Technical Services 9 vs. Prof. Services 4

Adam                              Gary

Ali (x2)                            Rob (x2)

Bryan (x6)                        Animesh

In the first ever e-Dialog local derby Technical services (TS) (right of the carpet) emerged victorious against a determined and aggressive Prof Services team (PS) (left of the carpet). All pre match talk surrounded Bob and Charles late omission from the squad after ignoring the PS curfew the night before the big derby. In the first few minutes PS laid down a statement of intent with Animesh (PM) scything down  Andrew  (Production) off the ball with Andrew unable to continue after the assault. The hostile atmosphere in the Stade de Coram was raised when PS Goal Keeper Richard (PM)  rushed off his line and connected with TS Midfielder Kuljit (production) who remained down for some time with a head injury.

The well-organized TS team were holding strong against the flamboyance and guile of the PS team and the breakthrough came courtesy of the dynamic partnership between Ali (Production), Marcus (BSA) and Adam (BSA) all creating easy opportunities for the TS forwards to make it 2-0. However just as the PS team looked to be outgunned they replied with goals from the experienced Rob (AM) and well dressed Gary (Creative). With individual battles across the pitch Nazrul (DBP) formed a solid partnership at the back with  Anthony  (Production) and Rupert (Production) pulled off a number of fine saves against the impotent Jack (creative).

The brief PS revival was suppressed by an exceptional goal involving the entire TS team – after saving an effort from Amrit (PRM) goal keeper  Rupert distributed the ball and the TS team moved it up the field – where Adam released Kuljit who beat his man then passed to Ali who with composure beyond his years stepped over the ball and committed the keeper for Bryan to finish into an empty net.  With the PS team reeling the TS team decided to kill the game with Ali and Adam adding to their individual spoils.

With the TS team coasting at 6 – 2 Animesh finished from inside the box to add to Rob composed second. However with PS chasing the game it left Edward (PM) and Rameen (CA) exposed at the back and the pace of Ali and Adam was lethal.

Adam again turning provider for Bryan to rise above Ben (creative) to head in from a narrow angle against the upright. As the game entered the closing stages the superior fitness of the TS team was evident as they completed the demolition with Technical services scoring from an impossible angle again the sluggish Ben culpable.

Losing manager Rob was inconsolable at the end of the match and added ‘the defeat is hard to take…we were beaten by a better, fitter, and more intelligent team’.

During the presentation of the ‘Ian Deshays’ trophy - euphoric  player coach Ali stated ‘this is as good as it gets – I wish Man Utd were as good as us….’.

As fans streamed out of the stadium it was clear to all that had witnessed this sporting spectacle that the real winner here was football!

Man(s) of the match

Rob – for getting the ball back

Bob – for not playing

Amrit – for playing even though it looked like he only had a vest to wear

Richard – for turning up after a week of psychological warfare

The teams were lined up with the classic grudge match- Team Dobbo (Mufti) vs. Team Doddsy (Yellow).

First blood after kickoff came surprisingly quickly, given the tiny pitch, however some felt this could be attributed to the sheer numbers of players on the pitch. However, despite this impediment both keepers fended off ruthless attacks from all angles until with a ruthlessly driven strike Bryan Dobson (Database programmer leader thingy) set the scoreline in motion.

Once restarted, the goals followed quickly, with James Nguyen (Dev) following Dobson’s halfway strike with one of his own and new signing Bob “goal hanging” Kamal (PM) sliding a cheeky one past Jack Craig (Designer) however, 3 behind Team Doddsy were undeterred. Ben “Schemells” Scammels  quickly got his side on the scoreboard and Kuljit Singh (Dev) swiftly following with team captain Dodds also making his mark to level the scores.

The game proceeded with both teams matching each-other goal for goal- Hargrove netting himself two in his debut performance, Marcus Gearey (BSA) and Adam Careswell (BSA) also putting one of their many shots away. For Team Doddsy, Singh converted twice, Gary Kemp (Designer) managed to get one and Ali Saeed (Dev) giving a stalwart display of two personally created goals.

Man of the Match:

Roc Hargrove

Honourable mentions:

Rupert Houlton (Dev)- Clean sheet while in goal

Dishonourable mentions:

Bryan Dobson- feigning an injured toe before leaping like a salmon to score (Counted).

