The Aylesbury Sunday Football Combination Discussion Board

Steve Downer · Site Admin Joined: 03 Dec 2005 Posts: 9

If your club uses a Council pitch for their home games, then it's down to that individual club concerned to book a Council pitch when they know they have a home game.

Although we have had some changes to the fixtures due to the weather, there has been a couple of instances where clubs have postponed games as there are no Council pitches available, only to find out later that there were indeed pitches spare.

At Bedgrove Park today (Sunday the 1st of March), it apperared thet The Bell Hotel FC (who resigned from the league a month ago) had a pitch booked there. Obviously, no game went ahead here, though the game between AFC Waddesdon and Aston Clinton S&SC was postponed due to their being no Council pitch available.

Also, there has been some weeks whereby games have been 'postponed' at Walton Court and again, there has been a spare pitch.

So what's going on?

Is it a lack of communication with AVDC?

cheakycharlie · Joined: 08 Dec 2005 Posts: 5

AVDC are useless.. another cock up that makes the £49.10 even more worthwhile!

Its gone tits up since a guy called Ken Toulouse (maybe) stopped doing it.

But... i put some responsibilty on thr fixtures sec.. who can simply send an email to whoever manages it now on a Thurs to confirm what pitches are free etc. Then if theres an issue with the weather or something and team asks them for another option he can help them out..

ED MANAGER · Joined: 20 Nov 2006 Posts: 2

Why did it change from the ASFC fixtures secretary making the bookings to clubs having to do their own?

Surely it makes sense for 1 responsible person to contact 1 person at AVDC to make bookings for all teams that need a council pitch each week? The allocated pitches can be posted on Football Mitoo for all to see and any amendments or changes would have to be validated by the league fixtures secretary.

The current fiasco is a clear case of too many cooks................

strongy · Joined: 13 Jun 2008 Posts: 1

I agree with the post above this. Council pitch bookings need to be centrally organised by one person to avoid confusion.

Also, how many more pitches have the Bell booked up this season?! And I hope they get charged for Bedgrove Park too.

canaryman · Joined: 05 Dec 2005 Posts: 4

Wwith reference to the Bedgrove pitch this weekend being free, and games being "postponed" we were asked to play an afternoon game due to the team not being able to play on there regular home pitch, we couldn't get a team for the afternoon.

I then enquired about a council pitch as we had the opportunity to reverse the game and be the home team. I called the council on the Thursday morning but never heard a thing back from them........

Exiled One · Joined: 16 Jul 2007 Posts: 8

The bottom pitch at Meadowcroft also had no game on it, and the middle pitch was hosting a youth game, arent youth games supposed to be played in the afternoon? Confused

Steve Downer · Site Admin Joined: 03 Dec 2005 Posts: 9

I'm not sure about youth games. I do know that ladies games are played on Sunday afternoons which does help.

During the closed season, I asked a member of AVDC Green Spaces team if they could email me a list of the bookings that had been made for friendlies being played at Bowlers Field. I was politely told that this would be too much work and they wouldn't do it!!

Would it really be too much trouble for someone at AVDC to publish a full list of pitch bookings - say on a Wednesday or Thursday at the latest for the coming weekends games??

AVDC even have a nice 'Football Page' on their website - perhaps it could be posted here?

http://www.aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk...tball-pitches/football-home-page/

If it is too much for someone to do it, could someone from AVDC please send me the info and I can put it on our site. Alternatively, I will add the info to the AVDC site, free of charge, or if they wish, they could knock my fee off my Council Tax bill for this year!!

canaryman · Joined: 05 Dec 2005 Posts: 4

too much work.....?? what to type a list of upto 20 games..?? Less than a hundred words..??

A simple spreadsheet with a tab for each venue detailing past,present and future games then sent to yourself and Dave - 20mins to setup 5 mins to update each week 30seconds to email....

I wouldn't offer your services as they'll probably increase the council tax so that they can pay for that "revolutionary transport hub" that cost so much!!

YODA DUCK · Joined: 22 Jan 2009 Posts: 1

Yes, cheaky charlie, it was Ken Toulouse. He actually knew what he was doing and was very helpful, flexible and professional. I do know that some of the pitches are used on Sunday afternoons for the U14/18 groups. It is difficult (especially now there is such a backlog of games), but in future, the league should try to publish fixtures for say, the following THREE months, to give clubs the opportunity to block book pitches. Also, clubs could try to be a bit more flexible and liaise with other managers more closely. How many times has your club had a week off and you can see that 2 or 3 other clubs in your league (who you havent played yet) are in the same boat. And does it really matter if you play your home tie away?
How many times have we turned up for a 10.30 kick-off for the game to be postponed because of frost. And an hour later the pitch is fine? Maybe it is time to look at moving the kick-off time to 11.30 (during bad weather) and also, like Sparta Res did this Sunday past, even consider the odd afternoon kick-off.
No doubt the council will say this is impractical and the league may have some concerns about logistics, but has anyone ever asked the council about using a pitch more than once in a day? Remember, we are supposed to be the customer.

Steve Downer · Site Admin Joined: 03 Dec 2005 Posts: 9

I think there are some new people at AVDC now and I have emailed them our concerns and suggestions.

We have previously published the reasons why late/afternoon kick offs are not always possible. Referee availabilty, family commitments, pitch availability are just a few of the reasons.

I am grateful for your last comment Yoda and it is something I have been banging on about for years now. WE ARE THE CUSTOMER!!!

We are coming to AVDC with our momey and asking them to provide a service for that money. If that service is not up to standard, then we should either get a refund or take our custom elsewhere.

I hope the day will come soon where all our clubs play at private venues and the need for Council pitches will be none existant.

footieboy · Joined: 02 Mar 2009 Posts: 1

Reading the replies on the discussion board I feel some comments need to be clarified. Steve Downer did contact the Council, which was replied too earlier last week with a request for information to be posted on this discussion board last week. The offer to discuss any concerns was made but as yet has not been taken up!

Pitches that where not used on various weekends because of the number of reasons.
1. Teams did not turn up.
2. Teams cancelled pitch at short notice.
3. The pitch was being rested.

Pitches are rested in order to preserve them so teams are not playing on a pitch that is a ‘mud bath’ and will be playable the next season.

The council can not be held responsible for teams postponing games and cancelling game. All booking should be made by 4pm on the Wednesday before the weekend at the latest. Any booking requested after this date are at the discretion of the Contractor and the Council. Pitch booking should be made by e-mailing pitchhire@aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk or those with-out e-mail tel: 585210. Pitch booking request should by e-mail should only be by pitchhire@aylesburyvaledc.gov.uk and not individuals e-mail addresses at the council.

Regretfully the Council are unable to send the pitch booking to the league to publish on the web site but individual teams are welcome to send there own pitch booking to the league to publish. Some teams already do this. There are other leagues who used council pitches, it is not a simple case of sending details of teams pitch booking for the Sunday League teams. There is also and added issue of teams misusing pitches when they are being rested, this also related to teams training on pitches when they are unfit.

There have been several personal changes since Ken Toulouse. The admin section have now made changes to avoid any mistakes in the future.

The Council have sent out requests to all the clubs/team who play on council pitches to update contact details but have only had back a response of 5%. If a game has to be cancelled the council is not responsible if the contractors can not contact the teams who have not updated there contact details. This has happened in the past when tel. nos. have changed and the contractor have not been able to contact the teams to cancel or change the pitch.

Please contact the council on 585210 should you wish to discuss the pitch bookings or related issues and we will be happy to help you.