Mod Squad. Will most likely be gone in straight sets." Which was subsequently followed up by Fighting Furies star Equus with "Agree. Let's give the Mod Squad their Last Rites before they fold."
The Fighting Furies in a rather close game, winning by just 4 points, would, sadly, put the Mod Squad ever closer to their suggestion, which ultimately would become their reality soon after. The West Coast Wonders, who the Mod Squad had beaten in the season regular on 3 occasions, would prove to be the ultimate undoing of the Mod Squad in their first, last, and only finals campaign. Just as they had devastated them in their earlier practice match prior to their entry into the league. A 40 point margin had indeed sent the Mod Squad packing in straight sets, and not soon after, packing their bags from the Sweet F.A.
With 16 wins, 1 draw, and 24 losses in total, the Mod Squad played its last game in the 10th Sweet F.A season. Season 10 concluded on September 27, 2009 with the Grand Final being contested by the Fighting Furies and West Coast Wonders. The Fighting Furies came out 62-point winners in what were Cloudy conditions. houghie of the Fighting Furies would be the recipient of the Deestroy medal, being adjudged the player Best on Ground. Seeing out this interesting side, Fred and Itsmyshow both polled 12 votes in the Season 10 Mobbenfuhrer Medal count, which was won by Ljp86 of the Dragons FFC.
(click to view with clarity, shrunk to shorten thread)
As with the opening of this journey, a great deal of importance here too must be placed upon the role that the Roys FFC played in the ultimate fate of the Mod Squad at and towards the conclusion of the 10th Sweet F.A season.
After a two season recess of sorts, the Roys FFC, lead by Mobbs were seeking to be reborn and come out of the womb in Season 11. Shortly after Season 10 had ended, media speculation started about a possible return of the once lowly club that made way for the entry of the Mod Squad. This was met with varying reception, including league Hall of Fame immortal, Ljp86 declaring that he could not seeing it happening and that it could just be a pipe dream. A little over a week later, Mobbs would reaffirm his absolute confidence that the Roys FFC were set to go.
I have taken the time to pester Mobbs, as I usually do for these threads to get the "inside word" as to how and why the Roys FFC were going to come back in to the Sweet F.A fold:
"During Season 10 I'd finally started to get my life in order again, and crept out of hibernation. Over on the Fitzroy board (where we'd always done almost all of our Sweet FA Roys chat up to and even past that point), murmurs surfaced about submitting a request to return to the comp. I was probably very highly active in this venture - but whether I was the main instigator or not, I have no idea. We ran into folks like CtR, Reardo and rb2 (citations needed - maybe I have their debuts wrong here) who helped kickstart the resurrection with solid activity potential. Activity was just starting to become more than a passing slur around this time (it would become a top-line ingredient around S14).
The Mods were still flagging and Fred was keen to ditch that experiment and hop back on with the Roys. This completely smashed any likelihood that the team would get up off the canvas ... and they ended up becoming more of a placeholder team in the Roys' absence."
Ljp86 had a few interesting words extending on the last part of what Mobbs had to say:
"The side sort of felt like the Roys, a bunch of older guys who are there for a bit of fun, banter and a more relaxed vibe. A few of the Roys crossed to the team after they went into recess at the end of Season 08 and the side definitely had a Roys type feel to them."
On the other side of the competition, at the Mod Squad, things did not appear to be heading in the wrong direction until later in the off-season, when it rapidly unravelled for the club. Two weeks after rumours began to circulate about a return for the Roys, Mobbs publicly applied for 'cleareance' to leave the Mod Squad in order to join the Roys FFC. This was met by a terrific post by Fred, who said "this is a true win/win situation. It improves both lists at the same time. We lose a spud and the Roys gain another one." So at this point, at least publicly, it does seem as though the Mod Squad was headed to be in competition WITH the Roys FFC in the following season.
