Archive | Summer League Reports

This post category is for match reports for Summer League matches. In the future, it will be updated automatically with match results after they are entered into the database by team captains.

2024 AGM Summary

By Paul Stone on 5th April 2024 in Committee Meetings, Newsletter, Summer League Reports

For all of the member clubs who were unable to attend the January Annual General Meeting of the Summer League we thought it would only right to share with you the key points raised and the decisions taken at the meeting which was attended by around 30 people representing 18 of our member clubs (35%).

The Chairman (Paul Stone) gave his report on the past season and thanked all of the 52 teams who participated in the 2023 season and congratulated all of the League and Competition winners and runners up on their success. He made particular mention of everyone who played who ensured that our league stayed strong despite the many problems we faced with the closure of some venues, the loss of some pitches and the other pressures that following the covid period. Paul thanked all who helped organise their teams and the landlords and stewards of our host pubs and clubs.
The financial report was presented and the Treasurer said that the Association had made a small excess of income over expenditure again in 2023 despite the increased cost of trophies primarily because of the need to complete both the 2023 and 2024 engraving costs. He explained that our financial “health” was largely due to the ongoing and generous sponsorship that we received again in 2023 from Thames Cable for which we were extremely grateful. The Association had during late 2023 arranged a transfer of our Banking from Barclays Bank to the Newbury Building Society and explained that this was due to both access to a local branch and the ability to earn interest on our balance, which at the end of 2023 stood at £4860 net of outstanding payments.
Fees for 2024 will remain unchanged £45 per team for up to 15 players in the league and £1 for each player entered in any of the competitions. These entry fees have basically unchanged for several years.
Competitions will again be held on nominated Sundays (other than the 8’s) with the 5’s, 4’s and 3’s taking place on June 9th and the Pairs, Singles, Captains and Secretaries being held on August 11th.
Finals Night will take place on September 18th and Presentation Night will be held on October 18th
(These dates are all provisional and will need to be confirmed before the start of the season)
The season will start on May 1st with the first round of the 8’s Competition with the league fixtures starting on May 8th and completing on September 11th
In 2024 we plan, subject to levels of interest, to introduce some additional Competition’s limited to registered players from the lower sections. Initially this will be singles, pairs and possibly a 3’s team competition and the details of the proposals will be available in a few weeks time. Entry fees for these will also be £1 per player.
The existing Committee was re-elected en-bloc for 2024 , but they expressed the hope that each section could have a nominated representative (or two) so that all sections can have an input via the Committee to any ideas, suggested changes or problems encountered that their team or other teams within their section experience. These roles would not be Committee positions so no real commitment other than being the “voice and the conscience” of teams in their section.
A couple of minor rule changes were proposed and agreed.
- Firstly with regard to league positions to avoid any play offs at the end of the season any teams level of points gained will have their final, position determined by actual dolls scored.
- Secondly in Summer Competitions the need for a 3 stick, 1 stick throw off currently for each leg will be changed and will only be required in the event of a tied position at the completion of the 3rd leg.
The Committee said that for 2024 we would like to increase the number of teams in the league ideally to 60 which would mean that we could run 6 sections with a full complement of 10 teams ensuring that all steams have the opportunity of 18 games. The problem with the number of byes in the lower sections in 2023 was raised as a concern and everyone agreed that if possible that should be avoided. The Committee asked all present for their help in trying to attract more teams and more players to the league in 2024. Website development was identified as an area for focus and possibly expenditure in 2024 as the site is now several years old and in need of some skilled input and probable improvement.

2024 League Formation and Competitions

By Paul Stone on 5th April 2024 in Committee Meetings, Competition News, Newsletter, Summer League Reports

Your Association Committee met on Tuesday to decide the makeup of the league sections and to introduce the new Knockout Competitions for the B-F sections as requested by our sponsor, Thames Cable, to encourage the lower sections to take part.

COMPETITIONS

The Competition forms are now available on the home page for both Premier/A and the B-F Sections. These now have an extended deadline to Sunday 19th MAY so get your entries in!

The 8s Handicap Knockout continues and is a handicap of 2 dolls per section difference – again allowing lower section teams a great chance to win.

Competitions put you under more pressure than a league match so it’s worth taking part to get used to that buzz.

LEAGUE GROWTH AND FIXTURES

Although we have 55 teams paid we are chasing a couple of teams for their registration forms – the committee will be chasing you this week. You may be aware a couple of venues have closed but the good news is those teams have transferred to other venues – such is the enthusiasm for our wonderful and local game. This is a great uptick from last year’s 52 and it means that the number of byes will be reduced in the sections and, fingers crossed no team drops out like last year.

