“The 2 newly formed teams turned up for what was billed by the lizardmen as a bloody slaughtering of the weak and woosey woodelves. The game was played in front of a full house of 42,000 at the neutral Death-Dome - an appropriate name according to the skinks who hid behind the massive sauron as they sniggered. Not much different to their performance during the game!
The match started with a pitch invasion that affected the eyeballs rather more severely, having 5 of their players stunned as the wild elven fans tried to prevent the seemingly inevitabe onslaught. In teh confusion, however, they inadvertantly trod S.Everglade into the turf. Both teams were clearly nervous in their bloodbowl league debuts, a matter only made worse by the pitch invasion.
After much fumbling, the first chance fell to the elves; Farsight Longarm throwing a pass to the catcher S.Riverwatcher. He foolishly didnt wait for the catcher to evade the attentions of the saurus Kersplat and under pressure, clearly still rattled by the pitch invasion, the ball was dropped. Lunch then sneaked in, grabbed the ball, sneaked out and then fell over knocking himself out as his team-mates looked on astounded.
The Stream-Runners fans sensed that there may be another opportunity for a score but in the blink of an eye, D.Treetender knocked himself out and the lizard men took advantage of the elven uncertainty, pushing S.Riverwatcher out of play.
The elves were horrified. They had expected nuch foul play from these savages, but pushing players into the crowd is unheard of! Fortunately they were elven fans and the player was quickly returned to the dugout. The skinks though collected the ball and light snack charged up the pitch, handed off to aiee who legged it for the line.
With the skink untouchable, the elves gathered round as Deeproot Thickbark felled the saurus snap with one mighty blow. Looking at his helpless and slightly limp body on the ground (and remembering the pushing of his own teammate into the crowd), O.Treetender could not resist punting him in the face....and stomach..... and groin..... and finally jumping on his tail - the ultimate insult. It was one step too far. Bloodbowl refs are trained to ignore delibarate knocks, but jumping on the tail?! No! Despite his teammates protesting, O.Treetender was sent off. To rub salt in the wound Aiee swiftly crossed teh line to score.
TOUCH DOWN AIEE: Stream Runners 0-1 Eyeballs in the sky
HALF TIME: Stream Runners Return 0 - 1 Eyeballs in The Sky
The teams came out for the second half with the stream runners thinking they were recieving. Having left only two linemen to support Deeproot, it was no surprise to see the lizard frontline running rampant.
S.Riverwatcher, having switched wings for the second half saw his chance to make amends for the firts half fumble. He charged down light snack, sending him sprawling. Chasing after the loose ball, he tried to push himself too far. Almost out of range of the saurus, he looked over his shoulder, tripped and fell. dropping the ball.
A wayward pass from Aiee, clearly still revelling in the glory of his TD gifted the ball straight back to the elves. Strongarm picked up the ball, passed to S.Everglade who ran and handed off to F.Riverwatcher. With nothing to do but get to the line, he made up for his brothers failings, scoring the first ever TD for the Stream Runners.
TOUCH DOWN F.RIVERWATCHER S.Runners 1-1 Eyeballs
From the kick off teh entire elven frontline was once again flattened and, after much more fumbling (and a couple of elven KOs), the skinks once again broke forward in the form of Aiee. The last ditch tackle from F.Shallowstream only pushing him back a square.
TOUCHDOWN - AIEE: Stream Runners 1-2 Eyeballs
With only a quarter of the half remaining, the elves knew that they needed to produce something special.
The Riverwatcher brothers ran wide and Strongarm moved to pick up the ball. He ran up field, handed off to F.Shallowstream who, trying to close the distance he would have to pass the ball, went too far and fell over. Time ticked away. Surely the game was over.
Aiee moved for the ball, full of confidence. As he did, the rest of his team pummelled what was left of the elves into the ground and, crucially marked S.Riverwatcher, lurking in the endzone.
But Aiee's overconfidence was his weakness. Trying to make a speculative pass upfield, he dropped the ball at his feet. With Kersplat also in close attendance, the elves chances looked slim. S.Everglade moved in with every intention of blitzing his man but in the panic forgot to make contact. Strongarm moved in for the kill but stopped short, his confidence momentarily faltering, hoping that he would be able to lend moral support to someone else, ANYONE else.
It is at times that these that heroes are required. This is the moment that the men are separated from the boys. The crowd of 42000, all of whom had stayed until the end held their breath. Would anyone take up the challenge??
It was at this point that D. Treetender,(brother of the sent off man) made his move, trying to undo his families failings. He neatly stepped between Aiee and Kersplat, his nerve holding he picked up the ball.
The crowd let out a gasp as he stepped away from Kersplat, still with Aiee in close attendance. Strongarm now leant the moral support that he had positioned himself so wisely to give. "COME ON DT!!" He shouted. The crowd took up the chant "DT, DT, DT, ...." DT stepped away from Aiee. His work though was not finished. He still had to make the crucial pass to S.Riverwatcher who was still marked. The throw was accurate, DT had played his part. The saurus Thunk, seeing his chance for glory tried to intercept the pass. He flapped at it and S.Riverwatcher, the man who had already fumbled once and tripped over whilst looking over his shoulder was given the chance to level the scores. This was the moment that he had trained for. Never taking his eye off the ball, he held on.
TOUCH DOWN S.RIVERWATCHER S.Runners 2-2 Eyeballs

The game was over.
Whilst the lizardmen may think they were robbed, they did not kill, maim, mutilate or injure any of the wood elves. The elves, on the other hand had won over many new fans with their open, expansive play. The Money was split with the Stream Runners taking a slightly larger share (due to the fact that they had more fans turn up) but, due to a rather harsh fine imposed for the sending off, they made marginally less profit from the game.
Each side had gained an equal amount of experience from a tense game, with Aiee, the man who had scored both touchdowns ( and had ultimately been responsible for both S.Runner TDs) developing the Hail mary pass - Heres hoping that he does better with his passing in the next game!! ;-)
Strongarm, the elven thrower, despite his lack of courage at the end was voted the MVP on the elven side, with many commentators saying that they thought he had developed a very accurate pass!!
It was also a good day for the Riverwatcher family, with a TD apiece for the brothers - though it could have been so much more......”