Altador Cup VI: The Team Files Part 4

As promised, we’ll be catching up with the one and only Lilo Blumario of Team Roo Island who was lovely enough to participate in a small interview, but firstly, I’m going to talk about Team Mystery Island.

• Mystery Island

Initially classed as higher tier competitors, ACV has been the worst season for Team Mystery Island as they finished in 14th place. With Right Forward Volgoth as captain, it’s a wonder why Team Mystery Island have slipped in rankings. They are normally a fairly strong team and Volgoth can’t explain what has happened to his squad.

“ACV was a huge disappointment for us, we have no excuse for the poor quality of play we exhibited but we promise that ACVI will see us return to top form.”

Back in Y9, ACII saw the departure of two players, Goalkeeper Yaniq Avaan at the end of the competition (replaced by Lor Bennveldt) and Centre Defender Maital Koric (replaced by Vela Binal) midseason. Fans will remember the devastating blow to Team Mystery Island as Koric suffered serious injuries, forcing him to drop out of the team and be substituted for by Vela Binal. It was unknown whether he would return, and at the end of the tournament, Koric issued his statement to say that his injuries meant he could no longer play for his team and that Binal was to replace him on a permanent basis.

It’s predicted that Team Mystery Island will return to the higher tiers this coming season and it’s no doubt that Koric will be on the sidelines cheering his ex-teammates on.

• Roo Island

Team Roo Island were the third winners of the Cup and the following year, they seemed to have contracted the Winner’s Curse as they dropped to 9th place. Last year saw them bounce back to a respectable 4th place. There’s nothing stopping these Rooligans from being the first team to bring home the trophy twice!

After Dayla quit as their Left Forward after just one year, Goalkeeper Clutch Billaban managed to convince Jair Tollet to leave Team Maraqua for Roo Island (Tollet was having troubles with the infamous selfish Elon “The Black Hole” Hughlis), which caused a rift between the two teams.

Captain Lilo Blumario, the team’s Right Forward was kind enough to agree to be interviewed ahead of ACVI.

Back in the ACII, your teammate Jair Tollet caused a huge scandal as she transferred from Team Maraqua to Team Roo Island; can you expel rumours and establish the truth?

LB – Well, our team have always taken the Altador Cup seriously. We believe that being in a big competition like this means we have to set an example to all the youngsters out there watching our games. When we heard that Elon Hughlis was not being fair to his teammates and arguing with Jair, we thought we’d offer her an escape. Team Roo Island, along with many of the other teams, wants to avoid any fighting and when Jair transferred over, not only were we happy to receive her, we were also happy that the team member fighting had ceased.

Marvellous! So, the whole of Neopia have been baffled as to how fast you recovered from the Winner’s Curs. Previous sufferers have taken seasons to get over it, for example the first winners Team Haunted Woods seem to be still trying to overcome the Curse! How did you do it?

LB- HAHAHA! Oh, that’s a secret I’ll never tell! I’m just kidding; we did nothing special, nothing that we don’t normally do, we just trained extra hard! I’m so lucky to have an amazing team, we work so well together and we’ve got the most amazing support, we’re really thankful for that. ROOLIGANS ROOLIGANS ROOLIGANS!

You mentioned your teammates; tell me, do they have any nasty habits?

LB – Gordo Gunnels, our Right Defender has a horrible habit of eating people’s food; he can’t help it. I don’t even think he realises when he’s eating and when he’s not! I had to confiscate his snacks and treats that he hid in his uniform; he was going to eat them in the middle of the game, so we have to check his pockets before every game! Seriously, though, after last season ended, we decided to celebrate with a day out and a picnic. So, we packed our hamper and we went to the park. Fenny (Vail, the team's Left Defender) thought it’d be a good idea to go on the Merry Go Round and Gordo said he’d keep guard of the picnic hamper, so we all left, minus Gordo. When we got back, we discovered that he had eaten all of Fenny’s favourite biscuits, every single last crumb. The look on Fenny’s face was priceless, an absolute picture! She was pretty mad at him for a bit, but it's fine now; Gordo apologised by buying her more biscuits. I can’t think of any others... Oh, Jair spends ages doing her hair before the games. It takes sooooo long and we’re all ready to step out onto the pitch but we have to wait for her.

Describe your team in 3 words?

LB – THE BEST EVER. They are amazing and I love them. I’m really grateful that we get on so well.

What should we expect from Team Roo Island this year?

LB – I’d much rather keep it a surprise! Team Roo Island is definitely a big contender for the ACVI. We can’t wait for the new season to get started and we’re raring to go! Woo!

Do you have any final words?

LB – Thanks so much to our supporters, friends, family. Rooligans, we won’t disappoint you, we’re bring that trophy home again! Roo-Roo-Rooligans for life! *cheers*

Thank you to the wonderful Lilo Blumario for agreeing to talk to me. The players seem like lovely Neopians and it’s no wonder why they have a massive army of fans. There’s no doubt, given their past records (excusing their 9th place in ACIV, I’m blaming the Winner’s Curse) that Team Roo Island is certainly a possible winner of the ACVI.