Swedish Parker!

(click on any image to begin viewing the swanky little popup gallery - thanks to Florence, Maja, Tove and Patrik Ylen for taking so many pics)

An epic win for the boys from Solna.

Despite going into the weekend’s Grand Final as both Reigning Premiers AND current VB Cup holders, we were being touted as underdogs after the Södermalm Blues dominated the home-and-away season.

But we were having none of it. After a solid couple of weeks on the track, the team was pumped for the big day.

Within 10 seconds of the opening bounce, Ryan “Former K-Mart Model” Kingsley had slotted through our first for the day.

But straight away the Blues - through Joel “Awww C’mon Ump!!” Burnell - replied with their own, setting up the the first quarter to be a complete shoot-out.

Despite impressive work from our trusty ruckmen - Marty and the eleven-foot-tall-Matzilla - we went into the first break barely leading: 6.0.36 to 5.1.31.

After the free flowing opening, the respective defenses - lead by our own Patrik “Captain Courageous” Hyberg - tightened in the second stanza.

Going into the half-time break we were left barely hanging onto a four point buffer.

At the opening of the third term we momentarily dropped our guard, allowing Södermalm to get the jump on us. By mid-way through the quarter we were over two goals behind.

However a couple of late replies kept us in it, and at the final break there was still less than a straight kick separating the two teams.

A raw, rousing, straight-to-the-point three-quarter time speech by Coach Kingsley reminded us Axemen that, to spend 12 months training on dodgy footy grounds only to lose the Grand Final by one goal would, to paraphrase politey, be f*&king shithouse.

So we charged into the final quarter of the game, determined to go Back-To-Back and also capture the elusive VB Cup/SAFF Premiership double (never been done before, cheers).

We edged three points clear midway through a see-sawing final term, only to turn around and concede two straight goals to the Blues.

With pretty much noone knowing just how much time remained, the capacity crowd at Årsta Fältet was on the edge of their seats.

The play was tense to say the least; every time the ball came down to our backline it was like life or death - one more goal and the Blues would surely wrap things up.

We managed to keep possession in our forward line for a good three or four minutes, but three shots on goal all narrowly, narrowly missed.

Was that it? Had the Axemen used up all their chances? Would the SAFF Premiership Cup be getting filled with cheap, foul-tasting beer all over Södermalm that evening? (Well, no, obviously not, given the title of this entry… but work with me here.)

The three straight behinds had brought us back to within six points - just one straight kick.

Reminiscent of Geelong in the epic 1989 Grand Final, we began to sense our main opponent was now the clock.

Fortunately, some desperation all over the ground from a determined Solna outfit saw us level the scores just minutes later with a beautiful piece of crumbing by Leslie “I’m 46 but I don’t give a stuff” Clarke.

With the seconds ticking down and the crowd suspecting a draw, both teams heroicly threw themselves at the ball.

It could have gone either way… but after the footy was safely cleared from the Blues attacking zone, Mark “Flex For The Camera” McManus (six goals in a Best-On-Ground performance) stepped up and sent a clever snap flying towards goal, bending it back at the very last second and sending the Axemen players, and much of the crowd wild.

We held on for another 30 seconds and it was all over.

The siren sounded, the Axemen embraced, and the Blues were left heartbroken and pondering what could have been…

…a champion team effort!