Archive | Newsletter

This category is for the newsletter posts – as these are automatically emailed out to mailing list subscribers, it should only be used for important announcements and updates.

Events Calendar now populated

The Events calendar is now populated with the competition schedule and season events.

Click on the ‘Look for more’ link to go forward into the year a month at a time. 

Click on an event to allow you to ‘copy to my calendar’.  Note this is for electronic calendar users. If you have a traditional on the wall or pocket diary you’ll need a pen. 🙂 

Last day for Registrations is 30 March!

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Banbury Invitation Inter-League 8s Knockout 2024

Only a couple of weeks ago James Barguss, ex chairman of AASL and now a committee member for the Banbury league invited us to take part in their 8s interleague competition. One league had dropped out so we were given the opportunity.

I assembled a team as best I could with some of the Winter and Summer league players trying to select some of the best to give us a good show.

 

With the event at Banbury’s General Foods Sports and Social Club on a Friday night at 7pm the logistics of getting the team there from Abingdon and beyond and hoping the A34/M40 was clear was a concern. 

It turned out to be a fine evening and the motorway was busy but thankfully clear and we all got there in 3 cars in good time.

The venue is right by the canal so would be nice to explore if earlier in the evening!

Banbury has an indoor Winter League and this kit was used with a venue that could cope with 4 pitches side by side, albeit a little cramped for the yard officials. The kit they have for the yard would make a great portable pitch and of such simple design that the pitches were all in place within a few minutes – see photos below. The oches were fixed to the wooden floor by simple sticky pads.

Practice ensued and this was our first challenge – the pitch is 6 inches longer in Banbury! Some got to grips with this and some struggled. Next year we might have to practice with a reversed swivel!

While the team practised we were briefed with the other subtleties of the Banbury rules (see below) and the draw for round 1 was made.

We drew Eynsham, I’ll be honest I didn’t know they had a league but they turned out to be a worthy competitor and their Captain, known as Rev took the Secretaries trophy with a straight 5-5-5 against all comers – you can’t argue much with that!

A few of our players have previous historical connections with some of the other leagues and it was notable how many came over to greet and connect again so that was a good thing just to be there.

Drawing host and home advantage side Banbury was going to be tough. Even Oxford only got low 20s in their first round but Banbury smashed 27 and 28. Could they do it again?

Well yes they did and set 28 for us to be unable to catch needing a 6&5 from our tailenders. We set 21 in the second leg and Banbury breezed past it with one player in hand and it being James Barguss (our ex-Chairman) getting the final winning doll it might have been a lesson or revenge?

We’ll be back as all our players said they’d enjoyed it so maybe next year practice makes a trophy!

Even though we left early, had to really, and missed the final it was nearly midnight before we got home, partly due to the A34 being closed off, had we stayed for the final it would have been later still.

But had we been IN the final I’m sure the euphoria would have carried us home whatever the hour.

(pictures below by Paul Stone – click to enlarge)

Ex Abingdon Chairman James Barguss (note the t-shirt doll motif!) exchanges memories with Scott Humphries (Team Captain)

The pitch went from this 

 to this

in a few minutes with an organised team of helpers.

Banbury rules…. the iron is 30ft and 6″ away and that 6″ made a difference.

Alec Chamberlain on the oche (secured by sticky pads, the oche not Alec)

The ‘A’ Team (cue the theme tune, there was no B team!).

Alec Chamberlain 3.65 Abingdon United B 2022
Mick Greenaway 2.28 Berinsfield SC A
Geoffrey Lee 2.38 Berinsfield SC A
Stuart Wilson 2.59 Berinsfield SC A
Steve Enock 2.81 Croft Nomads
Scott Humphries 2.87 Abingdon United @Con Club
Phil Adams 3.61 Plum Pudding
Leigh Clapton 2.86 Abingdon United @Con Club

In theory an average of 23.05…..

In support Paul Stone, Tosh Woolloff and Alan Humphries and Alec’s Rhiana.

1st Round draw with the leagues represented

First draw was against Eynsham. Lost the first leg, drew the second. That meant a 3 stick shootout. Banbury rules are played 3 sticks repeating until there’s a winner of that leg which we did with 2 players spare.

3rd leg we won with Phil Adams getting the necessary 4 with Leigh spare. Scores of 19 and 17 legs we knew were not going to be enough with the next draw against “home advantage” team Banbury who’d set 27 and 28 in the first round match.

 

 

The final game – we came we fought and we lost.

Alec played as our Secretary in an all team scoring leg game – a bit like killer i.e. keep up with the best scorer. In this case it was Rev from Eynsham who took out most of the opposition when he got a second 5! And a 3rd 5 secured his trophy. 

Banbury rules quirks….

Oche is 30ft 6″ from the iron…I.e. 30ft from the end of the swivel (not the iron as in other leagues).