Season 11 would eventually commence on January 3, 2010. By October 27, 2009, as pointed out to us by Dingster, the Mod Squad were looking for a practice match which was played on the same day, posted by peterss, versus the Gumbies FFC in Warm conditions. This is believed to be the last time the Mod Squad played a game of Qooty. They would go out 13 point winners, defeating the Gumbies FFC 11.14 (80) to 10.7 (67). There was little to no real, truly obvious enthusiasm about the match or match thread. On the same date, Fred would post about the new season commencing shortly. This was a post canvasing the Moderator Board to see if there were any Spec Moderators (by the way, Fred had changed his mind on multiple occasions regarding whether Spec Moderators should be allowed to join) interested and to note that another practice match would soon be played.
By November 07, 2009 it was all over for the Mod Squad. After a rather dismal, unimpressive two seasons in the competition and seemingly failing to attract the attention of any new players, let alone its own, Fred would announce both behind the scenes and to the public in a media thread that the squad had come to an end and will not be a part of the Sweet F.A going forward. This considered announcement was also accompanied by his declaration that he has taken up an opportunity to return with his former Mod Squad teammate, Mobbs, to the Roys FFC for the upcoming season. Fred would play his final 229 Sweet F.A games at the Roys FFC. Fred and Mobbs would play in a total of 282 games as teammates, sitting in 9th spot for that particular record.
The announcement, which was considerable news at the time, was received by all imagined emotions - sadness, laughter, joy, and those more than happy to pick at the carcass of the Mod Squad, with many clubs vying for the attention of its players. Of perhaps equal notable status, Itsmyshow would announce, a little over a week later that he too would be signing with the Roys FFC, further bolstering the side.
As suggested by larrikin in his comments to us, "..the folding came from nowhere but I sense no one was that invested." It is too our view that the folding did really come from no where, as you can tell from the dates, it was a rather rapid decline from "we have a practice match coming" to "that is it, it is all over." This happened over the course of around a week. It was not long either that the league, lead by EFL Boy was to question the activeness of the actual Moderators of the board.
There is not much more to the story. It was a rather unique concept at the time that appears to be a brain child of Fred going back a fair period of time. Although those of that time period have had their memories faded out, the club in its entirety is rather memorable and provided a lot to the league. It is arguably one of the first to engage in an actual schtick, one that is still remembered today. By todays standard, they most certainly would not have made it long. It is worth noting that posting standards were extremely different back then in comparison to today, but the overall feeling is that they were indeed inactive, which was the ultimate downfall, but enjoyable to some, like okeydoke7, when they were up and about. Perhaps Fred had other things in his mind as to why the club would fold. All in all, they had a unique way of going about things, which you can see in the little match threads posts they put up. They did live their tag line, but I can not imagine many were truly intimidated in the end. Like a lot of things that have come and gone in the Sweet F.A, the idea was there, but in the end it was probably poorly executed, which is a great shame as it certainly had the potential, shown at times by the few media threads with heavy responses inside.
For us, we believe this line by okeydoke7 sums up well the ultimate contribution they made to the league:
"Don’t underestimate the flow on impact that had on this competition."
Here we are, in Season 31, more than a decade beyond the Mod Squad and they are still being talked about on the forum, so they must have done something right because they are perhaps the only former club that truly gets a good run in various discussions on this board. I often come across users who are sporting the clubs logo, which perhaps was most visible as a long serving avatar of Fred, which still remains on his account. Of recent times, I saw Azarole is sporting the avatar. A true testament to a job well done.
Maybe one day we will see a reinvention of the Mod Squad. Although, I am not sure any of the current Moderators have the, as Tigerturbulance would say, the KAHOOONEEZ (?) to pull off such a feat and make it successful - especially with that anti-expansion crowd running around the league.
Cheers Fred for one of your many contributions that has made this place infinitely better.
I would like to take a moment to acknowledge those who took the time to respond to my requests for assistance on this matter, most of whom are mentioned. Of serious in-depth (not to say they others were not), who took much time to offer something extensive, were Mobbs and Dingster who I am appreciative of.
My go-to on this project was Wosh. She won't let me compliment her, but she was terrific and extremely helpful in the research phrase of this and keeping me motivated to actually finish this. So a huge thank you to champion Wosh.
Sorry for any errors!
Unrelated links:
The Great Tragedy A.K.A Screw You, Willo_
I Am Definitely The Best - S31 - TRADE TABLE PLEASE
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