Start of next season

[Dave the Glassboy]

Can I have a go at clearing up the Nuneaton fixture-switch controversy?

I believe I am right in saying that we weren't allowed to switch our August Bank Holiday match to the next night because the fixtures for that date were specifically stated to be Monday August 31st.

That's as maybe but it's the sheer inflexibility of the league when both sides had consented to the switch that rankles.

Especially as we'd switched a game against Willenhall to the Tuesday night just three years beforehand.

And if both clubs agree the league should just rubber stamp it basically.

However when the fixtures for the season were announced all clubs were told that the New Year's Day games were officially "switchable" to the next day (that being a Saturday), without the need for any additional agreement from the League. I am not sure if it needed the agreement of both clubs or if it was just on the "say-so" of the home club. Therein lies the difference in the eyes of the League.

Still smacks of double standards.

[dave w]

why cant we play at home, the football pitch is not on the cricket square and if there is a clash of days time etc, surely kick off could be moved later or to a Sunday etc or the Cricket match moved to a Sun if they play on Sat... (dont know what days the cricket team play on)

Unlikely since the cricket club make up imaginary midweek fixtures to prevent us playing there on Tuesday nights.

(Clubs at their level never play midweek games!)

I always thought we couldn't play at all during their season to prevent damage to their pitch?

[Jane&Jack]

In fairness to the cricket club.. youth matches take place there all through the season on any night!!! Jack plays for Under 13's and has played Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
They get the pitch for less than half the year so why should they ' swap' their fixtures around to accomodate the football!!!! Even if they wanted to who says that they are allowed to any more than football can. Its an official league they are in too which has rules just like our league does!

[The Reasonable Man]

I might be wrong but I always thought the situation was that the ground was "leased" to the Football club from September 1st to April 30th, and to the Cricket Club from May 1st to August 31st. The pavilion is theirs for the full 12 months and the Club is ours likewise. And we each have a "duty of care" to look after the facilities of the other - eg. we won't train on the square.

If either party wants to grant the other a concession, maybe for us to play at home on May 1st or August 31st that's up to them, but there is no obligation whatsoever.

And Jane&Jack are quite right - cricket matches (real, genuine matches - not "made up", Dave the Glassboy) seem to take place just about every evening all through the summer, which is entirely reasonable and none of our business.

[stourboy]

Still doesn't explain why we couldn't move the Aug 31st home game against Halesowen one day later to 1st September so we could play it at Amblecote.

[The Reasonable Man]

I wasn't trying to explain that. At least not in my last post. I was trying to explain our relationship with the Cricket Club. I did try to explain why we couldn't switch the Halesowen match in an earlier post. Please keep up!

[Aled]

Even if the cricket club didn't have a fixture on a particular night. I doubt it is very practical to stage a football game and not potentially damage the outfield. I'm no great defender of the cricket club, however, there is no reason or incentive for them to allow us to play during their season.

My issue still lies with the inflexibility of the SL. Yes, we are all aware of the rules which were laid down to us regarding our inability to stage home matches until Sep 1st. However, the simple fact is, we were not allowed to switch the game to the following day, on top of the fact we were given our biggest earner at "home during August. Surely they could have given us the home game on boxing day, and don't give me the "it's all computer generated" rubbish.

To my mind, in a time when all clubs are struggling to keep their heads above water, the SL could have added a notion of common sense. If we get Halesowen at 'home' in August again, or 3 of our first 5 games at home I will rest my case!

[stourboy]

I wasn't trying to explain that. At least not in my last post. I was trying to explain our relationship with the Cricket Club. I did try to explain why we couldn't switch the Halesowen match in an earlier post. Please keep up!

Sorry but I disagree. The league can't declare one set of fixtures flexible and one inflexible; so to speak.

It's not as if the change would have interfered with the order of fixtures or had us catching up games. It was only moving it 24 hours later! I doubt the other clubs in the league would have cared.

As has been mentioned before; strange that it's the same old clubs getting the long news items on the SL website and are always first in the fixture round-ups and with more details about the games. We are always in the last few sentences, almost in a footnote. There's definitely a positive correlation with the league average attendance methinks!

This is of course purely my opinion and I know i'm being a bit of a conspiracy theorist on this one

[dave w]

I wasn't trying to explain that. At least not in my last post. I was trying to explain our relationship with the Cricket Club. I did try to explain why we couldn't switch the Halesowen match in an earlier post. Please keep up!

Sorry but I disagree. The league can't declare one set of fixtures flexible and one inflexible; so to speak.

It's not as if the change would have interfered with the order of fixtures or had us catching up games. It was only moving it 24 hours later! I doubt the other clubs in the league would have cared.

As has been mentioned before; strange that it's the same old clubs getting the long news items on the SL website and are always first in the fixture round-ups and with more details about the games. We are always in the last few sentences, almost in a footnote. There's definitely a positive correlation with the league average attendance methinks!

This is of course purely my opinion and I know i'm being a bit of a conspiracy theorist on this one

I don't think it's unfair that the biggest clubs have the most coverage - it's the same the world over.

[The Reasonable Man]

The league can't declare one set of fixtures flexible and one inflexible

Yes, they can. It's their League.