Div 2A 2012

[cruie]

I was at a game last weekend where no ref showed for the first game but they ended up having 3 there for the last game (1 ref plus 2 linesmen!!!). If I was the home team I would be spitting especially if I had to pay the llinesmen!!!

I have explanations

The D3 ref had been informed that the KO was 1pm - It never is at our place, it is always 11am. To be fair to him, he arrived at 12:30pm (and apologised to me, for having to ref the D3 match, when I got off the pitch).

The problem there is that - as we are approximately 3,984,759,830 kilometers from the City Center (and up a mountain!) - we often get scheduled refs from the Adelaide Hills Refs Board ... That's then 3 organisations involved in communicating with the ref, making more opportunity for it to go pear-shaped.

Same thing happened for both D3 and D4 games the previous week ... Although no ref ever showed (late or otherwise) for those

(If you played in D3, I hope you survived your encounter with me and my ref skills )


The D2A game had volunteer official assistant-refs. The assistants had reffed the 1pm D2B and D4 games (paid as usual) then - when it was still nice sunny weather - volunteered to do lino duties for free! We weren't going to turn them down and all three did an excellant job (no bookings, pretty sound decision-making ... most of the time ...). So that was a nice thing for the two individuals to do and helped control a game played in very trying conditions.

(all three were AHRB)

[Balotelli]

Pizza & Beer, I assume you play for WGOS? Were you due to play for them in the cup SF or QF vs Unley 3 years ago? Vinnie, WGOS' main goalscorer at the time, wasn't available that day. The pitch was soggy but by no means unplayable. Unley were warming up, keen to play. WGOS made no attempt to warm up and were in the referee's ear, contributing to his decision to call the game off. You didn't look too keen to play that day, but that's just my observation. It is in that context, and in the context of WGOS having 5 league games in the previous 3 seasons which were postponed and never ultimately played, that I was asking the question.

Can someone actually confirm why the WGOS v Immanuel game didn't go ahead? If it was indeed a referee no show and Immanuel were not keen to proceed without an official ref then I offer my apologies to WGOS and I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions on this occasion.

I note one comment above suggesting there's some sort of investigation into why the game wasn't played. I would have thought there'd be an obvious reason one way or another. What is there to investigate?

Judging by some of the other posts there appears to be differing views as to whether clubs should or should not referee the games themselves if the games involve A grade teams. Unfortunately the CSL rules aren't definite on that point - they say (a) the 2 teams should agree regarding refereeing duties, (b) ultimately' it's the home team's responsibility to provide a referee if no agreement can be reached and (c) if no referee can be provided, the clubs are to notify the CSL asap.

Where clubs choose option (c), they should be forced to re-play the game mid-week asap. You can't have it both ways - ie make no effort to play and then no effort to re-schedule the game. There are potential advantages to not playing games at the scheduled time and deferring them until much later in the hope that the result will be academic if and when the game is ultimately replayed.

Well done to Rostrevor and Pulteney for playing your div 1A and 1B games despite refs not showing. With relegation potentially at stake, and Rostrevor pushing for the B's title, your teams were able to come to an agreement, which is admirable. It is crap that referees didn't show up in the first place, but at least your clubs were pro-active and solved the problem.

[Squeezy Cheesey Peas]

Big weekend in 2A!! Westminster have a chance to secure their promotion spot or Mount Barker have a chance to make it a neck and neck race to the line... Too close to call and will depend on how both thse teams are handling the player drop outs / injuries I guess!
Just behind them, Norwood and Immanuel are playing to stay in touch with top 2.... Who ever loses that is basically out of the running so it will be full on game!!

Second point - I exclude WG from the above as they are not in the promotion race apparently! Am still a little confused how they are not eligible for promotion HALF way through the season.... This year only one club will be promoted as WG will definitley fill the top spot (or second if a miracle occurs). Not sure about this.... Its either a 2 team league or it isn't. Yo ueither play within the mechanism of that league or you don't.
Windsor have had a torrid time with people being unhappy about them being in Div 3 etc etc. To let them stay in Div 2 is not the best decsion for the league.. good for them but not the others......

[cruie]

Big weekend in 2A!! Westminster have a chance to secure their promotion spot or Mount Barker have a chance to make it a neck and neck race to the line... Too close to call and will depend on how both thse teams are handling the player drop outs / injuries I guess!
Just behind them, Norwood and Immanuel are playing to stay in touch with top 2.... Who ever loses that is basically out of the running so it will be full on game!!

Yes, big game tomorrow at our place. Looking forward to it; always a good match between us and Westminster (and usually high scoring, looking back at last years games and the one earlier this season). Ground is wet, but unless there's a downpour all night I think we'll be fine to get the 4 games on (D3 is v SHOC, the other three are v Westminster).

Wrap up warm though, lads!

Second point - I exclude WG from the above as they are not in the promotion race apparently! Am still a little confused how they are not eligible for promotion HALF way through the season.... This year only one club will be promoted as WG will definitley fill the top spot (or second if a miracle occurs). Not sure about this.... Its either a 2 team league or it isn't. Yo ueither play within the mechanism of that league or you don't.
Windsor have had a torrid time with people being unhappy about them being in Div 3 etc etc. To let them stay in Div 2 is not the best decsion for the league.. good for them but not the others......

