Forbidden City FC 紫禁城足球俱乐部

Dear City,

As I mentioned last training, a terrible lost hit Beijing expat community and especially the IFFC and its members…Thomas Marechal, great friend and captain of the French team left us last Sunday, he was 27.

We are very close to Tom family and extremely close to all his friends and our friends in the French team, this is a moment in which we need to support eachother and help eachother, I think this is one of the true meaning of being friends.

With the French team I am organizing a few activities, which aim to celebrate Thomas as a friend and as a footballer here in Beijing.

On Sunday we will have the last farewell at Flo’s Brasserie (Tom favourite spot) near Tuanjiehu subway station Exit B, from 7 to 10pm, it will be fantastic if everybody can join.

We are organizing a Football match, French team vs IFFC Tom friends team, of which I will tell you more after the holiday.

So I hope to see most of you at Flo, to say goodbye to a great friend.

If you need more information please give me a call: 13801081801

Ciao
Luca

Citizens,

Luga's Opening Party Group Photo

First of all, THANKS to all the players and friends that joined the OPENING SEASON PARTY last weekend, I had a lot of fun and so I hope you did have fun too….

A particular thanks to Jochen, Philippe and Ton (dj skills) for the great help in organizing the party …. GREAT STUFF GUYS!!!

In the meantime, we are approaching a very important holiday for the Chinese calendar and this will affect our football schedule. This is FC schedule for the next 10days:

• This weekend and next weekend (Sep.27-28 and Oct.4-5) there will be NO LEAGUE MATCHES.

• Next week training is CANCELLED, if you are in town you are more than welcome to contact Jim or Adam and organize a 5aside (I won’t be in town).

• After the holiday, training day will change, since Lido pitch is giving us a better option. Next training will be on TUESDAY 7th October, from 8 to 10pm. Until the end of the season training will be every Tuesday from 8 to 10pm.

• I heard of a few City players and other league players that will stay in Beijing during the holiday. Some of these players are organizing some weekend games so If you are interest in playing please talk with Jim 13552849722.

Please if any questions or need some more information, let me know.

I wish you all an amazing holiday time, keep the fitness up (10 minutes run every day on the beach can be a nice idea after a few bad hangovers) ….and I see you all on the pitch in 10 days.

Ciao

Luca

Blythe managed to find an early clip of Luca practising.......

Title: Opening Party
Location: Luga’s Villa
Description: Party to celebrate the start of season and our new sponsor deal with Luga’s
Start Time: 19:00
Date: 2008-09-20
End Time: 23:00

Ladies and……citizens!

It is again that time of the year….Forbidden City OPENING SEASON PARTY is here!!!

For all new players and friends the FCFC Opening season party is the event that kick off our football year, it is the bouding moment that all of us are waiting for, it is the event in which you eat for cheap and you drink too much…..IT’S THE EVENT OF THE YEAR!

For all old players…if you were too drunk to remember, don’t worry becasue this year it will be bigger than ever!

OPENING SEASON PARTY, SATURDAY 20th September from 7PM TILL LATE, LUGAS VILLA, SANLITUN.

The party will take place at Lugas Villa, our new bar sponsor.

We will have a buffet from 7 till 9.30pm, with free flow of drinks.

All inclusive 150kuai.

Friends, girlfriends, boyfriends…??, all invited, so be ready for a crazy night with City!

PLEASE CONFIRM YOUR PARTICIPATION AND HOW MANY PEOPLE YOU WILL BRING WITH YOU.

Cheers

Luca

ClubFootball has entered into the British Business Awards represented by Rowan Simons in the “Entrepreneur of the Year” category. If we can win the award it’ll help to raise the profile of the club and hopefully allow us to expand our community and bring more benefits to members.

We’ve already made it through to the final round with only 5 contestants left, where 20% of the scoring is made up from online voting – so if you could lodge a vote it’ll help us along and be greatly appreciated. It’s a fairly simple process and only takes a minute or two .

Go to http://www.britishbusinessawards.cn/vote/index.php

1.. Select “Entrepreneur of the year”
2.. Cast your vote and input the requested info
3.. You’ll receive a confirmation email with a link which you then need to click to validate your vote
Thanks in advance for your all support and all the best,

Rowan Simons
China ClubFootball FC Limited

City!

Well done to Forbidden City lads who started with a clear victory (6-0) against X2 Japan on Sunday.
Bad luck for Summer palace who lost 4-2 the first match of the season…don’t worry guys you will come back strong!

Training on Wednesday, please find your way to the Lido pitch and be there ON TIME!

Wed. 17 Sep. Lido pitch 9.45pm
Please confirm your participation at training, reply by email now, or text me on my mobile.

Cheers

Luca

Hi Guys

Just a follow up to Patrick’s note. For those who don’t know me I currently wear the captains arm band for SP.

Last year occassionally, and for our first cup game this year there was a general could not care less attitude from some people. Possibly as a result of the hang over the night before.

However this year we have decided to introduce some changes.

Patrick has requested that foks arrive at the pitch by 3.20. If everyone can adhere to that then great. However if you are not at the pitch at least 30 minutes before the game / and or have not phoned Patrick or myself with a viable reason as to why you will be late then we’ll exclude you from the starting line up. Both Patrick and I play and need to get ready and have to get the team sheet sorted early and players organised. We also need to warm up.

On that subject personally I know what I need to do in order to get ready for a game and many others also do a proper warm up. However lots of folks think a quick cigarette and kick of the ball for 2 / 3 minutes is a proper warm up – not so!

So this year on the assumption that everyone arrives at least 30 minutes before the game and gets changed quickly we will organise a team warm up which will be taken by one of the senior players.

