To League Management Committee-UK Youth
Development League
Re: Midland West 1 Division U13/U15 age
group
I am writing on behalf of Telford AC to
strongly object to how Telford has been treated by the organizers of this
League.
This objection is on the basis of our
understanding that the new league structure was introduced to give athletes
improved competition, reducing the distance athletes had to travel for competition,
and reducing the cost to Clubs of competing.
I have to say that the Division Telford
were forced into(despite an appeal) has resulted in none of the objectives being met. The distance that
athletes will have to travel has become enormous and as a result the transport
costs will be excessive. With regard to the objective of improved competition
this will not be achieved because as the
Club will not be able to travel to all of the fixtures because of
distance, and clubs will not travel to Telford for the same reason for their
host match, competition will become almost non existent for our athletes.
In late November when the league structure
was made public an appeal was made to yourselves via Wendy Daniel. The appeal
was that Telford was in the wrong Division (West 1) and the reasoning was the
excessive amount of travelling the Club would have to do (and I included travel
distances). I compared it to being Division East 1 were the distances would be
much less and we would be competing against our “neighbors”. In fact I made the
case where several teams in East 1 were better suited to West1. Even with the
switch both Divisions would remain the same in number. The appeal was heard on
8 December. The club did not hear of the outcome, so I emailed Wendy to ask the
outcome. The Club have still not heard form her. On 19 December I emailed our
Area Co coordinator Joyce Tomala to ask if she knew the outcome. Her reply was ”the
request was considered but apart from travelling the committee had to take into
account all other options”. No change. No explanation was given as to the “other
options”
Since that date the final League structure
has been made public and the host clubs announced. Firstly this has resulted in
the other Shropshire club (Shropshire All Blacks) resigning because of travelling.
This now means that our nearest neighbour club Is Yate, which is 84 miles away!
As Telford are hosting a meeting it means that the club have 3 away fixtures
which will result in the Club travelling 650 miles. What further compounds the
problem is that on the weekend of June1/2, Telford are being asked to travel to
Yeovil on the Saturday and Cardiff on the Sunday at a combined total of 550
miles. You cannot expect athletes, officials and families (who will have
children in both age groups) to travel these ridiculous distances.
How can this be a league structure that promotes
participation and more meaningful competition? Shropshire athletes have been
very badly served by you and were much better served by the National Young
Athletes League.
Graham Merrington Track and Field secretary Telford AC 11/03/2013
TO ALL TEAM MANAGERS, COACHES, ATHLETES AND PARENTS:
With the fixture list now published, many of you will have
seen the venues for the newly formed National Youth Development League. I would
imagine that you were shocked at seeing the venues that the Club have to travel
to. Although the U17/U20 league team has some long distances to travel, it is
nothing like the distance that the U13/U15 league team have to travel.
As this is the first season of this league, the League
Management Committee have decided in what Divisions Clubs should be placed. In
Telford’s case they were placed in Midland West 1 which has Clubs from South Wales,
Gloucestershire and Somerset. This in the opinion of the Club Committee was
clearly the wrong Division as Midland East 1 had clubs from Staffordshire and
the West Midlands. In December the Club appealed to the League Management
Committee that they had been placed in the wrong Division and the reasons for
it. This appeal was rejected.
The Club was then left in the position of either withdrawing
form the League or staying in it and being selective in the venues the team
travels to. In March the Club Committee considered this and decided to remain
in the League, and to continue to lobby the National Committee to try and
change the League structure for 2014.
The U13/U15 age group is now in a division with teams from
Carmarthen, Cwmbran, North Somerset, Bath, Yate and Yeovil. The alternative
division denied to our team has Clubs from Cannock and Stafford, Halesowen, Leicester,
Tamworth, Sutton Coldfield and Wolverhampton and Bilston.
The latest letter from your Club Committee to the National
Youth Development League is attached for your information.
Graham Merrington, Track
and Field Secretary on behalf of Telford AC Club Committee 26/03/2013
