Week 12 review plus a new and unexpected challenge and a final call for Competition entries

Before I start with a review of last week’s highlights I need to highlight a totally unexpected situation which we experienced last week and one which led to the unfortunate abandonment of  a league match in Section E between the Bystander B and Horse & Jockey A teams. It was a situation which previously we, as a league were totally unaware of, but which we need to bring to all of our teams attention. the Horse & Jockey had a number of players unavailable so the young daughter of the team  captain was playing. She was a registered player, but is only 14 years old (there is no age restriction for registering players).

If the game had been played at the Horse & Jockey there would have been no problem, but the match was at the Bystander and although there is signage displayed at the pub entrance stating the conditions there is a licensing condition imposed on the Bystander licence which restricts under age children/young adults using the pub after 9pm including the garden where Aunt Sally is played. On this occasion, and at 9pm the 14 year old from Stanford in the Vale was told she had  to leave and as she was 14 and no way of getting home alone that caused the match to be postponed midway through the second leg. Quite rightly other members of the team had to ensure she had transport home from Wootton!! All very unfortunate.

We were unaware of this restriction as indeed were the visiting side from the Horse & Jockey before last Wednesday. After questioning this “rule” with the Area Manager from Greene King it appears this is just one of several “special conditions” that can be applied to licensees by the licensing authority. Breaches of this can, if reported, result in fines being levied and potentially the pub licence being  revoked.

Whilst on this occasion it was addressed by the licensee and affected one of our  players the restriction  would also apply to ANY under age child on the premises. So if a player was to take an under age child to the Bystander as a spectator on a warm and balmy Summer’s evening particularly during the school holidays they would/should be asked to leave at 9pm and in most events with games starting  8.15  this would be midway through the match. Fortunately, both sides were mature enough to agree a match outcome, but the evening was spoilt for both sides due to this previously unknown (until last Wednesday) restriction.

A lesson for us is that we need, before registering any team in future years,  to understand whether there may be any restrictions limiting the prospect of Aunt Sally being played there or even spectated by children!! Really disappointing at a time when we are trying,  and this year succeeding,  to “grow” the league again post Covid as well as most  importantly, getting people, via the game of  Aunt Sally back into pubs spending money on Wednesday evening’s throughout the Summer.

If that was the lowlight of last week let’s now move on to look at last week’s highlights.

In the Premier/A section the two leading teams in the Premier both fell to defeat to sides,  who are now the leading 2 teams in the A section.  Abingdon Utd/Con Club retained the Premier top position despite their 4-2 defeat at the hands of the Red Lion Drayton whose win made this a league double over Ab Utd/Con Club. This defeat was despite a contribution of 13 dolls from Dave Dix, together with 12 from Leigh Clapton (including a 6) and 11 from Phil Adams for Con Club/Utd. For the Lion Dean Bowler led the way with 11 dolls and Scottie Tabor also returned double figures with 10.

Croft Nomads lost 4-2 at the Plum Pudding and this defeat enabled the Bystander to move into second place following their comprehensive 6-0 victory over The Vine. This was The Bystander’s third win on the bounce and The Vine’s 5th straight defeat. Croft Nomads top scorer was Alan Bell with another 13 doll haul and Barry Townsend also weighed in with 10 dolls, but Paul Leach’s 11 including a second leg 6 was a major contributor for the Plum in a game where over the 3 legs were separated by only 1 doll but crucially 2 points! The Bystander top scores were all 10’s from Dave Hudson, Jason Bowler and Jumbo Mott and the collective team amassed 76 dolls on the night!

Elsewhere in the Premier Alec Chamberlain was another star with a 13 doll haul for Berinsfield SC A but his efforts were in vain as College Oak ended a 3 match losing run with a 4-2 victory.

Elsewhere last week in the B section The Croft Bar got back to winning ways with a 4-2 home win against The Plough Long Wittenham and the Fox Denchworth enjoyed their first win since the opening week of the season beating Abingdon RBL with a maximum 6 points. Notable other individual double digit scorer on the night was Mark Newman for the Prince of Wales Shippon with 10 dolls.

COMPETITIONS

I need now to move to make a last impassioned plea to save our competitions for 2024. At the recent AGM it was agreed that any Competition with less than 8 entries would not be held this summer. We have tried, now on several occasions to enrol more entries by both sending out reminders to Captains and Secretaries as well as on the website.

I am pleased to say that has, in part, been successful and we have now sufficient entries in both the singles and pairs, but we are still short in others. To run the Captains and Secretaries competitions we need 2 more entries for each, so come on, there must be some Captains and Secretaries out there who are prepared to enter and ensure the future of these competitions. Also we need at least 2 more entries for both the team 4’s and the Red Drive team of 3’s to enable those competitions to go ahead.  In our last desperate plea we have decided to allow late, late entries and we will accept entries right up until after next week’s league fixtures on Wednesday August 7th.

The singles and pairs competitions will take place at Abingdon United FC on Sunday August 11th with, probably, a 1pm draw and a 1.30 start. If we do get the additional entries we need we will play the Captains and Secretaries Competitions on the same day. The 3’s and 4’s if we do get some late entries will need to be arranged although we could possibly play those on the same day using the second throw. Unfortunately it doesn’t look as we will generate sufficient entries to stage the Tom Simmon’s 5’s trophy this year. That is really unfortunate because our President John Simmons has a vested interest in this Competition having both previously been on the winning side (more than once) and as the Trophy was presented and named in memory of his father. 

SO DO TRY TO RUSTLE UP ENOUGH PLAYERS TO MAINTAIN THE LONG ESTABLISHED TRADITION OF BOTH INDIVIDUAL AND TEAM COMPETITIONS TAKING PLACE EACH SEASON AND PROVIDING EVERYONE WITH THE OPPORTUNITY OF COMPETING! WITHOUT THESE COMPETITIONS IT WILL BE LIKE FOOTBALL WITHOUT THE FA CUP AND WE ALL KNOW THAT OFTEN THE UNDEDRDOGS BEAT THE FAVOURITES IN ALL SPORTS!!

The 8’s competition is taking place and has reached the semi final stage with ties to be played before the end of August and there is only one team from the Premier/A section left so that should give us all the hope of causing an upset!! The semi draw is available in a separate post.

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