In this competition each team calls for the other when throwing and the other sticks up. I.e.the other team calls for you when you play.

If a leg is drawn its on 3 sticks repeating not 3-1-6  repeating as we do.

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Registrations and Website updates

A couple of updates for you….

Registration Night – we had a good night getting teams signing on and by Roger’s count (he’s the Treasurer so I hope he’s good at counting 😀 ) we believe we have 54 teams signed on at present. Now some of  last years teams have had to move venues, some we lost but we do have a couple of new entrants in Grove RFC and Horse and Jockey (S-in-the-V) and we have some venues with new 2nd teams. All positive stuff so thank you for supporting your league.

We have a few more spaces left therefore – as we said at the AGM ideally we’d like to be at the top end of the 50 teams rather than the bottom as there are less byes for sections so if you’re thinking of starting a team or a 2nd/3rd team at a venue you still have some time because….

We are now CLOSING registrations on the 30th March so if you are keen to take part get in touch as soon as possible via support @ abingdonauntsally.com.

If you want to know what happens next take a look at our process and you’ll be able to appreciate the work that goes on in the next month.

Our Banking – as we said at the AGM we are moving our accounts from one of the ‘big four’ to a building society. We have had such poor service from the current bank they’ve paid us some compensation for the 3-6 months trouble it has caused us. This is one of the reasons we couldn’t accept BACS payments this year. I’ve told Roger not to hold his breath for the compensation judging by past performance. Who knows next year we might even take card payments on Registration Night….

Website – every year we have issues with people not being able to login successfully to the website to enter scorecards – I have to say this isn’t always ‘human error’ as there’s an automatic lockout if you get it wrong 3 times. One of the reasons for this and why I have had to withdraw the self-registration process is because we were getting a few hundred duff accounts being requested each month – extra work rejecting them which I didn’t need. So we need to adopt a new subscribe process SO if you want to subscribe please drop an email to support and I will register you manually with the email address that you send from. 

On the point of emails if you already have an account please make sure your profile has a valid email address registered. Once you login you can edit your profile in the top right of the screen – hover over your name and click Edit Profile.

EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS: One of the fixes I’ve recently applied is to make the mail system work again (hopefully some of you will get this post notified by email!) and this works by the address stored in your profile.

In the last week you may have noticed that the site had gone ‘not secure’ for a couple of days – this relates to the HTTPS encryption certificate expiring which, although we had paid the bill a few months earlier didn’t get actioned (by us or our hoster). This is now fixed and didn’t affect the data on the site.

InterLeague Match tonight – after stating on national radio last month that we didn’t have any interleague competitions (doh!) we are attending Banbury tonight to take part in their organised 8 league x 8 player knockout. It was a bit short notice but I’m sure with the crew we’ve cobbled together we’ll give a good account for Abingdon Aunt Sally. You’ll never know if you don’t give it a go!

I’ll post further details at the weekend when I’ve recovered. If you’re in the Banbury area and want to pop along to support email chairman @abingdonauntsally.com for details.

Thanks for reading this far and have a great weekend.

You know it’s good when you hear the wood! 

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Last Weekend to Get Your Team Together!

It’s Friday Night and it’s an ideal time to check your team registration for Monday’s REGISTRATION NIGHT!

If you’ve not done it yet get online to abingdonauntsally.com and download and print the forms and why not take a punt at some of the competitions!

Don’t forget the 8s knockout is handicapped to even up the matches so everyone had a chance.

You know it’s good when you hear the wood! 

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ONE WEEK TO REGISTRATION and we go International!

We have 1 week to go until Registration Night so get your Team and Competition forms together.

Meanwhile in Australia…. Carl Sanders, son of ex-pat and ex-AASL player Frank Sanders is starting a league in Oz as well as an international Istagram account @AuntSallyInt so get following.

He’ll be over in the summer to start an international match between Oz and the UK. We’ve already sent him two dolls to get him going over there.

 

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Aunt Sally Venues Map

I’ve put together a map of all the venues that welcome Aunt Sally teams – click below for the full version.

As you know we had 52 teams last year and we’d rather have a few more at the top end of a block of 10 (i.e. nearer 60) so that we don’t have to put as many byes in the sections.

SO if you know of a venue that used to have a team OR your venue can support a 2nd team (or a 2nd pitch) do try and get people interested in the game.

Don’t forget Registration Night is on 11th March – forms are on the homepage! 

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A Doll or Not A Doll? That is the question

At our recent AGM one of the teams made a, lets call it an ‘observation’, that certain calls which were obviously dolls were not called. Now calling is, like any other refereeing, the most controversial part of any game. In Aunt Sally, ignoring foot faults, or extra tape on sticks, or handicaps or… well one of them.. anyone could do better than the person doing the job. Obviously, that goes without saying. IKR! Funny how there are always a lack of volunteers to do the job when the Captain asks though!

