2017 SWPC AGM Competitions report
2017 has seen several changes to the SWPL set up with a new competition for junior girls and a change of age group for junior Boys, the seniors have moved to a term time league and the Scottish Champs moved to a pre-exam home.
None of the competitions would’ve happened without the tireless work of the Competition Co-Ordinators, Lesley, Mike, Vic and Reuben. A massive thanks to them!
Scottish Championships 2017: this year saw an expanded Scottish Championships with all 6 competitions happening concurrently, which saw a lengthened finals day, again hosted at Olympia, Dundee. Competitive games were held across all the competition rounds, culminating in the finals day.
Winners: u16 Mixed- Stirling
U18 Boys- Dunfermline
U19 girls- Dunfermline
U21 Men- Dunfermline
Ladies- Edinburgh Uni
Men- Portobello
I propose the Championships run along the same set up as this year, with finals day in Dundee on Sunday 8th April. Entry forms will be released shortly with a draw being completed close to Christmas.
Scottish Leagues 2017 Reports:
Under 16 mixed (Lesley Luke):
Format:Phase 1 – round robin, Phase 2 – split league
Number of Clubs:7 (KKASC replacing Forth Valley in the second phase)
Number of Games played:33 (Phase 1 – 21 games played, Phase 2 – 12 games will be played)
Number of players who competed: approximately 80
Winner:not completed yet (final games on 17/12/17)
Observations:
In phase 1 this year 3 matches were played in Clubs own pool time otherwise I would have struggled to get all the games included in the pool that was available. Whereas in Phase 2 I have been able to give back pool time to the Pool Co-ordinator.
I was delighted that KKASC were able to take the place of Forth Valleywhen they pulled out of the second phasejust before it commenced.KKASC agreed not to take win points, even if they did win. They were keen for the experience. I therefore agreedtoallow Forth Valley players to play with KKASC in phase 2 to allow for game practice and I understand that this has happened.
Recommendations for next season:
Would it be possible to allow Phase 1 to be played over a longer period, rather than squeezed into one Academic term?Thusallowing more consistent timing of game play across the year.
Under 21 Men (Mike Forster):
Format: League, home and away fixtures
Number of Clubs: 5 (4) Forth Valley withdrew in the second half because of difficulties putting together a team
Number of Games played: 1 match remaining (5th December), 6 walkovers, 13 matches played
Number of players who competed: (this may be an estimate) I really don't know the number of separate players because I do not get all the game sheets. I estimate between 60 and 70.
Winner: Not decided yet. If Portobello beat Menzieshillon 5th Decthey will win on points. If Menzieshill win then Warrender will win on goal difference from Dunfermline. If it is a draw Portobello will win on points difference from Warrender.
Observations:
Forth Valley struggled to get a team out and had to withdraw. Fitting matches into the few slots at central pools made available to the U21 league was difficult because of players participating in other competitions. U21 attracts a broad range of ages with some very young players (U14) playing in the matches to make up numbers.
U21 is a catch all for just about any junior player. Team managers are reluctant to play when key players are away. BWPL, Caley, Scotland Boys (and even GB) all take players away from matches but mean that less experienced players are not perhaps getting as any matches.
After the first half of the year I tried to collect opinions on possible changes for next year through a survey. The results are attached in the PDF. Unfortunately there was not much common ground between team managers.
Recommendations for next season:
The biggest problem is trying to get teams to agree to play in the slots that are handed out.The second biggest problem is getting referees and table officials for the matches.
Both come down to a lack of visibility of possible slots and competition from other commitments. This leads to short-term re-arrangements that create further difficulties in finding officials at short notice.However, trying to be too rigid in the schedule may lead to fewer matches and make the league pointless with too many walkovers (and fines). The league this year was between four clubs each playing a home and away game.
Ladies (Vic Witko):
There are 6 teams in the ladies league
At this point all matches are scheduled between now and end of February.
I have results for 9 matches.
I haven’t got an exact number of players but so far from the score sheet each team have on average 10 players for each match.
I think scheduling the matches at the start of the season has worked better but there are still unexpected things arising and on the whole most teams have been accepting of changes. There has been some resistance to changes which i appreciate there are reasons in most cases but sometimes compromise has to found.
The biggest difficulty I and other teams have found is contacting and getting referees organised. From my experience it is the same people replying and often unable to assist resulting in home club referees being used which means the matches can be played but doesn’t make it easy for them and also open to issues should there be contentious situations.
I feel something needs to change in the process. Is there a requirement for each referee to officiate at a minimum number of matches across the season?
It may work with assigning matches to people once dates are scheduled to prevent the need for pleading emails in the run up to matches.
From all of the coordinator reports, there is 1 thing that sticks out especially in the U21 and Ladies and that is referees. It is imperative that we find a volunteer to act as the referee coordinator, who knows the availability of referees and is in contact with them.
My personal recommendations for 2018:
Keep senior Men and women as is. The academic term needs to be given time to bed in.
Move u21 Men back to u19 Boys. The jump from u16 to u21 is too great and the players need a step in between.
Find out what suits the u19 girls league. The tournament format seems to have been a success. I would like to see longer games to bring it in line with other competitions.
Keep u16s as it, although allow 1st phase to slide into autumn as per Lesley’s recommendation.
On a personal note, I will be stepping down from the SWPC this year due to other commitments.
I would like to thank everyone who has supported me over the past few years in reinvigorating the leagues and getting them back to a healthier position. Special thanks goes to the league coordinators who do a fantastic job. I will still be around the poolside and will offer my support as a referee wherever possible.
Paul Metcalfe