YOUTH PLAY-OFFS, 2009-10

 

 

UNDER-18 MEN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Round

 

 

 

Second Round

 

 

Quarter Final

 

 

Semi Final

 

 

Final

 

 

 

27/28 March

 

 

 

10/11 April

 

 

17/18 April

 

 

2 May @ EIS Sheffield

 

 

2 May @ EIS Sheffield

 

 

 

 

 

 

NP1

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MC1

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MC4

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SWC1

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SC2

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SP4

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SP2

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SEC1

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EC2

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NEC1

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NWC2

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}

 

 

 

 

NP3

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}

 

 

 

 

SP1

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EC1

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SEC2

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NWC1

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}

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NEC2

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NP4

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}

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NP2

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

 

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MC2

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MC3

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SC1

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}

 

 

 

3rd/4th Place

 

 

SWC2

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SP3

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

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}

 

UNDER-16 MEN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Round

 

 

 

Second Round

 

 

Quarter Final

 

 

Semi Final

 

 

Final

 

 

 

27/28 March

 

 

 

10/11 April

 

 

17/18 April

 

 

1 May @ EIS Sheffield

 

 

1 May @ EIS Sheffield

 

 

 

 

 

 

NP1

______________________

 

}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MC1

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}

 

______________________

 

}

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

MC4

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

 

 

SEC1

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

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}

 

 

 

SC2

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}

 

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}

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}

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SP4

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}

 

 

 

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SP2

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}

 

 

 

 

 

}

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}

SWC2

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}

 

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}

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}

 

 

}

 

 

}

SWC3

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

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}

 

 

}

NEC1

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

 

}

NWC2

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}

 

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}

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}

 

 

 

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

NP3

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

SP1

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

SWC1

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}

 

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}

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}

 

 

 

 

 

}

SWC4

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

 

}

NWC1

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

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}

 

 

}

NEC2

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}

 

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}

 

 

}

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

NP4

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}

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}

 

 

 

 

NP2

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

 

}

 

 

 

MC2

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}

 

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}

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}

 

 

}

 

 

 

MC3

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

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}

 

 

 

SC1

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

 

 

 

3rd/4th Place

 

 

SEC2

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}

 

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SP3

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}

 

 

U-18 WOMEN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Round

 

 

Quarter Final

 

 

Semi Final

 

 

Final

 

 

 

 

27/28 March

 

 

17/18 April

 

 

1 May @ EIS Sheffield

 

 

1 May @ EIS Sheffield

 

 

1

"Best" first place

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16

Best 6th place

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8

2nd best 3rd place

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9

3rd best 3rd place

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}

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4

Best 2nd place

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13

Best 5th place

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5

2nd best 2nd place

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12

3rd best 4th place

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}

2

2nd best first place

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15

3rd best 5th place

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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7

Best 3rd place

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10

Best 4th place

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}

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3

3rd best 1st place

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}

 

 

 

14

2nd best 5th place

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}

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

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3rd/4th Place

 

 

6

3rd best 2nd place

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}

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11

2nd best 4th place

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

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}

 

 

U-16 WOMEN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Round

 

 

Quarter Final

 

 

Semi Final

 

 

Final

 

 

 

 

27/28 March

 

 

17/18 April

 

 

2 May @ EIS Sheffield

 

 

2 May @ EIS Sheffield

 

 

1

"Best" first place

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16

6th in South Conf.

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8

2nd best 3rd place

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}

 

 

 

9

3rd best 3rd place

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}

 

 

 

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

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4

Best 2nd place

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}

 

 

}

13

Best 5th place

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}

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

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5

2nd best 2nd place

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}

12

3rd best 4th place

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}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

2

2nd best first place

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}

15

3rd best 5th place

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}

 

 

 

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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7

Best 3rd place

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10

Best 4th place

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}

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

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3

3rd best 1st place

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}

 

 

 

 

 

}

 

 

 

14

2nd best 5th place

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}

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}

 

 

}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

}

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}

3rd/4th Place

 

 

