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A few interesting bits about out 2024 league

By Roger Nichols on 15th May 2024 in Newsletter, Summer League Reports

As ! mentioned in my week 1 post we are delighted to welcome 56 teams to our 6 Aunt Sally sections for 2024. A few things that might surprise you about our league and what happens on Wednesday nights from May through to September.

With 56 teams that means that 28 venues will be hosting Aunt Sally matches throughout the season
15 venues with two teams will host games on at least 16 Wednesdays
24 other venues will host games on 7/8 or 9 Wednesdays
1 venue will play host to 2 teams every Wednesday and an additional team on another 8 because they have 2 throws!
We have registered almost 900 players for our 56 teams, that’s an average of 16 registered players for each team.
26 matches will take place every Wednesday and that means over 400 players will be in pubs and clubs in our catchment area.
If only the 8 players from each side turn up and each spend on average £10 on the night that’s £160 of income for either 9 weeks (£1440 per season) or (£2880 for pubs and clubs with 2 teams!) For the one “lucky” host pub with 3 teams that income would be over £4000 over the season.
Of course we know that not everyone spends £10, some of us make up for that by spending more and lots of sides have more than just their 8 players especially at home venues.
The cost of entry for the Aunt Sally League is just £45 a year! Good value when you look at potential income versus expenditure!!

So if you or your landlord, manager or steward need re-assurance that it is worthwhile hosting an Aunt Sally team or two feel free to share these observations with them! It’s recognised that the income excludes the cost of all of the overheads including drink, staff and other overheads, but we suggest it’s still not a bad return for that £45 cost of entry and where would those 400 punters be on a Wednesday night if it weren’t for Aunt Sally!!

Summer 2024 Week 1 Results

By Paul Stone on 13th May 2024 in Newsletter, Summer League Reports

Match Scores

Premier/A

Abingdon Utd@ConClub 5 – Bystander A 1; Legs (27-19 18-17 21-21)

College Oak A 2 – Steventon Sports SC A 4; Legs (20-26 19-24 24-22)

Plum Pudding 4 – Berinsfield SC A 2; Legs (28-16 18-25 21-19)

The Vine Cumnor 3 – Croft Nomads 3; Legs (18-24 23-23 21-18)

B Section

Abingdon United C 0 – Stanford in the Vale FC 6; Legs (7-16 11-19 10-14)

Harwellian B 2 – The Bell A Grove 4; Legs (14-12 12-15 11-12)

The Croft Bar 4 – Fleur de Lys A Hagbourne 2; Legs (9-12 14-8 12-11)

The Fox Denchworth 5 – The Plough Long Wittenham 1; Legs (7-7 9-8 10-6)

The Grapes B 1 – Abingdon RBL 5; Legs (10-10 14-17 13-16)

C Section

Eight Bells Eaton 2 – The Grapes A 4; Legs (13-11 10-12 6-12)

The Bear and Ragged Staff Cumnor 0 – Abingdon Con Club 6; Legs (7-9 7-14 12-13)

The Bell B Grove 6 – The Waggon and Horses Southmoor 0; Legs (14-5 18-9 12-9)

The Oak Didcot 6 – The Prince of Wales Shippon 0; Legs (17-10 13-10 16-9)

D Section

Berinsfield SC B 0 – The Midget 6; Legs (8-10 10-13 10-15)

Brewery Tap 4 – The Plough Hanney 2; Legs (18-8 9-8 11-13)

Red Lion B Drayton 4 – Harwellian A 2; Legs (4-8 15-11 11-10)

The Lamb A Wantage 2 – College Oak B 4; Legs (9-7 7-13 5-11)

The Queens Arms 2 – The Chequers Charney 4; Legs (6-11 6-12 12-10)

E Section

Marcham Centre A 4 – The Lamb B Wantage 2; Legs (8-8 9-9 14-5)

North Star A Steventon 6 – Hanney RBL 0; Legs (11-8 13-8 11-7)

Steventon Sports SC B 6 – Horse & Jockey A 0; Legs (17-2 7-4 11-5)