Ali Saeed (6’6)- Performing a hideous foul on James Nguyen (4’2) and then using the break in play to boot the ball into the unguarded goal (still counted!).

Animesh Raval- LATE

Scorers:

Team Dobbo                                                                                      Team Doddsy

James Nguyen- 1                                                                             Ali Saeed- 2

Bob Kamal- 2                                                                                      Kuljit Singh- 2

Adam Careswell- 1                                                                          Gary Kemp- 1

Roc Hargrove- 2                                                                                David Dodds- 2

Marcus Gearey- 1                                                                            Ben Schemells- 2

Bryan Dobson- 5

Final score: Team Dobbo wins 12-9 (aggregated from rather creative scorekeeping throughout).

Winning Captains Comments: “We may have ground their pathetic team into the dust, but I have to say the only true winner here is Email Marketing”- Bryan Dobson

Yet another hotly contested grudge match with Team Schmells vs Team Yellow.

Team Schmells, playing in mufti, captained by Ben “Slasher Schmells” Scammels started out strongly, with frequent surges down the pitch- favouring the tried and tested tactics of ‘kick the ball to Doddsy’. Grabbing a brace of goals within the first 10 minutes, Team Schmells certainly looked like an impenetrable fortress. However, with resolutely gritted teeth, Team Yellow, captained by Bryan “I love Data” Dobson fought back well, equalising through a captain’s double. At this point the game hung in the balance; both teams’ fitness tested to levels unseen since Paul Gascoigne last took to the pitch. With both teams employing minute by minute tactical changes, ranging from ‘boot the ball to whoever’s still able to run’ to the unorthodox, but effective ‘only pass the ball to your own team’; the scores stood at 5-3 to Team Yellow.  

With 20 minutes left Team Schmells put the ball into the opposition net for the last time following an excellent solo run and chipped cross from David “Barn door” Dodds and Ali Saeed gracefully leaping like a salmon resulting in a magnificent header past the defenseless James Nguyen.

After this high point the game turned into what can only be described as a rout, with Dobson grabbing his hat-trick, Jack Craig, Kemp, MacGyver and the tireless Nguyen all adding to the tally for Team Yellow. The cohesion of Team Schmells seemed to disappear as quickly as used tissue paper, with Richard “R Kelly” Smith unlucky to be caught out in goal for the final Team Yellow goal making the final score 9-4 to Dobson’s Team Yellow.

When asked for comment, winning captain Dobson provided this statement:  “both teams played well, but the true winner here has to be email marketing”.

Match statistics:

Final score: 9-4 Team Yellow

Scorers:

Team Schmells

Dodds 2

Ali 1

Scammels 1

Team Yellow

Macguyver- 1

Kuljit- 2

Jack- 1

Gary 2

Dobson 3

Man of the Match: James Nguyen

Monty’s Marauders won the integral e-Dialog Park Cricket match on a sunny day in London’s Regent’s Park. The victorious side, lead by captain Ryan D’Souza, secured victory with a score of 72 runs off 48 balls.
Monty’s Marauders won the toss and chose to bat on a difficult pitch in the 14 over, two innings game.
Smith opened the bowling for Wet Cat Sandwich, sending in a series of left hand slow looseners to Montgomery, but the real action came in the second over. Bernelas, the young French prospect making her cricketing debut, produced subtle swing whilst bowling to Richardson. Her quality proved decisive late in the over as Richardson hooked the ball into the hands of Bryan Dobson, fielding at Long On.
However Richardson was granted a reprieve as Wet Cat Sandwich sportingly allowed him to bat again as a replacement for Montgomery, who picked up an early injury. Whilst questions will be asked about the validity of Montgomery’s injury, Richardson did show some batting ability with a knock of 12.
With further contributions from Houlton, Morrison, Scammels and De Faria Monty’s Marauders finished their first innings with a total of 28.
Wet Cat Sandwich’s first innings were dominated by the partnership of opening batsmen, Bernelas and Capelle. With some confident running between the stumps and determined batting from both, the French speaking duo unsettled the bowling attack. Such was their dominance that Wet Cat Sandwich’s lower order batsmen of Dodds and Smith were left in the pavilion for the first innings.
As successful as Wet Cat Sandwich had been at protecting their wickets, their cautious approach left them with a measly total of 24 at the half way point, meaning they had to reverse a 4 run deficit in the second innings.
Wet Cat Sandwich’s attempts to claw themselves back into the game were dealt a swift blow, as D’Souza (20 no) and Houlton (19) lead the scoring for Monty’s Marauders, who finished with a second innings total of 44.
A valiant effort from Dobson, who scored with confidence and impressive technique was not enough for Wet Cat Sandwich’s, eventually falling 8 runs short of the Monty’s Marauders total of 72.

