Time for me to introduce the two competitions I'll be running
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First of all, there's the Cup (slightly unfortunate choice of name given the nature of the competition, but it's stuck for years, and now rushy has named it BoRed's Cup, so I guess it's here to stay). The rules are very simple - everyone is welcome to participate - in fact, everyone who participates in the main competition automatically participates in this one, as the same entries count. The only difference is that for the Cup the person's average points per entry count, so even those who join late or miss a few entries along the way have a fair chance of winning it. However, to make sure someone doesn't win it by making only a few very good entries, in order to be ranked in the Cup, you have to make at least half of the entries during the season. And that's about it - I'll post the first standings six or seven games into the season, I don't think they'd make an interesting reading any earlier.
BoReds Cup is making a return this year. Its worked out as an average score over 7 games for people who have missed a few entries, Bo will fill you in with the details
Not sure what you meant by "average score over 7 games", but I hope the rules above are clear enough
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Then there's the Premiership, an elite competition for twenty participants who earned their inclusion during the last season (the newcomers may well be interested to read how they could qualify for next season's Premiership). The rules are as follows:
The 20 players will play each other (twice) over the length of the season. In each game, the winner will be awarded 3 points, the loser no points, while a draw would mean that both players will get 1 point. The actual points collected by the prediction will count towards the "goal" difference. Only predictions for the Premiership games will count towards this competition. If two players finish the season equal on points, their head-to-head score (including the away-goal rule) would decide their final positions (if still equal, goal difference, then goals scored). At the end of the season, the bottom three players will be relegated, along with all those who missed more than ten entries during the season. Their places in next year's competition will be taken by the players highest ranked in the main competition amongst those not already included. Technically, this means that relegation is not necessarily final (i.e. if you finished in the bottom three but ranked highly in the main competition, you'd probably be instantly reinstated).
Top 20 places will obtain a place in BoRed's Premiership. (Rules for this competition to follow shortly)
I'm afraid I have to correct you on this one, too, rushy
. In recent years, it has indeed been the case that the top 20 from the main competition usually ended up in the Premiership next season, but there is no guarantee that this would be the case. According to the rules, the only guarantee is that there would be three (or more) places freed by relegation - it is perfectly possible that a player finishes the Premiership in 12th place (safe from relegation), but finishes the main competition in, say, 30th position - that player would still retain his Premiership status, meaning not all of the top 20 from the main competition would make it into next year's Premiership.
Again, I hope the rules are clear, and both new and old players can rest assured that whoever deserves to be in next year's Premiership will be in next year's Premiership
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Back to this year's competition - the season starts on Saturday with the following fixtures:
Ali v BoRed
Catterfeld v Sajets
EdmondFruitini v MelwoodBoy
Firebrand v SpeedyDidi
Mivi v JamesW
Ndeyanka v YorkshireRed
Olly v Carlo
Prem-105 v Morestellata
Rushyman v KeegansPerm
Wholey v DonAlkhanio
Here's to a good season, with few absentees ...
