Fading light

[bonjourmc]

Do face-off times get brought forward sometime soon? Saturday's games (in Manc anyway) were under pretty poor light conditions by the 3rd qs...

[young_trig]

Do face-off times get brought forward sometime soon? Saturday's games (in Manc anyway) were under pretty poor light conditions by the 3rd qs...

I assume you are talking about the NEMLA league.
In the old days matches used to start at 2.30pm but move to 2pm when the clocks went back.
To save confusion, all games now start at 2pm and this does not change.

The matches couldn't really be played any earlier as it would interfere with junior lacrosse and not allow enough time for teams to travel before their match starts.

[bonjourmc]

Do face-off times get brought forward sometime soon? Saturday's games (in Manc anyway) were under pretty poor light conditions by the 3rd qs...

I assume you are talking about the NEMLA league.
In the old days matches used to start at 2.30pm but move to 2pm when the clocks went back.
To save confusion, all games now start at 2pm and this does not change.

The matches couldn't really be played any earlier as it would interfere with junior lacrosse and not allow enough time for teams to travel before their match starts.

Yeah I was, forgot about the Youth games! Cheers for the reply.

[davidmcculloch81]

Should be brought forward to 1pm. Junior games finish 11:30am at the latest. Maybe start junior games at 09:30am, giving around two hours between junior game finishing and senior game starting. Can anyone see any problems with this?

Or...

MAKE LACROSSE A SUMMER SPORT.

It's ridiculous that we play in the dark and even more ridiculous that we play on Wilmslow's cabbage patch. That pitch is a dream in the summer (minus gravel).

[Jim13]

MAKE LACROSSE A SUMMER SPORT.

Be lovely wouldn't it?

[alxlan11]

MAKE LACROSSE A SUMMER SPORT.

Blasphemous talk! Besides, you must remember: (insert tired old argument against playing in the summer here).

Plus it's not like any of the other successful lacrosse nations play in the summer...

[Dining Room]

MAKE LACROSSE A SUMMER SPORT.

Be lovely wouldn't it?

Or god forbid have juniors play on a Sunday in a competitive league. You know so they learn to win/lose like in other sports.

[the pom]

most teams in and around the M60 could deal with a 1pm face which would be better outlinig teams could arrange later games if needed

[Dining Room]

I suppose we are going off topic slightly here Pom BUT.
The game is spreading for the good. I don't have a crystal ball but my prediction is that in 10 years there will be half the clubs in Manchester and most major towns having a club is on schedule. Those clubs will have junior programmes. The juniors will have to travel further as will the senior players. Why not start to deal with it now rather than wait for it to become a problem. Leeds away in the morning followed by Liverpool away in the afternoon could be happening in 2-3 seasons from now!!

[bonjourmc]

I suppose we are going off topic slightly here Pom BUT.
The game is spreading for the good. I don't have a crystal ball but my prediction is that in 10 years there will be half the clubs in Manchester and most major towns having a club is on schedule. Those clubs will have junior programmes. The juniors will have to travel further as will the senior players. Why not start to deal with it now rather than wait for it to become a problem. Leeds away in the morning followed by Liverpool away in the afternoon could be happening in 2-3 seasons from now!!

Isn't that what car sharing is for?

[UKLaxfan]

Here's a crazy idea

As the game grows why doesn't the Junior structure become more local?

You could have a Sheffield League or a Rochdale League where School teams play each other or Rochdale East vs Rochdale South etc.

With the amount of players being exposed to lacrosse at an early age if the recruitment rate increased from 0.0001 to 0.0002 then it would be possible for Juniors to travel much less rather than more. You could then have a Junior Representative Competition or a Cup Competition with Regional qualifiers.

As for the senior game, talking of fading light and playing in the dark makes me laugh at what a tin-pot sport we really are.

At senior level I believe with modern technology (lights) it is possible to play even when it is dark out.

Make it a National League for Top Teams with a requirement to play on 3G-Turf with floodlights.

All Juniors and parents or lower level club players could go to watch the Best Players in the Country play in a National Competition. 7:30pm Face-offs to allow for travel to games after Junior competitions completed in the morning

10p

[Jim13]

7:30pm Face-offs

Made sense until that bit. That's beer o'clock!

[webby]

7:30pm Face-offs

Made sense until that bit. That's beer o'clock!

If something amazing happened, and Newcastle some how ended up in this so called "Super League", that would be one pretty late return home.

[Paul_lboro/wildcats]

7:30pm Face-offs

Made sense until that bit. That's beer o'clock!

If something amazing happened, and Newcastle some how ended up in this so called "Super League", that would be one pretty late return home.

And you could be playing Brighton! (theoretical flight of fancy)

[Ketts19]

Start a little smaller and go for NEMLA/SEMLA premier games on astroturf pitches where available (becasue not everyone has a turf let alone a 3G turf) with a 6pm start.

Plenty of time for the other teams in the club to get a shower and a beer in hand before going to watch.

Might even draw a crowd from other sections at multi-sport clubs

[prescott2]

This is all already happening. Durham play on a 3g pitch with floodlights, they have a regionally based grass roots junior structure and they treat there teams like elite athletes. I know this because I played their. But rather than seeing the bigger picture the majority of the laxforums community (with the exception of a few well informed opinions) saw this as too drastic a change and thought it was disrespectful to certain "values" that the sport stood for.

[Phil201]

It is a shame that Durham managed to fail at sorting out the correct pitches for the BUCS game for Hull Uni v Durham 2s on wednesday. The game was called off a few minutes into the 3rd quarter due to bad light.

A lovely 8 hour round trip for the lads to not even get to confirm a result in what they felt was there biggest game of the season.

GOOD WORK DURHAM!

[Jim13]

Personally not a fan of astroturf.

Great for a fast game but the one in Prague ruined my knees.

[gazmanofhull]

On the issue of fading light and in reference to the Durham 2s vs. Hull BUCS match on wednesday I have a question on the ruling.

If a goalkeeper reports via his coach/captain that he cannot see the ball due to the loss of light. What is supposed to happen? I mean within the rules of the game.

My personal belief is that the game should be stopped at that point and the game either completed or replayed at the first possible opportunity - be that by moving to a new pitch with suitable floodlights or on a different day.

But just wondered the actual ruling as I cannot see anything in the FIL rules.

[Ash]

Its a bit subjective though isn't it.Should the other team be punished if the gk's eyesight is worse than other players on the pitch for example.

If it really is a problem in some parts then 1 o'clock face off is the obvious call. Presumably their is provision within NEMLAs rules to move a face of time bu mutual consent of captains (or with the fixture secs permission). If you know you have a light problem then i can't see any reasonable reason for not moving face forward an hour.

It can be done days/weeks in advance! Not as if you can't predict the rough time it will get dark each day (with slight variation for cloud cover).