Fin. Europe’s newest Premier League has completed its inaugural season. Isle of Sodor aren’t in FIFA. No clubs here qualify for anything internationally. No giant piles of money are awarded. Blessedly, it’s just been high-scoring, fun footy.
Keep watching this space in the coming weeks. While Noob’s site audience has been limited in reach, the Sudric FA seems content with growing their international exposure at whatever pace comes naturally. So I have been given the option to continue exclusive coverage, which would continue with the summer’s second annual IoS FA Cup. Or Noob may just continue living here, but work on unrelated novel and screenwriting projects already underway. Time will tell.
Here are the Matchday 38 results. And here’s your weekly smexy Table link.
Sunday, 5/26 – 1:00 PM UTC
#1 Dryaw 4 vs. 5 #11 Marron
#14 Castle Rolf 5 vs. 3 #6 Crovan’s Gate
#12 Lakeside 6 vs. 8 #18 Ulfstead
#19 Tidmouth City 9 vs. 1 #8 Wellsworth
#20 Arlesburgh Utd. 2 vs. 8 #7 East Coast Diesel
Sun., 5/25 – 4:00 PM UTC
#13 Vicarstown 3 vs. 3 #15 Brendam Harbor
#5 Junction & Sheds 1 vs. 0 #16 Ffarquhar
T9 Suddery 3 vs. 2 #17 Brendam Utd.
#4 Kirk Ronan 4 vs. 5 #3 Knapford Town
T9 Glennock 5 vs. 5 #2 Peel Godred
Matchday 38 in Highlights * Relegation madness til the bitter end! Ulfstead won the shootiest shootout of the day, 6-8 at Lakeside. Coupled with Brendam United's 2-3 loss at Suddery, this means U.F.C. climb over B-Utd, sending the latter into 18th and down into next season's Championship. * With their sixth straight win, Marron secure the last top-half finish, clawing their way over Glennock. * The season finishes with ties at both 2nd and 4th place. (no goal differential or other tiebreakers in Sudric soccer) * One more special highlight for champions Dryaw F.C. at the bottom of this final 2018-19 IoS PL post
Feature Match recap: Ulfstead win match, earn Relegation reprieve
Gotta call this one like it was. Ulfstead‘s 6-8 win over Lakeside looked closer than it really was. Lakeside had a three-match win streak on their side, but Ulfstead had motivation — trying to make the Premier League for 2019-20.
They also had revenge on their minds, having lost at home by an embarrassing 0-8 margin in the season’s first matchup with “The Quarrysiders“. This one was 0-4 at the half, and went to 1-7 by 70′. Lakeside‘s reserves got some goals against Ulfstead‘s bench late, made the margin respectable.
Coming into this final Matchday, U.F.C. trailed Brendam United by a point for 17th place. Bottom three of the PL‘s 20 get Relegated to the Championship, so one might’ve thought they’d be tight at the outset. But no, everyone was loose. And Noob means everyone. Seven starters scored for Ulfstead!
Ulfstead played one of the early matches, so their survival would depend on the late Suddery–Brendam Utd. match result. Lakeside A.F.C. officials were wonderful sports, extending an invite for everyone to stay and listen to that match’s radio broadcast over the grounds sound system. Players and fans from both clubs intermingled throughout the stands . The concessions folks stayed late. Lakeside folks congratulated U.F.C. on getting above the cutline as Suddery won the dramatic 3-2 barnburner.
THAT is the heart of football on Sodor. Noob can think of no finer note on which to end… except one. 🙂
Congratulations one last time to 2018-19 IoS PL champions Dryaw F.C.! Don’t ask Noob from how it was acquired, but in return for getting to be Sodor FA’s exclusive coverage home, I gifted them what they used for the classiest championship trophy ever.
You’re darn tootin’ (pun intended) that’s a BET Soul Train Awards trophy.
Thanks for reading, Noobites.
Lakeside is the biggest village in its area in NE-central Sodor. That’s not saying a ton, population-wise. Still, the club there have been slated for /cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60685077/Fremont_Bridge__1_of_2_.0.jpg)
So absent an obvious mega-match to highlight today, hello from Crovan’s Gate! Despite having lost two in a row and three of four, a top-four finish in still within reach. That doesn’t mean anything in this PL like in England and other big European domestic leagues, but it still has a certain cache. 
Let’s get to know the team and village! Even if the club has tried to attach itself to dreaded 
History buffs: It’s possible or even probable that this town is named after some Crovan that was part of the line of the ruling family on the Isle of Man some, oh, 900 years ago. Given that IoM is west of Sodor, it is unlikely a member of the actual ruling family fled directly here after the coup that unseated them. It’s a last name that’s found some here and elsewhere on the Isle, but no Crovan’s have ruled Sodor at any point in history.
But the FA switched things up and decided that more than mere village or town size would be factored in determining which clubs started in which league. Last summer’s 
And they have not disappointed. How have “
After weeks of title contenders not being able to string much success together, Knapford may have found their stride. 2-2-0 in their last four. They’re winning close, they’re winning in low and high-scoring affairs. That 2-3 road win over now-#3 Peel Godred was their match of the season.
Kirk Ronan, how are you still within double-digits of the table’s top? 2-2 in the last four isn’t awful at a glance. But that stretch started with a quirky back-to-back split against #19 Arlesburgh Utd. Last week’s 2-3 road win at top-half Glennock was admirable, but Noob doubts it washed away the bitter taste of an 0-7 loss to Marron right before the Easter break.
Should two or more teams tie for 1st, they’ll have a Playoff at the national stadium in Suddery. The same will be true if there is a tie surrounding the Relegation Line. No other form of tiebreaker will be used. This includes Goal Differential, despite pressure from our cousins in the English FA to follow their model.
Throw away the records and forget their positions in the table — it’s time for a new intracity derby! Hello from Vicarstown, home of 
They’d perhaps be even higher in the table than merely tied for 7th and out of the title chase, but they draw from a far smaller pool of players than their rivals. 
Rumor has it that for years, 
The only drama came at 3′ when the match was delayed several minutes.