6

3rd best 2nd place

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}

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11

2nd best 4th place

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The start of the play-offs is rapidly approaching for the Youth teams who are vying to qualify, and there are a few changes to the system at Under-18 and Under-16 level this year.
As always the basic principle is of crossover matches between teams from different Conferences and Premier Divisions, and if the seeding works then no teams from the same league should meet before the Final.
This year, however, there is a minor modification to this latter principle for both Under-18 and Under-16 Men.
In the Under-18s, there are seven Conferences this year, which makes it difficult to decide how to generate eight qualifiers after the first round to play the eight qualifiers from the two Premier Divisions.
In the past, there have been two qualifiers from each of the main Conferences (those which coincide or approximate to EB Regions), whereas the qualifiers from sub-conferences (such as North-East and North-West) have played off in an earlier round.
This year, though, sixteen teams from the Conferences will play in the First Round - four from the Midlands Conference and two from each of the others. I assume that this is because there are more teams in the Midlands than in any of the others, but I suspect that there may be some teams who might object, such as those in the South-East, who have one fewer participants but only half as many qualifiers.
To compensate, slightly for this, however, the Midlands teams have a mini-play off of their own in the first round, with Midlands Conf 1 hosting Midlands 4 and 3 playing 2, while qualifiers from all the other Conferences are playing teams from outside their league.
It does still mean, though, that the Midlands Conference is guaranteed to have two representatives in the second round, while the others may have two, or could end up with none.
In Round Two the top two from each of the North and South Premier Divisions have home advantage over a Conference visitor, while the third and fourth placed Premier teams must visit their Conference opponents. Here the Midlands Conference teams get their pay-back, as both their qualifiers visit a top-two Premier outfit, while most of the others Conference survivors have home advantage, and (relatively) weaker Premier opponents. The South-East and Eastern teams, though, also visit top-two Premier opponents.
From there, however, the seeding is as you would expect, with the top Premier North team hosting the fourth-placed one from Premier South (providing both survive Round 2), and so on.
The Final Fours for all four Under-18/Under-16 Competitions, together with the two Under-14 ones, will take place on either 1st or 2nd May.
The system for Under-16 Men is very similar to that for Under-18s, with one slight modification.
Since there are only six Conferences, two of them provide four qualifiers - the Midlands and the South-Western Conferences. This time, though, the reason for the choice of the Midlands is less clear, as they have fewer participants than four of the others!
In the First Round two matches pair Midlands teams, and two match South-Western, so they are both reduced to two, and those going through from those matches all then suffer in Round Two, with away matches at top Premier sides. All four survivors from those conferences which only provided two qualifiers have the consolation of home ties against the 3rd or 4th placed Premier teams.
With only three divisions in the Under-18 and Under-16 Women, we have the age-old problem of generating (and seeding) a number of teams divisible by four.
We also have the age old solution of seeding according to the following criteria (applied in this order):
1. Position in the League (so the top three teams are the three division winners, and so on);
2. Percentage win record (dividing number of wins by number of games played). This gets round the problem of comparing records in divisions with a different number of competitors;
3. If two teams are still not separated (having identical percentage records), they are rated on their total “goal-difference” (points scored minus points conceded).
So far that’s as it has been for several years, but this year there’s one huge change. With an extra round introduced, there are sixteen qualifiers (instead of eight), and for the Under-18 Women this means that the top five in each Conference go into the play-offs, along with the “best ranked” sixth placed team.
In fact it’s more difficult not to qualify - only four teams will fail to make it through! So, it’s quite possible (no, probable) that at least one team with only two wins all season will appear in the First Round - though I shall be interested to see how many of the teams with negative records will actually fancy travelling the length of the country just for the pleasure being thrashed by a different opponent from those who’ve done it to the all season. For instance, two of the prime candidates for “best” (shouldn’t that be “least worst”?) sixth place have already defaulted on two games this season!
Still, iIt’s good to see that someone at EB clearly has a good sense of humour.
The format for the Under-16 Women is the same as that for Under-18, although slightly less “generous” (or vindictive, depending on your outlook).
With slightly larger Conferences, eleven (of the 27) teams will miss out, and it looks as though the qualifiers will have to ensure that they’ve won nearly half of their games.
The only minor amendment to the qualification criteria quoted above (position/% win/points difference), is that the location of the sixth-placed qualifier (and 16th seed) is already pre-determined. They will come from the South Conference, as this has eleven teams (compared with nine in the North and just seven in the Midlands).