Venues, pitches & team sizes

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Jul 6, 2010 18:02:07 GMT 8 Rajiv said:

The big pitch at the Premier Pitch is formed by joining two small pitches together, ie, by pulling the netting dividing the two small pitches aside.

As previously discussed, the big pitch is suitable for 7-a-side or 8-a-side games, played within the lines.

The small pitch is suitable for 5-a-side games played within the lines.

For 6-a-side, we have tried:

* Playing to the lines, first by the regular FAFI games on Monday nights, and continuing until they went offline.
* Continuing to play off the side nets.

Playing 6-a-side to the lines feels a bit crowded and slow. While playing off the side nets creates a bit more space and speeds up the game, the side net between the two small pitches is a temporary one that extends loosely to the ground, so the ball doesn't rebound off it, and usually gets stuck in the net, and feet can get caught in the nets, which is dangerous.

Balach was the first to suggest playing on the big pitch even with 6-a-side, an idea supported by Dan B.

Since I have the big pitch on Saturdays from 4 to 5 pm, if we don't get to 14, but still have 12, instead of capping numbers at 10, how about playing on the big pitch?

Apart from requiring more running, it would be more expensive - rounded up to $13.50.

The above poll will help answer the question.

You have to be registered and logged in to vote.

The poll has been removed from this thread and is archived under "Reports, polls & chat".

The big pitch at the Premier Pitch is very popular for 8-a-side games, especially the Sunday, 5 to 6 pm, slot.

However, we have been getting to 20 players over the past two weeks, and again this week. There is the option of dividing the big pitch into 2 small pitches and playing as 4 teams of 5 each, either as two separate games, or in a mini-tournament.

Two separate games means less interaction. On the other hand, mini-tournaments tend to be very intense, and we wouldn't want those too often.

I've added a poll for this Sunday's game.

I'll consider other solutions longer term.

I'm putting my vote in for capping big pitch games at Premier Pitch to 7-a-side.

Jul 19, 2010 15:01:51 GMT 8 Rajiv said:

....

I'll put up another poll later as to whether to cap numbers for the big pitch at 14.

Especially since, from now on, we could have up to 3 games on the big pitch over the weekend.

The poll is here.

Jul 19, 2010 15:01:51 GMT 8 Rajiv said:

Jul 19, 2010 11:40:55 GMT 8 Dhiraj said:

....

Also, have we considered playing 7 v 7 on the pitch? Think the game could have had a bit more flow to it if we all had a little bit of extra space to work with.

....

My own view is that for the big pitch at the Premier Pitch, 7-a-side works better than 8-a-side.

However, with 8-a-side, we can continue with 7-a-side on the big pitch even with a couple of withdrawals. However, with 7-a-side, a couple of withdrawals brings us down to 6-a-side, and the question whether to play on a big pitch or small pitch.

I'll put up another poll later as to whether to cap numbers for the big pitch at 14.

and

Jul 19, 2010 17:05:37 GMT 8 Dhiraj said:

I'm putting my vote in for capping big pitch games at Premier Pitch to 7-a-side.

and

Jul 20, 2010 9:09:53 GMT 8 Joel C said:

....

... agree with the comments about moving to 7v7 on that pitch - would give more flow to the game - it can get a bit crowded with 8v8.

and

Jul 21, 2010 9:46:25 GMT 8 Fred said:

are we limiting the number of players at 14 ?

Especially since, from now on, we could have up to 3 games on the big pitch over the weekend.

The poll is above. The voting will apply to next weekend's games, not to this weekend's three games. If the voting is very close, I will add a poll to the schedule thread for each game for the following weekend.

While i agree having 7 a side might make it more enjoyable, jUdging by the popularity of the sun 5-6pm slot, it may not be a the best option to limit it further looking at the response for 6-7pm slot it may not be an option.

There is plenty of space for 8-a-side. I think if both teams can organised their teams and move to open space a bit more, it will be better... Let's not forget we play 6-a-side on the small pitch on monday night and we got space to move around. Just my 5 cents' worth of comments. If not, maybe 1 cent

Jul 25, 2010 0:36:49 GMT 8 Damian said:

... looking at the response for 6-7pm slot ....

New slots are always slow to start Damian. We struggled to get 10 for our first game on Sunday, 5 to 6 pm, at the Premier Pitch - on 10 May 2009. If I'd given up after the first attempt, we wouldn't have a Sunday game at all now.

When I first asked around to get players for the Sunday game, quite a few said they can't play on Sundays.

Again, when I first started the Saturday game at the Premier Pitch in April 2010, I got similar responses about not being able to play on Saturdays. It took a lot of SMSing to keep the game going. Even when I got the big pitch, at first, we only had enough players to play on the small pitch. Only in the last couple of weeks have the places filled up almost entirely on the message board, with enough for 8-a-side.

Some of those who said they can't play Sunday, or Saturday, have played, or are regular for one or both.

A lot of players only want to play in the popular games. The same applies to the midweek games. That's human nature I guess.

Anyway, there are always new people joining our games, so even slots that are slow to start take off after a while.

The extra Sunday slot is to deal with the Sunday game filling up within a day of it being put up on the schedule. I assume that over time, a growing number will get tired of the scramble for places, especially if numbers continue to grow, and there are enough for two games.

As for whether to play 7 or 8-a-side on the big pitch, that will be a majority decision. If the voting is close, it will be decided on a game by game basis (as is already the case for next Saturday's game).

