Mixed Fortunes at Northern League T6
(Monday 26th February 2007)
Dundee only managed 2 draws and a loss from Sundays Northern League games in Fife. After going up 1-0 against 4th placed Balwearie Thunder the Lights never manged to capatalise on endless chances in front of the net. Balwearie equalised late in the final period to tie the game at 1-1.
The second game of the day was against Glenrothes. A win for the Growwwl would secure the league title for the Fifers but the Lights put up a good fight with the game finally ending 4-2 to Glenrothes. Glenrothes were under pressure for large portions of the game but Dundee were unable to capitalise against an excellent Glenrothes defence.
Final game of the day ended in another draw with Dundee coming from 3-0 down to 3-3 in the final minute against Hawick.
Congratulations to Glenrothes who were by far the best team this season and who secured the league title with their hard fought win over Dundee.
Too Hot to Handle
(Saturday 24th February 2007)
Friday night was sauna night for many of the Dundee and Aberdeen players. With Dundee's Tomi Tynkkynen offering hospitality to the clubs in his new sauna tent a great night was had by all.
Players participated in what is a Finnish tradition by drinking beer, having a sauna then a bbq, rinse, and repeat! The evening was a great success and shows the willingness of all to participate in the traditions of Finland. We hope to have other evenings embracing the cultures that can be found within the 2 teams although the availibility of deep fried chocolate for the Scottish evening is in doubt!
Dundee Loose Players
(Monday 19th February 2007)
Dundee defenceman Mike Shaw and forward Neil Shaw have announced that they are to move to the Aberdeen Oilers for the 2007/08 season. Both brothers have recently taken new employment in the Aberdeen area so it makes sense for them to help get things started with the new Oilers team. Mike and Neil will continue to train with Dundee and play for the Lights in the remaining league games but with Aberdeen hoping to field a team in the League Cup in April and National Cup in Perth in May, Northern League game 7 on March 25th 2007 will probably be the duo's last start in the Dundee lineup.
Northern League Match Day 5
(Sunday 28th January 2007)
Match day 5 was held in Fife Institute of Sport in Glenrothes. Dundee had a successfull day racking up two wins and one draw.
Dundee 2 v Chapel 2
Dundee 4 v Balwearie Lightning 1
Dundee 6 v Linlithgow RBS 1
Dundee Northern Lights join North East Floorball Network
(Thursday 21st December 2006)
Dundee Northern Lights and Aberdeen Oilers have teamed up to produce the North East Floorball Network, a website network dedicated to providing accurate and up-to-date information relating to floorball and the floorball community in the north east of Scotland.
Dundee Floorball Club welcomes new team
(Thursday 21st December 2006)
Dundee Northern Lights would like to welcome the Aberdeen Oilers to floorball in Scotland. Over the last few weeks the Lights have been working hard to help establish the team in Aberdeen. The Lights would like to wish the very best to the former Dundee players who have decided to make the move next season to support the newest most northern team in the uk.
Northern League Match Day 3
(Tuesday 28th November 2006)
Match Day 3 on Sunday saw the Northern Lights hold on to the coveted spot two in the Northern League after two wins from three games. Glenrothes narrowly won by five goals to three, however solid defending ensured wins by five and seven goals in the other two games against the Lightning and Hawick without conceding.
Lights in the Evening Telegraph
(Tuesday 28th November 2006)
Last week Dundee Northern Lights appeared in an article in the Dundee Evening Telegraph below is the text of the article. Thanks to Jim Wilde who has worked hard to secure a presense in the local press for the club. From this point forward we will have a slot in the Evening Telegraph the Wednesday before and after Northern League games.
Dundee Northern Lights Floorball Club was established in 2004 and from humble beginnings of 6 or so players getting together once a
week to play has grown to the largest club in Scotland with over 30 regular players.
Initially started by a group of ex ice hockey players who were beginning to find the ice rink a bit cold for old bones the club now includes players from all walks of life and backgrounds. From complete beginners to Scandinavian veterans who have played all their lives, the club has something to offer every ability of player.
