Season 6 Homepage IV

First topic message reminder :

Breaking News: Tigers end the regular season top of the table while Worcester will be battling it out in the Championship next year.
 

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Welcome to Season 6 of the Aviva Premiership fantasy rugby game.  Below are the rules of the game which must be adhered to.  If there are any situations that arise in the course of the game which are not covered by the rules, a final decision will be made by the RFU (SJE) as to how the situation will be resolved.
 
 

Senior Squads wrote:
The maximum squad size is 40 senior players.  If a team has more than 40 players in their squad then they will be fined £1 million per player over the permitted amounts per day for the first seven days. If after 7 consecutive days a team still has more than the permitted number of players then the team will be fined £2 million per player per day, and fined 1 league point per player per day for the next seven days. If after this time a team still has more than the permitted number of players in their squad, the RFU (me) will remove players at its discretion to bring them back under the permitted numbers. There will be no right of appeal to players being removed.

Be aware that all tier one international matches which are played during the season will count in the game, and players selected in the match day 23's for those matches will not be eligible to play for their clubs on that weekend, therefore you must give due consideration to the make-up of your squad.

Academy Rules wrote:
Each team will be allowed to have an academy squad of 20 players.  Players who are in the academy must be born on or after 1st September 1991.

Any player, who is at any Premiership club in real life, either in their senior, academy or AASE squads, can be bid for on the domestic bidding page.  Players who are at your own club in real life and are coming through the academy system must be bid for if you want them in your own academy.

Transfers wrote:

• Domestic (other AP Teams)
  Each team has a budget to use in the purchase of players. Domestic transfers between AP clubs, regardless of nationality of player, should be negotiated between the respective managers, and then confirmed on the Domestic Transfer Confirmation Page.
  
• Domestic (Championship and below)
  Each team may during the season purchase no more than 5 players from the Championship or the National Leagues.  These players must be bid for on the Domestic Transfer Bidding page, and each bid will be considered by me on its own merits before being accepted or rejected.  No bid will be accepted until a minimum of 24 hours has elapsed from the time the bid was made, in order to afford other managers the opportunity to make a counter bid.
  
• Foreign
  To make a foreign transfer (i.e. from any club outside of the AP, regardless of whether the player is English) a bid should be made on the Foreign Transfers Page, which will be considered by me against the posted guidelines for purchase prices before being accepted or rejected. No bid will be accepted until a minimum of 24 hours has elapsed from the time the bid was made, in order to afford other managers the opportunity to make a counter bid.
  
  There will be a summer foreign transfer window, which will run as follows.
  
  Structured Window
  
  No cash will be used and each team will get effectively free transfers by way of a draft, which will run 12th, 11th, 10th …… 1st, 12th, 11th,10th… 1st place side.  This will run from 10th June 2013 until all teams have had their two picks. 
  
  Open Window
  
  Open transfer window, teams have unlimited bids provided they have the financial resources to cover them.  Teams may only bid for one player at a time.
  
  

Player Releases wrote: 
Managers may choose to release players from their clubs, for which they will be offered compensation

Compensation will be paid as follows

£2 million – current international (must have played international rugby in the previous 12 months)
£1.5 million – former international
£1m – top flight experience
£0.5m – other

All released players will be deemed to have joined a Championship side and can be bid for on the Domestic Transfer Bidding page.

Retirements wrote:
There will be no compensation for retiring players.  Should a player who retires decide to come out of retirement and play again, then he will automatically go back to the club who he was playing for in the game when he retired.

Fixtures wrote:
There will be 22 Aviva Premiership games per season, plus the play offs. There will also be Heineken Cup, Amlin Challenge Cup and Anglo Welsh Cup matches.  These games will take place once a week. A match thread will be put up every Monday.  Home teams must be named by midnight on Tuesday.  Away teams must be named by midnight on Wednesday.  Both teams must provide tactics by midnight on Thursday.  Predictions will be open from 00:01 hours on Friday and remain open until 20:00 hours on Saturday.  Managers will post the scores that they think will happen from these games (apart from games in which they are involved).  An average of all predictions will be taken, and then 0.5 points added to each teams score for each prediction that had them as the winner, and that will then be the final score.

Managers are asked to provide detail as to why they have predicted a result.  To be considered a descriptive prediction this must be a full 3 lines long when entered into the text box.  If you are not providing a descriptive prediction you will be restricted to predicting a 1 point win either way.

Teams wrote:
When naming your team, not only should you put the starting XV and replacements, but also tactics that your team will employ. Results will be affected by the tactics described.

In addition, each team must have the following:-

At least 10 England qualified players in your match day 23, and at least 4 of those must be in your starting XV.

