Rostrevor 1A Champions 2014

[chelsea]

Congratulations to everyone at Rostrevor that was involved in winning the 1A championship in 2014.

It was a very interesting year observing the 1A champioship title race.

Here is a few points that I picked out.

After the haf way mark of the year there were 4 title contenders. Pembroke / Rostrevor / Uni White & Unley.

After Round 13, Rostrevor found themselves 6pts clear at the top and also had the best goal difference.At this point many thought that Rostrevor would easily win the championship with a few rounds to spare.

The biggest surprise to me was that Rostrevor was 6pts clear without beating one of the top four teams. They lost to Uni White and drew with Unley and Pembroke. You might of seen them up the top by a point or two but 6 points was huge.

Most teams play 9 homes games. This year Rostrevor only played 5 home games. 4 games had to be played at the reverse fixture or even at another ground. Eg Rostrevor played twice at Sacred Heart. BBQ takings were clearly down this year.

Rostrevor were the highest scoring team and had the 2nd best defence.

This year Rostrevor finished on 37 points. The lowest since the league went to 10 teams in Div 1 in 2008.

2014 - 37 pts
2013 - 39 Pts
2012 - 43 Pts
2011 - 43 Pts
2010 - 44 Pts

The pattern in the past 5 years is that the winner is finishing each year on less pts. The competition is stronger and there are up to 8 teams that can all beat each other. This would also explain the 6pt lead that Rostrevor had after 13 rounds without beating any top four teams. Rostrevor also only gained 1pt from 6pts from 8th side Mt Barker who are also in the cup final this week.

If you go through the records in Div 1A Rostrevor also had the best Fair Play from the title contenders.

21 Yellow Cards / 1 Red

Unley came 2nd on the table and had the 2nd best fair play.

21 Yellow Cards / 2 Red

Rostrevor used 22 players in the 1A side this year / Unley used 25 players.

The less you use the easier it is to be consistent.

Rostrevor were consistent and disciplined.

Champions League - If you put the 4 title contenders in a Champions League Group this is what the table would stand after all have played each other based on this years results:

1. Unley - 5W / 1D / 0L - 16pts
2. Uni White - 2W / 1D / 2L - 7pts
3. Rostrevor - 1W / 3D / 2L - 6pts
4. Pembroke - 1W / 1D / 4L - 4pts

Unley like Champions League but struggle in the domestic league. You see this throughout Europe sometimes. Pembroke might have struggled against the top four but always made sure to pick up full points against the other teams.

Now you can see why Unley were my favourites for 2014.

It was a very interesting year and well done to the Rostrevor 1A side who are the champions in 2014. Their last was in 2006.

If the side can improve in the Champions League then another title may be around the corner in 2015.

[crusader_]

Well done to Rostrevor. You started and finished the season well. There was a chance for everyone else in the middle of the season but all the other contenders slipped up.

Mt Barker will be amongst the title contenders next year. But for a poor start we would have been up there this year as it turned out. I hope we win the cup tomorrow so we can have another shot at Rostrevor in the super cup.