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Round up of the best after week 7

SIXERS of 2022 – Week 7

So far this season we’ve had nearly 90 blobber scores (X-X-X or no score at all) recorded across all results to date – far too many to mention by name – take heart that you can only get better from there and of course we’ve all had a LONG break as an excuse to roll out!

Get practicing and Good dolls!

Well here we are Midsummer, a third of our way through our season and savouring al last some warm evenings and some high scoring across all sections. Clearly  some of us like warm, dry Wednesday evenings because double figure scores were recorded by 17 players last week and that included players in almost every section.

Pride of place though for last week must go to two players from the Red Lion Drayton.    Jason Black playing for the C side hit a remarkable 15 dolls equalling I think the highest individual score anywhere in the league so far his season. Not to be outdone Caroline Baker playing for the Red Lion B included a very memorable 6 in her sides game against Sutton Courtenay FC. Is there something in the beer there? Caroline was ably supported by teammate Tim Wilde who contributed 11 dolls for the Red Lion.

Elsewhere 6’s were scored by Phil Adams and Scott Humphries with Phil scoring a total of 13 dolls and Scott 12 against Steventon Sports A and Croft Nomads in games that ended 6-0 and 3-3 respectively.

The 8’s draw has been made and 2 preliminary ties are due to be played in the next few days and results will be posted on the website when received, the second round (quarter finals) will be played next month. The full draw will be on the website in the next day or so.

Competition entry forms for 2022 will also be on the website shortly and the entry date has been extended until July 10th with all Competitions (other than the 8’s scheduled to take  place on Sunday August 21st.

We know there are mixed feelings about playing on a Sunday, but equally there has always been mixed feelings and responses to holding Competitions on Thursday’s meaning players playing potentially 2 nights a week for 6 successive weeks. We are trying to do differently this year and reducing the number of venues and hopefully the disappointing number of “no shows” that we were experiencing when playing all Competitions on Thursday’s. I guess the old adage if you don’t try you don’t know!

Good luck to everyone team and individually tomorrow and whatever the team result or your individual performance, just enjoy the fact that there will be over 350 of us out there playing and doing our best tomorrow on what promises to be a warm Summer evening!

What could be better?

Well , tonight we play our week 6 fixtures which means we are already a third of the way through our league season! Don’t want to depress everybody, but after next week’s fixtures the nights will start to shorten and we are still waiting for our first really warm and dry evening of this Summer, but tonight promises to change that!

First some news about the Aunt Sally legend that is Barry Parker. Barry has barely missed a game since he first started playing and has dominated both the team and individual game since he first started playing many, many years ago. Barry unfortunately was forced  missed last week’s game for Abingdon United as he was hospitalised and is likely apparently to miss more games over the coming weeks. I am sure we send all of our best wishes to Barry and hope he has a swift and full recovery and is able to play again soon.

Last week was the first week of the season when no-one hit the magic 6 dolls, but nonetheless there was still some big scoring and, not surprisingly Dave Dix once again topped the individual scoring with another 14 dolls against the College Oak. Dave’s average is now running at 4.83 dolls per leg, some of us would be happy to score that many in 3 legs!

Other individual scores to note were recorded By Tosh Wooloff and Alan Bell who both hit 11 for their sides in the 3-3 draw between Plum Pudding and Croft Nomads in the Premier section. Alan was ably assisted by Steve Enock and Ian Brook who both registered 10 dolls for Croft. 

Steve Lambert also hit a notable 10 dolls for the Fox Denchworth A against SIVFC in their “local derby”.

A special mention for Prince of Wales Veterans who recorded their first win of the season

So far 4 teams out of the 48 playing remain unbeaten in Section B Fleur de Leys, in C section  Red Lion C, in D section Harwellian B and in the E section Brewery Tap B all the rest of us appear to have lost at least once after 5 outings so it does look, at this early stage as if all of the sections are going to be closely contested and that’s got to be good for the game, especially this year after our enforced 2 year absence.