At least 2 props and 1 hooker on the bench.

All players must be eligible (not injured or banned).

Failure to comply with these rules will result in forfeiting the match and a 1 league point deduction.

If you fail to submit a team for a match, then the other team will be automatically awarded a 30-0 bonus point win. If both teams fail to submit a team, then it will be scored as a 0-0 draw.

Injuries and Suspensions wrote:
Injuries in this game do NOT reflect real life, they will be generated by me.

Players banned in real life will be ineligible for selection in this game for the duration of the ban.

Inclusion of injured/banned players will result in them being replaced by players on the bench, and the bench not having eight players, which may result in punishment if it concerns the front-row.

Punishment for fielding an ineligible player will be loss of one match point for a first offence, two for a second offence and so on.

Financial Rewards wrote:
There will be no rewards for the result of an individual match, instead the managers will receive cash for predicting.

£2m for descriptive predictions 
£0.25m for scores on the doors predictions
If you fail to predict without first advising me that you are unable to do so that week, you will be fined £1m for a first offence, £2m for a second offence, £3m for a third offence etc.

AP finishing positions.

Champions: 8m
Runners Up: 6m
Playoff Semi Finalist Losers: 5m
5th: 4m
6th: 3.5m
7th: 3m
8th: 2.5m
9th: 2m
10th: 1.5m
11th: 1m
12th: 0.5m

Heineken Cup

Losing Quarter Finalists - £2 million each
Losing Semi Finalists - £3 million each
Runners Up - £4 million
Champions - £5 million

Amlin Challenge Cup

Losing Quarter Finalists - £1 million each
Losing Semi Finalists - £2 million each
Runners Up - £3 million
Champions - £4 million

Anglo-Welsh Cup

Losing Semi Finalist - £1 million each
Runners Up - £2 million
Champions - £3 million


If your budgets falls below minus £10 million for any reason, the administrators (ozzy3213) will step in and players from within your squad will be released for the relevant financial compensation in order to bring your budget back above minus £10 million.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:

anonmattyt wrote:How is it different to falcons who are the original manufactured club? John hall bought the first ever pro title with mercenaries

I thought Bristol had a history etc etc so why do they need to buy their way up?

I didn't really like what we did then but we're a totally different club now with a great academy and local lads. Bristol are just throwing the cash around, complete joke.

Bristol have tons of locals in the side and a great academy so what is the issue.
2 of my mates George Watkins and Ben Glynn play in the side every week and they are Bristol through and through. There are about 3 or 4 other local lads in the side . Don't think any prem side could say that ??


The reason they have to spend money like every other club is it's the pro game. Newcastle have signed the tuilagis by your rationale that would be wrong as they should use their history etc.

Just done the results on the match thread. Semi finals will be....

Leicester Tigers vs. Gloucester
London Wasps vs. Sale Sharks

Tasty semis pete. Unlucky Steve was very close

Massively close for Quins. Two massive games in the semis. I want revenge on Sale for knocking me out in the Heineken Cup quarter final!!!

Welch, Hodgson, Tait, Fitzpatrick.....all local lads started on Saturday and that's in the AP.

Brookes, Shiels, Kilbridge, McGuigan, Clegg, Wilson etc etc are our academy product getting regular game time.

Bristol will be a XV of mostly foreign players next season, it's really sad for English rugby.

Hopefully Leeds will make it, they're doing things the right way.

Ozzy3213 wrote:Just done the results on the match thread.  Semi finals will be....

Leicester Tigers vs. Gloucester
London Wasps vs. Sale Sharks

  

Some good semi's, all to play for

Out of the Championship Clubs you'd have Bristol and Leeds as best academies, when you look through the Eng u18s and u20s both have similar numbers of representatives.

Difference is that Bristol have money, while Leeds don't. Leeds have to play young players as they can't afford anything else, I think they had 4 loan players playing for them today from AP clubs.

Trouble is if Leeds, Rotheram or Welsh went up they'd get humped week in week out - Bristol look as though they have the financial clout to stay up - can see it getting to the stage where they stop relegation from the AP eventually.

List of London Wasps players still available for transfer...

Rob Hawkins
Michael Mayhew
Christopher Tolofua
Tom Mercey
Sitaleki Timani
Romain Millo-Chluski
Rynhardt Elstadt
Marcell Coetzee
Tom Johnson
Luke Wallace
Blair Cowan
Fotu Auelua
Sebastien Tillous-Borde
Eric Escande
Elton Jantjies
JJ Englebrecht
Jaco Taute

Others may be available on request.

U20's - Leeds 2, Bristol 1
U18's (recent game) - Leeds 3, Bristol 1

How many EQ are going to turn out for Bristol next season?

