Once again the owners of the league descended upon Bromfield Towers for the annual draft, prior to the 21st season of the FFL. It was another full attendance, although Steve G was sunning himself in Oz and was listening in over the internet.

It was the first year that founder member Gary Botteley had not been involved following his retirement and the FFL welcomed back former member Gareth James into the fold as he resurrected his Dislocated Knee Joints franchise.

Unfortunately due to Richard's late arrival, the usual presentations had to be cancelled for this season. However, this may have been a cunning plot to get the other owners more squiffy before commencement of the draft.

Although Steve G was on the other side of the world, thanks to the wonders of technology, he managed to make his first few selections using a combination of Skype and Twitter. Steve Reeder was ruing the fact that the British Army did not have this facility when he was based in Kosovo.

When Steve G fell asleep/passed out (only a 10 hour time difference, some people have no stamina), FFL alumni JD who was in attendance, managed the Funky Furbys' draft, for better or worse.

The draft commenced under dark skies; bad light might have stopped play in the field next door, but the beer was already providing a warming effect.

With three potential rookie all stars in the draft, the "unfortunate" choice of selecting the first overall pick fell to the Outstanding Warrants. Despite numerous attempts, no owner felt the desire to move up the draft order and thus, Trent Richardson became the latest member of the Warrants franchise.

Simon didn't take long to select Andrew Luck, something he was probably fackin' happy about. With a choice of who was left, Robert Griffin III found a home on Clive's Punting Idiots roster. Doug Martin went to Ian with the 4th pick - the initial 4 picks panning out as many had predicted. Chris Mortensen, Adam Schefter and Merril Hoge were seen congratulating themselves on their success.

Martin couldn't resist a first round trade before wide receivers dominated round 2, accounting for the first five picks.

Round 3 saw the Cosmic Clap finally entered proceedings having spent the first two rounds sampling Adam's variety of real ales, which were perched enticingly in the corner of the garage.

With the gazebo not able to withstand the punishment from the previous draft, the owners were left exposed to the elements and unfortunately a light drizzle forced the draft into the confines of the garage.

In round 14, Morning Woodsmen selected the Cincinnati receiver Armon Binns. Richard proceeded to find Armon on twitter and send him a tweet informing him of the selection. Amazingly, soon after, Armon retweeted this and instantly fell into FFL league folklore along side the legend that is Tyler Thigpen. Wonder if he actually knows where Manchester is?

After twenty rounds of serious drafting, free agent running back Jackie Battle became Mr Irrelevant and the 2012 draft finally came to a close.

Kath fired up the woodburner and Adam donned his chef's hat in charge of the BBQ and everyone proceeded to feast on another amazing culinary offering.

The only thing left to resolve was the free agency order and the annual trip to the bowling alley. The usual favourite Clive was hampered by a wrist injury and had to bowl left handed, but still finished 8th. Wayne earned the top spot in the FA trolley dash, followed by Steve R & Lee.

It was a truncated list this year, as Martin had left earlier to celebrate his Nan's 102nd birthday, having returned the FFL trophy to Tim, resplendent in a Welsh rugby shirt, who got to take it home as Champ for the first time since getting it made. Meanwhile Steve was sleeping soundly in Australia, completely unaware of his complete roster.

Following the sampling of the chilli, the owners crashed out for the night. The following morning during another hearty breakfast at Bromfield Towers, it was unanimously agreed that Norv STILL had the best roster, before everyone once again went their separate ways around the M60 for another year.