Division 6 possible??

[paul]

I'm interested in how much real interest there is for the possibility of establishing a league division 6 at the start of next season. I've heard that several clubs are up for entering 2nd and 3rd XI's my club, Thorley, included. At present we are playing in the Saracens League and the format doesn't really suit the mixture of players we have. Nor for that matter does the distances we have to travel to fulfill many fixtures.

How about other clubs. Is this likely to be a runner? The state of play as I understand it at the moment is outlined in the minutes of the last committee meeting
here (http://www.hecl.co.uk/wrap.php?file=wrapped/Committee_Meeting_12june04.htm&opt=1&idx=X).

[paul]

My main purpose in posting is to caution care in this matter

An excellent point and exactly why I wanted to gauge the level of support.

Most clubs have availability issues at some point during the season. The proposal so far is for a minimum of six clubs. I would feel that 8 would be better just in case clubs drop out.

I would also suggest that a future division 6 would give a good opportunity to implement any proposed amendments to the rules that have been discussed in the forum before they are applied to the league as a whole.

[andrewshields]

We wholeheartedly support further expansion of the league. We (South Loughton) are trying to run a 3rd XI at the moment and now have secured access to an additional home ground but would probably prefer to 'wait and see' how the new division develops before making a commitment.

My main purpose in posting is to caution care in this matter. A few years back, Langley entered a 2nd XI only to withdraw after just one game, thus messing up the fixtures for that division for the rest of the season. Enthusiasm is excellent, but it needs to be sustainable: do the clubs that have never run 2nds/3rds before genuinely believe that when the holiday season bites, or their older juniors are doing their GCSEs/A Levels, they are still going to have enough players to fulfil their fixtures? You only have to look at the mess that the Shepherd Neame League's 4th XI divisions are in to see the damage caused by clubs making commitments that they can't keep.

edited by: andrewshields, Jul 05, 2004 - 01:00 PM

[thomaswp]

Newport are just discussing having a 3rd XI, it would solve our problems of moving lock stock and barrel to Quendon Hall and abandoning all we have achieved at Frambury Lane. But this is early stages of discussion only.

[alexfrancis]

We (Hockerill) would also be very interested in putting a team in seeing as we are getting a third team out regularly this year. I think that if the league did expand to six then registration of players would have to be implemented.

[JMM]

We at Farnham would put a second X1 in the league next year if a new division was formed. Would like to see eight teams to make it worthwhile ,but would go with six if that what it takes to get things moving.