Archive | 2021

Latest update 2021

By Vic Pratt on 11th June 2021 in Newsletter

2021 Season Update

As you know we have been trying to establish some form of organised Aunt Sally for this Summer. There have been and still are many obstacles in our way and they are not showing any signs of going away soon. Lockdown was due to end later this month with an announcement from the Government scheduled for next Monday. Increasingly it looks like the planned date of June 21^st for the lifting of the remaining restrictions is going to be delayed and therefore that will affect what and when we can organise anything with any real confidence that it will happen!

We had a pretty positive response to the options we put out last month with around 30 clubs responding with the vast majority wanting to play games in some form. 24 teams indicated that, failing a normal league being possible, they would be up to playing friendlies in organised sections. Some teams are sensibly combining A and B teams to make sure they have enough players although as you will see from the guidelines there is a lot of flexibility in team numbers.

Since those initial responses the number has fallen to 22 which would give us potentially 4 sections and provide 10 or 8 fixtures with 2 sections of 6 playing 10 games and 2 sections of 5 playing each other Home and Away.

Some guidance from the committee, and we stress it is only guidance, because the normal league rules and regulations would not apply includes

Games would be played on Wednesdays cos that is Aunt Sally night but possibly any other night by mutual agreement between the respective Captains and Licensees
Teams can comprise any number of players from probably a minimum of 6 a side to a maximum of 12 a side played over 3 legs with 2 points for each leg won and 1 point for drawn legs.
Borrowing or lending players between sides to balance numbers per side is encouraged
“Rolling” substitutes to provide everyone with a throw in at least 1 leg
Players can play for more than one team during the “short season”
No food needs to be provided
Lazy dolls can be used by agreement to reduce “pick up”
Hand sanitisation should be available and encouraged “on site”
No “winner or loser “ trophies, no entry fees required
Games could start on June 30^th (subject to Gov’t lockdown ending in June or if that’s delayed until July 5^th from July 7^th finishing either in late August or early Sept.
No registration of players and new players encouraged (even from Oxford!)

We will now, over the next few days, confirm that those teams that said they would be up for it still are and give another chance for any other team to join (2 more would be ideal, making 4 sections of 6) whilst we work out the best way to organise the sections to enable us to get under way whenever we can without breaking any Covid guidelines.

Aunt Sally is a fun game and we all need some fun! And our pubs and clubs need our support and our money or they will find another use for the space where Aunt Sally pitches once stood! Regrettably we know a number of our teams have already lost their pitches either through pub closures or the space being used, understandably, for other reasons.

We have a responsibility to keep our game alive and, as aCommittee we are committed to doing our best to make that happen and get back to normal from 2022

2021 update

By Vic Pratt on 30th April 2021 in Newsletter

Abingdon Aunt Sally Association – A message from the Committee (otherwise known as the unknown gang of 5!)

As May approaches we have turned our thoughts to Aunt Sally in what continues to be a very strange and difficult world. We would, this week, have been eagerly anticipation our retreat to the pub every Wednesday for the next 18 weeks without any need for any excuse other than it’s Aunt Sally, I can’t let the team down we’ve only got 8 players and it’s 8 a side!

We think it’s fair to say that like 2020 it just won’t be possible to organise a full league again this year. Pubs have only just re-opened and only for outdoors and table service, some haven’t yet re-opened and some may never re-open. It will be mid May before anyone is allowed inside and June 21^st before we can think that anything is like normal as we knew it, but even then some features of lockdown like social distancing, hand sanitation and mask wearing are still likely to be required

As a Committee e have a duty of care for all of our clubs and all of their players with regard to the playing of organised Aunt Sally.

We know many people want to start playing Aunt Sally as soon as they can, many are still very cautious and understandably so, others may choose not to play at all in 2021 and maybe many will, after a season’s break may never come back having got out of the habit!

With all of that in mind we want to hear the views of all of our pubs and clubs as to what we can do and should do for the Summer beyond June effectively a maximum of 12/13 weeks, half a season! Whatever feedback we get, 2022 will not be our official 61^st season, that hopefully will come in 2022.

So what can we do? We are open to suggestions and some have already been aired and they are the options listed below! This is not exclusive and that is why we are asking for your responses, which ideally we need by 16^th May. Please see what your players think, what your landlord/steward thinks, that will help us decide what to do. There is no doubt that here is an appetite to play for many and whatever we decide some Aunt Sally, the rattle of wood against wood (or in most of our cases the silence of wood passing fresh air or wood against iron) will be resounding around the Vale and South Oxfordshire probably on Wednesday’s throughout the Summer providing pubs and clubs re-open and stay open!

So, the potential options so far

We could establish for those pubs and clubs who want to play “unofficial leagues to match teams of near similar strength based on 2019 averages, perhaps with each side playing each other once with no trophies but perhaps some form of token prize for the league champions. We, the Committee could record scores based on telephoned or emailed results being sent to nominated committee members. No fees, registration forms or match cards would be required/provided. We would simply record the match result and maintain league tables.
We could encourage teams to organise friendlies only with no records, rewards or committee involvement. This would keep the game alive and encourage people to play. The challenge with this is all organising would need to be done by the teams themselves and they could possibly organise local mini leagues to encourage as many pubs and clubs to participate and could play whenever or wherever they want with as many or as few players per side.
We could possibly arrange an Aunt Sally “extravaganza” to incorporate some of our normal competitions, 5’s, 4’s, 3’s Pairs and Singles at a single venue maybe on a weekend when all of the tournaments are entered either on the day or perhaps more sensibly beforehand with all games started and finished on the same day with a bar and perhaps a barbeque throughout the day.
We could encourage some mixed non /pubclub fixtures, for example Abingdon v Didcot, North Abingdon v South Abingdon any thing to keep people playing and as importantly supporting our local pubs and clubs who have supported Aunt Sally for so many years.
We could obviously all do nothing. and just write the 2021season off as we had to in 2020.

We are sure that there are many other options which we haven’t thought of and that’s why we want to hear from you all so that providing the route to the end of lockdown continues we keep Aunt Sally alive and kicking in and around our area!

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