Friday August 1st was the day of the annual Summer Party with an amazing day of Gladiator’s themed challenges and games. e-Dialogers set off to the sports ground, some already in team costume (the black “Rhino-Ninjas”, Pink “Panthers” and White “Lightnings” taking the charge in the fancy dress) and prepared themselves with a hearty BBQ in the sunshine, but it was quickly time for business as the games began.

A series of giant inflatables set the stage for the gladiatorial battles which saw the team in the lead change many times. The Yellow “Cobras” owned the giant suspended swing-ball sending their opponents flying, the Green “Hunters” mastered the giant gloved boxing match and the White “Lightnings” stole points in the dance routine warm-ups with some not so subtle flirting with the referee by their team captain!

Going into the final eliminator, things couldn’t have been tighter with all teams being only a few points apart, but there had to be winners and there had to be losers! The Blue “Flames” took away the wooden spoons, Green “Hunters” and Yellow “Cobras” joint 4th, White “Lightnings” scored just outside the prizes in 3rd but flirted themselves into the referees “Team Spirit Award” to take the bubbly, Pink “Panthers” took the silver medals, while the ever menacing and over-excitable Black “Rhino-Ninjas” took the gold trophies and were crowned the true “e-Dialogers Ready!”.

In the evening we all headed back into town for an evening of drinks, food and de-briefing of the day, heroic performances celebrated, catastrophic mishaps mocked went on late into the evening. Some nursed sore bumps from the day’s games; many nursed sore heads from the night’s drink. Check out the photo’s from the day over on our Flickr feed!

Just look out for those smug little Ninjas!

It is a well known fact that there is never a shortage of cake in the eDialog office. This has inspired us to put our cake eating skills to good use by creating a Bake Sale on the 25^th July in aid of our two charities, CODRA and Camfed.

Since the rallying for budding pudding masterchefs began we have been inundated with offers; ranging from the humble cornflake cake to a secret recipe Belgian chocolate cake.  Prizes will be awarded based on presentation, taste and creativity.

Keep an eye out for the results of the Bake Sale and make sure to check back soon as we’ll be putting up the photos of some of the best cakes and their owners soon after.

Last month e-Dialog combined it’s love of football with it’s love of raising money for charity by organising a Euro 2008 sweepstake.  All in all £77 was quickly raised for the Community Development and Relief Agency (CODRA) in Tanzania. We were really pleased to receive a letter (see below) this week from the organisation’s Chairman telling us more about how exactly the money will be used.

Dear All,

RE: Donation to CODRA, Tanzania

We have been informed by Tim Underwood of your company’s support for our projects in Busega area, Magu District, Mwanza Region, Tanzania and I am writing to say ‘asante sana’ (thank you)!

The recent donation will be put to good use buying some extra equipment, including baby weighing scales, for the CODRA mobile clinic. This ambulance was donated to us by Hampshire Paramedics in UK and visits rural areas reaching people with no access to local hospitals and clinics. It is attached to Mkula Hospital and also provides emergency transport to Buganda Hospital 2 hours away.

CODRA works in all aspects of community development including health, education, water, income generation and civil society. Over 70% of people in Busega live on US$1 per day, so you can see that our needs are endless and that we are really grateful to people like you for any support you can give.

Busega lies just south of the Serengeti, and borders Lake Victoria. Perhaps you should organize a staff visit and taste some traditional Sukuma hospitality of roast goat, ugali and tilapia! We would be very honoured to have you. Karibuni sana!