The fixture list will be finalised and going to the printers at the end of the week so we’ll publish as soon as we can.

It’s worth reminding all teams that positioning in sections is, as it has been for several years, based on the aggregate score of the top 8 players from the previous season assuming they have registered again for the year. In a few cases some teams and some players did not play in the last season, so where appropriate averages from their last full season has been taken into account. This process means that some teams may find themselves in a higher or lower section this year than last and this is simply because either their average determines that or because their registered players have changed. The handicap system used for the Premier and A Section is based on exactly the same principles and aims to create an achievable win for those teams playing their best.

VENUES MAP -All the new venues have been added to our VENUES MAP. if yours is missing email support @ abingdonauntsally.com

KEEP IN TOUCH

If you haven’t subscribed to this website please email support@ AbingdonAuntSally.com and we’ll set you up – we no longer support self registration due to the many rogue registration requests we received as a WordPress site target. This is why we encourage you to have strong passwords on your account – just get your browser to save the password and it’s easy to login.

IF YOU HAVE A LOGIN – please check your profile and make sure you have a valid email address registered.

Why not also follow our facebook and X (twitter) pages to make sure you don’t miss out on updates.

NEW Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/OfficialAbingdonAuntSally

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A Presentation Night at Abingdon United FC (+Photos)

By Roger Nichols on 7th November 2023 in Newsletter, Summer League Reports

Well, the Summer 2023 season has finally come to an end yes I know it’s November, but it was the Finals of 3 of our Summer Competitions followed by the Presentation of Trophies for all of our League, team and individual winners and runners up!

The presentation Night was well attended and kicked off with the final of the Captains competition which had been held over from Finals Night back in September. Participants were Mick Greenaway for Berinsfield SC A and Dave Sapey representing Abingdon RBL. It was surprisingly a low scoring contest which Mick won 2 legs to 0 setting 2 in the first leg which was matched by Dave, but then set another 2 with his 3 sticks and Dave could only manage 1 in reply, so first leg to Mick who also took the second leg by 2 dolls to 1 to clinch the title.

Photos available here

Next up were the Pairs semi final and the first of these featured Ken Fisher and Barry Townsend of the Plum Pudding pitched against Scott Humphries and Leigh Clapton from the Abingdon United @Con Club side. Again this first semi final was won in 2 straight legs, the first leg saw all 4 players hit 3 dolls each, but Ken and Barry clinched the leg with 2 dolls apiece with their 3 sticks and Scott and Leigh’s efforts fell short by 1 doll. The second leg was a 5 doll to 4 clincher by Ken and Barry to take the first semi. Barry incidentally was replacing Phil Adams who despite qualifying for both the Pairs and Singles semi finals was unable to take part due to a recent operation, but he was there supporting both his team mates and the evening.

The second semi final featured Tony Beechers and Martin Rawlings from the Berinsfied B side who did great to reach this stage against the second Plum Pudding semi finalists Dave Butler and Paul Longford. This was the first game of the evening to go to 3 legs and in another low scoring first 2 legs which were shared 1 apiece, a first 5 doll haul of the evening from DLB supported by a 2 from his partner Paul Longford secured a place in what was to be an all Plum Pudding final.

Next up was the scheduled singles semi finals which actually due to Phil Adam’s unavailability presented a bye straight to the final for Leigh Clapton with the other semi final contested between Steve Enock from Croft Nomads and Paul Longford. Another disappointing low scoring game with the first leg being won on a 3 stick shoot out Paul edged Steve, who had been in really good form throughout the Summer and in the early days of the Winter season, but couldn’t find that form on the night and Paul reached the final, winning in 2 straight legs.

So to the Finals, first up it was the Pairs final featuring the 2 Plum Pudding teams. This was probably the closest game of the evening even though it was won in 2 straight legs. It was also the best scoring game of the night featuring another 5 doll hit from Ken Fisher and a pair of 4’s from Dave Butler in response, but Dave’s efforts were in vain as Ken and Barry emerged victors winning the first leg 7-6 and the second leg 6-5.

Then it was the last game of the evening, with the coveted Singles title up for grabs Paul Longford taking on Leigh Clapton. This went to 3 legs with Paul Longford winning the first after a 3 stick shoot out both players hitting 2 dolls with their first 6 sticks and then Paul’s 1 doll with 3 sticks clinching the opening leg. In the second leg both players improved and both hit 3 dolls so again it was a 3 sticker, and they still couldn’t be separated hitting 1 doll apiece and then it was down to 1 stick each and this time Leigh secured the leg by scoring with his 1 doll and with the pressure on Paul he just failed to make a doll with his 1 stick. The 3rd leg was another close affair, but Leigh secured the 2023 Singles title with a 3-2 success.

