The 2019 League & League Cup/Plate season is upon us – the first fixtures will be on 24 April 2019.

This year we have had 22 teams enter both competitions which is a reduction of 2 on last year’s numbers.  Monkstone, Monkstone Inn and Wenvoe have each lost 1 team and are down to 4, 1 and 2 respectively but we welcome a new club, Ystrad Owen, and their team, Ystrad Owen Newts. The Club has been formed by Chris Howard, father of Tim & Andrew from Penarth PC. We wish them every success in their first season and look forward to seeing them climb the divisions.

The change in numbers has meant a slight adjustment had to be made to the promotion/relegation from last season. After moving everyone as they should have moved, removing the lost teams and adding in the new team, we had 6 teams in Division 1, 8 in Division 2 and 8 in Division 3 whereas we were looking for 2 divisions of 7 and 1 of 8. After consultation with the Director of Development it was agreed that the solution that involved the least adjustment was that only the bottom team from last season would be relegated from Division 1 so that we now had 7 teams in Divisions 1 and 2 with 8 in Division 3.

The League Cup/Plate is taking a new format this season to eliminate the large number of byes that we needed and to avoid the general apathy that seems to exist in some Clubs if they get through to the Plate semi-final – apathy which is expressed by them not turning up! This year the competition will be played like the Champions League – there will be 4 pools of 5 or 6 teams drawn at random and the teams in each Pool will play each other once in a mini-league. On Finals Day, the teams finishing top of each Pool will contest the semi-finals and the winners of the semi-finals will play for the Cup whilst the losers will play for the Plate. The draw for the League Cup/Plate will be made at the Pontyclun Triples on Sunday 24 March 2019.

All the fixtures lists will then be published in w/c 25 March 2019.

All teams are reminded that 2 very important Rule changes will apply this season:

1. The Rules regarding non fulfillment of a League Cup/Plate fixture have been amended such that the Named Players from any team defaulting on a fixture will be excluded from entry to the League Cup/Plate in the following season. [See Rule 6.2.1]
2. Both Team Captains must now submit all results via the web-site – the sanction for failing to submit results is a sliding scale of point deductions. [See Rule 7.0]

Two further amendments have been made to the Rules as set out in the document issued with the League entry invitation which result from the changed format of the League Cup/Plate competition.

1. Rule 6.2 is deleted and drawn games in the League Cup/Plate will be recorded in exactly the same way as the League.
2. The deduction of points for not submitting results will apply to both the League and League Cup/Plate competitions although the scale for the League Cup/Plate is different.

The updated copy of the Rules (v1.4) is published on the web site under Information/Documentation.