Winter League
With our last few games of the summer season fast approaching I’ve seen that the Abingdon Winter Aunt Sally (WASL) sign on sheets are out and about.
Abingdon Winter Aunt Sally is extremely successful.
Run firstly by Brian Clapton and now by Tosh Wooloff it has 10 teams. Each team has 5 active players plus a few spare. The teams are split into A and B section with 5 teams in each. All the matches are indoors at the Abingdon United Football Club.
During the winter I play for a different team than I do in the summer and so do most of the other players. The teams are much more varied and the scores are much closer.
Playing begins at 19:45 SHARP!! With all 5 games lasting around 30 mins each.
Yes it’s pain being last on but that’s the price you pay for some good Aunt Sally.
I’d like to say that the winter league isn’t taken as seriously as the summer, but I’d be lying. It starts off that way. A bit of fun and a laugh, but as the season progresses that all changes and it’s just as competitive.
Is it better than summer? Well, it’s different. With only 5 players a bad leg is bad leg. Often you will see a good team only hitting 10 or 13. Without an 8 man team to raise that score everyone needs to be playing well. This keeps the league interesting right up the last game. For the last couple of years this has gone to the last game of the last night, gripping stuff if you like your Sally.
If you haven’t played perhaps you should consider coming down for our first practice session (I’m not sure when this is, keep an eye on the web site ED- there’s no friendly this year as the summer Wed Competitions had extended the season) A friendly between the teams. There are always spaces on teams and it gives you a chance to meet and play with different people.
There isn’t any practice though you can turn up before the 19:45 start time and have as many throws as you can get in.
Playing in the winter gives you the opportunity to modify your throw and get some practice in ready for summer. I can’t say this enough, the people there are super friendly and will help with advice on any part of your game.
Also there are a fair number of the summer committee playing there. Graham Barguss, Graham Brown, Terry Downes, James Barguss, John Simmonds and Paul Stone. This is a good time to approach (obviously not during the game) and discuss ideas or issues you may be having and give some advice as the best way to solve them.
The winter league doesn’t have a committee as such. Tosh runs it and what he says goes, although as teams we all vote on any decisions.
My next few blog posts I hope will be interviews with some of the better players within the league. Unless of course I don’t get any replies back!
Remember also we have finals night approaching (Wed 28th Sep) and ALL of the trophies need returning so that they can be engraved ready for presentation night (Fri 28th Oct).
Anchorman
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