Newport Astroturf™ League

All the tables are now updated and I have also added all the results so far so people can check form and results.

Excluding 4 snow delayed games we have now completed 1/3 of the season and already tables are taking shape as they would be expected to.

St Johns who set the pace for a lot of last season currently head up the Premier league but rest assured last seasons winners and runners up, AFC and Atlanteans are in 2nd & 4th respectively, only separated by Royal Oak, who continue they're charge up the divisions and are sitting impressively in 3rd.

Hermans and Arrows sit in the bottom 2 positions but a win or 2 and its and change so I'm sure they arent pushing any panic buttons yet.

There are 3 points separating the top 5 teams in Div 1 so far and you wouldn't bet against Saints who are currently top, still being there on week 21, after a few very unlucky seasons could this be the one ??

New team Turkish Delight will be buoyed after a win on they're first outing and they are only 3pts behind Robins and newly promoted Allstars who themselves have struggled since promotion.

Div 2 is the table that was most hit by the snow with 2 games being postponed, as a consequence the table doesn't show the truth, Dreamteam are only 1pt ahead of Jackpot and they have a game in hand but it deserves noting that they are unbeaten so far, Wilkinsons have added some quality signings over the Christmas period and they are poised to enter the top 2 again with a game in hand over 2nd placed Jackpot and on the same points, there isn't a major gulf at the bottom but Trojans and Sharks will both be aware they don't have any games in hand and results are not going they're way so a change in fortunes will be required if they are to move out of the bottom.

Div 3 is another tight one due to a missed game, Strollers sit proudly on the top but they are looking down to some form teams, Nicky Rob's Eagles are having another one of those seasons, scoring lots and conceding more , they sit in 2nd but are very inconsistent as are Mayo, Real Athletico and Kebab, all the top 5 teams are taking points off each other and it wold be a very very brave mad to predict who is going to leave this division.

Welcome to Turkish Delight, who will be replacing Brdaric in Div1, many of theyre players will be familiar to us as they are mostly made up of Hermans and Mag 7 players and with this is mind Mel has allowed those players to play for both original teams for the next few weeks to help the old clubs find new players. The new team will play a friendly game this week but from week 8 they will earn theyre own points.

As nearly all Turkish Delight players are cup tied they have forfeited the cup place and will automatically finish 4th in the group.

Lliswerry Lions have folded in the conference, all teams need to be aware that any Lliswerry players who join a new club will have to pay a £10 penalty as they went under woing money, this rule is still in place with Predatorz, who also owed money.

I'm not that far away from finishing the new website, it will feature more stats, a gallery of old phots and teams gone by along with team bio's written by the manager about the current teams, with all this in mind, what do you want to see from the new site? any new features you would like to see? let me know on welshblue@me.com

We are obviously hoping the weather will be kind to us next week and if it is then you need to be aware of the fixtures.

Conference

If they go ahead, next weeks fixtures will be as they are on the fixture sheet, there are no changes at all, we will know on Tuesday if they go ahead or not.

Next weekends league

The fixtures for next Sunday and Monday if they go ahead will be exactly as this weeks cancelled fixtures, this means it will be the same cup games that were cancelled Sunday 10th and Monday 11th to be played on Sunday 17th and Monday 18th at the same times, a new fixture sheet for the following 4 weeks will be issued soon.

Our friends at the new Gol centre in Lliswerry have told us that they have a great promotion on during January, they are currently charging £10 for one hour of 5 aside and unlike Spytty they are confident of beating the weather, so whilst we wait for our turf to return why not give Neil a call at Gol on 07500 113 119

Astroturf towers have tonight recieved the annoying news that this weeks games will not go ahead, after wednesdays conference games were called off due to the weather it has been confirmed by Turf supremo Mel Howells that the council has made the decision to close the sports vilage until Monday, keep watching the site for next weeks fixtures as soon as they are ready.

So here we go...this coming sunday we start the winter season and then another 28 weeks of football

We all look forward to the winter season for the wonderfull weather, we've all played in rain , snow, hail and gail force winds but really we wouldnt have it any other way.

The way in which the fixtures have been created means that many of this weeks games are already 6 pointers, 5 times champions AFC start with this seasons pace setters Atlanteans, if AFC's stranglehold is to be broken this season then it needs to start this week,

We'll all see on Sunday, good luck for the following season.

As some of you will know, I've been working on a major change to the website, this season has come around a bit too quickly so i'll be changing over the christmas break, by then I should have mastered dreamweaver and we will have a funky looking website in the new year.

Another year, another all exciting cup draw, this season we will follow the same champions league style with 8 groups of 4 teams, the top 2 will go in the cup, the 3rd placed team in the plate whilst the 4th team will be out of all competitions, in addition to make up the extra game this years plate semi final will be 2 legs.

The groups were once again unseeded and are as follows

Group A : Eagles Conf, Jackpot, Dreamteam, Allstars (old Eagles)

Group B: Wilkinsons, St Johns, Rochester, Sharks

Group C: Exiles, Hermans, Aardvark, Patent Office

Group D: Atlanteans, Kebab,Real Athletico,Robins

Group E: Lech, Brdaric, Arrows, Santos

Group F: Mayo, Hangover, Royal Oak, Saints

Group G: Trojans, Strollers, CBC, Barbarians

Group H: Newport Cricket, AFC, Mag 7, Que Fc

After much consideration it has been decided that Group B will be this years "Group of Death" as it has 2 previous cup winners in St Johns and Sharks along with Rochester who made it to this years plate final but personally I'm willing to predict that there could be a suprise in the group, dont rule out Wilkinsons to stir things up.

Another exciting AGM came and went and many issues were resolved or atleast mentioned, the major points were:

SUBS UP TO £26

Free kicks now 7m from the wall not 5 as previous

If you are unable to make a game then you must give 7 days notice, if you do so then you will lose 3-0 and still pay £26, if you do not let Mel or Simon know by 12 Midday on Friday then you will have to pay £52, lose 3-0 and lose 3pts from your league table.

Goal keepers are the only people allowed to slide on the pitch, if they slide in the area to save or block then thats ok, if they make contact with another player or they slide in a dangerous manner then they risk a penalty or even a sin binning, likewise if they slide OUTSIDE the area then they are treated the same as an outfield player and will/could be binned.

Players moving from one club to another can only do so with 14 days notice, this has increased from 7 days so both teams can be contacted to check for monies owed.

These rules also take place with immeadiate effect in the conference.

Dont forget, the AGM will be held a the NSA this sunday at 6pm, on this years agenda will be the cup format, walls at free kicks and what happens when a team drop out, along with whatever Mel wants to bring up.