From the Ground Up
Columbia Hills is slated to join the MAFL in season 3, however, building a team with a small population base is proving harder than expected.
Karka 22, 2078, m249
Goalkeeper dreams - Wayne Oborobinson hopes to stay in the program as Columbia Hills struggle to make an MAFL club.
As season 2 approaches the midpoint, the pressure is on expansion teams to get their teams off the ground and ready for entry into the 3rd MAFL season.
Of the two new clubs, Columbia Hills faces an uphill battle. With a population size of just 3000, it is the smallest of all of the other settlements in the MAFL. Working with a limited talent pool has already slowed progress and unlike Wendland, they are not in a position to recruit back local residents, like Sulzberger and Marysa Waaijer, to bolster their ranks.
They do have a few local heroes like Alan Sawyer who gained fame for his excellent performance in the Marineris Pathfinder Marathon, but they are far from meeting the minimum 14 player roster requirement from the league.
“At this point, we have 6 players confirmed,” said Tod Dodderham, “We have a lot of work ahead of us. It isn’t the same as the original 8 that were able to easily recruit across colonies.”
New regulations and processes adopted by colonies makes it prohibitive for Columbia Hills to hire in players from its larger neighbours, namely Marineris and San Olympus, however, they are actively trying to attract ex-pats back for tryouts.
Leaning on loyalty may be their best hope.
United's Sulzberger Anxiety
Europa may be losing goalkeeper Kevin Sulzberg to Wendland’s season 3 expansion. Sulzberg has been an instrumental player for the United club, so the prospects of losing him is a real concern for fans and owners.
Of all colonies, Europa has the deepest roots to the 'beautiful game', thus a lot to live up to.. Now, even though season 2 looks to be shaping up better than season 1, there is growing anxiety among United fans that the club will lose a key player, Kevin Sulzberger.
Sulzberger took on the goalkeeper position after a late-season shuffle that saw Yvonne Barnato become a forward in an attempt to bolster the club's anemic offence. It was big shoes for Sulzberger to fill; even though United had only won 7 of 15 matches with Barnato in goal, she was a fan favourite; most of the blame falling on Captain Fuchs and the forward line up.
Sulzberger's was a natural. When he was between the posts, United was more likely to win than lose. It wasn't enough to get United into the playoffs, but his performance has only improved this season.
Season 1
Season 2
With the looming possibility that Sulzberger will join the new Wendland club for season 3, it may mean losing him before the end of the season.
"I'll be looking at my options," says Sulzberger, "Wendland is where I grew up after we arrived almost 10 years ago. It is where my family lives, so there are a lot of compelling reasons to go home."
Both expansion teams, Columbia Hills and Wendland, will be aiming to build from local talent, so it is expected that players like Sulzberg and Comets' Marysa Waaijer will be courted heavily by their home colony.
Europa United has been actively nurturing Manfredo Riva as back-up goalkeeper. He got his first win in Week 3 against the Comets, so is a promising candidate should Sulzberger terminate his contract early.
When United manager, Matthäus Reinmann, was asked about losing Sulzberger, he simply responded, "It makes sense."
With cross-colony transfers proving to be both logistically challenging and risky when players can't adjust to their new colony, keeping clubs local may be the healthiest path for many clubs in this young league.
"We can't pretend things operate like sports clubs of the past," added Reinmann, "This is Mars and our circumstances here are unique to any Earth history lessons. What's best for players will ultiimately be best for the league."