Post by sandbachhatter on Feb 11, 2017 22:26:46 GMT
This week's host is Eppers, who returns for his second stint in charge of CHASM. Over to the man himself...
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Juventud Alianza (Argentina)
First up is Juventud Alianza based in Santa Lucia, San Juan Province in Argentina.
If we were running CHASM in 1972, this club would not be eligible for this week. Founded in 1905 under the name Atletico Juventud, they changed their name to Juventud Alianza in 1973.
They play in the 15,000 capacity Estadio Bosque del Bajo Grande (Stadium of the Low Big Forest) in the Torneo Federal B league, which is the regionalised 4th division of the Argentine football league system. There are 8 Regional Leagues in this B League and Juventud Alianza play in the one called Cuyo. Wiki Translate says this means ‘Whose’ in Spanish, which is a bit odd. Incidentally, our old friends Colon have a junior team in the same league!
They play in a slightly weird amalgamation of several strips: a bit of Argentina (obviously), at bit of West Ham, a hint of Aston Villa and a Tottenham shirt trying to escape
Their golden era was the 80’s culminating in winning the title and remaining undefeated all season.
Since then the only other thing if note is the world record they hold. In the 2009/2010 season, Juventud Alianza were playing General Paz Juniors in the qualifying round of the Apertura for the Ronda Final at the end of the season. After the two legs ended 3-3 on aggregate, the two clubs headed to penalty shootout to decide who would progress through to the next round of competition – as you would expect. So far, no normal.
What would transpire is the highest score ever recorded in a penalty shootout—with Juniors winning on the night 21-20 in the penalty shootout. Perhaps even more amazing than that is the fact that there was only one missed penalty—the final penalty for Alianza by Ruiz, who had his penalty saved by the goalkeeper. Up until that point, all 40 penalty attempts had been scored by the penalty-takers. Heart-breaking for Juventud Alianza goalkeeper Gonzalez, who failed to stop any of the 21 penalties that he had come his way throughout the shootout.
Are you prepared to face the penalty for not voting for Juventud Alianza?
Fútbol Club Jumilla (Spain)
Next, we go to Murcia, Spain, and Fútbol Club Jumilla, who have a fairly complicated history – it turns out that this club only started playing in 2011.
The original club in Jumilla was Jumilla CF, but this folded in 2011 with huge debts, having just been promoted from Tercera División to Segunda División B. They play home matches at the 3000 capacity Estadio Municipal de La Hoya. ‘Hoya’ in Spanish means ‘hole’ or ‘pit’, so should not be the most salubrious of grounds, but actually turns out to be ok after a refurb in 2011.
In fact, the refurb of the ground, including adding in an athletics track (which immediately makes this a two-horse race for ars!), added a financial burden which caused the club to fold. Rumours that George Reynolds was involved in the project remain unfounded. In 2011, as a replacement to dissolved Jumilla CF, FC Jumilla was formed (see what they did there?) and the club bought the place of Moratalla CF in Tercera División, another club that folded due to financial problems. On 1 June 2015, after finishing first in the league, Jumilla was promoted to Segunda División B after defeating FC Ascó in the play-offs. Their success is reportedly due to the same reason all Spanish football teams do well: no-one expects the Spanish in position. (Ba-dum tish)
The club have had several owners over recent years. At the start of 2016 they were taken over by an Italian investor group. Their first act was to sack the manager Joaquin Jose Moreno "Josico" for refusing the train outside of his working hours! This coincided with promotion, so I suspect the extra effort required clashed with his Latin American work ethic!
Then, In June 2016, FC Jumilla was taken over by two Chinese football TV commentators Li Xiang and Tang Hui. Now Jumilla's games against Lorca FC are dubbed 'the Shanghai Derby' as both Li and Tang are from Shanghai, as is Lorca's owner - the former Chinese international player and manager Xu Genbao.
After years playing in blue and white stripes, Jumilla’s only football team now play in purple and white, with the home and away kits having a pleasing symmetry about them: the home strips has purple shirts, white shorts and purple socks and the away kit white shirts, purple shorts and white socks.
A final note, that actually happened to Jumilla FC, but is worth of inclusion as an example of the joys of football in the lower divisions. Jumilla were playing Puente Tocinos in 2009 and the game was interrupted during the second half when there was an announcement over the PA system in which local police requested the presence of the owner of an Audi A4, which had been vandalised in the car park. It belonged to referee Madrigal Soria who sprinted off the pitch. The match was held up while the ref sorted matters out with the police. Maybe it was a holidaying Quaker’s fan who mistook it for Reynolds car.
Don’t leave them in the ‘hoya’, vote for Jumilla!
Jomo Cosmos (South Africa)
Finally, we have Jomo Cosmos based in Johannesburg. They play in the National First Division and the club is owned by South African football ‘legend’ (his words, not mine) Jomo "Black Prince" Sono. Jomo’s playing career spanned the late 70’s and early 80s in North America, including New York Cosmos. They play at the Makhulong Stadium, capacity 10,000.
The club was founded on 29 January 1983, from the remnants of Highlands Park, a previously successful South African club. Sono bought the club when he ended his playing career in the United States and was initially called Dion Cosmos, with the first part of the name representing the previous sponsor of Highlands Park and the second part being from Jomo Sono’s former NASL club. That lasted a year and the first indications of Jomo’s enlarged ego started to emerge and he renamed the club Jomo Cosmos.
They play in an all red home kit and an all blue away kit. Nice and simple.
Under Sono's ownership, the club achieved several successes: it won the National Soccer League in 1987, the Bob Save Super Bowl in 1990, the Coca-Cola Cup in 2002 and 2005 and the SAA Supa 8 in 2003.
In 2008, Jomo Cosmos were relegated from top-flight football for the first time since 1993 and have been a yo-yo club ever since: Promoted in 08/09, relegated in 09/10, promoted 10/11, relegated 12/13, promoted 14/15, and relegated in 15/16 so now they play in the second tier National First Division.
Their heaviest ever defeat was 5-0 away to the Kaizer Chiefs. You would imagine that the conversation between the owner and manager would be quite tense after the match – indeed, you might predict a riot. Especially as Jomo Sono is such a dominant force in the club. Well, as if being owner and naming the clubs after himself isn’t enough, he’s also the manager. So yes, after the 5-0, he must have had a stern word… with himself.
And if you still doubt that Jomo has a high opinion of himself, the club website has a prominent section about him entitled: Introduction of a Legend. I bet he refers to himself in the third person.
One story of note for the club. Freak weather can often hit football hard. December & January often see fixtures postponed due to frozen or waterlogged pitches. But what about this…
In 1998 Jomo Cosmos are playing Moroko Swallows. Suddenly, a blast of lightning strikes the pitch, sending players and supporters from both sides scattering. Two Swallows players were kept in hospital with their injuries, whilst the game was understandably abandoned. Blimey, I know Jomo Sono has god-like status, but that’s taking thing a bit far.
Will lightning strike twice with a vote for Jomo Cosmos?
Get voting!
