League News
Veterans 6-Man League
The 2nd Round of the Julie Fuller Trophy raised as many questions as answers with the matter of teams playing ineligible bowlers once again threw a shadow over proceedings. One team has already been proven to be in breach of the eligibility rule and a second is under investigation (see bottom of page). Meanwhile, Slaithwaite and Netherton Con got over losing their winning points from Round 1 after their opponents withdrew to bounce back with two good wins.
Julie Fuller Trophy Round 2 Results
Slaithwaite had every reason to feel hard done to by the withdrawal from the competition of the Lindley Liberal team after the first round of matches had been played. Slaithwaite had beaten the Lindley Lib team and collected 81 points which had taken them to the top of the Round 1 league table. The match was declared void by the League and Slaithwaite given zero points. Slaithwaite didn't feel sorry for themselves, just dusted themselves down and got back on with the job and recorded a Round 2 72-49 win over Section 1 leaders Shepley A and didn't need their 18 handicap advantage to clock up the win.
So after leading the table for 48 hours and then dropping to the bottom through no fault of their own, Slaithwaite again find themselves top of the table and hopefully for a little longer than 48 hours! Maybe a better solution would have been to allow them to keep the points they had already won by fair means. Similar for Netherton Con who beat Holmfirth B in Round 1 who then went on to also withdraw from the competition but Netherton bounced back to beat Primrose Hill Lib 63-49 in Round 2.
The Unofficial League Table below lists positions by aggregate averages which the League has declared will be used to get around the problem of teams playing different numbers of matches because of team withdrawals. The League has still to declare how the top four teams to progress to the knock-out stage will be decided if they are drawing on aggregate averages as is the case currently with two teams on the same number of points in fourth place.
JULIE FULLER UNOFFICIAL LEAGUE TABLE
There has been at least one more ineligible bowler played by a club in Round 2 of the new format Julie Fuller Trophy with a possible second one still under investigation. Two teams were caught out in Round 1 and penalised 5 points as per rule. Hemplow are the latest team to fall foul of the rule which states that bowlers must have played at least two league games before becoming eligible for the second round of the competition. A second match result was submitted which included an ineligible bowler but this is now subject to appeal and investigation as it is claimed that the wrong name had been recorded. Hemplow has been deducted 5 points in the latest unofficial league table after the first 2 of the 4 planned rounds which are to be played before progressing to the knock-out semi-finals.
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