If you get your team in that situation of really dubious calling ideally the Captains should discuss it and if necessary change the caller. Keep it sporting. If all else fails walk away from the match and report it to the Committee. We don’t want to lose teams in the league but neither can we tolerate deliberate cheating and bringing the game into disrepute – that’s not good for any of us.

So back to dolls.

I was taught that if the doll goes up and backwards that it’s a doll. If it goes straight up it can’t be, I mean that’s just physics! – unless the stick lands on the top of the doll which would be a bit obvious. If a doll falls forward, again it can’t be a doll unless the stick has obviously hit it from behind – and I’ve seen quite a few of those where you think the stick has missed and then knock! – You know it’s good when you hear the wood.

For the avoidance of doubt it’s worth mentioning any stick that hits the ground first then the doll is not a doll. Any doll that is struck and lies down on the swivel is not a doll – similarly a doll that upends and stands upside down for a split second (yes I’ve seen that!). Any doll that falls off with a stick nowhere near is not a doll. Technically, any stick that hits something else (like an overhanging tree) and hits the doll is not a doll – but I think most would count that as a lucky shot!

 

The swivel pad SHOULD be smaller than the base of the doll – the doll should overhang all round by a small amount. This placement allows the doll to be hit without hitting the swivel if it’s a low shot but it had to be a solid direct movement of the doll. Again in my view if the doll has fallen and the swivel hasn’t moved then it must likely have been a good hit. There are of course some players (generally with heavier sticks thrown hard, usually round arm) that can smack the doll right on the end by the swivel pad and the doll will fly and the swivel will spin – this is a doll because it’s propelled with force off the swivel hitting that overhang – just mind your ankles for the stick rebound! 

I find it best to focus on the bottom front of the doll right on the swivel where most of the controversy might happen. It also helps if there’s a darker background than the doll so I tend to adjust my position as caller to suit. Let’s face it – obvious dolls are easy to count – other ones come with practice and experience. This is why sticking up is also a call learning opportunity and the caller can ask the sticker up for an opinion if unsure.

Very early on in my AuntSallyTV ‘career’ I recorded a couple of doll strikes so people could see the difference.  Check them out

On the actually calling again it needs to be repeated that it helps everyone (especially those filling in the scorecard/board) that the number of dolls is called out loud and the total repeated at the end of the players throw (assuming they missed with the last stick!). This leaves no room for error or controversy and the caller’s decision is final.

Don’t forget Registration Night is on the 11th March so get your Team and Competition forms off the homepage and sign on!

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Radio5 Live – Aunt Sally!

Last summer I spoke to one of the Didcot Women’s Institute (WI) groups about Aunt Sally explaining a bit of history and how to play the game. This inspired the AuntSallyTV video on the history which you can find here.

This week we were emailed from BBC Radio5 live to see if we can come on Gordon Smart’s late show to talk about the same thing after they were told about the game by a listener called ‘Jaqueline’.  They feature unique items local to an area each week. 

The Chairman duly obliged (after being volunteered by the committee, I tried to share the fame but there we are).

If you want to ‘listen again’ catch it on BBC Sounds at around 47 minutes into the recording.

Don’t forget Registration Night on 11th March and forms are online. If you can encourage another team at your venue or a new venue to join us please do!

 

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Important – Change of day/date for 2024 Annual General Meeting

 The Association’s Annual General Meeting will now be held on Tuesday 16th January a day later than originally planned and advised. The time and venue remains unchanged, 7.30pm at The Croft Bar, Peachcroft, Abingdon.

On Monday 15th, the original date, the funeral service of  Steventon Sports Michael Jarvis is taking place at St Michaels Church Steventon and many of his friends and Aunt Sally colleagues are expected to attend to pay  respects and share our memories of Jarv who was Steventon Sports Captain and a consistently good top Premier section player.

It would seem appropriate therefore to delay the AGM by 24 hours out of respect to his family, team mates and friends.

All team secretaries and captains will be e mailed  to advise of the delay and we are hoping that there will be a bumper turn out on the night, as the Abingdon & District League belongs to you, the clubs, pubs and players without whom the league wouldn’t exist so do come along and have your say. Our hope for 2Summer 2024 is that we can attract more sides, encourage new players and have another successful Summer season.

 

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As we move from 2023 into 2024

We just wanted to say that we  hope that all  of our Aunt Sally family had a very happy Christmas and we wish all our clubs, pubs, players and their families a very happy and successful New Year.

Obviously our thoughts are with those for whom the festive period has been overshadowed by family issues and we remember with fondness those we lost from our community during 2023.

2024 will present more challenges, but from your Committee our hope is that we can secure enough entries for Summer 2024 to get our league back up to 6 sections all with 10 teams, that will require some more entrants and between now and March we will be actively  trying to recruit the additional pubs, clubs and teams to achieve that goal.

Best wishes from

Your Abingdon & District League 2023 Committee

 

 

 

 

 

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