It is certainly an odd state of affairs. My understanding is that a 1-team club can apply to play in D2, but cannot be eligible for promotion UNLESS they guarantee that they can supply TWO teams (for D1A and D1B ) ... and finish Top2 in D2, obviously.

So I agree the Windsor "issue" has only been shifted from D3 to D2 - Really Gardens are D1 standard and whichever other Division they are put in - or ask to be put in - some of the other teams in that Division are going to moan.

From a Mt Barker perspective: We're not really bothered, either way. In order to have even a reasonable chance of staying up in D1A, you must have finished Top2 in D2. If you can't manage that, you shouldn't really be going up, as it's extremely likely you'll come straight back down.

So, we are viewing it exactly the same as we did at the start of the season. It always looked a nailed on certainty that Gardens would take the top spot and there would be one more spot available. What we did not realise is Gardens would refuse promotion if they achieved a Top2 spot ... but that's down to them and the CSL, as far as we are concerned.

Would it be better if everyone was playing on a level playing field? Yes it would. But, in the end, I don't think it effects us as a club. What it says about the CSL/Gardens is a different matter.

[chelsea]

you can all moan as much as you want but the Windsor situation is being handled well by the CSL.

Windsor have been a great asset to the league. Sure it hasnt been straight forward but they have made a great contribution to the league. Much more then many other clubs.

Im not sure what you mean about what this says about Windsor / CSL?

Mount Barker have just come in recently and you boys have a bit to learn about the history of this situation.

Windsor were always too good for Div 3. Div 2 is around their mark. Div 1A would be too much for them at this point in time. Even a few years ago it would of been tough to win the 1A title. Playing tough games every week would of taken a toll.

I fully back the CSL on how the Windsor situation has been handled over the years.

[Squeezy Cheesey Peas]

Its a football league... How can any team decide themselves that the standard might be too hard.... you win top spot you get promoted,end of it. If its too hard..tough. There are teams at the bottom of each Division who get a flogging every week and don't ask to be regraded... What next, someone refuses to be relegated because they are too good??
Rules are rules and as soon as you make 'exceptions' it gets messy.

[Balotelli]

The issue is not which division Windsor want to be in. To be fair, I assume they'd play in whatever division they're told to. I agree that whether they think they'd be good enough to be succesful in a divsion is irrelevant.

The issue is that Windsor don't have two teams and apparently don't have any aspiration to change that. They were allowed to go into divsion 2A, but they can't go into div 1A unless they have a 2nd team. Surely it is fair enough to protect the integrity of the top divisions of the competition. But would a bye in divsion 1B really be that bad?

Perhaps the CSL needs to consider whether there is room nowadays for a club which has no intention of ever forming a 2nd team. It could be a year by year proposition if and when more clubs with 2 or more teams enter the CSL.

But as Mr Chelsea says, it is not as if Windsor have not been solid contributors to the CSL over the years. People only whinge about them because in the past few years no one in their division has been able to beat them. Although it looks like Grads Blue got close today.

[Running Man]

Match of the round Norwood vs Windsor.

Windsor undefeated, Norwood undefeated since Round 4. Played out a great game last time with Windsor taking choc's 3-2. Norwood coming off an impressive display against Immanuel, could easily have been 5 or 6. It's going to be a cracker!

Norwood 2-1.

[cruie]

But as Mr Chelsea says, it is not as if Windsor have not been solid contributors to the CSL over the years. People only whinge about them because in the past few years no one in their division has been able to beat them. Although it looks like Grads Blue got close today.

Well done to Grads Blue, looks a very decent effort from the score - I have not heard anyone say that they don't look forward to the challenge of playing Gardens. I think it's viewed a bit like playing a Cup Tie against one of the big D1 clubs.

Last few seasons I believe "people" whinged (but not the D2 clubs) because "they always won it". Because of that, I'm led to believe CSL shifted Gardens to a higher level (in theory - as there is no link between D3 and D2). However, they are also at the top end of performancers in this Division and will very probably finish Top2 (but won't get promoted).

This isn't about whether they win games or not - As far as I know every club in the Division was pretty certain Windsor would win most games and top the league. As far as I know all clubs were then expecting them to go up to play in D1.

I had a brief word with the Westminster Coach, yesterday, after their very impressive win over us. I know he and they are concerned about what might happen if they do, as looks likely, finish Top2 and go up to D1. We would/did have similar concerns. No such fears for Gardens.

Like I put above; it would be far better if we were playing on a level playing field.

[buzzy]

The Windsor issue is not black and white and it's not the only example going on at the moment.

Just look at the situation with Rangers in Scotland who have been knocked down to Division 3. This now means Motherwell are in the Champions League this season having not "deserved" to be there based on the rules and their finishing place on the ladder from last season.

Dunfermline Athletic, who finished bottom of the SPL and were relegated are now to remain relegated.

Dundee FC who finished second in Division 1 (the division under the SPL), a staggering 24 points behind the champions have been promoted to the SPL based on, from everything I have read, the fact that they have a better travelling support and it's a better proposition for TV rights than having Dunfermline remaining in the top flight!

These were all decisions that I assume the league as a whole came to, hopefully with the intentions of what was best for the league.

http://www.rantsports.com/soccer/2012/0 ... angers-fc/

There was a very constructive discussion about the Windsor issue at the mid-season CSL meeting. And if you want to actually change something volunteer to be your club delegate, go along to the meetings and put your point across!