Congratulations to all who played on the night as well as the will to progress and win one of the titles on offer they had to do it against the backcloth of a large and sometimes noisy, but always supportive group of the wider Aunt Sally family.

So it was then onto the Presentations of all of the Trophies which our President John Simmons duly presented. I imagine John’s right arm was aching by the end of the night as there were not only the trophies to hand over, but also the shaking of so many hands as so many of us were so pleased to see John back amongst us. The night also featured our usual grand raffle which saw The Vine scoop many of the prizes including two mystery cash prizes of £50 and £25.

A final thank you to everyone who attended and made the night a successful one to close our 2023 Summer season. A special thanks to Mick Samways and Kevin Lewis for taking responsibility for selling raffle tickets on our behalf, the proceeds of which paid for most of the evening’s expenses. Thanks also to Ellie once again for taking all of the photographs on the night,(Photos available here) and to all the bar staff at Abingdon United who made sure that empty glasses didn’t stay empty for long!

Merry Xmas!!!!!

Competition Sunday Part 2

By Paul Stone on 8th August 2023 in Competition News, Newsletter, Summer League Reports

With the threat of a shower (or 2 in reality) most of Sunday was fine and not plagued like the previous competition event with a gusty side wind. The sun did shine and at times that doll was very bright when the clouds cleared!

We had 15 pairs entered, 6 Captains, 6 Secretaries, and 27 Singles. Kicking off with the pairs draw at 1pm we actually finished playing around 7.30pm not bad for 48 matches on one pitch. A shower caused a slight pause twice.

A special thank you to all entrants for both their participation and patience as the afternoon developed into quite a long, but for most I think and enjoyable one! We know that Sundays are not ideal for many so entries may be affected, but those who did enter seemed to enjoy the afternoon and the standard of play, the sportsmanship and the banter and humour was, as usual, evident of the way our game is so popular.

You may know that in the Summer League Competition rules if a leg is drawn we play 3 sticks then if that’s drawn 1 stick then back to a 6 stick leg and repeat until someone wins. (In the Winter league if the match is still a draw AFTER 3 legs then the 3 stick rule is applied – it means it’s less variable in match time). Well, we had quite a few games which would have seen a bookie getting nervous for the favourite and the committee were starting to worry we were going to be playing until sunset! Roy Taylor’s singles game against Dave Butler was one of those – we’d asked Roy to have a go to help even up the numbers and it turned into a tense crowd pleaser! To be honest this is one of the most exciting aspects of the knock out competitions and it almost doesn’t matter how good or bad a player you are because everyone can have a bad day and succumb to the match nerves.

We had a couple of 5’s notably when Terry Downes set a 5 and Barry Parker hit a 6 in response! (the only maximum of the afternoon) I had warmed Barry up in the previous round by going to 3 sticks etc – I’m sure he was toying with me! Unfortunately it wasn’t Barry’s day and Terry bested him in the later legs only to go out himself against Steve Enock. This is why we love the competitions. You need to put in your best performance but its easy to go astray under the pressure.

Unfortunately in all the excitement (you had to be there) we didn’t record all the leg scores so you’ll have to make do with the images attached which show the final placings and who played who. You’ll have to ask the players how they got on and what were their memorable moments. It was good to see a few new faces too from Berinsfield, two of which got through to the pairs and secretaries – just proving you don’t have to be Premier to have a chance in the competitions.

Once again I need to thank Brian Clapton for preparing the dolls etc, our Doll Secretary Roger Nichols for making it back from holiday to join us with the lists of entrants and for Claire Foster with the PA equipment and doing all the recording of matches and Roy Taylor (for being the extra pair of hands you always need). A special mention is due to Matt Ashmall who liaised with the bar staff to put on some sandwiches and suggested using the 2nd pitch portable scoreboard.

Congratulations to all of those who came through the afternoon to earn their place either on Finals night or in the case of the Pairs and Singles competitions on Presentation Night.

So the Finalists for Finals Night on Wednesday 13th September at Abingdon United FC :-

Captains – Mike Greenaway vs Dave Sapey

Secretaries – Bob Duff vs Martin Rawlings

For Presentation Night on Friday 3rd November at Abingdon United FC where we play the semi finals and finals:

Pairs -Tony Beecher & Martin Rawlings, Paul Longford & Dave Butler, Ken Fisher & Phil Adams, Scott Humphries & Leigh Clapton.