We also need water and drinks and will organise for that to be brought, but I find my self amazed that smart, capable, organised blokes such as yourself can not throw a bottle of water in your kit bag just in case we are unable to provide.

Looking forward to tomorrow and another great season ahead. If ISB Dragons are the high school kids then do not expect an easy game – they’ll run the legs off most of us, so go reasonable on the pop tonight.

And because it is Friday a little humour to lighten the load – both Robbie McIntosh and Pat Wilkens came to mind when I first read this!!!!! Though Mike Rahn was in there also

> THE TEQUILA TEST
> Guy walks into a bar, notices a very large jar on the counter, and sees it’s filled to the brim with $10 bills. He guesses there must be thousands of dollars in it. He approaches the bartender and asks. ‘What’s up with the jar?” Well, you pay $10 and if you pass three tests, you get all the money. ‘The man certainly isn’t going to pass this up. ‘What are the three tests?”Pay first, those are the rules.’ says the bartender. So the man gives him the $10 and the bartender drops it into the jar.’OK,’ the bartender says. ‘Here’s what you need to do: First, You have to drink that entire gallon of pepper tequila, the whole thing, all atonce…and you can’t make a face while doing it. Second, there’s a pit bull chained-up out back with a sore tooth. You have to remove the toothwith your bare hands. Third, there’s a 90-year old woman upstairs who has never reached orgasm during intercourse. You’ve gotta make things right for her. ‘The man is stunned. He says, ‘I know I just paid $10, but I’m not an idiot…I won’t do it! You’d have to be nuts to drink a gallon of pepper tequila, and then do those other things.”Your call,’ says the bartender, ‘but your money stays where it is.’

As time goes on and the man has a few drinks, then a few more, he asks, ‘Wherez zat tequila?’He grabs the gallon with both hands and downs it with a big slurp. Tears streaming down both cheeks, but he doesn’t make a face.Next, he staggers out back where the pit bull is chained-up and soon the people inside the bar hear a huge, noisy, scuffle going on outside. Theyhear the pit bull barking, the guy screaming, the pit bull yelping and then silence. Just when they think the man surely must be dead, he staggers back into the bar, with his shirt ripped and large bloody scratches all over his body. He says…’Now then…where’s that old woman with the sore tooth!!?’

Hi Summer Palace,

Excellent friendly game last night against Forbidden City, well done to everybody who played.
I have a few infos for you:

1- If you have not done it already, you MUST provide me with a photocopy of your passport (the page with your name and photo only). This is the new league regulation: you won’t be able to play in the league without this.
Please bring it this wednesday at training or next time you come to play (training or competitive game)

2- We have a training session this wednesday evening (10th September): same venue and same time as last week: which is Lido park and 9:45pm. Try your best to make it, as I need to make an “informed” selection for our coming league game.
Let me know if you are available

3- Our first league game is scheduled for this coming saturday (13th
september) at 9am (YES, EARLY SATURDAY MORNING) at the 80th Middle School in Wangjing. We play against a new team in the league ISB Dragons.
Let me know if you are available for selection.

4- The IFFC schedule for the season is not yet fully completed due to problem with booking pitches. You can nevertheless have a look at the schedule on the IFFC website http://www.iffc1994.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=842&Itemid=78

If you know already that you are going to be away/not available for some of the league games scheduled let me know. We are allow to postpone games in case we are short of players but only if we ask for it well in advance.

Patrick

Jason Muhl

PERSONAL

Jason Muhl. American. Born 21 Jun, 1972. Plays centre mid-field, defence.

SQUAD

Jason has been a pivotal key in the history both on and off the pitch.  Previosuly playing for the Accies in Beijing, he was the founding manager of the Forbidden City Club back in August 2004 and has helped build the club into the family it is today.  He has been acting Chairman of the Club and takes a keen interest in both the current players, growth of the Club as well as it’s role within the IFFC League.  He married Maryanne in Australia in December 2006 and so much so was his presence in Beijing he had a good number of his team mates and friends join him and Maryanne for the wedding.

Citizens,

update on three organizational issues.

1. Training
Training will be at the Lido pitch on 11-a-side pitch every Wednesday from 10-11.30pm, starting tomorrow. Pls be there at 9.45pm so that we can start on time

2. IFFC League Registration 2008-09
a) Registration fee will be 100RMB for everyone. No more student discounts. (the money goes to the League not the Club)
b) Players already registered last season only need to provide 100RMB and copy of passport (new requirement by the League)
c) New players joining us this season need to provide registration form (available from Patrick and myself), 2 passport photos, 100RMB, copy of their passport

3. Tracksuits
We are getting new FCFC tracksuits this season. The tracksuits will likely be Umbro and a similar style as the blue ones we got some 3-4 years ago, and likely in red. The cost should be around 300RMB per suit (price possible thanks to sponsorship from newly opened bar and restaurant Luga’s Villa in Sanlitun)

WHAT YOU NEED TO DO (very simple)
Let us know if you’d like a track suit and what size

Pls everyone bring a copy of your passport and 100RMB registration fee to training tomorrow!!!

Cheers,
Jochen

ClubFootball operate two 5-a-side leagues with short 6 week seasons throughout the year. Each Division plays on the same day each week and matches are run throughout the week and played at the artificial pitches at the East Gate of Chaoyang Park and at Lido Side Park as well as ClubFootball’s new sports venue, Xiaowuji (find location .)

Forbidden City Football Club have two teams entered, competing as Forbidden City (Gu Gong 故宫） and Summer Palace (Yuan Ming Yuan 圆明园) . These teams are not necessarily made up of our eleven a-side squad members and are designed to attract new players into our ‘family’. The Forbidden City squad generally has a large contingent of our sponsor’s employees taking part.