Sherwood Basketball League

Report by the League’s General Secretary to the League’s Annual General Meeting for the season 2014 – 2015

Introduction

There was some discussion over the way the fixtures for the second division for after Christmas were to be arranged. In the end we decided to play only five games in each group. This appears to have been a disappointment to the teams. Some teams finished their fixtures in early March. This decision was brought about by Easter being early. It falls at a similar time next year. So we think we need your guidance at the Annual General Meeting as to how you want the season to be structured. Would you prefer that the season is extended to the end of April or even May so that we can arrange the maximum number of games for teams or finish as normal at the end of March.

The cup competition seems to be well received the only problem has been that the semi-finals have been on Mothering Sunday which has not gone down well. I sent out a letter recently in which I suggested that we allocate two week in the season for semi-finals in which teams will play each other home and away.

Competitions

At the start of the season we had nineteen entries. So we had a division one with seven teams and a second of twelve. As we felt unable to split the twelve team who applied for the second division into two separate divisions we decided to split them into two groups based on last season finishing position. Then it was agreed that after Christmas the top six teams would form one group and the bottom six another. This left us with another problem how many games would each team play there were four proposals put forward in the end it was decided that teams would each other team in their group either home or away. This we now recognise to have been unpopular.

In division one Racing Derby proved to be to strong for all the other teams and finished the season uneaten.

Again they proved to have the upper hand in the cup final when they met Hyson Green again a repeat of last years’ final. Although the result was settled score in the third quarter.

In division two Eastwood grew stronger as the season went on and won their last game against Paviors to clinch the title in what proved to be a title decider.

The Consolation Shield is open to teams who finished third and fourth in their respective pools and not first division teams. This saw Paviors win through and beat Ilkeston Outlaws B in a competitive final.

The youth league continues to prove to be a starting point for some teams and players. This season there was a drop in numbers and we only operated out of one venue. Thanks go to Peter Viles who has run this venue and organised the whole competition. He has found I quite demanding trying satisfy everyone’s demands. The timetable allowed the games to finish in early March and to then have semi-finals and finals on separate nights. This presented Mansfield under 14’s with a dilemma. The next day their under 13 were due to play in the national age group quarter finals and had to travel a long way. It was decided that the game should take place and It would be up to Mansfield as to whether or not they select their under 13 players. Under 14 Mansfield Giants were sadly depleted by injuries and unavailability of some U13 players and Hucknall Hornets had little difficulty in winning 50-33
Under 16 Nottingham Academy put up a good performance - but were not quite good enough and Spondon eased to a 47-42 victory
Under 18 A really keenly fought match with both sides showing a lot of ability and effort and a competitive edge. Nottingham Academy took the first half 24-12 - but Hucknall Hurricanes showed a real fighting spirit to come back into the game before losing 34-33 of themselves.

Executive Committee

This coming season we need to find a new Treasurer as Martin Shaw has decided it is time to stand down. We owe Martin a big than you for all the hard work he has done on behalf of the league Peter Viles has also expressed a wish that if someone is prepared to take on the office of Chairman now that his hearing is deteriorating he would step down also.

The committee continues to strive to do what we believe is in the best interests of the league we don’t always get it right. We still need new blood and some fresh ideas. As is the case a lot of the workload is carried by a few people. It would help if we could get more people interested in running the league. We none of us are getting any younger and some of us have health problems. So we must start to look for possible replacements for all of the officers.

Darren Parr has done a lot of work on developing the website but felt that he needed more help. Martin Simpson was prepared to take on the onerous task of building up the website and making it work. So Darren stood aside and let Martin take on the website. This has happened and we now have a working website which anybody can get information

Discipline

This season we saw a new system come into play from BE. A player who has been awarded two technical fouls must automatically leave the sportshall. We had four occasions when this happened. Of these all but one player left when requested in the one instance the player was very aggressive towards the referees and only left the sportshall when a team mate escorted him. For this the player was banned from the end of January until 1st May. The others it was agreed that provided they leave without any further comment there would be no further action taken other than to note the correspondence. In the fifth instance the player was disqualified in the usual way he served his automatic one match. No further action was taken.

We also made the decision that if a player is banned for team other than the team he was registered for. He must serve the automatic match ban in fixtures played by the team he was disqualified whilst for and any additional games for that team. He cannot play another team until he has served his ban in those games.

The members of the committee are Steve Wheatcroft, Brian “Gus” Taylor and Leon Hall.

As a result of the aggressive attack on the referee it has been suggested that we should bring in a new system similar to the one used in the Leicester. R. Harrison and S. Wheatcroft are looking into it and I hope that they will produce a document in time for the meeting.

Conclusions

What is the solution to our lack of players and teams? I ask this question every season and never get a response. We look at the Leicestershire league they have more teams, are more stringent and yet they prosper. I would like to hear what you have to say on the matter.

Remember, the league is run to enable you as a club or player to play basketball at a similar standard to all the players around you. For this to happen we need people to do the administration, people to referee and people to do the scoring. What you must remember that if you keep taking then eventually the whole system will fall apart and you will have nowhere to go.

Robin Mitchell

Secretary

General Secretary’s report

2014 - 2015 2 of 2