At the other end of the spectrum tonight’s game IN c SECTION between the Feathers Flyers and North Star A provides both teams with the opportunity to record their first win of the season.

On the Competition front our first competition of the season will soon be underway. 10 teams have entered and the draw has been made and will be published on the website after the teams have been notified.

Preliminary ties will be played on a mutually agreed (between the Captains) date by the end of June, with the 1st Round being played in July with the Semi Finals in August again all on mutually agreed days and dates.

The Committee has agreed this suggested more flexible approach this year rather than stating games have to be played on a fixed day and date.

Good luck to everyone tonight, enjoy your evening and remember whilst we all try our best, sometimes on the night we don’t always manage our best, but the game is about more than the number of dolls as individuals we score (or in my case don’t!) or whether our team win or lose it is all about the banter, the enjoyment and also the revenue we provide to our pubs and clubs on a Wednesday evening.

And so to Week 4 results round up……………

Well it the run up to the Jubilee and the extended holiday at least the weather was both drier and warmer last Wednesday and that led to some higher individual and team scoring in every section.

Topping the scoring charts were Paul Longford of the Plum Pudding and Alex Chamberlain late of Berinsfield, but this season playing for Abingdon United. Alex also laid claim to be the first player to hit two maximums in his 3 legs. Both Plum Pudding and Abingdon United benefited from Barry Townsend and Scott Humphries chipping in with a mere 13 for their high scoring side Plum claiming all three legs in a 6-0 win over College Oak for whom Phil Soden top scored with 13 dolls and Abingdon United drawing 3 -3 with Berinsfield A for whom Stuart Wilson with 10 dolls.

There were many double digit scores 18 in total, the best of the season so far and most notably 6 of these were achieved outside of the Premier /A sections. Also worthy of mention is Graham Brown’s first 6 of the season for the Prince of Wales Veterans against Croft Nomads for whom Titch Bell top scored with his 12 dolls, his best of the season so far

After 4 weeks of the season it’s good to be playing again and getting back into the habit on a Wednesday evening and although very early days the sections are beginning to take shape and already there is only 1 team out of 48 who have still to concede a leg.

I wanted to mention the newcomers and returners top the league this season we have  The Prince of Wales, Shippon,  Steventon Sports B, The Fox at Boars Hill, Hanney RBL, Brewery Tap and the Queens Arms Didcot all “new” 9r returning pubs and clubs who weren’t entered in 2019 so although we are down in numbers we do actually have some new teams…….. and, more importantly, an awful  lot of players who are new to the game and that’s great………….the challenge will be in keeping them so lots of encouragement needed from their teammates and opponents. Let’s all  remember that part of the attraction of our game is the good natured banter that we all enjoy!

On that note though a word of warning we do  represent our clubs and pubs so banter is good, bad language and abuse is not!

Unfortunately after 2 full weeks of all fixtures being fulfilled last week we lost a couple of games because of player shortages. 

So just a reminder you can still register players for your side simply through  registering their names via team support and they will be added to your team ahead of your next game.

Good luck to all for tomorrow’s fixtures.

If  anyone is still having difficulties accessing the website to submit match scores please bear with us, we know it’s frustrating and we are fixing individual problems, but if can’t get in if you send a photo of the card to me or via team support we will make sure it get’s posted! 

Well, at least the weather was better last Wednesday, but still a long way short of being an early balmy Summer’s evening! The improvement in the weather was reflected in some much better scoring for some teams and individuals

Leading the way again in terms of individual dolls who hit another 14, that sets him way in front in terms of dolls with a leg average of 4.6 from the first 3 matches! he was joined in double digit scores by 4 of his team mates with Scott Humphries and Leigh Clapton contributing with 11 apiece and Barry Parker and  Alex Chamberlain chipping in with 10 each. Condolences to Red Lion meeting Abingdon United in such form!

Elsewhere in the Premier and A section there were double digit scores with Barry Townsend hitting 12 for the Plum Pudding, Mick Jarvis 11 for Steventon Sports, “Jumbo” Mott 11 for the Prince of Wales and Geoff Lee 10 for Berinsfield. 

