Veterans League
Another slice of humble pie for the Veterans League to swallow as they once again backtrack on a decision and start from scratch on another element of the League's infrastructure. The recently published new handicapping system is no longer considered fit for purpose one week after being released. We flagged up the nonsense of the previous handicaps which were so clearly at odds with the stated intent that it makes one wonder how they ever saw the light of day in the first place. So we are pleased that someone has grasped the nettle and made a decision to sort them out.
A complete and complex reworking of the team handicapping system has been published to replace the previous set of new handicaps released a week ago. The need for another change is due apparently to 'gremlins getting into the works'. Well we know who that gremlin is and this latest mistake adds to the previous fiasco of the composition of the 10-Man League format which again required a reversing of the Management Committee's stance. How many more mistakes can they make before the season even starts?
Of course setting handicaps is an unenviable task as you are never going to satisfy everyone. All teams will be looking at how the changes will impact on their chances of progressing in the team competitions and this will lead to them forming their opinion of these reworkings. No doubt everyone will be carefully scrutinising the results once they start to appear with some ready to blame the new handicaps for their team's surprise exit from a competition.
Having said that the last lot of published handicaps were so far off the mark and diagrammatically opposite to this latest version that one wonders how they were ever released in the first place.
For example the difference between the top and bottom teams in the Bistro in the original set of figures was a handicap of 16 points. The revised difference is now a staggering 45 points as opposed to the 36 difference there was prior to all this tinkering. It is clear that the first set of figures was not even close to what is now considered to be a move to improve the chances of the lower division teams whereas the previous version did exactly the opposite by halfing the handicaps of the lower teams.
In simple terms the new handicaps provide a 25% shift (45 minus 36) in favour of the lower division teams as compared with the handicaps used last season. Time will tell how effective that proves to be. I wonder if anyone has set any objectives for this change to be judged effective or not.
No changes have been proposed for the 6-Man League Julie Fuller KO. No doubt the HuddWeb WhatsApp discussion forum will be tossing this topic around although I doubt that anyone will come up with an alternative solution to the one now being touted. Here is the latest version of the handicaps for the three team competitions in the 10-Man League.
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