Bristol will not be losing all their talent from academies anymore once In the AP. Over the Years they have lost so many players

Simon shaw, Sheridan, Attwood amongst many many others all products of Bristol.

To be fair everyone should want a club that will have good attendances to come up for the good of the game and financially.

Falcons had 5000 on saturday which to be honest is detrimental to the English game. Unless you can generate crowds of 10000 there is an argument that you should not be allowed in the league. . The same thing happened in the reverse at sandy park where crowd was approx 5000

Probably more than Worcester had!

I like Bristol, but they want to stay in the AP so have gone for proven players - look at the players Wasps have been signing Cittadini (or whatever his name is), Bradley Davies, Jackson and Leiua - admittedly we've got Gaskell and Miller but for a team that has traditionally had nearly all English players in the match day 23 we are getting more and more foreign recruits in.

Not the best.

The WC next year should help the less well supported teams like falcons, Exeter etc. You always have a spike after world cups.

Full stadiums and atmosphere will help the game grow. I would love to see Irish and wasps move away from football stadiums that don't really work for rugby

"Falcons had 5000 on saturday which to be honest is detrimental to the English game. Unless you can generate crowds of 10000 there is an argument that you should not be allowed in the league. . The same thing happened in the reverse at sandy park where crowd was approx 5000"

What a load of rubbish. How are crowds of 5000 detrimental to the game??? We need rugby in every corner of the country. We need teams like Sale, Newcastle and Leeds in the AP to promote the game to the next generation.

I think we are looking to buy Wycombe's ground - would be an awful move, but apparently it is in a cut price deal for us. It just isn't a rugby area unfortunately.

5000 crowds are detrimental because it means teams struggle to operate in a financially viable manner.

Clubs that struggle to get crowds should get given help In marketing the game particularly in the north where the game struggles for crowds but at the same time if they cannot generate proper crowds it is detrimental to the financial Wellbeing of the game so needs to be looked at.

So your answer is to ban Sale, Newcastle & Leeds from the AP???

Dave Wilson, Danny Care, Luther Burrell, Ben Foden etc would not be playing Int rugby if this was the case.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:So your answer is to ban Sale, Newcastle & Leeds from the AP???

Dave Wilson, Danny Care, Luther Burrell, Ben Foden etc would not be playing Int rugby if this was the case.

Never mentioned banning them. I said they should be helped first to grow crowds. I can see there being a lock down on relegation in time. If this is the case only financially viable clubs will be allowed in it.

Hope we don't go to no relegation but can see it happening

"Unless you can generate crowds of 10000 there is an argument that you should not be allowed in the league."

???

This is your point is it not?? I've not seen this suggested anywhere

Matt your comment is a bit silly. You have to start somewhere when building a following. 

You can't just expect 20 to 30,000 people turning up to games, especially when we aren't the number one sport in the country.

What is silly about saying they need help with marketing and to build crowds?

A few clubs don't even break even. If they can't generate the crowds to break even then something is wrong and needs to be done to sort it.

The argument for a ring fenced premiership is that clubs will have stability to invest and develop clubs long term . Therefore teams at the bottom can invest in big name players and infrastructure to drive crowds and to become financially viable. As it is they cannot spend on big names etc as they face the possibility of being relegated in to a league that generates less cash.


It's a tough one to sort out but clubs with low attendances in the top league is not a great advert for the league.

Having a team like Bristol who will have big crowds is a good thing all round

Does raise the interesting point in that will rugby ever really be overly popular in the more northern part of the country? Such a football stronghold when you get around Midlands, Lancashire and Newcastle area.

Didn't Sale post a big loss recently and they are the biggest northerly club around.

Rugby clubs are big where the football teams aren't so great, look at the crowds Tigers and Saints generate - also Bath and Gloucester.

Quins and Sarries do well due to great marketing departments, while Wasps and Irish struggle in comparison.

There's stacks of clubs up North that produce top players. It'll never be the main sport but that doesn't mean we should just give up.

Matt I think Fluxy was suggesting your "less than 10k crowds shouldn't be in the AP" comment was silly not that they need better marketing.

My quote about the less than 10000 attendances relates to financial viability . Being in the AP you can't survive with crowds of 5000 and be viable financially.

100% agree we need the north and should not give up but likewise development of the game and crowds needs to be addressed.

Sarries do a great job and are innovative. I am off to watch them thrash us this Thursday in London. It's called Saracens in the city and is at an old military club next to moorgate tube station in the heart of London. Doing innovative things like that makes people go and broadens the appeal in areas where maybe people do not watch rugby

Where's this quote from?

You said there's an argument that less than 10k crowds and you shouldn't be in the AP. It would make interesting reading that's all.

