Author Archive | Roger Nichols

Just a few highlights and lowlights from last week. Firstly a couple of apologies from our Week 1 update. omitted from our top scorers was Terry Downes who hit 13 dolls in Plum Puddings opening game against Abingdon United and credited with 14 dolls when in fact he only hit 13 was Barry Parker in the same match, but playing for Abingdon United.

So onto last week the evening was a thoroughly wet one and certainly weather that is not ideal for either standing around in a pub garden and even less so for throwing Aunt Sally sticks but well done to all those who persevered.

Pleased to report that only one fixture was lost and that was a mutual postponement between Sutton Courtenay FC and Hanney RBL. That match is going to be re-arranged as soon as possible. No “no shows” last week so 21 matches played on what was a pretty foul night, we have had cold and we have had wet already this season, maybe this week Wednesday will be both dry and warm……after all Aunt Sally is a summer sport!

Scoring was, not surprisingly generally down last week compared to week 1, but a few individuals proved that the weather was no deterrent to their throwing and last week’s highest individual scorer was Phil Adams who hit 14 dolls for the Plum Pudding against The Hart Harwell, but Phil’s 14 was not enough to stop The Hart edging home to a 4-2 victory. Dave Dix followed up his 14 from week 1 with another 13 dolls for Abingdon United, but again Dave’s doll haul was not enough to stop his side slipping to a 4-2 defeat against The Vine for whom Dan Hamilton top scored with 10 dolls.

Other double digit doll scorers were Ian Morrison for Steventon Sports with 11, Norman Hazell for Abingdon RBL in the B section  and Andrew Wilson also playing in the B section for The Plough.

At the other end of the doll scoring (or lack of) Croft Nomads could only manage 6 dolls from 8 players in the 3rd leg of their Premier section against Red Lion who won 4-2, This might just be the lowest recorded leg score in the Premier League and even the handicap didn’t lift them to double figures!

Hopefully the problems logging on to the website are or are being resolved for all teams n the event of any ongoing problems please let us know and we will try to resolve them as quickly as possible. All results last week were on the website by Friday evening so thanks for that because that means team scores, individual scores and league tables were all immediately updated online.

So onto week 3 and hopefully a dry and warm Wednesday evening. A few “local derbies” this week with the College Oak travelling to near neighbours Croft Nomads, Abingdon Con Club entertaining Grapes B from up the road , The Chequers Charney Bassett having to travel up the road to Stanford FC.

Remember we are still open to registering additional players for all sections so if your side are struggling for numbers  and you have anyone not registered yet just let us know. 

At last we are back! The season got under way last week and despite a much reduced number of sides taking part than in 2019 when we last held a full league season enthusiasm seems good for our game with 3 new sides joining the league this year. On the downside 15 sides have not been able, for a variety of different reasons been able to enter the league this year, but we hope they will be back in the future.

We have experienced a number of challenges over the past couple of years and have not only lost pubs and clubs and their teams, but also a small number of people long associated with the league as players and officers have passed since we last played. They will all be remembered when the Founders and Legends Trophy is competed for later in the Summer.

There are a number of changes that are being introduced this year including the online only registration of teams, players and match scores which last week caused a few hiccups, but hopefully have, or soon will be resolved. Apologies for all of you who have been affected by the website glitches and our inability to resolve them quickly. As a Committee we want to make things easier to do for you, but for some, that has proven not to be the case! So sorry!

Other changes this season include an earlier start…8pm not 8.30 as was tradition! This change, agreed at the AGM has not been universally popular already so discretion,  common sense and agreement between the 2 sides on start times as long as it is no later than 8.30 should avoid any debate and conflict. People do have to work and often travel so whilst the rule is there it should not need to be rigidly applied.

Another change this year is to experiment in Section E only with the option of playing matches with 6, 7 or 8 players per leg, but with the introduction of substitutes to allow both sides to have a level playing side, but also allowing sides with 6 players the opportunity to only play against 6 on the opposition, but also allowing sides with 7 or 8 players the option of playing all of those although maybe in only 1 or 2 of the legs to ensure 6 a side for each leg.

One other important change is to the Competitions which have always been played on Thursday evenings through June and July, making for some, 2 successive nights of Aunt Sally for 6 to 8 weeks.

With the exception of the 8’s Competition we are planning to hold all of the other Competitions on one day, at one venue with 2 throws. More details about that and how to enter  in the next week or so.

Well back to week 1 and let me start with the good news. 19 of the scheduled 22 matches took place, it didn’t rain and almost 300 players took part.

Some things don’t change and at the top of the individual leader board were the names Dix and Parker who both hit 14 dolls for Abingdon United B in a high scoring match against Plum Pudding which United won 4-2, after 1 game of 18 these two already look to be the likely contenders for the top!

I should also mention Derek (Rod Stewart) Fletcher who also hit 14 dolls for Steventon Sports in their 6-0 win over a depleted Hart of Harwell side.

Now for the not so good news, we had 3 “no shows” on Week 1! One was fine with opponents told in advance, one was a genuine oversight which meant an unnecessary round trip of about 30 miles for an away side whose opponents thought the season started this week and the third was a team who couldn’t field a side, so didn’t travel and failed to let their opponents know in advance or even on the day!

So, it’s week 2 and lets hope that all scheduled matches take place and are played in the right spirit and enjoyed. Remember it’s just  a game……………..but a game where we all want to play our best whatever our best is!