As a result of clubs folding, merging and other shennanigans in the divisions above us and our respectable showing in the 1996 season, The Dublin Bay Packers were dragged into the 4th division. Promotion by the back door ? Whatever, but we were determined to prove we deserved it by staying. A goal which seemed to be obtainable after the first game. But then things started to go a little off track .....
The Season :
League Week One, April 28
Dublin Bay Packers 29-11 Digital Dodgers
Digital were having problems with their panel. The '96 team was almost gone and there were a lot of newcomers. I was informed they had over 30 (!!) ladies signed up ! But then, the Pack had lost some of it's 1 year veterans also.
Either way, despite some miserable wind and rain, and a soggy pitch, the game was played in good spirits (there seemed to be no fall-out from our successful appeal overturning of the result of the Packers vs Digital game in '96). This was especially true of the Pack who got to give the three cheers for a change.
League Week Two, May 12
Millionaires Club 21-7 Dublin Bay Packers
The game the '96 team had been both dreading and looking forward to. The '96 meeting of these teams had been a tight game that ended in some dispute. An official complaint from the Packers resulted in an instruction to umpires to clarify all ground rules, including early closing, before a game.
In the event, the '97 meeting started out tight (having been delayed by rain, surprise) and in reasonably good spirit. Eventually the undeniable technical superiority of the Millionaires Club told, with the game ending up a comfortable win for them. But their well known attitude also came through, with even Mick Manning, as umpire, in their field of fire on occasion.
Needless to say, while we hope to change the result, we do not expect any change in atmosphere for the '98 game.
League Week Three, May 19
Dublin Bay Packers 2-23 Slammers
Ouch ! We really were never at the races here. Outclassed in all departments, we were lucky to get any runs on the board.
League Week Four, May 26
Dynamo Dodgers 7-0 Dublin Bay Packers
After a '96 season in which we gave no walkovers, this fixture saw the first of our stupid give-aways for '97.
A communications breakdown by the team manager/captain (that is to say me!) resulted in us conceding a walkover because I believed us to be short by one female, only to discover afterwards that our missing female player had not been missing and had showed up,... alone. Mea culpa !
League Week Five, June 16
Hookers Too 7-0 Dublin Bay Packers
Give-away number two. This time I can safely say it wasn't me, I was away on holidays. My co-manager (who shall remain nameless but we know who he is) forgot the cards. The umpire gave him 30 minutes to go get them. When he returned 35 minutes later, he discovered a walk-over had been awarded and the sides were playing a friendly.
The Hookers won a tight game, so apart from the loss of a point by us, a fair result.
League Week Six, June 23
Dublin Bay Packers 21-23 Isocor Angels.
Just to show we could actually play softball, we played an excellent and enjoyable game against Isocor. The Angels have been around a while so they are a pretty able team. This game went to extra innings and even the umpire figured it had been well worth showing up.
League Week Seven, July 7
Ravens 0-7 Dublin Bay Packers
The Ravens gave a walkover ...... what can I say.
League Week Eight, July 14
Dublin Bay Packers 8-16 Noyeks Snappers.
This team came with a fearful reputation. Stories of ejected players filtered through the grapevine and we were a little apprehensive. As it turned out, there was no problem. Although their playing gear was a little different and they were prone to occassional shows of 'emotion', it was a clean game in which we really didn't help ourselves and struggled to catch up all the game.
League Week Nine, July 21
Dublin BayPackers 7-0 Axekids
We had played three good games against Axekids in '96 and were looking forward to this one. But staffing problems in the Axemen were having a knock on effect on the Axekids and they had to give us the game.
League Week Ten, July 28
Gateway Bud 49-9 Dublin Bay Packers.
We had thought our hammering by the Slammers and cup humiliation by the Oracle Orbits was as bad as it got .... we were wrong. The Gateway Bud proved they were a team deserving of promotion by hitting us all over the pitch.
Perhaps it was Gateway's revenge for our 46-14 trouncing of the second Gateway team in the second game of '96. We were shown how dreadfully effective good baserunning can be as Bud swaggered around the diamond while a dazed and confused Pack lost it's head and was completely ineffective in the field. Our worst defeat ever, surpassing a 49-12 '96 cup defeat at the hands of the 1st division Wild Turkey Warriors.
League Week Eleven, August 18
Beachers 18-17 Dublin Bay Packers.
Okay. Pop-quiz. You're coming to the end of the season, probably into the relegation play-offs and in the previous game were handed a withering lesson in humility. What do you do ? Why you come damnably close to upsetting the title hopes of one of the contenders.
In a scenario reminiscent of many a relegation threatened team, the Packers played one of their best games to very nearly put the Beachers out of the play-offs. The Beachers were visibly tense and this allowed the Pack to build up an early lead which continued up to the last innings. However we just couldn't hold on for what would have been a real upset and a nice end to the season.
1997 Division 4 - Relegation Playoffs, Aug 31
Dublin Bay Packers 7-0 Axekids
The Axekids once again could not field a team and were considerate enough to make this clear in advance so that we didn't have to go all the way out to ALSAA in the early hours to discover this.
So, the 1997 season closed and we had achieved our team goal of staying in the 4th division, just. We had some very good performances and some woefully inept ones. Consistency evades us and many of the basic mistakes are still being made. In 1998 we hope to address these problems. It is probably fair to say that practice sessions are one of the main failings of our club in so far as we don't have any.
Division 4 in 1998 will include some tough opposition. Gateway Bud and Millionaires Club are still with us. Marlay B and Angels 2 have come up from the 5th on their way, it would appear, to the 3rd. This year we hope to hold our own somewhat better than last year, we are certainly capable of it
