UK Student Archery Association

Quintet set to join Leagues [04/Oct/10]

The new season is here and 2010/11 looks looks like bringing the largest influx of new teams into the regional league structure since the creation of SEAL back in 2003. This season the leages welcome no less than five clubs: East Anglia, MMU Cheshire, Northumbria, Nottingham Trent and Plymouth. This could bring the number of teams in regional league action up to a whopping 41.

MMU Cheshire and Northumbria will be joining NEUAL, bringing that league up to eleven teams. MMU Cheshire are a new club, based in Crewe. Northumbria on the other hand have been in existence before, even finishing fourth out of five competing clubs in the inaugural 2002/03 NEUAL campaign. They failed to compete in NEUAL 2003/04 and dropped off the radar completely for several years. They should now make their second NEUAL campaign eight years after their first.

Nottingham Trent are joining BUTTS this year. Trent will go up against city rivals Nottingham this year. Nottingham Trent are slightly unusual in that they co-hosted a BUTC before entering the regional league structure and thus have not yet hosted a league match, though that streak is scheduled to end on 27th November. Trent have a strong compound tradition, with Neil Bowley and Matt Price both getting two GB student caps.

East Anglia become the latest club to join SEAL bringing that league up to ten teams. East Anglia are another relatively new club, based in Norwich and they will hope to have similar success to Kent and Essex who both joined SEAL only two seasons ago.

The final joinee are Plymouth, who would boost SWWU up to five teams. SWWU had been reduced to only three teams prior to Gloucestershire joining up last year. Gloucestershire only fielded partial teams, but they should now receive funding from their university and compete more fully. As for Plymouth, they have been operating just outside SWWU for many years, never yet completing a full set of scores and last attending a regular SWWU leg in 2004. Should Plymouth compete in 2010/11 it would be a welcome boost for the smallest of the regional leagues.

SUS remains unchanged, although there are whispers of a club forming at Glasgow.

There are two new league co-ordinators this year: Amyce Smith-Bannister in SWWU and Ash Restell in SEAL. NEUAL, SEAL and BUTTS will also be re-jigging their match structures to cope with the additional teams. BUTTS' change is the most interesting with all eight teams competing against each other across two physical legs (each with 4 of the teams present) held ideally on the same day. This will happen four times across the season, with 8 points for first place overall, 7 for second place and so on, for a theoretical maximum of 40 points - with 8 also available at BUTTS [corr.] Indoor Champs.