Newport Astroturf™ League

So we are now 11 weeks in and that means we are half way through the season and already some tables are looking as the form book predicted, we still have the pesky games in hand from the snow abandoned week which mess up some of the tables and we have said good bye to old friends Brdaric and Wilkinsons as well as a big hello to Turkish Delight and a soon to be announced replacement for Wilkinsons.

Top of the shop at the moment are St Johns, having despatched current champions  AFC last week, the Super J's are sitting 4pts clear of AFC so who knows, this could be the year for a new name on the title, whilst both Arrows and Hermans have a game in hand its against each other and only a win by either team could possibly save theyre premier status this season, Hermans are 9pts adrift and are looking for a major turn around in fortunes if they are to survive.

Div1 is once again possibly the tightest division in the league, 3pts seperate the top 4 teams and its way to tight to call, Saints cant be ruled out either, they may be going through some poor form at the moment but they have proved for many seasons that they will be there or thereabouts come the end.

Dreamteam were consistantly one of the form teams last year and this year looks no different, they currently lead Div 2 by 7pts and you wouldnt bet against them playing Div 1 football next season, due to Wilkinsons leaving the league some results have been changed which make the rest of the table very interesting, without an 8th team there is now 2pts between 3rd placed Sharks and 7th placed Aardvark so anything could happen in the next 10 games!!!!

Possibly the most consistent team in all 4 divisions this year has been the Strollers, often languishing in the bottom half of Div 3 under the leadership of Big Nick they have excelled and sit 6pts clear of 2nd placed Eagles and 9pts clear of the chasing promotion pack, having lost only once so far this season in Week 1 there is even rumours at Stroller Park that the champagnes on ice and promotion is guaranteed!!

So was it a cup of joy of a cup of sorrow, after 2 rounds of the round robin we already know the cup future of a few teams this season.

Congrats to St Johns, Rochester, Atlanteans, Robins, Royal Oak, Mag 7 and of course current holders AFC who have all made it into the knockout stages of cup.

For everyone else its gonna have to be a wait until the final round of games to know if its the cup, plate or a few meaningless freiendlies that will greet us in the comng months.

As we move into the 2nd round of cup games the tables have been updated, for many teams the cup is an inconveniance which breaks up a good run of league form, for others its a way to put the league woes aside, which ever fits the description for you, have a good weekend.

All the tables have been updated to week 8 & the new fixtures are in the download and the fixtures section.

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.