What was also good to see is double digit scores in the B section  with Andrew Wood hitting 10 for the Fox Denchworth, Andy Shipman also hitting 10 in Section D for the Harwellian and in Section E, 2 players also hit a very credible 10 dolls each, Steve Fernback for the Fox, Boars Hill and Mel Benfield for the Brewery Tap A both teams newcomers/returners to the league this season.

The closing date for all Competitions has been extended until the end of June with the exception of the team 8’s the closing date for this will be this coming Monday June 6th. If you haven’t entered or confirmed your entry then please do so in the next few days. Handicaps for the 8’s are, as in most recent years, a plus handicap of 2 per section so, for example, a Premier sides playing a side in Section B will give 4 dolls, a side from Section B playing a side in Section C will concede a 2 doll handicap etc.

For the 8’s it is likely that the opening round will be held on either June 16th or 23rd with the second round held in July.

As a result of both lack o committee resources and the number of “no shows” in previous years the rest of the Competitions will take place on Sunday August 21st with an early afternoon start. This will be the 5;s, the 4’s and the 3’s as team events together with the pairs, singles Captains and Secretaries competitions. Entry is open to all registered players of all clubs and teams. We are hoping the bar will be open and we will be able to arrange for some catering on the day as for some it may  be a long afternoon!

Entries for all of these Competitions must be made by the end of June together with registration fees paid. The entry fees are £1 per person with no charge for nominated reserves So a team entering the 5’s will cost £5, the pairs £2 etc.

All entries to either Roger Nichols or via the  Team Support link on the website

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. 

You’ll notice the website menus have been reordered. This is so that if you are on a mobile phone or other small screen device the Navigation menu gives you match card entry and player relevant items at the top of the list. For regular ‘PC’ users this means the menu now fits on a widescreen monitor (if you don’t have one of these it really is time for a new PC).

Any suggestions for improvements please leave a comment below.

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!

It’s been a few years since we originally setup the website with ‘users’ matching ‘team names’ and every year we get queries about passwords etc. So read on and find out what you can do to help make this easier and some of the reasons we have to do what we do!

If you are having difficulties in logging in please use the Team Support email and contact us separately.

PASSWORD RESETS : If you have a valid email address set on your profile you can request a password reset yourself. If not when you get us to reset it and you login successfully please add one to your profile (see below).

USER ACCOUNTS: We get many bots trying to register fake accounts so it’s difficult to see the wheat from the chaff when valid players or AASL friends do not make it obvious they are genuine users.  We can get dozens of these a week so it’s not a simple job to spot fakes or even genuine users. They try it on with fake accounts so they can attempt to hack the site later.

We are therefore removing any accounts with risky/undeliverable email addresses. These will be denied and deleted. If that is you and you can’t login either email Team Support or re-register with a VALID email address AND make it obvious you’re not a bot by using your proper name or name+team name. That way, if you are traceable in the league, we can approve registration quicker.
If you are not a registered player then please email Team Support for help and thanks for being interested.

MATCH CARD PERMISSION: If you are a Secretary (or stand-in) and need to enter Match Cards then use the Team Support email after you have registered successfully and this will be separately enabled for you if you give us your team name, email/user details.

EDIT YOUR PROFILE – It is also in your interest to set your First and Surname in your profile – again this helps us validate real users. Once logged in just click on the top right where it says ‘Hi,….’ and edit your preferences etc.

EMAIL and PASSWORDS: It’s in your interest to have a valid email registered because you can reset your own password when forgotten and get notified of updates. On passwords we are insisting on high strength passwords which can be generated for you on reset and if you use a modern browser you can safely store these for next time you login so you don’t have to remember them. Why ? Because of the simplicity now in hacking passwords means crackable passwords could be the weak link that gets the website hacked. By the way – you need to have the strongest and different passwords for all your accounts especially your email account and any banks!

For more password advice see https://www.getsafeonline.org/personal/articles/passwords/