Dundee Floorball Club has been extremely successful in attracting new players to the sport, we had to it’s a new sport in the UK! With a base of local talent the club has year on year branched out to include players from Finland, Czech Republic, USA, Sweden, Germany and France, a truly international gathering.
Many of our European players come across here to study or to work and don’t realise that Floorball is played here in Scotland until they spy us on our website. These countries play Floorball from a young age and our European players bring a lot to the club in terms of skill and coaching for our British players. In return they can participate in a sport they love and hopefully it makes their stay here more enjoyable.
Dundee entered the GBFF (Great Britain Floorball Federation) Northern League for the 2004/2005 season and finished last. Our first season was definitely a learning experience for us. We scored lots of goals but unfortunately lost a lot more! Last year we finished 3rd out of 5 teams which was a major improvement for us and this year we are currently sitting second with a quarter of the season played. The clubs most major achievement however was taking runners up spot in the Northern League cup held at DISC in Dundee in April of this year.
Ok, now what you really want to know is what Floorball actually is!
The game comes from northern Europe. It is similar to Bandy, a kind of sport considered the predecessor of ice hockey. It is sometimes likened to ice hockey without the ice skates, but there are considerable differences in the rules.
The game is played on an indoor rink (within a normal sports hall) by two teams. Each team consists of 5 outfield players and one goalkeeper, although generally these players are from a larger squad and may be substituted at any time during a game. The outfield players use a lightweight stick with a curved plastic blade. The shaft is shorter than an ice hockey stick (at around 99cm in length) and round, which makes it very manoeuvrable. The goalie wears special equipment incorporating long, padded trousers and a shirt and a helmet. There is no puck or heavy ball; instead a lightweight plastic ball is used. The ball is extremely fast and can be easily lifted, bounced and deflected.
The rules of the game require fair play, do not allow for any high sticking, stick contact or body contact, so the game tends to be less physical and more skill oriented and fast paced. The mixture of endurance, power and precision make Floorball a popular game for people of all ages and abilities. It provides a great workout in a fun environment.
Some Floorball facts;
- Floorball is played by over 2.5 million people in more than 30 countries in the world
- Floorball is more popular than ice hockey in Sweden and Finland, two of the world's hockey superpowers
- Many European-born hockey players and NHL stars such as Marian Gaborik and Pavol Demitra both of the Minnesota Wild play floorball to enhance their skills.
- Professional Floorball leagues exist in Finland, Sweden,Switzerland and in the Czech Republic.
- Former Celtic star and Sweden football internationalist Henrik Larsson played Floorball and even considered turning professional!
The Dundee club is hosting the 3rd Northern League tournament of the season here in Dundee on Sunday, 26th Nov. at the Mayfield Complex on Arbroath road. Admission to watch all the action is free, and there will be games starting at 9:00am right through until 5:00.
Dundee Floorball club welcomes players of all abilities. If you have heard of Floorball and fancy giving it a go, or have been inspired by
what you have read here then you can contact us on info@dundeefloorball.org.uk for more information or take a look at our website at
www.dundeefloorball.org.uk . We train at The Menzieshill Community Center on Mondays from 9:00 – 10:00pm and Wednesdays from 7:30 – 8:30pm
cost is £3.00 per session and we can provide sticks to get newcomers started. Our players range in age from 16 to 52 and we welcome both male and female players.
Northern League Match Day 2
(Monday 30th October 2006)
Sunday 29th October 2006 saw Mayfield centre host its first ever floorball league matches in a day which saw league rookies Linlithgow RBS take thier first taste of victory. It was a mixed bag of results for Dundee who managed a Win,Loss and Draw on the day against Linithgow RBS,Chapel and Balwearie.
Show me the way to Mayfield
Mayfield Sports Centre can be found at the following address.
Mayfield Sports Centre,
193 Arbroath Road,
Dundee,
DD4 7HS
Or, enter your own postcode in the box below and let Google Maps work out directions for you.
Dundee Northern League Venue Announced
(Thursday 5th October 2006)
Dundee Northern Lights are pleased to announce they have secured state of the art facilities for the October and November 2006 and March 2007 Northern League games. After some specualtion over the final venue we are pleased to announce that we have agreed to hold all of the tournaments to be played in Dundee at Mayfield Sports Centre.
