As you know we have been canvassing recently to secure enough entries to stage this year’s many competitions.
At the AGM in January it was agreed that a minimum entry level of 8 was required to make the various events both competitive and to ensure that the effort in holding the competitions and the cost of trophies were justifiable based on the number of entries.
We are pleased that the minimum number of entries has been reached in the 8’s competition which is already well under way and we have in excess of 20 entries and 14 entries for the singles and open pairs which will take place at Abingdon United on Sunday the 6th July. Good news.
For the Captains and Secretaries competition we require just one or two more entries to reach our minimum level.
For the other planned Competitions we seem to have enough entries for the D, E and F Section pairs which will be held on Thursday 21st August at a venue still to be confirmed. The remaining competitions we would still like more entries for. These are the Team 5’s, the Team 4’s and the Team 3’s together with the new Section B and C pairs events.
As a reminder the Team 4’s and 3’s are scheduled to be held at the Croft Bar on Thursday July 17th and the team 5’s will be held at Abingdon Conservative Club on Thursday August 7th.
The Section B and C pairs competition has the least entries and the date set for that is Thursday August 14th again at a venue to be confirmed subject to enough entries being received.
So when the Committee met earlier this week it was agreed to :-
- Allow additional late entries to ALL competitions until this coming Sunday June 21st
- Confirm the dates of the new “closed ” pairs competitions for the sections B and below
- Proceed with all Competitions as planned (the only doubt is the B & C pairs which has only 3 entries so far!)
- Allow substitutes/reserves wherever necessary on the day of the competitions.
As you will be aware these Competitions are part of our heritage with many of the trophies donated several years ago by past sponsors, players etc and we therefore want these to remain an essential part of our history and of our sport for years to come.
We appreciate that we have to find ways of attracting more of our teams and our players to take part. We need to listen to the reasons why with 60 sides entered and 480 players taking part over our 18 week league season we struggle to get a minimum of 8 (singles), 16 (pairs), 24 (3’s), 32(4’s) and 40 (5’s) players to enter and commit to play in our Competitions. We know that in part it’s about when and where we hold the competitions, it’s about players and sides not entering because they think they are not good enough or are massive underdogs, they are not held on Wednesday’s which is Aunt Sally night etc
Those are all understood and we can, and have, adapted the way we arrange competitions in our endeavour to attract/increase entries, but without much real success.
We will continue to listen, adapt and learn in order to improve participation, but remember whenever and wherever you play Aunt Sally it’s about taking part, having fun, sharing the banter and for everyone who plays it keeps our game alive not just for ourselves, it’s for our pubs and clubs who support us. As importantly it’s a way that encourages others who may want to become part of our game for the future to try their hand! . If the game is lost it will probably be lost for ever!