UKYDL

[southlondonllad]

Well…. the first match for the Lower Age group looked very well attended around the country. A promising start to the season. Still far too long a day for many of us old officials but I guess its never going to change. Pleasing to see that most clubs obtained the maximum 55 extra points for these dedicated volunteers.
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I see the league structure appears to have more composite teams than ever……pros and cons to this development.
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Also pleased that the travelling to ‘away’ matches look less daunting for most teams…although I’ve only look specifically at ‘London’ based teams. Unlucky for Medway & Maidstone based in Gillingham in Kent having to travel to East and North London for all Upper matches.

[Zac]

Very pleased to leave the quango YAL. Have never been a fan of Athletics following the Football league model of promotion and relegation. Such a system inevitably means teams will have to travel a lot.
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Our young athletes now compete in the Middlesex Young Athletes League.
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https://www.myal.org.uk
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It is very welcoming of guests, and does not concern itself with whether they have paid the athletics tax. The clubs will remain consistent without promotion and relegation, minimal travel is guaranteed. Win Win.
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Instead of promotion relegation, I would prefer the league to have an inter league match with another similar league at the end of the season. Participation will be restricted to just those athletes who participated in the league during the season.
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Thats for the future,

[southlondonllad]

ZAC…..Thanks for putting the link to the Middlesex Young Athletes League……At first glance I have to say it knows spots off the UKYDL in many ways…..Much shorter day……better and appropriate age related events……and managed to get four age groups into each meeting….Well Done.

[southlondonllad]

What a contrast between the recent lower age group and this weekends upper (u20yr/u17r) league matches……
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So many gaps , even in the Prem Midlands match won by Rugby , particularly in the u20yr…….Lower down the leagues teams had more field officials than competitors in several events…lets hope for increased enthusiasm and numbers to pick up for Match 2….otherwise another rethink by the League Management team to consider reducing the schedule (length of day) by removing/rotating (say) triple Jump, steeplechase , 400 hurdles to name a few…..Whats the point of one (or two) athletes jogging round and/or walking over the obstacles ?
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Also, the often single B athlete picking up max points is not (IMO) really reflective of best team performance but just how convincing the team manager has been getting a volunteer to swing the hammer out 6mtrs or to jog around the track. Its embarrassing ….for many officials ,athletes and parents. A poor reflection of the Sport, and so called, competitive athletic Leagues…..What other sport would get away with, or would even wish to get away with it ?

[Hank]

Domestic athletics is dead, that is why no one is posting. It appears the ‘fact files’ were in fact correct…

YDL results are a joke, as were the county championship… dire levels of performance and lack of athletes. Someone needs to put these formats out of their misery, and save the dutifully volunteers a waste of effort…

[Fastus]

Could there be no posts that run counter to the usual suspects because any counter view is mauled?

[Hank]

Feel free fastus to offer your observations…

For me, parkrun and running clubs are booming. Club track and field however is beyond crisis. There are a lack of athletes turning out in league and County champs u17 up, and apart from middle distance with bmc meetings, and wind assisted 100m/200m opens it is hard to see that athletes are just choosing different competitions.

Technical events only have traditional formats, so if you are noticing gaps, it is because the athletes don’t exist, rather than competing elsewhere.

[billaws]

Hank, Great to read you think the ABAC Fact Files may have been correct all along.

[southlondonllad]

Hi Bill …good to see a post from you above.

My concern is currently the decreasing number of u20 men participating in T&F….And one reasonable ‘barometer’ on the state of the sport is the 4×400 relay. Now you would think that young men would love to be part of a relay team, especially if they have travelled as part of a UKYDL team to a league match…..But it appears that so far out of the 129 Teams in the UKYDL Upper age group only 15 teams (under20yr) have recorded a result on Power of 10 this year. SO I thought perhaps its a poor start to year and things will pick up ? So I took a look at the 2017 records and only 40 club teams recored a result.

[southlondonllad]

Is it just me or has anyone else notice the graveyard slowness of the UKYDL not updating its website for results and League tables ?
eg, the 19th May Match 2 results still not added to the League tables as at 5th June.

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link http://www.ukydl.org.uk/League%20Tables%20LAG%20South.pdf

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