Honorary League
Secretary's Report
2004/05
The demise of two clubs - Lowdham and Mansfield Oaktree - but the addition of Experian gave a net loss of one club and 13 teams since the start of the 2003-2004 season.
I spoke very strongly last year about the infringement of Rule 7, the non-registration of players with Badminton England. There have been approximately 25 cases this season of clubs playing unregistered players in matches, which is 25 too many! The system of clubs supplying me with a list of registered players at the beginning of the season worked very well. However, I would ask that if new players join after the start of the season, a phone call to add their names to the list at the same time as sending their registration form to Milton Keynes is all that is required. It is also important to enter ALL members on your list - internationals, juniors and seniors, coaches, juniors and players paying their Badminton England fee through another club, particularly if the other club is outside the County boundary, e.g. Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, etc, and marking your list accordingly.
Starrings still seem to be causing a problem, particularly where a "better" player than those already starred joins the club, when the starrings should be altered accordingly. There were also one or two clubs whose "starred" players did not make the necessary number of appearances. Please try and remedy this next season.
This season, several match cards were received with just the first names recorded in the name box. This is not acceptable and such cards will be returned for completion.
Rearranged matches have also been a concern causing the season to be extended well beyond its closing date. If a match is postponed early in the season, please set a new date straight away, not wait until the middle of March only to find it cannot be pulled in.
I also spoke last year about "competing within the spirit of the rules". Several comments and complaints have reached my ears about gamesmanship, line calling, foul serving, time wasting, etc. Unfortunately, umpires and linesmen cannot be supplied for every league match, so please try to ensure games are played in the proper spirit.
Clubs worthy of special mention are: -
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Beeston Valley |
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3 divisional winners and 2 runners-up from 10 teams. |
|
Boots |
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won Div 3A Mixed and runners-up in the KO Cup. |
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Byron |
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2 league winners and 2 runners-up from 10 teams. |
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David Lloyd WB |
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nearly a "triple crown". Winners of Div 2A Mens and Div 2A Ladies, but runners-up in Div 2A Mixed. |
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East Leake |
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won Div 4A Mixed and all three Mens teams finished second in their respective divisions. |
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Forest |
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runners-up in Premier Mixed, Premier Mens and Div 1 Mens. Won Div 6A Mixed and Premier Ladies after a gap of 10 years. |
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John Carroll |
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2 divisional winners and 1 runner-up from 5 teams. |
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Kirkby Crocodiles |
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improved on last year's four winners to win 6 leagues from 7 teams after an influx of new players. |
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Rolls Royce |
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won Div 1 Mens to climb from the bottom to Premier in successive years. |
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St Giles |
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both Mens teams winning their divisions. |
Bingham retained the Premier Mixed title they won for the first time last year and added the Premier Mens for an excellent double - and to complete the trophy haul - retained the KO Cup.
Publicity in the Evening Post suffered almost totally from mid-February onwards when, despite regular submissions by email, few reports were published nor was a satisfactory explanation received. I hope more success was achieved with the Newark Advertiser, who around this time requested information and were emailed copies of reports accordingly. Thanks to John Sawyer, Paul Bexon and Mark Ransom.
My thanks also to Dave Martin and Alison Bexon for their expertise and support on the League Executive Committee, and to Bob Columbine for once again bringing the KO Cup to a successful conclusion.
Finally, the Fixture Meeting - Tuesday, 20 September 2005 at 7.00 pm at David Lloyd Aspley.