Story by REDintern Christy. Pictures by REDintern Zhijia.
National Inter-School A Division Boys Floorball Championship: Semi-finals, Tampines Sports Complex, Monday, July 21, 2008 – Meridian Junior College (MJC) pulled off a stunning scoring raid with two goals in the last thirty seconds to secure a place on in the final. Victoria Junior College (VJC) played a mean and aggressive game which effectively riled up the MJC players and messed up their usually neat formations. MJC, not used to such a playing style, were at a disadvantage, with VJC leading for the majority of the game. This was the first time MJC had such a hard time winning a match this season but ultimately they held on and triumphed 4-3.
Spurred on by the large number of supporters, VJC’s energy was at an all-time high. VJC Captain Dennis Wong (#19) gave VJC a head start by scoring with a brilliant free-hit that flew straight into goal to huge cheers. Despite numerous tries by MJC to find an equalizer, the VJC goalkeeper Amos Nadan (#21) and defense thwarted MJC splendidly to ensure that the first period ended 1-0 in VJC’s favour.
Of course, having earned this lead, VJC were not going to relinquish it so easily. A rare penalty was given in the second period to provide MJC an opportunity to equalize. A hush of silence swept across the court as Glendon Phua (#20), MJC captain stepped up to take the penalty. Despite the fact that Glendon Phua was MJC’s scoring machine, the VJC goalkeeper Amos Nadan (#21) was unfazed and remained calm and collected. The mind games had started. As MJC Glendon Phua (#20) inched nearer to the goal, the VJC goalkeeper bellowed a “HEY YOU!” (or at least that was what I heard) and shook the nerves of Glendon Phua, resulting in a penalty miss. This penalty save gave VJC another morale boost and at the 07:31min mark, Derrick Tay (#18) of VJC widened the lead by scoring a goal after a melee in front of the penalty box. VJC were now 2-0 up.
It was a tough time for MJC as they have been in the lead for most of their games. Still, it was impressive to see how strong MJC were, not just physically, but also mentally. Despite the deficit, MJC ploughed on to find a chance to equalize. VJC’s hostile style of play soon came back to haunt them. A VJ player was sent out for 2 minutes which allowed MJC a power play chance. MJC took advantage of the opportunity and an own goal by VJC gave MJC their first goal of the game to make it 1-2.
Motivated by the goal, MJC searched relentlessly for a chance to equalize. That chance came at 13:15 when MJC captain Glendon Phua volleyed such a hard and fast shot that it bounced off the VJC keeper’s body and into the net. At the end of the second period, the score was now two-all.
VJC started strong at the beginning of the third period with VJC Jonathon Tan (#9) smacking in a unstoppable goal that eluded the usually vigilant MJC keeper Lionel Boey (#30) to make it a 3-2 VJC lead. Again in this period, MJC had two power play chances due to repeated offenses by the VJC players. MJC failed to take advantage of the first chance they had but they made up for it with their second chance.
With less than two minutes left on the clock, MJC embarked on a power play and gave teammate Toh Zuan Ming (#9) chances to score. The MJC team worked hard to send assisted passes not just once, nor twice or even thrice for him to score. Unfortunately for them, it was all near-misses. Nonetheless, the MJC team did not lose faith in him and gave him a fourth chance and this time round he did not disappoint as he whacked the ball into goal with precision. 3-3.
Just when everyone thought that the game would go into extra-time, MJC captain Glendon Phua (#20) snatched the ball in the face-off and breathtakingly sent the ball flying into the net with deadly flair at the very last second.
It was the most thrilling match all season with emotions flaring up and the referees’ whistles going off every few seconds due to the high number of fouls committed. Kudos go to VJC for managing to lead most of the game and firing three goals into MJC net, given the fact that before this match, MJC had only let in a total of three goals for the season. Still, the most impressive part of the match was the “never give up” mentality of the MJC players. Before this match, we have only seen them as leaders, but after this match, we will not just see them as leaders but also, fighters.
Victoria Junior College will meet Yishun Junior College tomorrow, Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at Tampines Sports Complex for the 3rd and 4th placing clash at 1530hrs and Meridian Junior College will meet Raffles Junior College on Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at Tampines Sports Complex for the final at 1530hrs.
to c: oh no, its okay. No need to say sorry. I already said I welcome comments that are constructive and healthy to open up the discussion. I learn a lot about floorball rules when people step in to discuss the referees’ decisions. And I like that. =)
sorry christy for any misunderstanding. I wasn’t targetting my previous comment at you or anyone else. just a question for people to ponder on =)
I think there is really no need to discuss whether the referee standards are good or not, whether their calls are right or wrong. In sports, luck plays quite an important role too.
VJC were just unlucky with both penalty calls. Just hope it won’t be third time unlucky for them tomorrow.
ahhh c, this question again – like I haven’t been flamed enough for the VJ-RJ match for NOT reporting the fact that the RJ coach had a discussion with the referee. Amazing. Haha.
Like I said, I am no expert so I will leave it to some expert to step in and answer your question.
Still, the penalty didn’t go in so there wasn’t much hurt inflicted on VJC. In fact, I would go as far to say that the save boosted their morale.
once again, i must state that rj vj penalty was called off for the basic logic that the further referee isn’t supposed to call for the ‘in the box’ foul. This was a fault the referee committed, and the fact that he canceled the penalty would mean that he isn’t very sure of the decision in the first place. after all, many visual errors may occur, when you’re viewing the small box from the half court line.