Mayfield Sport Centre is Dundee's newest sports venue and arguably one of the best available facilities of its type in the City. Opened in June 2006 Mayfield is the main sports facilities for Dundee High School.
The centre offers magnificant facilities including 4 large changing rooms (3 men and 1 ladies at league games), viewing area which is much like that available at DISC which offers unhindered views of the playing hall. Other facilities include a pavillion area which is to be opened for our exclusive use to sit and eat and drink in. Players and spectators can eat their own food here as well as purchase drinks and confectionary from numerous vending machines in the centre if needed. The pavillion offers views over Dundee High Schools playing pitches, the Tay and on to North Fife.
More details including directions to the centre will be posted in the next few days.
Mayfield Sports Centre Main Hall
Northern League Match Day 1
Sunday 24th September saw the opening fixtures in the Northern League. Dundee Floorball Club went head to head against Balwearie Lightning, RBS Linlithgow and Glenrothes in the three match affair recording two wins against one loss. Dundee overturned a two nil lead to beat the Lightning by a single goal. RBS Linlithgow showed some sparkle of things to come notching up three goals however it was not enough to negate the twelve goal deficit. Against Glenrothes Dundee were unable to repeat the performance of the two sides last encounter and finally sucummed to a five goals to two defeat at the hands of the Northern League veterans
Back row : Ewan McFarlane, Graham Masters, Paul Shaw, Tomi Tynkkynen, David Shaw, Jim Wilde
Front row : Craig Steven, Neil Shaw, Bryan Griffiths, Kvetoslav Matych, Martti Lahtela
Missing : Colin Ferguson
Mixed Success at Development Cup
The pre-season development cup faced off on the 3rd September with the light going head to head against the new Linlithgow RBS team and the Northern League veterans Balwearie Thunder and Balwearie Lightning, formarly the Bees. The two Balwearie teams were somewhat different to last seasons squads with movement of players both between Balwearie teams and the loss of a number of key players to Chapel and Glenrothes. This was Linlithgow RBS' first competitive games and from what they showed on the day they will give a few teams a close game this coming season which can only be good for the sport. Dundee traveled with by far the biggest squad with 7 new players who were playing competitive floorball for the first time.
Results
Northern Lights 3 v Balwearie Lightning 2
Balwearie Thunder 5 v Linlithgow RBS 0
Balwearie Thunder 5 v Balwearie Lightning 2
Linlithgow RBS 0 v Northern Lights5
Balwearie Thunder 7 v Northern Lights 0
Linlithgow RBS 3 v Balwearie Lightning 8
Linlithgow RBS and Balwearie Lightning drew 1-1 in the semi-final.
Nothern Lights and Balwearie Thunder drew 1-1 in a fast paced and competitive final.
Dundee played well although obviously lacking in match practice. The game against Thunder was the low point although all credit to Thunder who capatalised on a low Dundee performance and put 7 past us. Well done to all teams involved. The day showed that there is a lot of talent on offer form new players in the league.
Balwearies squads are yet to be finalised for the league so it should be interesting to see how that pans out. Linlithgow RBS were missing key players who couldnt make the games on the day and should prove to be a competitive side. Northern Lights were not playing many of their regular players so should hopefuly be stronger come league time.
NL Teams go head to head in pre-season development cup.
Dundee Northern Lights, Linlithgow RBS, Balwearie Lightning and Balwearie Thunder are to clash in a pre-season cup to be held at Fife Institute of Sport on Sunday 3rd September 2006. Games face off at 11am and run until 4pm. This is the first time that Dundee has met the new team Linlithgow RBS who have joined the league for the 2006/2007 season.
The aim of this tournament is to give new players a chance before the Northern League starts at the end of September. This should be an interesting one. Dundee taking 3rd spot in the league last season and runners up in the Leage Cup should enter as favourites but have decided to play new players that have yet to make a Northern League appearance. All in all it should be a great days floorball. Admission is free so get yourself along and watch some games played in the true spirit of floorball.
Keep an eye out here for news, reports and scores from Sundays games!