Veterans League
The recent postings about addressing the imbalance of teams in the 5 divisions of the Veterans 10-Man League prompted someone to ask me 'How would you reorganise the divisions?'. Good question. So I did and the outcome is below.
I don't believe that any solution that kills off promotion for teams deserves to be seriously considered, it is a non-starter for me and would kill the season for teams in four of the divisions. Even Covid couldn't stop promotion in the Veterans League so it would be a nonsense to give it any air time at all.
For the purpose of this exercise the assumption is made that the same 61 teams are in the League next season. If they aren't then a variation of the solution below can be implemented instead, it is still doable. The intent is also to complete this work within the League rules.
The League Rules stipulate that ...
The Leagues to consist of the number of Divisions determined by the Management Committee, in normal circumstances the top two teams in each division at the end of the season shall be promoted into the next higher division and the bottom two teams shall be relegated into the next lower division.
Reorganising the divisions is a 3-Step process adhering to the League Rules:
Step 1: Promote the top two teams in each division Step 2: Relegate the bottom 2 teams in each division
Step 3: Relegate the next two lowest teams in Divisions 2,3 and 4
This means that the bottom 4 teams in Divisions 2, 3 and 4 will all be relegated.
That leaves you with 13 teams in Division 1 and 12 teams in the other four Divisions.
For the sake of this exercise let's pretend that the 2022 season ends today with teams in their current league positions and all having played the same number of matches then the reorganisation would look like this following the 3-Step process outlined above.
I agree with David,the format should be changed for next season and Jeff 's suggestion is very good, I hope now David takes it to the management committee
I think the suggestions being proposed by Jeff are very good suggestions but for the 2024 season not the 2023 season. I really do not like the idea of changing expectations about promotion and relegation part way through the season. I dislike it even more when they are changed after the season finishes as was done in 2017 before the 2018 season.
So what to do about the 2023 season? My suggestion would be for each team to play each other home and away and then play each other one more time on a neutral green. This would result in 27 fixtures which is one more than is really wanted but could surely be accommodated and is better than the…
All very straight forward unless your team is one of the two extra teams to be relegated from divisions 2,3 or 4.
Some teams will have a couple of yo-yo seasons before settling to their appropriate level.
There doesn’t seem an obvious alternative- apart from twiddling with the numbers promoted or relegated which could be somewhat arbitrary.
The best solution ? - find another 2 or 3 teams!! Am I dreaming !! Philip of Lindley