LEAGUE FORMAT FOR SUMMER 2008

• This Summer, there are 13 teams in both the Thursday Night League and the Monday Night League !
  The Thursday Night League includes Mc,Kenzie Rangers (as usual), but they are the only team from the Mercury Waltham Sunday League in the competition this year. There are five new teams, although in some cases they may well just be teams re-naming themselves.
  The Monday Night League includes only two new teams, one of which are Hadley Green from Division Three of the Mercury Waltham Sunday League. New Barnet Casuals (as 'N.B.C. Chills') are in the Monday Night League only this year and will be amongst the favourites as usual, along with Middlesex University Old Boys (who have a team in both Leagues). New Barnet Casuals' players all now play for Old Minchendenians First XI on Saturdays...Steve Cokell's old club...and it looks as if most of the teams in the 7-a-side League this year are the First XI's of Saturday A.F.A. clubs, although there will also be several players from 'Semi-Pro' Saturday football or Premier Divisions of various local Sunday Leagues taking part on both nights.
  This Summer, matches will kick-off at 7.00.p.m., 8.00.p.m. & 9.00.p.m., on both Mondays and Thursdays.
  The usual two pitches will be in use so that two League matches can be played at the same time. There will be the usual qualified Referees provided.

• We have entered two teams once again.
  Our Monday Night League Team will be called our 'B' Team and our Thursday Night League Team will be our 'A' Team. (This is because in the past, we have usually had our better players available for Thursday nights, and the League have continued to name our teams as such !)

• The Thursday Night League sees each team play each other once in a 'Qualifying Stage' and it is then split up into a 'Cup League' for those finishing in the top half of the table and a 'Plate League' for those finishing in the bottom half of the table. It is the same format that has been used for the last few years and the Thursday Night League will finish in the second week of September.
  This Summer, the Monday Night League also sees each team play each other once in a 'Qualifying Stage', but as there are less Mondays to play on due to Bank Holidays, they will then split the final stages into three, namely a 'Cup League' for the top 5 teams in the final Qualifying Group Table, a 'Plate League' for the next four teams, and an 'Egg Cup League !' for the bottom four teams. The Monday Night Cup League will finish on the 15th September and the Plate and Egg Cup Leagues will finish on the 8th September.

BASIC 7-A-SIDE LEAGUE RULES

• Three points for a win and one point for a draw. If teams are equal on points, then placings are decided on goal difference, then goals scored, then by the result between the two teams, then by a toss of a coin if they are still equal.

• Each team is allowed to use a squad of 10 players per match with ‘roll on - roll off’ substitutions.

• There is no ‘Player Registration’ for the League so basically anyone can play, although we have to inform them of our goalscorers over the bar after the game, which are then displayed on the Southgate Hockey Centre Website.
  Click here for their Fixtures & Results Home Page and click on a team name for goalscorers' details.

• The League is F.A. Affiliated, although Bookings or Sending Offs are not normally sent in by Referees. However, the League have their own disciplinary code of conduct, while we ourselves will fine and suspend players (if necessary) who get booked or sent off playing for us.

• All players must bring their own shinpads and proper Astroturf boots or flat-soled trainers (which must be worn due to F.A. regulations). No boots with studs (even moulded) will be allowed).

• The pitches are on a floodlit Astroturf which is roughly the same size as the ‘half-pitch’ we used to train on at the Southbury Leisure Centre with small 'head-high' goals being used rather than hockey goals.

• There are no offsides, the ball can go over head height and throw-ins & corners are taken as per a normal 11-a-side match. Goalkeepers can only throw the ball out instead of taking a goal-kick after the ball goes out of play or after they have picked it up. (They can kick it if it is a back-pass or they make a save and keep the ball in play without picking it up ).Thankfully, the silly rule regarding 'goalkeepers being allowed to pick up back-passes if at least two of his own team have kicked the ball' has now been scrapped and it it now just the same as 11-a-side whereby a goalkeeper cannot pick up a backpass 'full stop' ! 

•  Another new rule (officially !) for this Summer is that 'Deliberate time-wasting will be penalised by an indirect free-kick plus a possible caution'.

• The duration of matches is 25 minutes each way, with a 5-minute warm-up allowed before each game kicks-off.

• There are also numerous other rules such as no slide tackles, no 'charging/'body-checking'-type challenges and standing 5 yards away from free-kicks. These will be explained more fully to new players when they actually play.

• If teams are not ready to kick-off at the appointed time (something which we are frequently guilty of because of players' work commitments), the League will reduce the amount of time played in the match and award the opposition one goal for every reduction of five minutes playing time.

COST OF ENTERING & PLAYING

• A £60.00 entry fee per team is paid on applying to join the League, then there is a £32.00 'Match Fee' per game (an increase of £2.00 this year), which has to be paid to the ‘bloke behind the bar' before each match kicks off. Teams are then given a ‘token’ which must be given to the referee before he allows the game to start. Teams are also given a form on which to fill in their goalscorers after the game and return it to the barman.

• As we did last year, we will be charging each player £5.00 per match unless they are only on the pitch for a limited amount of time, in which case they will pay a reduced amount (at the Team Manager's discretion).
  However, we do not charge players an 'Annual Sub' to play in the 7-a-side League.
  All players MUST get into the habit of bringing £5.00 with them to every match they play in, as they will be dropped for 11-a-side matches once the season starts if they have a backlog of over £20.00.

