VetsLeague --- Official Website of the Bangkok Veterans League, Bangkok, Thailand

Bangkok Veterans League

— Latest Updates on the Site —

Jump to Inaugural BVC8s 2009 summary
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Jump to latest updates and upcoming activities page (updated on 02/Nov/2009)
Jump to recent news section below (updated on 09/Sep/2009)

Bangkok Veterans League
— Bangkok, Thailand —

Welcome to the official website of the Bangkok Veterans League. This is a league of football-hungry but very-slow and fast-aging Over-35 youngsters, from all corners of the world and all walks of life, played in the true spirit of friendship and the love of the game.

Following years of running the ball in the Farang League and the Casual League, some of us thought it was not really possible to keep up with the young-blood filling up the ranks of the newly emerging teams, and so the result is this new "Vets League" in Bangkok, specifically welcoming those of us who are looking for the lighter side of the game among peers (who don't run circles around us!).

It must be stressed, some of these so-called "Vets" are still in their prime, and could easily take on any challenge posed by any wannabe young-blood team in either of the leagues mentioned above.

Originally floated by Chris Jolly during the friendly games back at the end of 2003 at the International School of Bangkok (ISB), and a key exploratory meeting among Bruce, Eralp, Martin, Jesper at the British Club on 08/Jul/2004, plus much intense debate and discussion during the rest of 2004, the Veterans League got its inaugural kickoff back in Feb/2005 with 4 visionary "Founding Fathers":
    • Germans (led by Eralp, Bruce, Ralf)
    • British Club (led by Martin, and Chris remotely!)
    • Scandinavian Vikings (led by Jesper, and later by Niclas)
    • NIST Teachers (led by Adrian)
and continues to increase its roster of teams to this date. Nowadays, we are routinely getting 15-20 teams in each one of our monthly competitions, and having a ball while doing it!

Our philosophy is friendship, fellowship, fairness, and fun, where winning is not the objective. Each team prides itself with being friendly and fair, in the true "Land of Smiles" spirit of "Amazing Thailand". We would like to see each team and every player leave at the end of the day with a positive impression of the half-day meet-up, having made some new friends in the players from other teams, and anxious and eager to return to play in the following month.

And, to that end, we keep it simple:
    • Timing:
        - 1st Sundays of every month
        - WorldCup-style tournament format
        - half-day during 1pm-6pm
        - 5-7 short games per team (including QFs, SFs, and the Grand Final)
    • Venue:
        - mostly at Harrow School (map)
        - sometimes at Patana School (map)
    • Rules:
        - FIFA rules
        - over-35-year-old-vets
        - 7-players-a-side
        - 11-minutes-a-half
        - half-pitch
        - half-goals
        - no-offside
        - no-shinguards-no-play
        - unlimited-rolling-subs
        - slide-tackle-foul
        - yellow-card-sit-out-the-half-no-sub
        - red-card-take-a-hike-for-good
        - shake-hands-after-each-match
        - enjoy-the-beers-at-the-very-end
        - objective-is-not-to-win-but-to-make-lasting-friendships
    • Plenty of:
        - water
        - soda
        - beer
        - fruits
        - trophies
        - and, laughs!

[For a full documentation of the Vets League Rules, please click here]

So, what are you waiting for.? Come, join the fun, and enjoy a day out with real dedicated football buffs.

And, if you are a travelling team just passing by Bangkok, we would be delighted to make up a mix-team to catch a friendly game. We get the pitch, you get the beer — simple enough

..!

Click here to contact someone who could give you more information.

Hope to see you at the next Vets tournament.

Remember, if it's 1st Sunday, it's Vets day.!

-Eralp

Website: http://www.vetsleague.com/
Community: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vetsleague/

Season #5, Month #7 —
Anatolian Turks finally kick the monkey off their back in Aug/2009 Vets League

Date: 09/Sep/2009

The "August edition" of the Vets League has always been awkward in many ways. Being the middle of summer when everyone is away for their holidays, August produces strange results year-in-year-out (do have a read through the previous Augusts: Anglo-Franco Alliance in Aug/2006, British-Frog in Aug/2007, New Wave in Aug/2008). And, this August was no exception.

The strangest absurdity of this year's August competition was the fact that the long time "Omnipresent" of the Vets League, a team that showed up in every single Vets League competition month-after-month since from its inception in Feb/2005, the British Club, failed to raise a team for the "first-ever" time, and demoted themselves to "Everpresent"

!

[Click here to read the full summary]

And, more commentary in the Archives section.

"VetsLeague" Yahoo Group Created

Date: 30/Apr/2007

I have finally managed to create a very special group in Yahoo Groups only for all the players of the Veterans League, so that you can get the latest updates (and banter) in a more efficient way.

To sign up for the "VetsLeague" mailing list, please connect to:
==> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/vetsleague
and click the "Join This Group" blue button (at the top right) to make a request for becoming a member.

Next Vets — 18/Oct/2009

Date: 02/Nov/2009

The next Vets day is scheduled for 13/Dect/2009 (Sun) and is TENTATIVELY confirmed at City Ground (map), kickoff 1:00 pm sharp!.

Feel free to e-mail to me to sign up your team.