The Link below will direct you to the old website where you can look back at forum posts from previous years
http://aberdeensnooker.cmlwebdesign.com/index.php/test
Prize-giving night and AGM
This year's Prize-giving night will take place on Friday 11th May, which as per previous seasons is the week after the last match of the season.
Prizegiving
All as as a follow up to note above Soul Casino will be the location for prize giving. Starting time is 7 for 7.30pm. The plan for the evening is to commence prizegiving at 7.45pm. Food will be provided at around 9pm and then we will have raffle afterwards.
This year's AGM will take place provisionally on Thursday 24th May, exact time and location to be advised as soon as we have something firmed up, but wanted to get this up now so that we have time to collect all proposals, post on the website, and give captains time to discuss these with their players before the AGM.
AGM
The AGM will take place at the Sportsmans Club at 7.30pm on Thursday the 24th May. Good to see some discussions on the board already look forward to a healthy attendance on the night. As mentioned below please consider anyway that you feel you can contribute.
Please send all proposals by email to abdnsnooker@gmail.com by Thursday 3rd May. Once a proposal has been received, it will be posted on the website giving players and captains a chance to to discuss prior to the meeting.
Also as you will be aware we will be looking for people to fill various committee or helper roles to give our League a chance going forward, as it cannot carry on like it's been this season. Please give some consideration to what you can do to help.
Thanks
de Management
Update to AGM
Thanks to all for attending the meeting last Thursday. I note below a summary of events.
Roll Call
Roll call taken of all teams and all teams represented bar Hopeville.
Balance sheet
DW summarised the balance sheet and explained position behind loss shown. We will need to review prize money for all competitions. BS suggested that perhaps we should consider spending more on trophies as opposed to cash prizes, this will be reviewed as will our supplier of trophies.
Election of Officials
SB and DW confirmed that they would be happy to continue in their existing roles. Discussion held over season just finished and it’s clear that we do require assistance particularly during competitions. Frank offered his assistance and this was accepted and will be discussed in due course.
Handicaps
First vote held to decide to keep handicaps or not an unuanimous in favour of retention of handicaps. However further proposal voted on to limit the start that any player can have that is currently capped at 100. After a few alternatives it was voted in that maximum start would be limited to 70 regardless of handicap. No other changes to handicap.
Referees
Proposal to remove referees and players to mark their own games. Following several views it was voted in home teams would continue to referee matches on the understanding that in the event of shortages this would be covered by mutual agreement of both teams/team captains.
Points for Wins
Vote taken to retain existing scoring system as at present ie. one point for every frame and two points when at one table venue.
i propose that the 'start' a player can receive is capped at 50.
this might help promote the fact that players should be trying to improve their game rather than get as much of a start as possible, pot 1 or 2 balls and win the frame and then boast about it.
We should stay with a 7pm start
I appreciate this has been raised before but need to look at removing the need for refereeing. No reason why two players cannot field and keep score for opponent like any time we play in comps or play against our mates in practice. These days we are struggling for players and one of the reasons IMO is many have other commitments and cant always stick around for the whole evening. Equally many players cannot make 7pm (or 6.30) and need to arrive later due to work commitments - this also affects reffing duties. With player shortages, work commitments etc the same people end up reffing twice. Same happens when someone plays twice (again due to player shortage). I believe more pool players who play snooker may be interested if they could play and still make pool matches etc. I appreciate there are some traditionalists out there but times have changed and we need to change if we are to keep as many teams in the league as possible.
Re the league set up for next season Culter 1 would like to make a number of proposals. These are not the views of any one player and all points should be considered separately.
1 - The league should be split into two divisions - Division 1 playing from scratch and Division 2 with handicaps. Promotion and relegation would be two up and two down. Individual handicaps for relegated team players could be fixed by the committee in conjunction with the relevant captains.Deciding which team fitted into which league to begin with could be guided by adding the lowest handicaps of six players from each team. The team with the lowest total would be team 1 the team second lowest total team 2 etc.
The committee have asked for opinions whether to keep the current system or go for two scratch leagues. Two scratch leagues may result in the loss of some teams and I consider this compromise to be the best solution.
2 - Net handicaps to be capped at 42.
3 - For matches played at a one table club individual handicaps should increase or decrease by one point only.
4 - In both leagues it should be two points for a win and one point for a draw so there are no early runaway winners. Frame totals should still be kept to avoid play-offs at the end of the season.
The league is fighting for its life really, I wouldn't like to see the average age of the player pool.
What can be done? I have to agree with dispensing with the reffing. this would make things a lot more flexible. It would usually be possible for other team members who are watching anyway to keep an eye on the scoring. Perhaps a designated senior team member from each side?
Perhaps then the younger generation would be easier to accommodate.
I would also agree with a handicap cap, with my own belief being the incentive must be to improve. 6 blacks sounds like a good number.
I echo the proposal by Ivan Tulloch (Hammert), that players need to earn a win, even with a handicap! Potting one ball and winning a frame is not a win. The top players had to put in a bit of effort over the years to get good at the game so players need to have to try to improve themselves also if they are falling short. A cap of 60/70 would be perfect as the handicaps DO work. 2 years of teething problems but getting there. If a lesser player plays well, good on them and well done....they deserve it. I think if a cap is introduced the better teams will still be able to win the league I.E. Oldmachar because just now they have no chance! There would then be no need to split league etc as we don't have enough teams as it is and we would be playing the same guys all the time and I think it would make the league become boring and repetitive. We have attracted new players with the handicap introduction which is good as they feel more in a comfort zone knowing they can win some games which is good.
The refereeing situation is a sticky one. We can do this of course but are reliant on our opponents calling the score out loud which is normally the issue because when people don't they forget what your on etc, causing problems with scores and obviously the official match feel would be lost but I guess it's going with the times these days with people having lots of commitments. Also the pool has taken a bit of a decline in the last year or 2 so now is the time to jump in and attract more pool players to our league and if they don't need to ref, they can play then go to pool which starts later at 7.30 so this really could be viable but players NEED to call out opponents scores or it just won't work. All just my opinions of course.
Marc
One point that has been brought up is about changing the time to 6.30pm, I think that should be left as it is, the Transport closes early which is why their matches start early.
As a result of in some cases ridiculous starts being given I and others will continue to play for however many snookers is required so if matches take longer as a result then thats just something that will have to be accepted.
Take in the cap that has been suggested and we will try to pot the balls rather than be in a position to play for 5,6,7 snookers, the result being the matches may be over a little quicker as we may pot the balls or miss and then the opponents can.
Regardless of going for snookers or not, to take 5 hours to play 6 frames at a one table club is in all honesty ridiculous.
I don't understand the point re refs calling the score for their opponent "or they will forget"? Of course the opponent calls the score just as they would when playing in comps. I'm not aware of any comp match having an issue because the opponent forgot what score you were on. If introduced then some guidelines could be drawn up I guess, but we are all players and surely appreciate the need to keep score. Times have changed and we must change with it or risk losing players and more importantly will not attract new young players. We are after all just a bunch of lads who enjoy snooker have a Tuesday league game and becomes a chore when some have to ref multiple times because everyone cannot make 7pm start or have to leave early.............simple answer - ref for your opponent and have a more flexible approach which hopefully will attract new players.