[Ali]

Hi!

Prior to the Irish Canoe Polo Committee's AGM, I would like to guage people's feelings on the possible re-introduction of the Irish National League.

This system operated a couple of year's ago, with teams registering players in advance of the session for a small entry fee (which covered the cost of trophies). The League operated over 3 or 4 events such as Belfast, Carrick-on-Shannon, Kilcock and Cork.

A National League system may encourage teams to form for a session rather than for one-off-events and consequently aid canoe polo development. If a team did not enter the National League, this would of course not exclude them from entering individual events.

Anyways, have a think about it and if there is enough interest maybe the National Committee may consider it for next season.

Yours in Canoe Polo,

Ali

[conor]

I agree with the proposal to re-introduce the National League. It was based on about 6 comps of which the best three or four competition results were recorded and that put you into play off positions for the final comp. It meant that your team did not have to enter all comps and thus gave people flexibility on which comps they entered.

I would be all for its re-introduction.


Conor

[niall]

I think I agree with the idea of a national L. It seemed to work quiet well a few years ago but I believe it entailed a bit more work. I would like to see more games played instead of the bst team decided in one weekend. Even if this means people like me, who put teams together from scratch for every new weekend, lose out. It has it's merits. I vote yes.

[michele]

I think this is vital for internal growth here. We should borrow form the bcu design - each devision has say 6 days of one day competition eavery team only goes to 4 of the 6 and plays everyone twice full 10 minute matches and there is a leugue result.

[Ali]

I guess the BCU design is a little different in that it is run over the winter in swimming pools but I get your point. I think for the development of polo in Ireland (and especially for paddlers outside of the Dublin League catchment area!) that this should be considered.

I am not sure who is the Development Officer at the moment or if an new Development Officer is due for election this weekend but maybe at the AGM this question should be posed to whoever takes on that roll for the forthcoming session. This person may not necessarily run the National League themselves but should co-ordinate / second others to assist if required.

Yours in polo,

Ali

[atbarber]

Folks

The National League was re-introduced after the Irish AGM in 2002.

The National League is to run over four tournaments with the champions returning the best performance from three of these tournaments.

The tournaments involved are:
i) The Belfast Tournament --> March 15/16th.
ii) The Limerick Tournament --> April 26th/27th
iii) The Carrick on Shannon Tournament --> 31stMay/1st June
iv) The Kilcock Tournament (This shall also be the National Club Championships) --> 12th/13th July

The Irish Open this year will still be happening and this is on the 13th/14th September.

Further details will be posted on the www.canoepolo.ie website or contact the Secretary@canoepolo.ie.

Adrian Barber
Secretary, Irish national Canoe Polo Committee.

[Owen]

Hi all, good to se the national league format has returned. In NZ we changed last year to something a bit different.
We have 2 island leagues with combined comps at the end. In each island you play each team home and away, then both islands get together for 2 comps where in the final comp, you play in playoffs and finals for national champion. It gives us a season of around 18 weeks each year where we play good top games every 2 weeks on average.
Hope all goes well
on another matter, is anyone going to tape the europeans!!!!