IAFL BOARD

Cillian Smith (Individual submission):

iafl@cilliansmith.com

Proposed Schedule & League Structure for 2004:

BB=Belfast Bulls, CA=Cork Admirals, CC=Craigavon Cowboys, CK=Carrickfergus Knights

DD=Dublin Dragons, DR=Dublin Rebels, UL=UL Vikings.

Mar 21st - DD@UL

Mar 28th - CA@UL

Apr 4th - UL@CC + DR@DD

Apr 11th - UL@CA + CK@BB

Apr 18th - DR@UL + BB@CC

Apr 25th - UL@CK + CC@DD

May 2th - BB@UL + CK@DR

May 9th - UL@DR + CC@CA

May 16th - CA@BB + DD@CK

MID SEASON BREAK (4 WEEKS)

Jun 20th - BB@CK + DR@CC

Jun 27th - BB@DD + Charleroi

Jul 4th - DD@CA + CC@CK

Jul 11th - CA@DR

Jul 18th - DD@DR + CK@CC

Jul 25th - CC@BB + CA@DD

Aug 1st - CK@CA + DR@BB

Aug 8th - Semi-finals - 4th@1st + 3rd@2nd

Aug 22nd - SHAMROCK BOWL XVIII

(1) League Structure:
All 7 team will play in one Division. Each team will play 8 games - 4 home plus 4 away. Every team will play every other team once - (6 games). Each teams remaining 2 fixtures will be against teams in their half of the country so as to reduce travel expenses. The season will start in March/April (depending on team) & end in August. 2 fixtures will be played most weekends and there will be a 4 week long mid-season break. Teams fixtures will be spread as evenly as possible throughout the season, but the schedule does take into account restrictions that we cannot avoid e.g. UL, no games in N.I. in mid-July. Games can be either 11-a-side or 8-a-side, but the points system will be biased towards 11-a-side.

(2) Points Structure:
I'm putting forward 2 suggestions for teams to consider. I've biased the points towards 11-a-side as teams should play 11-a-side if at all possible. The points for playing an 11-a-side fixture must be greater or equal to those for an 8-a-side fixture as teams cannot be encouraged to drop to 8-a-side for "tactical" reasons if they think that they have a better chance of winning an 8s game. However, we must consider that teams who can genuinely only play 8-a-side have something to play for that counts towards the league standings. I've also included points for just playing so as to discourage walkovers. Teams will have to indicate whether or not they intend to play 8s or 11s in advance for each individual fixture, but can play a mixture of 8s & 11s throughout the season. All play-off fixtures will be 11-a-side.

Option A:
0 pts - not playing the fixture.
1 pt - loser of 8-a-side game.
2 pts - winner of 8-a-side game.
3pts - loser of 11-a-side game.
4 pts - winner of 11-a-side game.

If one team can play 11s & the other 8s, the 11s team gets awarded 2 points & a 8s game is played.

Option B:
0pts - not playing the fixture
1 pt - loser of 8-a-side game.
3 pts - winner of 8-a-side game & loser of 11-a-side game
5 pts - winner of 11-a-side game

If one team can play 11s & the other 8s, the 11s team gets awarded 2 points and a 8s game is played.

(3) Mid-Season Break:
Incorporating this gives us a number of advantages:

- Most of the teams in Ireland can only really play around 4 games in close proximity due to accumulating injuries. If we play an 8 game season straight through, most teams will drop to 8s or drop out altogether. Having the mid-season break of 4 weeks gives teams a chance to heal & be competitive right throughout the season.

- Some teams are having difficulties fielding a team during exam time in late May, early June. The mid-season break avoids exam time.

- Blitzes, coaching clinics, exhibition games etc. can take place during the break if players/teams wish to remain active during that period.

(4) Two Games Per Week:
The league cannot develop any further unless we start playing multiple games every weekend. At the June EGM, the teams agreed to supply one person each to train as officials. This will need to happen as we will need at least 2 officiating crews to get through the 2004 season. If additional officials are not found, the season will have to be reduced to 4 or 5 games per team.

(5) UL Vikings:
The UL Vikings are a viable team with a good organisational setup. However, they cannot play outside University term time. In the proposed schedule, the Vikings will start playing slightly earlier than most teams and will complete their entire league schedule before they break for the summer. They should declare in advance whether or not they can contest the play-offs. If they opt out of the play-offs, the 5th place team in the league will qualify instead. As we have so few teams, we need to try and accommodate the Vikings. Their inclusion also cuts down on the amount of travelling which saves money.

(6) Regionalisation:
There is some degree of regionalisation in the schedule. Everyone plays everyone at least once to provide some variety (6 games). Teams in Northern Ireland play the remaining 2 games against other Northern Ireland teams and teams in the south play southern teams. The regionalisation has the advantage of reducing costs & travel time. As the regionalisation only accounts for 25% of fixtures & the teams in both regions are of similar overall strength, the final league positions should not be unduly affected.

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