OUR SQUADS FOR THIS SUMMER'S LEAGUE

• As Manager Trevor Hughes has too many work commitments, Laurence Hughes will again be contacting players and picking the squads for each match (as he did last Summer). Trevor will attend most matches though, and will be Manager on the night...while I will be in the bushes getting the balls back or playing as a last-minute stand-in goalkeeper !?
  When Trevor is unavailable, the Manager will be whoever is the most suitable candidate from those who are present on the night.
  We are hoping to name the squads for the following week after our match each Thursday night. They will then appear on the Forum and the Forthcoming Fixtures page the following day (i.e. Friday) in order to give our players enough notice.
  For the first few weeks of the Summer we will be naming a squad of 9 for each match, but once players get fit enough to last more or less a full match, we will name squads of 8 instead. This is because Manager Trevor Hughes finds it too difficult to do substitutions when we have a squad of 10 as it disrupts the flow of the game too much. If somebody from a squad of 9 drops out, we will play with a squad of 8, but if two or more players drop out at the last minute and we can't find replacements, then Laurence Hughes and even Trevor Hughes ! will get changed and come on as a sub only if players get injured or need a breather for a minute or two !

• The League do allow us to play the same players on both Monday nights and Thursday nights if we are short of players for a particular week. However, we will be making every effort to give as many club members and trialists a game as possible and we therefore hope to have enough players to field two teams without anybody having to play twice in one week.

• At the moment, the Thursday Night Squad this Summer will probably be as follows: Tim Beeden (GK), Simon Jackson (GK), Foysol Ahmed, Jim Arrowsmith, John Beasley (If he is interested), Rob Brown (plus various ex-London Ajax players), Stuart Byhurst (Occasionally), Derek Dorward (Occasionally), Stuart Dorward (Occasionally), Mark Dyer (As an outfield player), Danny Hagan, Tony King, Conor Mc,Govern (Occasionally), Terry Moore, Vernon 'Kizza' Nxumalo, Robin Pryke (Later in the Summer when he has finished his exams), Kris Spyrou (When he is not at University), Nick Vertigans (Occasionally), Andrew Warmerdam, Clark Williams (When he is fit to play after his foot operations) & Paul Woolston (9.00.p.m. kick-offs only).

• Our Monday Night squad this Summer will probably consist of Ozel Ozerman (GK), Tem Adil, Alan Barnard, Colin Bester (If he is interested in playing again now The Accies have folded up ?), Steve Cokell, Daniel Daley (If he is not working evenings), Danny Green (plus various Norsemen players), Scott Jenkins, Darryl Johnson (As an outfield player !), Martin Loveday, Tony Speller, Will Smith (Oz's mate), James Whittick (Oz's mate), plus some of the Thursday Night squad if they can play on Mondays as well.

•  Prospective new players will only be tried out if they have been brought along by current players who have seen them play first !!! (We are not making the same mistake as we did last Summer !)
  The different kick-off times will also be a factor in availability due to work commitments, while holidays and 'astroturf-induced' injuries will also rule out players from time to time, so it should work out that everyone who wants to play will get a game at some stage.

•  Please note that players will be left out of the squads if they owe over £20.00 in Subs.
  Please make sure you bring £5.00 per match with you on the night !

MEETING ARRANGEMENTS FOR MATCHES

• Players must meet on the pavilion balcony at the venue at least half an hour before kick-off. There are changing rooms and showers available for us to use which are situated downstairs in the pavilion. However, if players are not ready to go in and get changed by 15 minutes before the kick-off, then they will have to get changed by the side of the pitch instead.

• Click Here to see a map of the venue. (Snakes Lane is opposite Oakwood Tube Station and the Southgate Hockey Centre is at the end of Snakes Lane on the left). Click here to see a satellite map of the venue.
  If you are not driving and need a lift from the top of Snakes Lane down to the Southgate Hockey Centre (to save you a 10-15 minute walk !), please phone any club member who drives and hopefully they can pick you up at the bus stop just inside Snakes Lane. Please bear in mind that we meet at the Southgate Hockey Centre half-an-hour before kick-off though !
  On Thursday nights the Southgate Hockey Centre car park gets full up very quickly because of the Running Club's activities, especially for the 8.00.p.m. & 9.00.p.m. kick-offs, so players are advised to get there early to get a parking space. We have now been told that if the car park is full, we must go through the barrier into the Middlesex University Sports Centre car park and not park in Snakes Lane, as the University buses & coaches cannot get through and cars parked on the road often get damaged.

• Both teams will be using our current Jade & Black (Prostar) kit for all 7-a-side matches, as next season for 11-a-side we intend using the spare (new) Jade & Black Prostar shirts that were originally bought for the Reserve Team and have never been used.
  Please remember to bring your own astroturf trainers and shinpads though ! (You will not be able to play if you forget them).
  Goalkeepers are advised that we do not always have any tracksuit bottoms or keepers' gloves available, so they must make sure they bring their own.

• There is a bar in the clubhouse for our use after each match, so it may be worth coming along to watch even if you are not in the squad of 10. (i.e. A good regular club meeting/social occasion). We normally all stay for a drink afterwards (unlike after 11-a-side matches !)

• If you have been picked for the squad but get held up at work or stuck on a train and are likely to arrive late, you MUST phone or text either Laurence or Trevor Hughes on their mobiles (whoever is Manager/Secretary for the night). We will then bring your kit out to the side of the pitch for you to change into as soon as you arrive.