Yours faithfully
COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT & RELIEF AGENCY (CODRA)

Raphael Chegeni

Hon. Dr Raphael Chegeni
MP, EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN

e-Dialog included 4 new recruits to their line up with Chris Mack (Engineering), Bill Aldridge (BSA), Rameen Ahmed (Team Mercury) and Gary (Pixel Pusher) joining the team!

With an experienced back two of Scammels (Creative) and Stephen (Team BA) protecting Bill Aldridge in goal e-Dialog looked to build on their first impressive win! Early on e-Dialog pressured Walker Cripps into making mistakes and after a poor clearance James Richardson (HR) headed down for the soon to be departed Mark Carroll (Team splitter) to volley home from 20 yards off the post!

With Sian Libby Mills (Team Mercury) giving orders from the touch line it appeared e-Dialog were in control.

After good work from Mark Carroll, e-Dialog attacked and Dobson (Data team Infinity) crossed early for the preying Dodds (Project Manager) to back heel past the statuesque keeper!

Slack defending allowed Walker Cripps back into the match. After a speculative long range shot squirmed through the keepers hands, and a close range finish from their experienced forwards it seemed the opposition had made their way back into the game! As they tried to assert themselves on the game e-dialog scored 2 goals on the break, with Chris Mack clearing a corner to Doddsy who played a defence splitting one-two with Mark Carroll, and then beat the keeper!

Soon after Doddsy turned provider, a swift cross field ball released Dobson who finished past the keeper with one touch. However as e-Dialog tired, Walker Cripps came back into the game with space opening up in midfield. Their pressure paid off and they scored two goals in quick succession despite the efforts of the hard working Rameen, James and Bill

Edialog were lucky to finish the match with 7 players with persistent diving from Stephen, and Chris Mack lucky to escape a red card after bringing down the Walker Cripps striker who was clear through on goal.

As the game came to a close e-Dialog had chances to snatch victory, with the usually prolific Dodds missing a one on one, and Dobson should have done better after being released by Gary! Walker Cripps nearly claimed an undeserved win but were denied by the cat like reflexes of Scammels and Stephen!

In the post match press conference both managers praised the edialog team. “we worked very hard, and as a team against some excellent individuals. We won’t play many teams better than this, and we were unlucky not too win”. Walker Cripps manager added “the work rate and commitment of the opposition meant we struggled to get time on the ball and were suffocated!

Dodds 2
Dobson 1
Carroll 1

Captains Man of the Match – Mark Carroll

The kick off of the inaugural e-Dialog match was delayed by 20 minutes due to crowd congestion! As the stadium filled the e-Dialog teams were busy warming up Steve the keeper in anticipation of the expected onslaught from Zenith! As the referees whistle blew for kick off e-Dialog set their stall out early, with Thompson (Team BA) setting the tone with 2 thunderous challenges. With the creative Jack Russell Scammels (Creative) beside him it was clear Zenith would have to work hard to trouble Pete the keeper (Team RBS).

After taking control of the game it was e-Dialog who scored first, with the midfield combination of Miller (Team HP) and Dobson (Data Team Infinity) combining, Miller cooling slotting past the keeper! With zenith reeling from the first goal Dodds (Project manager) was quick to close down the defence and comfortably slot away the second! e-Dialog sensing the win went for the jugular with the predatory Dodds capitalizing on another defensive mistake to give e-Dialog a 3-0 cushion!

With workmen like performances from Carroll (Team Mercury) and Richardson (HR) it gave the midfield of Miller, Dobson, Ngyuen (Production) time to orchestrate from the middle!

As the e-Dialog onslaught continued Dobson controlled a long throw before turning and volleying from outside the box.

Not to be outdone Dodds chested and volleyed the ball in a single movement from distance after good work from Thompson and Carroll!

With a handsome lead e-Dialog did not relent – with Dobson beating his man and committing the keeper for the tiring Nguyen to tap into an open net! The scoring continued as Dodds beat the on rushing keeper after being released by the Jack Russell Scammels, and then Dobson ghosted into the box and after beating two men and the keeper to slot in!

The few times Zenith broke through the water tight defence of Richardson, Jack Russell Scammels and Thompson they were unable to beat the cat like abilities of Pete the Keeper who deserved his clean sheet! To end the match Carroll slotted home after excellent build up from Richardson and excellent interplay from the entire e-Dialog team.