Singles – Phil Adams, Leigh Clapton, Steve Enock, Paul Longford.

2023 Competition results

To enlarge the images

Click on the image to view then at to top right click on the 4 way arrow to enlarge full size.
Click on the X at bottom right to close – you’ll have to scroll if you’ve enlarged the image.

2023 Pairs

2023 Secretaries

2023 Captains

2023 Singles

Week 12 Roundup

By Paul Stone on 31st July 2023 in Newsletter, Summer League Reports

Well, that was a wet one. I think we’ve been lucky that this was the first really wet Wednesday of the season. Ask any seasoned player and they’ll tell you a time that it was raining even harder etc. It’s all part of the charm of this game we love. And it definitely affected some players scores, I find it’s a great leveller for the teams ! And yet there are other players who can just hit dolls in the rain just the same as the dry.

So this is reflected in that there were NO SIXERS this week and more blobbers, 10 to be precise, including myself! I’ll have a rest next week Captain Roger! Sometimes trying harder doesn’t help in this game.

So the total player scores maxed out at 12 dolls and those worth a mention with double digit scores are:-

12 Barry Townsend 2-5-5 (Plum Pudding) – Week 12
12 David Dix 4-5-3 (Abingdon United @Con Club) – Week 12
11 Leigh Clapton 4-5-2 (Abingdon United @Con Club) – Week 12
11 Mick Christopher 2-5-4 (The Grapes B) – Week 12
10 Dean Bowler 3-3-4 (Red Lion A) – Week 12
10 Derek Fletcher 3-4-3 (Steventon Sports A) – Week 12
10 Kenny Moore 4-3-3 (The Brewery Tap B) – Week 12
10 Mark Brind 4-4-2 (Hanney Plough A (W.Hanney)) – Week 12
10 Martin Rawlings 3-3-4 (Berinsfield B/C) – Week 12
10 Martin Robinson 4-4-2 (Croft Nomads) – Week 12
10 Michael Jarvis 4-3-3 (Steventon Sports A) – Week 12
10 Scott Humphries 4-4-2 (Abingdon United @Con Club) – Week 12

You see what I mean by those that can play in the rain, Barry Townsend (Plum Pudding) AGAIN getting two 5s and the next three top scores with a 5 in theirs. The fact there’s lower section players in that list is a great thing to see.

Now we may be missing some scores because some teams might have elected to play on another night under Rule 14 – some might have been spared the rain with a fortunate bye of course. Any reschedule should take place before the next Wednesdays match- not least because you know the mess it makes with the score card and week numbers! SO any teams that have rescheduled drop an email to Team Support so we know we are awaiting a card (or attach the card and I’ll put it in). I’ll be changing the week number on Wednesday night so if you play on Tuesday get that card online before 7pm Wednesday.

Because of this, and the byes, it’s a little difficult to judge the table positions. Premier is still possible for any of Ab Utd/Steventon Sports or Berinsfield to take the top spot. Ditto the A section top 3 still neck and neck. B section has College Oak extending the lead to 8 points ahead of Fleur de Lys making it harder for them and The Plough LW to catch them. C Section again it’s within the grasp of the top 3, D Section top 4, E Section top 3 and F Section seem to be a few missing but Abingdon Arms A look strong with 40 points although Wheatsheaf Didcot with 29 and seemingly a game in hand will need to go some to take top spot.

ABOUT THE BYES – As you know we took the decision at the start of the season NOT to throw out 2 teams to make 50 teams hence 5x 10 team sections but be inclusive and this meant the only sensible way to do that is with some sections with byes to spread the teams out over 6 sections. This is the only sustainable approach because unless we change the section size (9 or 8 team fixtures) or we wait until we have 60 teams exactly we can’t field the same fixtures. Byes are a way to get people playing albeit with a few weeks off when of course you could arrange a friendly. We already have some interest for few new teams for next year so I think this is the right way to go to get more people playing. Of course, at the AGM in January you might feel different – do let us know after Christmas. The other thing is why not a 2nd team (or 3rd/4th if you have 2 pitches) at your venue – we always get some teams signing on lots of players and it might be possible to get another team on the books.

REMINDER COMPETITION SUNDAY – 6th August at Abingdon Utd FC starting at 1pm. Do come along even if you’re not playing because we are all hoping for some great games. You know there’s nothing quite like the pressure of a competition match, as Phil “The Power” Taylor of darts fame once said “You can’t practice sh*****g yourself”. It really is in the taking part under pressure.

Roger should be back in the Roundup chair next week. Thanks for reading this far!

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