The Wheatsheaf Didcot 5 – RAL SC 1; Legs (13-10 13-12 10-10)

Bystander C 6 – North Star B Steventon 0; Legs (4-3 11-5 6-4)

F Section

Fleur de Lys B Hagbourne 6 – Marcham Centre B 0; Legs (10-7 12-5 7-6)

Sutton Courtenay FC 4 – Grove RFC 2; Legs (9-10 13-8 14-7)

The Plough Appleton 0 – WADS Bar 6; Legs (1-12 4-7 6-8)

Blobbers

Abigail Ray (Horse & Jockey A), Adam Harris (Hanney RBL), Anna Antell (The Plough Appleton), Archie Davidson (The Fox Denchworth), Chris Wilding (North Star B Steventon), David Baker (Harwellian B), Edward Walker (The Lamb B Wantage), Enya Mayall (Horse & Jockey A), Jess Bailey (North Star B Steventon), Jessica Ray (Horse & Jockey A), John Colgrave (North Star B Steventon), Ken Tombs (Marcham Centre B), Lisa Stone (The Queens Arms), Lucas Bowler (The Plough Appleton), Maurice Owen (Abingdon United C), Mick Wright (Marcham Centre B), Nigel Tait (Abingdon RBL), Paul Golding (The Plough Appleton), Paul Norris (The Waggon and Horses Southmoor), Peter Hogan (The Lamb A Wantage), Phil Neale (The Plough Appleton), Richard Blake (The Queens Arms), Rob France (Marcham Centre B), Russell Stock (The Fox Denchworth), Sandra Buchanan (The Lamb A Wantage), Simon Busby (Berinsfield SC B), Will Shallis (The Plough Long Wittenham).

Sixers

No sixers this week – it can only get better because here are those who were 1 stick short!

Andy Barrett 1-5-1 (The Croft Bar) – Week 1
Colin Kilpin 0-5-2 (The Bell A Grove) – Week 1
David Dix 5-3-5 (Abingdon Utd@ConClub) – Week 1
Ian Brook 5-2-4 (Croft Nomads) – Week 1
Paul Barrett 5-2-2 (Abingdon Utd@ConClub) – Week 1
Phil Adams 5-5-4 (Abingdon Utd@ConClub) – Week 1
Simon Armstrong 3-2-5 (The Queens Arms) – Week 1
Terry Downes 2-5-4 (Plum Pudding) – Week 1

Summer League underway and week 1 review

By Roger Nichols on 13th May 2024 in Newsletter

The league season got underway on what was a most welcome fine and warm Wednesday last week! This season sees a very welcome 56 teams competing in the 6 sections, an increase of 4 teams overall on 2023.

We welcome 6 new teams to our league from the Horse & Jockey at Stanford in the Vale with 2 teams , Grove Rugby Club, The WADS bar at Wootton, another additional team from the Fleur de Leys at East Hagbourne and 2 teams from the Marcham Centre. Unfortunately we have lost the Wheatsheaf Drayton, the Black Horse Hanney, the Plum Pudding and one of the Brewery Tap teams from 2023.

Fortunately despite a number of hostelries closing who have hosted Aunt Sally in previous seasons sides from many of those have found a new home. The Fox at Boars Hill will play at the Bystander whose B side from 2023 have returned to their former home at the Waggon & Horses Southmoor, the 2 sides from the Abingdon Arms in Wantage have found new homes at the Bell Grove and The Lamb Wantage who have also welcomed the team formerly at the Black Horse Hanney and the team from the Hart at Harwell have moved a couple of miles down the road to a new home at the Plum Pudding in Milton where they have been joined by one of the stalwarts of our league Terry Downes.

There has been quite a lot of player movements as well largely as a result of the Plum Pudding not retaining a Premier section side for 2024. The good new is that almost all of their side from 2023 have found new teams primarily at Abingdon United/Con Club, Croft Nomads and Abingdon RBL. So we may have lost a very good team, but we have retained several very good players some of whom made very good performances in their first league appearances for their new sides last week.

I should also mention that we are delighted to see The Plough Appleton return to the Aunt Sally family this year.