33% of the teams in the AP have less than 10k average, 3 of these are at the far corners of the country (Exeter, Sale, Newcastle).

Michael Mayhew
Tom Mercey
Fotu Auelua
Elton Jantjies

Will all be being released later today unless anyone wants them on the cheap.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Where's this quote from?

You said there's an argument that less than 10k crowds and you shouldn't be in the AP. It would make interesting reading that's all.

33% of the teams in the AP have less than 10k average, 3 of these are at the far corners of the country (Exeter, Sale, Newcastle).

Quote is from one of the chairman of the group of clubs wanting no relegation. Pretty sure it's the sarries chairman. Just talking about how crowds .need to be increased, role of marketing and that how away support has dwindled to almost zero for some clubs.

To be fair to sarries they have generated decent attendances despite not having a home for ages and then driven even better attendance at a ground where it is not there usual catchment area.

Sarries have falsely generated decent attendances though.  Their average attendance for games at Allianz Park this season is around 8,200.  This is fine, as the capacity is 10,000 there so having the ground about 80% full should create a decent atmosphere.  

In terms of growth though, they played 5 matches at Allianz Park last season.  One was against Welsh who they didn't play this year, and one was against Quins, who they played at Wembley this year.  The other three teams were Chiefs, Worcester and Bath , and for all three the the crowd this season was less than the one for last years game.  Cheifs was down 1,883, Worcester was down 1,748 and Bath was down 1,951.  For all of their marketting ploys, some of which are incredibly crass, they do not appear to be growing their fan base.  The 83,000 at Wembley were largely corporate and freebies, and clearly are not Saracens fans otherwise they would have turned up to Twickenham for the Heineken Cup semi.

Crowd size is important, and I know that the new board at Irish are very keen to look at ways of increasing the fan base as this will in turn aid sustainability, however I think it would be absolutely wrong to be looking at restricting access to the Premiership based on average attendance.

Pete I think what they are getting at is if clubs can show no signs of improving things crowd wise then it needs to be looked at.

I am sure a lot of these sarries events are loss leaders to grow a base. That said they will do well if they sell out the HAC on Thursday night. Cheapest ticket is 35 quid for a Thursday night game???

Fan attendance and player participation are really down in the UK which is a problem for the game as a whole.

There are 10000 less people playing rugby than there were in 2004 which is hurting local clubs badly. Not many are getting out 3rd and 4th teams anymore and some clubs only have one team now. Everybody is thinking the world cup will solve this but the game needs to put in steps to build on the World Cup or we will lose all momentum

anonmattyt wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Where's this quote from?

You said there's an argument that less than 10k crowds and you shouldn't be in the AP. It would make interesting reading that's all.

33% of the teams in the AP have less than 10k average, 3 of these are at the far corners of the country (Exeter, Sale, Newcastle).

Quote is from one of the chairman of the group of clubs wanting no relegation. Pretty sure it's the sarries chairman. Just talking about how crowds .need to be increased, role of marketing and that how away support has dwindled to almost zero for some clubs.

To be fair to sarries they have generated decent attendances despite not having a home for ages and then driven even better attendance at a ground where it is not there usual catchment area.

Ah ok, I thought it was an actual quote rather than you just picking it out of the air.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/club/10806233/Worcester-dropping-out-of-the-Premiership-is-crazy-relegation-should-be-scrapped.html


This article is interesting in a similar vein.obviously Mac has a vested interest

Although it states nothing of the 10k minimum crowds or you can't be in the AP.......

Glos sacked Davies on Saturday so be interesting to see who gets the job. Should be confirmed in media later today

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Although it states nothing of the 10k minimum crowds or you can't be in the AP.......

Different article as stated ( pay attention ) and it was not get 10 k or your
Out it was saying there is an argument that if you can't get 10 k supporters then you should not be in the league.

Get out of the wrong side of bed again today Pooly? It's becoming a habit.
You are quite an angry person these days. Should get yourself a hobby   

Not angry just interested in the point as it would affect Falcons. Seems like theres nothing in it though....

There is nothing in it currently and by his own rationale sarries would be excluded. This time if year you always get discussions and articles about the blue print for the game and how the game can progress.

Thought that geech article made some interesting points also. Tough to invest if you stand a chance of being relegated( probably about 8 clubs in AP)

Good to see bird included again. He has been really good and had been in front of Romano for crusaders. Romano also broke his ankle yesterday

Issues for the AB's at hooker.  Also question marks over whether Cruden and Read will be fit for the first test.

We've got this!

Coltman has potential to be long term an hooker from what I have seen. Been impressed with him,

New homepage:
https://www.606v2.com/t53734-season-6-homepage-v#2642924

He does also have an amazing beard!