September Sports Update

The Premier League and all the European football seasons are well underway this month and the experts seem to think that the advantage lies with Arsenal in the UK, where all three of their main rivals, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea enter the season with new managers at the helm. The demolition of Manchester City by Arsenal in the Community Shield couldn’t have helped the confidence of the Manchester side and their manager in particular will find the pressure bearing down on him pretty quickly, having to follow in the footsteps of Pep Guardiola. Just a couple of fixtures to look out for in September, Chelsea go to the Emirates to take on Arsenal on the 6th and Manchester United, who have appointed Michael Carrick as their full time manager and approach the new season full of hope, host their City rivals on the 13th.

It’s a busy September for F1 fans with three races being held, including the iconic Italian Grand Prix, which starts us off between the 4th and 6th of the month. The circus then moves on to Spain, where the action takes place from the 11th to the 13th and the final stop is in Azerbaijan from the 24th to the 26th. The season seems to be increasingly dominated by both Ferrari and Mercedes, with the latter holding the edge in the driver standings through the exploits of the extraordinary Kimi Antonelli, who has just turned 20! Lewis Hamilton is in second, driving for Ferrari and the next two places are both held by the two leading teams. The constructors championship is much the same, with Mercedes leading Ferrari who are in turn well clear of the rest.

Another massive sporting event taking place in September is the AFL Grand Final in Australia, which will kickoff on Saturday the 26th. The Aussies really go to town here and put on a show that takes over the whole country for the weekend of the game. It’s being played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in front of well over 100,000 people and the confirmed match up is between the Geelong Cats and the Brisbane LIons. Kickoff is at the perfect time for fans here of 11.30 am Thailand time, 2.30 pm AEST. Kylie Minogue will be doing the pre-game entertainment for the first time, the day before is a public holiday in Victoria and there’s a parade through central Melbourne to celebrate the game. This really is some spectacle and you don’t need to know the rules of Australian football to enjoy it, but it’ll help if you have some idea!

That’s it for September. Get yourself out for a couple of beers, some great action and support our local businesses.