FRIDAY, JUNE 29: Leigh Game won this year’s Carlsberg Contest Fantasy Football League sponsored by the Bermuda Sun and Burrows Lightbourn.
He had 2,216 points to runner-up Andrew Robinson’s 2,193 with Dominic McKenzie third at 2,183 followed by Carol Clarke and Teddy Terceira.
After the first month of the season, Game was in 91st place, 59 points behind then leader Alfred Bremar.
The only person who was in the top five after August that was still there at the end was Clarke.
Game said it felt great to win considering “the number of people competing. It was a real good achievement.
“I got kind of nervous on that last day just watching as it was a pretty good day in terms of being a fan and with the competition as well.
Game’s strategy?
“To get a cheap defence and build around the big hitters up front like the Van Persies, Agueros and the Rooneys.
“Being a Newcastle fan and being from Swansea, I invested in Swansea and Newcastle players. Both of those teams had pretty good seasons. Swansea was pretty tight at the back and I was lucky of their defenders and a keeper. It was the same story with Newcastle as they excelled.”
He used his wild card within the first five weeks of the season.
“ I wasn’t very happy with how things are going. I had a pretty slow start so I invested in some big changes. I was glad I used it so early.
“One of the most fortunate moves I made was getting Van Persie when I did around the middle of the season. He just hit this mad patch of scoring and scoring big points. He had lots of goals and lots of bonus points.
“I also got Demba Ba at a pretty good time just pre the African Cup of Nations at a time when he was doing so well. I was lucky my Newcastle connections held me there.
This was the first time Game had done a Fantasy Football League but he promised it won’t be his last.
Ibou Barry, marketing manager for Burrows Lightbourn, said: “This is the third year we’ve done it online. Our first year there were just over 100 people participating, this year there were close to 350.” n
“And the excitement’s still there. We have new people coming in and winning and we have a previous champ coming in and almost winning. That’s an amazing feat actually. A lot of people think this is luck but it’s really not luck, as if you pick the right team you reap the benefits and the rewards.
“It’s good to see new people playing and it’s good to see the people playing for the past three years coming back and playing every year.
“Unfortunately our winner isn’t a Liverpool fan, but neither am I. It’s definitely getting more competitive and next year I’d like us to pas the 400 participation mark.”