This article is from page 56 of the 2011-08-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 56 JPG
IN AN effort to introduce greater certainty, the Clare District Soccer League (CDSL) has agreed to give clubs confirmed fixtures for the first and final three rounds of the 2011/12 league season. At last week’s AGM, the league executive and club delegates reached a compromise over fixtures for the coming season. Following requests from Eoin Madden (Shannon Olympic) and Lenny Franks (Hermitage), fixtures secretary Michael Lydon said that clubs would know their first three and their final three league games of the season. Lydon said the league would also consider giving clubs fixture details for immediately after the Christmas break, but this was dependant on the weather. There had been calls for the league to produce a master fixture list but in an address to delegates, Lydon explained that too many obstacles exist to do so. He told the meeting that a fixture list had been drawn up by the committee for the past three years. He said that each year changes had to be made because of problems with the availability of pitches; scheduling of Munster junior cup and FAI junior cup fixtures; Clare Cup fixtures; the Oscar Traynor and Inter League Youths Cup and the weather.
Lydon said that while a master fixture list is good in theory, “in reality it does not happen”. He said that no other soccer league in Munster publishes a master fixture list.
Ger Delaney of the Munster Football Association (MFA) told delegates that the Cork Schoolboys Soccer League had attempted to follow a master fixture list but “it created a lot of problems”. He said that the Waterford junior soccer league issued monthly fixture lists.
The discussion was prompted by three clubs – Corofin Harps, Kilmaley Fern Celtic and Shannon Olympic – who put forward three respective motions. They were: (1) could a master fixtures list be drawn for all league games; (2) That no team should have more than three games in hand at stage during the season; (3) The league has to provide each club and team with a list of all league fixtures for the season ahead, no later than two weeks before the relevant league is due to begin. In addition, the last two league games for each team are final and cannot be changed so any games that are re-fixed during the season are played before the last two games.
Brian McAllister of Ennis Town Rock said fixtures should be drawn up in a way that all teams play each other once in the first half of the season. He said teams should not be drawn to play each other twice in the space of a week. Lydon acknowl- edged that while this sometimes happened, it was his view that it is better for teams to play rather than not be in action. The meeting also heard calls for teams not to have too many games in hand during the season. Avenue United were among the clubs particularly affected by this last year, when they were left with seven games in hand over eventual premier league champions Newmarket Celtic. Lydon said the league hopes to avoid a repeat of a similar situation next season. However he explained that this might mean that some teams do not play for a couple of weeks.