So, in summary although we failed to reach our very ambitious stretch target of 60 teams for 2024 we are delighted to welcome so many new and returning teams, relocating teams and many, many new players to our game. We hope you enjoy it and stay with us for many seasons! It’s great to see that Aunt Sally is still alive and kicking and supporting not only our game, but most importantly so many of the pubs and clubs in our communities.

So onto the week 1 review of results and individual performances. let’s start by looking at the overall results. in the Premier/A section Abingdon Utd champions for several seasons got off to a flying start defeating the Bystander A 5-1 with new recruit Phil Adams hitting the top individual score of the night with 14 dolls, ahead of team mates Dave Dix who hit 13 dolls and another new recruit Ken Fisher who also contributed 10 dolls to the cause! There were wins also in the Premier/A section for Steventon Sports A 4 -2 against newly promoted College Oak A, Plum Pudding against Berinsfield A and the Vine and Croft Nomads shared the spoils with a 3 apiece draw.

Elsewhere there were many good individual performances, but no magical 6’s! In the premier?A section both Ian Brook with 11 and Alan Bell with 10 dolls started their season in good form as did Alec Chamberlain with his 10 dolls for Berinsfield A and Terry Downes playing for the “new” Plum Pudding helped them off to a winning start with 11 dolls at the College Oak. In the C section Rod Dorian scored 10 dolls for the Royal Oak and just down the road also in Didcot Simon Armstrong matched that score for the Queens Arms in the D section both sides winning their matches against the Prince of Wales Shippon and The Chequers, Charney 6-0.

Other winners on the first night were Stanford In the vale FC.Abingdon RBL, The Bell Grove A, The Fox Denchworth and The Croft Bar in the B section. The Bell Grove B together with The Grapes A, Abingdon Conservative Club were winners in section C, REd Lion B, College Oak B, The Midget and the Brewery Tap got off to winning starts in the D section and in the E section newcomers Fleur de Leys B and the WADS Bar were both winners on the night together with Sutton Courtenay FC and The Bystander C.

A great start to the season which is always great to see and with over 200 players playing Aunt Sally in 27 different venues last Wednesday providing a boost for our pubs and clubs which form such an essential part of our community

2024 Season Underway

By Roger Nichols on 3rd May 2024 in Competition News, Newsletter, Summer League Reports

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!

Summer 2024 Teams are ONLINE! Check your names!

By Paul Stone on 20th April 2024 in Newsletter, Summer League Reports

We’ve now got all your teams online so it’s time for Captains/Secretaries to check the names to make sure they are correct so use the Team Scores report to take a look. If you find a typo (or a ??? on an entry) please email using Team Support to tell us the team name and player to be corrected and how.

If you win/runnerup the section we take the names off the league tables to put on the plaques so please check them now as a request to redo the plaques comes with a cost if it’s not as registered online!

You might be surprised at this but some registrations form entries are illegible! IKR ! Top Tip for next year: Fill in the registration sheet carefully while sober! 😀

And while your at it check your LOGINS…

Now is also an excellent time to check if you can login and if you are responsible for match card entry do check you can access the Scorecard online. You should see the match card header if you get logged in correctly. Scorecard entry doesn’t ‘open’ until Wednesday evening so you’ll see a ‘currently disabled’ message but this means you could enter a scorecard when we start. If you need the ability to enter cards then contact us via Team Support and quote your username/email address and we’ll set you up.

It’s very useful if your account has a registered email address which allows you to reset your password. You can set this in your Edit Profile in the top right after logging in where it has your name.

Some of the old ‘team name’ accounts from when we started the online system don’t necessarily have email addresses attached. NOTE you can only register an email ONCE on the system, no duplicates are allowed even for different usernames.

If you have problems and to save time please quote your username and/or email address so we can locate your account and report any issues via Team Support.

If you need a NEW Login contact us via Team Support.

Did you know…. that if you are logged in you can comment on posts?
They are moderated so keep it clean if you want to be heard.

Let’s hope the weather’s good for the first Wednesday and remember….