2024 Season Underway

8’s Knockout Handicap

Well, the Summer Season is underway with the First Round of the Team 8’s competition providing the first competitive games of 2024. Many other sides have also made a start with friendlies and team practice nights on what, has been, a fairly chilly start to our Summer.

The 8’s Competition saw 4 games played on Wednesday night and the victorious sides were Abingdon United@Con Club who easily dispatched the challenge of a 7 player side Croft Nomads in 2 straight legs, Berinsfield SC A whose visit to The Bell Grove saw them progress by 2 legs to 1 on what was reported to be a thoroughly enjoyable evening, Steventon Sports B with a massive 10 doll advantage saw off Premier side Bystander A 2 legs to nil and in the other game played last night was  another local derby between Abingdon RBL took the honours with a 2 -1 victory over Abingdon United C.

So the draw for the next round sees

• Berinsfield A at home to Abingdon Con Club with the Con Club getting a 6 doll leg advantage
• Ab Utd@Con Club at home to The Fox Denchwoth who will get a 4 doll per leg advantage
• Steventon Sports B 0f the E section will entertain The Bell Grove B  and will have a 4 doll advantage
• Abingdon RBL  will have home advantage against Harwellian B and as both teams are in the B section there will be no handicap advantage or either side.

These games need to be completed by the end of June on a date mutually agreed by both sides.

Summer League Matches

Looking ahead to the league season which starts next Wednesday just a few reminders for everyone:-

• All fixture packs and other information including match cards have been circulated to all team secretaries
• Fixture list is also available from the home page
• League matches are scheduled to start at 8.15
• All registered players are listed on your team listing on the website 
• Hopefully all names and spellings have been checked and where necessary amended. Click here to review and notify team support if names are wrong.
• It is not too late to register additional players throughout the season and all will be confirmed immediately (before they play) unless they are registering for teams in the Premier/A sections who are subject to a handicap.
• Competition entries need to be made and fees paid by May 19th. Entry forms are available online
• 2024 sees the opportunity for teams in the B,C,D, E and F sections to enter Competitions not open to teams in the Premier and A sections. We hope to attract enough entries to hold separate team 3’s, pairs and singles competitions to be held on a date and venue to be confirmed later dependent upon the number of entries. Players and teams in these sections can of course still also enter the regular Competitions scheduled to take place on Sundays in June and August.
• All new teams/locations will need access to the website so they can input and check match scores. These will be sent to Captains/Secretaries in the next few days

That’s the official bits and pieces now for the polite reminders…………..Aunt Sally is a game with a lot of history and tradition and over the past 60+ years these have  been well respected and observed (most of the time!)

• Aunt Sally is a game that is both competitive and enjoyable and full of banter. Most of all it’s intended to be played in a good spirit enjoyed by all regardless of ability or results.
• Occasional bad language is inevitable, but continuous swearing and unwelcome abuse although rarely experienced is just not acceptable. Remember we are guests of our pubs and clubs and particularly in garden areas we share the facility with other customers including families often with young children. Let’s not cause anyone any offence or reason to complain!
• Beer legs are a long held part of our tradition and let’s wherever possible keep that going. These are  played traditionally at the end of the evening and often encourage more fun and banter which are essential to our game, also allow others who do not play regularly to take part. The nature of these legs are agreed by the Captains on the night (last leg vs separate or team vs 1:1) and although inflation has taken it’s toll with the price of drinks beer legs are still an integral part of our Wednesday nights and long may that continue!
• Food……..perhaps (for some!!) is another important part of our Wednesday evenings and many pubs and clubs are particularly attractive because of the post match food! We are always grateful to the landlord/stewards for providing this and most home teams do pay for the food provided either in full or part. Football cards are a source of income which helps with the cost so don’t be shy make sure you spend a few bob to support!

      None of the above are rules but I don’t think you will find too many teams or individuals who don’t agree with them.

Remember we are looking to maintain and grow our game to do that we need  support our pubs and clubs all of whom face real financial challenges and struggle to  survive. We want to attract more sides., more players particularly a younger generation, we want our game to be fully inclusive and it is encouraging over the past couple of years to see a significant increase in the number of ladies taking part and maybe it won’t be long before we introduce a bit of discrimination with ladies only competitions!!

To everyone old and new, enjoy the season, be fair, be respectful to each other, share the load with your team mates  in terms of setting up calling, sticking up or chalking and packing away, make some new friends, have some laughs and most of all ENJOY!

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