Yesterday's second game was 7-a-side on the big pitch. In fact, it started as 7 v 6!

A good 7-a-side game today.

The Sunday 5 to 6 pm regulars clearly prefer 8-a-side, so I'll leave it at that for now, but I'll continue to add a poll for all other regular games scheduled for the big pitch at the Premier Pitch, such as the Saturday 4 to 5 pm game and Sunday, 6 to 7 pm game.

The mixed game, whether it is on Saturday, 5 to 6 pm, or Sunday, 6 to 7 pm, will be on the small pitch, so no poll for those.

Last Saturday, when we reached 14 players, the poll was 3:2 in favour of capping it at 14, but as we had new or newer players, I voted in favour of allowing up to 16 to make it 3 votes each, and we played 8-a-side.

Yesterday, the poll was 2:0 in favour of allowing up to 16, but as we just about managed 14 players, we went ahead with a 7-a-side game.

The number of players we have, and whether they are mainly regulars or there are new or newer players, are also relevant considerations as to whether to play 7 or 8-a-side.

I transferred one small pitch for 6 to 7 pm yesterday to Timmy. Timmy had 4 friends playing, but we got 7 more players from out participants, so it ended up as a 6-a-side game (on the small pitch).

Unless everyone is a regular, I think 6-a-side on the big pitch is very tough. Notwithstanding that "big pitch" is leading 5:0 in the poll, for now, I'll stick with the small pitch for 6-a-side.

Currently, all our games are on a big pitch, either at Sports Planet (Tuesdays and Thursdays) or the Premier Pitch (Saturdays and Sundays). The games are either 7 or 8-a-side.

The big pitches are very popular currently. One issue that arises is what we should do if we only have 12 players. At Sports Planet, we have no choice but to go on 6-a-side. It still only works out to $10 per person.

One thing we can do with 6-a-side at Sports Planet is play to the side lines to slow the game down a bit.

We had our first 6-a-side game on the big pitch at Sports Planet on Tuesday. I understand they played off the side padding. Ultimately, it's left to those playing. I understand the Thursday game also ended up as a 6-a-side, with a couple of players going off.

At the Premier Pitch, there is the option of switching to the small pitch. For Saturdays, I can get to 10 to 12 players, but it is has been a struggle to get to 14. With 10, we have to switch to the small pitch, but with 12, we can either play on the big pitch or the small pitch.

Coincidentally, we also had our first 6-a-side at the Premier Pitch yesterday. It worked out reasonably well.

I am minded to stick to the big pitch for 6-a-side. Nevertheless, the earlier poll (for the Premier Pitch) is still open.

I am always looking out for new players for our Saturday game. We should have a couple more for next Saturday.

I'll ordinarily cap the Saturday game on the big pitch at the Premier Pitch at 7-a-side. Even if there are withdrawals, we can still go ahead 6-a-side.

However, if there are one or more new players, we can consider going up to 8-a-side. This is to allow the pool of players for the Saturday game to grow.

Hi Rajiv and all,

Since you ask in this poll, I love playing 6 a side on Saturday on the big pitch, even better than playing with 7 (which is still good) but think that playing 8 a side is definitely too crowded. After our game last Saturday, we saw that the following teams were playing 7 a side using the nets (even behind the goal so the ball is never out) not the lines. That certainly speeded up the game and looked like fun.

Perhaps something we can try, in particular if we would have 8 a side?

Hope this helps and thanks again for organising all of this. Cheers, Martijn

Thanks for your comment Martijn.

We've tried playing off the side netting with 8 (or even 9) a side, but the netting (that divides the big pitch into two small pitches) that is pushed aside does interfere a bit with the game. The lose netting can be dangerous.

We can try it this Saturday if there is a consensus amongst those playing.

Nov 1, 2010 9:43:48 GMT 8 Martijn said:

Hi Rajiv and all,

Since you ask in this poll, I love playing 6 a side on Saturday on the big pitch, even better than playing with 7 (which is still good) but think that playing 8 a side is definitely too crowded. After our game last Saturday, we saw that the following teams were playing 7 a side using the nets (even behind the goal so the ball is never out) not the lines. That certainly speeded up the game and looked like fun.

Perhaps something we can try, in particular if we would have 8 a side?

Hope this helps and thanks again for organising all of this. Cheers, Martijn

Nov 1, 2010 23:50:35 GMT 8 Rajiv said:

Thanks for your comment Martijn.

We've tried playing off the side netting with 8 (or even 9) a side, but the netting (that divides the big pitch into two small pitches) that is pushed aside does interfere a bit with the game.

We can try it this Saturday if there is a consensus amongst those playing.

Continue the discussion here, the thread with the poll.

I've continued the discussion on whether to play to the nets for 8-a-side at the Premier Pitch on the thread about whether to play 8-a-side at all.

This thread is more about what to do if we only get to 12 players. At the Premier Pitch, we have the option of either switching to the small pitch or continuing on the big pitch with 6-a-side.

For 6-a-side at the Premier Pitch, the poll is currently 5-0 in favour of playing on the big pitch.

I find players tend to run less when we play 8-a-side. Also, because there are more players within the same space, the players are closer together, and the game tends to be more physical.

My aim is to get players to run more, and make the game less physical, so ultimately, all games will become 7-a-side. I have left the Sunday game at 8-a-side because those who play on Sundays are used to it, but it may become 7-a-side later. Maybe much later.

I heard from someone at work that the pitch was going to close next year, know anything about that ?