Important announcement

The schedule for round 4 is online. As you can see, we will have one team less at Van Slag this round due to a shortage of players. This problem will be resolved in round 5 by changing the rules about promotion during round 4.

At the end of Round 4, in poules G-C, ONLY number 1 will be promoted. Two teams will be degraded.

Why?
Within the G poule, a team (Team Smash) has been cancelled as a result of a substantial lack of players that could not be replaced by people from our waiting list since we don't have a sufficient number of people at this level on the waiting list. This has created an empty spot in the G poule. To prevent the G poule from missing out a game less for half a year, we have decided to form a fully new team which will join the competition after the fourth round. Because there were no options other than the creation of a B/C team, keeping in mind that a large number of people would otherwise miss games for half a year, we have chosen to intervene on a once-only basis, creating space for the new team by shifting the others.

Why not let them start in the G poule?
Considering both the opponents of the new team in the G/F/E poules as well as the interest of the new players to enjoy the games (also preventing them to leave the team again), it is important that the team will play at approximately its own level. We intend to let the team start one poule below their expected level, so they will still need to live up to prove their legibility to play in the poule, but it will remain fun for both the opponents as well as the team itself. In which poule the team will start exactly is not yet known, but this will be decided halfway Round 4 using a formal match between the new team and an A or B-team. Of course we will inform all teams in due time about the result of this game, but if you count on only being promoted when first in the poule, things can only get better!

How does it work?
The fact that an extra team has been created and a team is missing in the G poule implies that we will have to shift teams downwards: if there will be an extra team in the B poule, there will be seven teams in the B, so an extra team has to go to the C poule, where the problem repeats itself. Thus, in each poule (starting from poule B), we need to create an extra place. To keep the level as constant as possible, we have decided to promote only one team per poule, whereas two teams will degrade.

Why this way and not the other way around? (only for the wizzkids among us!)
An example: imagine the situation in the C-poule, having six teams: C1, C2... C6. Usually, this would be transformed into: B5, B6, C3, C4, D1, D2 at the end of the round. However, in this case, we need to accomodate one more team from the upper poules into the lower ones. There are two ways to solve this problem: promote two teams and degrade three, or promote only one team and degrade two. For both scenarios, consider the implications:
- Three teams degrading, two promoted: B4, B5, B6, C3, D1, D2 [five new teams in the C poule]
- Two teams degrading, one promoted: B5, B6, C2, C3, C4, D1 [three new teams in the C poule]
From the above, it is clear that the first option will imply that mainly teams from the B poule will be playing teams from the D poule, whereas using option two, the level of the poule remains more equal than before. Since this creates most stability in the poule (this goes for any poule) and keeps the level closer to the original level, we have chosen to opt for this method.

Why now?
We would have liked to do this as soon as possible, but considering the moment that we knew the team would quit, we did not have time to inform the members before the last games. Because we wanted to prevent teams who were (almost) sure to be promoted not to get promoted after all, we have decided to first inform everyone and only then implement this decision. This way, you are aware of the necessity to become number one to be promoted from the beginning of the round. During this round, the G poule will play only four games instead of five, awaiting the introduction of the new team in round five.

Considering all of our members we concluded that this once-only solution would be in the interest of more people than having a full poule play less for half a year. Because this does not influence the playing time of other teams, we consider it the most fair solution. Of course we hope for your understanding. If you like to react, please come and see us in the gym or send us an email: .

We wish you a very successful new round!
Best wishes,

Board 2008-2009
Karin, Geert Jan, Ivo, Abel and Mirte

P.S. If your team is having troubles, please inform us timely so we can try to resolve the problem while it is still possible!