How nice if there wasnt any controversies but there obviously would as both teams and supporters would obviously feel for their side… BTW next time get ur goalie to get a number on his back… we kept quiet about it the whole match altho we knew 🙂
Cheers to both teams as both played superb today. I think most would have thought that MJC was gonna win with a breeze, since they were champions last year after all. But VJC showed their fighting spirit as well which I thought was commendable.
I would like to bring up the discussion on one of the decisions the referees had made, which i thought was controversial. I’m referring to the penalty given to MJC, due to one of the VJ players stepping into the box when the game wasn’t even in play yet. Let’s look back at the VJ-RJ match. A penalty was given to VJ, because a RJ player had stepped into the box, but the penalty was called off, because the RJC player wasn’t interfering with the play – according to RJ #17. Making a comparison, why is it that the penalty was given to MJ when the game wasn’t even in play yet (it was a free hit), when the VJ player was nudged into the box by his opponent, compared to the penalty being called off in the VJ-RJ match, when the game was IN play. So now the question is ‘which referee made the wrong decision? ‘.
hey diqiang, i just approved your comment. It was considered as spam due to the link. Its okay now.
it was a great match, the best A Div so far?
kudos to both teams for battling it out all the way.
should have been the ‘final’
just hope that MJ-RJ will be good stuff too
testing, i’m trying to post a comment but it failed.
to clarify any doubt, the MJC contested for a re-penalty because of the shout from the VJC keeper.
while the referees stood to their stand by saying there’s no rule pinpointing that a keeper could not shout during penalty taking, i believe that the shout shouldn’t be allowed. after all, the rule book didn’t say you can’t slap a player, did it?does it mean you can go around and slap players?
All this technical fouls would be classified in the foul of ‘miscounduct’. The most basic of the foul constitutes a 5-minutes, and the worst, match penalty 3 would result in the suspension of the whole season of the player, accompanied with a 10min+ 2min penalty.
i’ve learnt all this in a match secretary course which i attended.i’m not trying to say that the referee made a wrong call by continuing the play without the re-take of the penalty, but trying to list out the possible outcomes of the keeper’s action. Also, i don’t want a controversy about the referee’s decision. after all, the referee’s decision is final, and we respect that.
i hope nobody would bring up this matter about the keeper shouting up again, after all, if the victim isn’t contesting it, why should you.
@christy
thanks for bringing this article up so quickly, barely hours after the a’div semi finals ended.
well done, and keep it up.
to anyone else, if you think any player in the game played exceptionally well, and deserves to be credited, here’s a link for you to give credit
http://redsports.sg/2008/07/19/redsportsvi-a-division-boys-floorball-2008/
Cheers, everyone.
And so it begins with the usual referee talk and all… well i feel that VJC has indeed showed that they really wanted it more than anyone else and led the game throughout… however it was probably in this midst of their frenzy fights for possesion of the ball that they went in with evrything resulting in obvious pushes and fouls… it was obvious from the sides that the referees DID indeed issue warnings to the players and to the same few players which in turn became 2 minute penalties due to pushing and repeated slashing well to me the refereeing was ok and it was certainly a heart stopping match for all us supporters at the sides !
Well, discussions on the refereeing are welcomed as long as they are constructive and healthy comments. =)
Thanks for sharing your views, pollis and dennis.
haha yes, i fully understand your stance, it may not be appropriate for you to comment on the refereeing.
I dont wish to open up a heated discussion upon the referees either because it may just turn ugly. However i just felt the need to highlight some glaring mistakes on the referees part such as several contentious 2min penalty calls. Many experienced coaches on the sidelines were similarly incensed. just my opinion =)
@dennis
i believe the referees were already trying their best to be fair. after all, no referee would want to blow a wrong call, would he?
morever, from the side, i felt that the referee was very good because he was very protective of players from both sides. a slight foul comes, the whistle goes.
anyway, i hope what happens in the court is not brought out of it, and good job VJC floorballers, i could see your passion in floorball, and your desire to beat the projected champions of 2008 A’ div tournament, MJC.
Thank you VJCians for all the help in the corrections. They are changed. =) Good luck for the match tomorrow.
To dennis: perhaps you would like to open up the discussion about refereeing by naming some of the faults they have committed. I usually do not write about the referees’ decisions because I am no expert on floorball.
HAHHAHHAHA!!
‘HEY YOU!’
something in A div floorball history the no one will forget, and will nvr happen again!!
HAHAHAH!!!
AMOS!!!
you made history in floorball!!!!
thanks for the article. by the way it was my teammate jonathan heng #13 that scored the third goal.
just a few mistypes, VJC started strong at the beginning of the third period with VJC Jonathon Tan (#9) smacking in a unstoppable goal
The scorer is actually jonathan heng #13
And the keeper that saved the penalty was Amos Natan.
Thanks very much christy and zhijia for the stories and pictures, we greatly appreciate your efforts put in for the entire tournament =)
On a side note i would just like to express my disappointment at the standard of refereeing in this game, there have been many well-refereed games throughout the tournament but this was certainly not one of them unfortunately
The VJ keeper was Amos, not Eric.