Week 12 of the ELTTL Season was a quiet one for the Club with only three of our five teams in action
In the Premier League, despite recruiting a new player to the team, only Colin and Greig were available to make the trip to Bathgate to take on West Lothian 1 on Wednesday 4th December. Up against it from the start, at least the visiting pair could look forward to a quick night – well not really – played on two tables it was still 9.30 before the matches were finished – how on earth did we ever get through matches when everyone just played on one table?? There were some tight games but ultimately only the final match of the night went the way of the visitors as Colin defeated Noah Fletcher.
On Thursday it was quiet at Ladywood with only Team 4 in action as they hosted Edinburgh International 3 in Division 3. After their win v Haddington was confirmed by the League Committee, Team 4 struck it lucky again as Ed Int could only muster two players for the trip to Penicuik and they were delayed on different buses getting to Ladywood. Patrick Shanks, Chamika Diyunugalge and Rachel Petrie took to the table for the hosts and when Rachel defeated Ken Benjamin in match 1, the hosts only needed one more win to secure a point. Chami went the distance in match 2, coming back from 2-1 down for a terrific 15-13 fifth end win and the draw was secured. Patrick won his first match of the night and that secured the win. In farness to the visitors they won the remaining four fixtures including a truncated best of three doubles but the hosts were over the moon with a 6-4 victory.
Meanwhile, away from home, Team 5 travelled to Bathgate to take on West Lothian in Division 4. In a shocking week for being able to field full teams, only John Bald and Ian Miller were able to turn out for Team 5 – this match was quick – John was unlucky losing out in five ends in one of his matches but the writing was on the wall from the outset as the Bathgate side ran out 10-0 winners.
And so here we go again with a pretty straightforward Player of the Week award! Last week it could have gone to one of about 8 players – this week we didn’t even have 8 players in action. All of Team 4 won 2, but one of those wins for each of them was against that guy called Mr Walkover. The only other winner was Colin who won 1 (in fact the same number of wins as Team 4 if we exclude Mr Walkover). It’s a tough one – Rachel got the player of the Match award from Edinburgh International, so that’s good enough for us – well done Rachel!
As for controversies, sticking with our theme of postponements from previous weeks, we note that a “newish” rule was recently brought in for intra-club fixtures.
“For re-arranged matches between teams from the same club that are not played within four playing weeks the match will be void and no points awarded to either team…….. Such intra-club fixtures cannot be conceded by one team to the other - it must either be played (within four weeks) or be declared void, with no points to either team.”
WL 1 v WL 2 in the Premier division ought to have been played on Monday 28th October 2024. It still shows on the Website as “postponed”. Unless our maths is wrong that’s significantly more than four weeks. Will the league treat the match as void? For what it’s worth we’ve never really seen the issue with intra club fixtures being treated differently than other fixtures – it was brought in, we recall, to try and stop shenanigans at the end of the season where one team might need points to survive or gain promotion etc. That presumes that clubs would be willing to pull a fast one in such a situation.
It’s not really that different for inter-club fixtures.
“In the event of a revised date not having been agreed upon and the fixture played within four playing weeks of the originally scheduled date, the fixture will be awarded against the team requesting the postponement.”
Has that rule ever been applied? We are aware of a number of postponed matches which are played more than four weeks after the rescheduled date. Look no further than our friends from West Lothian 1 (AGAIN) – their match v NM 1 ought to have been played on 20th November – it's at least re-scheduled – but nowhere near within four weeks – new date is 22nd January 2025.
Or what about the rule which says that no team (other than the Uni teams) shall be allowed more than one postponement request in each half of the season? There are plenty teams who have had more than one postponement already. The point here is that the Rules seem somewhat pointless. Of course, each of the above rules is subject to a get out of jail free card whereby the rule can effectively be dispensed with if those involved get the “express permission / consent” of the Match Sub-Committee. We’re genuinely not sure whether teams / clubs seek such consent / permission or whether they just proceed on the basis that if no one is causing a fuss and it’s agreed between the relevant teams, then just get on with it – and we support such a stance being taken - but that begs the question as to why the Rules are there at all.
Speaking of West Lothian and postponements, we previously discussed our Team 4 giving their Bathgate opponents a postponement despite another WL team refusing to allow us one. Lo and behold, scheduled for week 13 and guess what? Our Team 4 can’t field a team of three from their four available players!! Unreal! If WL want to do the decent thing they should agree to play 2v2! Just shows that being nice doesn’t work out all the time!!
