GIFFA Schedule Update: June/July 2010
The regular games currently are:
- Weekends at Turf City (4 to 5 pm on Saturdays and 5 to 6 pm on Sundays).
- Tuesday to Thursday nights at The Cage (9 to 10 pm)
Weekends
We managed an 8-a-side on the big pitch at Turf City last Saturday (15 May 2010). Although the big pitch was not available yesterday (Saturday, 22 May 2010), we still managed a 5-a-side on the small pitch at the earlier time of 3 to 4 pm, with several Sunday regulars playing.
The Saturday afternoon game at Turf City only started on 17 April 2010. I expect it to gain in popularity. I have the big pitch on Saturdays from 4 to 5 pm from now on.
Please also note that usual pitches at Turf City are not available on Sunday, 6 June 2010. As we are regulars, they have offered us the pitch of the International Soccer Academy at Turf City (ISA). I have added a location map to the right. It is a grass pitch. They will set it up for a 7-a-side game.
Should I cancel the game on 6 June 2010 or switch to the ISA?
Weeknights
The Tuesday to Thursday night games have been filling up largely on the blog.
The GIFFA system (under “Numbers”) provides that:
Once the places are filled, anyone else can only be in reserve. Reserves sometimes get to play due to withdrawals.
As the places are filling up more quickly, we have been getting a lot more reserves over the past couple of weeks, several of whom haven’t gotten to play. Monday nights at The Cage was marginally the most popular option in the poll for an additional game each week. If places continue to fill up quickly, I will re-start regular Monday night games at The Cage. I have bookings for Monday nights at The Cage from June 2010 onwards.
However, I am not sure how the World Cup will affect participation, especially since the games are at night, Singapore time (7 hours ahead of South Africa) – 7.30 pm, 10.00 pm and 2.30 am.
- If participation will increase due to the World Cup, I will start the Monday night game at The Cage at the start of June.
- If the World Cup will not affect participation, I will start the Monday night game at The Cage later in June.
- If participation will decrease due to the World Cup, I will start the Monday night game at The Cage at the end of June or early July.
As usual, a poll:
Another complication is that from July onwards, no pitch is available at The Cage on Tuesday nights. I received the following e-mails from The Cage:
From: Kavin
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2010 11:35 PM
To: R Nair
Cc: Shan
Subject: Re: July BookingsHi Rajiv
Tues no slot untill 11, some only at 12midnight
From: Kavin
Sent: Saturday, May 15, 2010 11:34 AM
To: R Nair
Cc: Shan; Iceman; Yan the Phantom
Subject: Re: Bookings for AugustHi Rajiv
Tuesdays 9-10pm slots are taken up by bulk booking customers till end of the year
The other days, there’s not much worries, shldnt be a problem
Kavin 🙂
I have booked Tuesday nights at Sports Planet instead. One of the reasons I had stopped booking at Sports Planet was to reduce the amount of work I do, by limiting our games to just two venues – Turf City and The Cage. I checked with Turf City – still no pitches are available on Tuesday nights – so I have no choice but to book at Sports Planet for Tuesday nights.
It is a pity, since Tuesday nights at The Cage is currently very popular. It wasn’t always the case though. I have no idea how a switch to Sports Planet will affect participation. However:
- For those who prefer Tuesday nights, a game is still available at Sports Planet.
- For those who prefer The Cage, there is the option of switching to Monday, Wednesday or Thursday nights.
Ferment: Indefatigable Fun For Adults 
We first switched our weekly game from Sunday mornings to Monday nights in June 2007, when Dennis was still organizing the games. The Monday night game was played at Bukit Timah campus until September 2008. The Monday night game was switched to the Premier Pitch at Turf City in October 2008. Monday nights at Bukit Timah, whether at Bukit Timah campus or Turf City, always had a different character. Tom called it “FAFI”.
Monday nights became a bit of a headache for me. In May 2009, Tom took over the Monday night bookings at Turf City.
Since December 2009, Tom has taken the FAFI game at Turf City on Monday nights offline. The places are filled via SMS, by invitation only.
Apart from the FAFI games at Turf City, we’ve had one-off games on Monday nights at The Cage or Sports Planet since May 2009:
* Monday, 17 August 2009, at Sports Planet.
* A representative game against Anil/Sunil’s team on Monday, 29 September 2009, at The Cage.
* A representative game against Anil/Sunil’s team on Monday, 12 October 2009, at The Cage.
* A representative game against Anil/Sunil’s team on 7 December 2009, at The Cage.
The “FAFI” game on Monday nights at Turf City has a regular pool of players, and is by invitation only. The additional Monday night game at The Cage is for everyone else, and should not affect the “FAFI” game.
As there are other pitches at Turf City, and we will be re-starting games at Sports Planet in July 2010, for greater clarity, I will from now on refer to our regular venues as follows in the “Schedule” threads (space allowing):
* Premier Pitch, Turf City (Bukit Timah)
* The Cage (Kallang)
* Sports Planet (East Coast)
Click on the link for a location map.
Between the June holidays and activities organized around the World Cup, I expect numbers to be down. So far, the games on Saturday and tonight have been cancelled.
I’ll schedule games as usual during this period, but if numbers are not good, I’ll cancel the game a day or two beforehand.
Wednesday’s game has also been cancelled.
Saturday’s game has also been cancelled.
Sorry about all the cancellations this past week. I’ll try to get more games going next week. The games from Monday to Wednesday are already filling up.
Please try to minimize late withdrawals.
The games on Monday and Wednesday were cancelled due to withdrawals.
Today’s game has been cancelled due to insufficient numbers.
Looks like the coming Monday’s game will be cancelled as well.
I’m not going to try too hard to fill up more the games until the World Cup is over.
The Tuesday night game is back at Sports Planet. As GST is charged separately, it is $85.60.
As big pitches at the airier Premier Pitch and Sports Planet are popular, from next Tuesday onwards, the Tuesday game at Sports Planet is on the big pitch.
As the take up for the Monday night game at The Cage has been slow, and there are now extra places available on Tuesday night at Sports Planet, I will not schedule a Monday night game next week.
The big pitch at Sports Planet is not covered, so it will be affected by rain. I have confirmed this with Sports Planet.
Hopefully, the games on Tuesday for the rest of July and for August will not be affected by rain, as these are usually the hottest months of the year with the least amount of rain.
We’ll see how it goes before deciding whether to extend it beyond August.
The big pitch at Sports Planet is also available next Tuesday, so I’ll skip the Monday game again next week.
I’ll try to re-start the Monday game in August.
We managed an extra game on Sunday – a mixed game – from 6 to 7 pm, after the regular game.
From this weekend onwards, the mixed game will be on Saturdays, from 5 to 6 pm, at the Premier Pitch, after the regular game from 4 to 5 pm.
As the Sunday game at the Premier Pitch from 5 to 6 pm fills up with a day or two of the schedule thread being posted on Monday, I’ve added a another slot from 6 to 7 pm. This is also intended to be a regular slot.
A good start to the 6 to 7 pm slot yesterday (Sunday). I’ll skip next week, especially as I would like to re-start the Monday game next week, but I’ll try again later in August.
For now, we’ll alternate the regular game on Sundays, 6 to 7 pm, on the big pitch at the Premier Pitch, with the mixed game, until numbers build up.