2021 Season Update
As you know we have been trying to establish some form of organised Aunt Sally for this Summer. There have been and still are many obstacles in our way and they are not showing any signs of going away soon. Lockdown was due to end later this month with an announcement from the Government scheduled for next Monday. Increasingly it looks like the planned date of June 21st for the lifting of the remaining restrictions is going to be delayed and therefore that will affect what and when we can organise anything with any real confidence that it will happen!
We had a pretty positive response to the options we put out last month with around 30 clubs responding with the vast majority wanting to play games in some form. 24 teams indicated that, failing a normal league being possible, they would be up to playing friendlies in organised sections. Some teams are sensibly combining A and B teams to make sure they have enough players although as you will see from the guidelines there is a lot of flexibility in team numbers.
Since those initial responses the number has fallen to 22 which would give us potentially 4 sections and provide 10 or 8 fixtures with 2 sections of 6 playing 10 games and 2 sections of 5 playing each other Home and Away.
Some guidance from the committee, and we stress it is only guidance, because the normal league rules and regulations would not apply includes
- Games would be played on Wednesdays cos that is Aunt Sally night but possibly any other night by mutual agreement between the respective Captains and Licensees
- Teams can comprise any number of players from probably a minimum of 6 a side to a maximum of 12 a side played over 3 legs with 2 points for each leg won and 1 point for drawn legs.
- Borrowing or lending players between sides to balance numbers per side is encouraged
- “Rolling” substitutes to provide everyone with a throw in at least 1 leg
- Players can play for more than one team during the “short season”
- No food needs to be provided
- Lazy dolls can be used by agreement to reduce “pick up”
- Hand sanitisation should be available and encouraged “on site”
- No “winner or loser “ trophies, no entry fees required
- Games could start on June 30th (subject to Gov’t lockdown ending in June or if that’s delayed until July 5th from July 7th finishing either in late August or early Sept.
- No registration of players and new players encouraged (even from Oxford!)
We will now, over the next few days, confirm that those teams that said they would be up for it still are and give another chance for any other team to join (2 more would be ideal, making 4 sections of 6) whilst we work out the best way to organise the sections to enable us to get under way whenever we can without breaking any Covid guidelines.
Aunt Sally is a fun game and we all need some fun! And our pubs and clubs need our support and our money or they will find another use for the space where Aunt Sally pitches once stood! Regrettably we know a number of our teams have already lost their pitches either through pub closures or the space being used, understandably, for other reasons.
We have a responsibility to keep our game alive and, as aCommittee we are committed to doing our best to make that happen and get back to normal from 2022
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