Provisional Premier and D1 2019 adult contact schedules on their way
Per BritishAmericanFootball.org:
BAFA are pleased to announce that provisional 2019 adult contact schedules have been issued under embargo to all Premier Division and Division One teams.
This has been achieved well in advance of the promise made by new Operations Director Steve Rains that the schedules would be out before Christmas.
Steve said
“Clive Dobbin (Adult Commission Lead) has done an amazing job to get us to where we are in a short space of time - although some teams left registrations late it did not hold him up and its down to him that this target is on its way to being achieved.”
Working closely with Age Groups Commission Lead Russ Hewitt the Adult schedule has been engineered to maximise the opportunity for doubleheader fixtures with associated Junior teams - this is essential in reducing the effect of the serious shortage of officials.
Clive said:
“I would like to thank the teams for their co-operation in supplying information and keeping me updated on their situation. Having schedules early is important for all teams but we recognise that getting the required information is not easy - so a big well done to everyone.”
Division Two and Youth and Junior schedules will follow shortly. D2 is currently awaiting the final outcome of the 2018 Associate Process. The Youth and Junior schedules will be announced shortly when the work on creating the doubleheader fixtures is complete.
Russ said:
“Doubleheaders are essential given the crisis we have with the number of officials. I am currently considering whether or not we will need to hold a scheduling meeting similar to the one planned for the Adult section - I will issue an update on that shortly.”
With the added pressure of both Adult Mens and U19 European Championship competitions for the summer of 2019 currently being discussed by IFAF along with a new IFAF European Clubs competition coverage of games is going to be difficult.
Steve said:
“At the AGM we set out our priorities for coverage of games by officials, Adult Prem, Adult Div1, Junior Div1 get the priority. Unfortunately it is almost inevitable that to get all of the games played some other games will not be covered - we are working with BAFRA and will try to minimise that - but as I said at the AGM its not a BAFA or BAFRA problem exclusively - its a problem for all of us and we appreciate any help we can get in recruiting more officials - and looking after the ones we have”.
The schedules will be openly released when they are finalised either by the deadline set by the league for feedback (11 November) or following the Scheduling meeting in Doncaster (Keepmoat Stadium) on Saturday 8 December.
The revised Premier and Division One alignments are shown below.