Week 13 already and the first half of the season virtually over.
In the Premier League, despite recruiting a new player to the team, only Colin and Greig were available to make the trip to Bathgate to take on West Lothian 1 on Wednesday 4th December. Up against it from the start, at least the visiting pair could look forward to a quick night – well not really – played on two tables it was still 9.30 before the matches were finished – how on earth did we ever get through matches when everyone just played on one table?? There were some tight games but ultimately only the final match of the night went the way of the visitors as Colin defeated Noah Fletcher.
On Thursday it was quiet at Ladywood with only Team 4 in action as they hosted Edinburgh International 3 in Division 3. After their win v Haddington was confirmed by the League Committee, Team 4 struck it lucky again as Ed Int could only muster two players for the trip to Penicuik and they were delayed on different buses getting to Ladywood. Patrick Shanks, Chamika Diyunugalge and Rachel Petrie took to the table for the hosts and when Rachel defeated Ken Benjamin in match 1, the hosts only needed one more win to secure a point. Chami went the distance in match 2, coming back from 2-1 down for a terrific 15-13 fifth end win and the draw was secured. Patrick won his first match of the night and that secured the win. In farness to the visitors they won the remaining four fixtures including a truncated best of three doubles but the hosts were over the moon with a 6-4 victory.
Meanwhile, away from home, Team 5 travelled to Bathgate to take on West Lothian in Division 4. In a shocking week for being able to field full teams, only John Bald and Ian Miller were able to turn out for Team 5 – this match was quick – John was unlucky losing out in five ends in one of his matches but the writing was on the wall from the outset as the Bathgate side ran out 10-0 winners.
And so here we go again with a pretty straightforward Player of the Week award! Last week it could have gone to one of about 8 players – this week we didn’t even have 8 players in action. All of Team 4 won 2, but one of those wins for each of them was against that guy called Mr Walkover. The only other winner was Colin who won 1 (in fact the same number of wins as Team 4 if we exclude Mr Walkover). It’s a tough one – Rachel got the player of the Match award from Edinburgh International, so that’s good enough for us – well done Rachel!
As for controversies, sticking with our theme of postponements from previous weeks, we note that a “newish” rule was recently brought in for intra-club fixtures.
“For re-arranged matches between teams from the same club that are not played within four playing weeks the match will be void and no points awarded to either team…….. Such intra-club fixtures cannot be conceded by one team to the other - it must either be played (within four weeks) or be declared void, with no points to either team.”
WL 1 v WL 2 in the Premier division ought to have been played on Monday 28th October 2024. It still shows on the Website as “postponed”. Unless our maths is wrong that’s significantly more than four weeks. Will the league treat the match as void? For what it’s worth we’ve never really seen the issue with intra club fixtures being treated differently than other fixtures – it was brought in, we recall, to try and stop shenanigans at the end of the season where one team might need points to survive or gain promotion etc. That presumes that clubs would be willing to pull a fast one in such a situation.
It’s not really that different for inter-club fixtures.
“In the event of a revised date not having been agreed upon and the fixture played within four playing weeks of the originally scheduled date, the fixture will be awarded against the team requesting the postponement.”
Has that rule ever been applied? We are aware of a number of postponed matches which are played more than four weeks after the rescheduled date. Look no further than our friends from West Lothian 1 (AGAIN) – their match v NM 1 ought to have been played on 20th November – it's at least re-scheduled – but nowhere near within four weeks – new date is 22nd January 2025.
Or what about the rule which says that no team (other than the Uni teams) shall be allowed more than one postponement request in each half of the season? There are plenty teams who have had more than one postponement already. The point here is that the Rules seem somewhat pointless. Of course, each of the above rules is subject to a get out of jail free card whereby the rule can effectively be dispensed with if those involved get the “express permission / consent” of the Match Sub-Committee. We’re genuinely not sure whether teams / clubs seek such consent / permission or whether they just proceed on the basis that if no one is causing a fuss and it’s agreed between the relevant teams, then just get on with it – and we support such a stance being taken - but that begs the question as to why the Rules are there at all.
Speaking of West Lothian and postponements, we previously discussed our Team 4 giving their Bathgate opponents a postponement despite another WL team refusing to allow us one. Lo and behold, scheduled for week 13 and guess what? Our Team 4 can’t field a team of three from their four available players!! Unreal! If WL want to do the decent thing they should agree to play 2v2! Just shows that being nice doesn’t work out all the time!!
Week 13 already and the first half of the season virtually over.
RSS Feed
