Re: My Pre-Playoff Rant

By Pink Panther17/5/2015 11:22Sun May 17 11:22:37 2015In response to Re: My Pre-Playoff Rant

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I like the suggestions of no extra time for 2nd v 5th, and no penalty shoot-out with the higher placed team being declared the winner. I'd never thought of any of that before.

I've always been against play-offs in principle, but realistically they're here to stay now and I've just accepted the fact that you have to be champions to guarantee promotion, while anything else is a bonus not a right. As a Dulwich supporter, I've seen my club reach the play-offs three times: beaten finalists in D1S twice and losing semi-finalists this season. We've only ever lost to sides who finished above us anyway, so I've never really been that upset. (In 2003/4 we lost a unique cross-divisional play-off on sudden death penalties at home to Wealdstone when there was only one spare place between the two regional divisions upon the creation of the regional Conference divisions.)

One thing I just can't accept was the decision to expand our division to 24 clubs a couple of years back. By definition this creates two extra mid-table sides with 'nothing to play for' towards the season's end in direct contradiction to the play-offs argument, four additional midweek league fixtures when attendances are always significantly down for all clubs on what the same fixture would pull on a Saturday, and everyone having an extra four fixtures against two clubs that wouldn't previously have been good enough for this level. It's just promoting mediocrity in every sense. This season eleven Premier Division clubs had at least one attendance of 150 or less, and six had a sub-100 attendance. To my mind it would be preferable to cut divisions to 20 clubs, revert to starting the seson on the third Saturday of August instead of the second, and leave midweek dates free for cup ties and rescheduled matches after the first few weeks.

Nikki Bull is still a fine goalkeeper. Best I've seen this season.