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FROM Fantastico Davido & Fantasico Centurians
I
received a mailshot from you a few days ago announcing the return of the
competition. Glad to hear it!
I really missed it last season.
You mentioned that there would be a revamp of the site and asked for
feedback and suggestions.
Well, firstly, the format is unique
and, for the greater part, really shouldn't be changed. Once you make it to
the League "proper", it is an extremely addictive game. You have a great
format and I don't think it should be diluted at all. However, the one
failing that the competition does have is the poor retention of new players.
Too many register, play for a few weeks and then disappear.
Why
is this? I think it could be the format of the "Minor League". Maybe the
reason is that anyone joining up after the first few weeks of Phase One has
very little prospect of advancing in the competition, such is the lead that
has already been built up by those at the top of the table. Looking at the
Minor League standings presently showing on the site, it would be nigh
impossible for any new player to catch up the 405 points already amassed by
the team currently in 8th place (which happens to be one of mine!). I can
see why they may lose interest and give up. They have nothing to battle for
- neither able to win promotion nor to have to battle to avoid relegation
Would it be an idea to use the (already calculated and listed) "Success
Rate" to determine standings in The Minor League Divisions? The "Points %"
system that you use could be utilised as a sort of goal difference to
separate any ties. A further deciding point could be number of weeks played?
This would make the Minor League much more open and much more competitive
and maybe encourage new players to stick with it.
To prevent top
teams "bagging" promotion in the last week of the season by not playing and
keeping their Success Rate intact, it could be a condition that teams must
play the last one (or two) weeks of the season or else forfeit promotion -
and perhaps have an embargo on new registrations commencing play during the
last two weeks of each phase.
Taking this one step
further.... (forgive me, I've got a buzz about this!). The Minor League as
stands allows endless new teams to join in at any point in the season - but
starting off way down in 38th place could well put some off doing so.
Could the Minor League become Minor Leagues - once a 20 strong Division is
filled, a new one is created below that - a Minor League 2. This then
creates a battle against relegation as well as one for promotion and may
help maintain a competitive edge for those who are struggling or mid-table
also-rans.
I also play at ukfpl.com. Here Divisions are added
continually throughout the season. As one fills up another is created and
the drop-out rate is comparatively low. The playing format is different, but
I think they are currently on 88 Divisions
- I would really love to
see Football-Tipping grow to that size too.
Taking the last
Minor League Standings and, for examples sake, putting the top 20 teams as
ML1, and the remainder as ML2, I then re-ordered them in terms of Success
Rate.
Below is an example of how the different Minor Division
Tables might look:
You will see
my only other suggestion - a maximum of 6-up 6-down between any divisions.
Having fought and struggled to win promotion, with 8-down it is far too easy to
slip back down, or to freefall through the leagues.
A season of
consolidation either up or down is much easier to bear!
If this
helped in retaining players then, as the competition grew in size, the higher
divisions could in time change over to the "league" format
Just a
thought - I'd be interested to know what you think but obviously I respect your
views, It's your site, your baby and I don't want to appear to be meddling!!!
Thanks agin for all your hard work on the site. Keep it up, and good
luck with the new season
David
Fantastico
Davido & Fantasico Centurians
| Pos | Team | Scored | Rate | Pts * % |
| Minor League 1 | ||||
| 1 | Baldwin Judes | 657 | 62.57 | 411 |
| 2 | Flensburgh Sanktpauli | 820 | 57.54 | 472 |
| 3 | Iceni Internacional | 678 | 56.5 | 383 |
| 4 | Invincible FC | 624 | 55.47 | 346 |
| 5 | Corman United | 660 | 55 | 363 |
| 6 | Andredswald Benders | 699 | 54.82 | 383 |
| 7 | Gallovidian Albannach | 815 | 54.33 | 443 |
| 8 | Ethelred Villa | 799 | 53.27 | 426 |
| 9 | Iceni One | 675 | 52.94 | 357 |
| 10 | Rochester Rangers | 782 | 52.13 | 408 |
| 11 | Bryneich Ball Boys | 781 | 52.07 | 407 |
| 12 | Wighard Toppers | 779 | 51.93 | 405 |
| 13 | Fantastico Centurians | 779 | 51.93 | 405 |
| 14 | Cauci Town | 771 | 51.4 | 396 |
| 15 | Gesoriacum Devils | 732 | 51.37 | 376 |
| 16 | Lodbrog One | 766 | 51.07 | 391 |
| 17 | Medway Rovers | 751 | 50.07 | 376 |
| 18 | Caligula Corinthians | 733 | 48.87 | 358 |
| 19 | Canute Wanderers | 729 | 48.6 | 354 |
| 20 | Withering Walnuts | 716 | 47.73 | 342 |
| Minor League 2 | ||||
| 1 | Procopius Pistons | 62 | 82.67 | 51 |
| 2 | St. Columba Celtic | 431 | 63.85 | 275 |
| 3 | Mount united | 47 | 62.67 | 29 |
| 4 | Porta Derbys Pride | 40 | 53.33 | 21 |
| 5 | Ragnar Rocks | 40 | 53.33 | 21 |
| 6 | Zosimus Cosmos | 306 | 51 | 156 |
| 7 | Trinobantes Bantums | 455 | 50.56 | 230 |
| 8 | Repandune City | 189 | 50.4 | 95 |
| 9 | Sunderland Royals | 639 | 50.12 | 320 |
| 10 | Galgacus Rangers | 336 | 49.78 | 167 |
| 11 | Prusn Valley | 693 | 48.63 | 337 |
| 12 | Maximus Albion | 472 | 48.41 | 228 |
| 13 | Ex Rhodesians | 427 | 47.44 | 203 |
| 14 | Dart Ingmad | 674 | 47.3 | 319 |
| 15 | Ex Selous Scouts | 425 | 47.22 | 201 |
| 16 | Ex Wye City | 418 | 46.44 | 194 |
| 17 | Invincible North End | 660 | 46.32 | 306 |
| 18 | Invincible team50150 | 26 | 34.67 | 9 |