National League to go ahead minus Canterbury

[Al Doran]

Date: Tue, 11 Oct 2005 20:55:12 +1300
From: Vance <vance at vanf-graphics.co.nz>
Subject: National League to go ahead minus Canterbury



National League to go ahead minus Canterbury
Tuesday October 11th 2005

New Zealand Softball officials have reacted with disappointment to 
the news today that Canterbury Softball have chosen not to enter 
teams in the men's and women's New Zealand Community Trust National 
League competitions.

Although disappointed at the Canterbury decision, Softball New 
Zealand chief executive Dale Eagar says the National League will 
still go ahead, starting next month with six teams entered in the 
men's league and five in the women's.

"The National League as an opportunity for the premier male and 
female players throughout the country to play at the highest level 
will still occur and I continue to have faith in it as a 'shop 
window' for the game. The important task for us now will be to 
confirm the draw this week and establish the required organisational 
structures to ensure everything runs smoothly," said Eagar.

Canterbury has chosen not to enter teams in the league following 
discussions with New Zealand Softball over the issue of the 
equalisation of costs for competing in the four weekend long tournament.

The National League has been running since the 2002/03 season and 
during that time each franchise involved has been charged a 
participation fee by New Zealand Softball to cover the actual costs 
of their franchise taking part.

With franchises coming from around the country the fee charged for 
each entity are variable due to the costs of things such as travel, 
air and land based, and accommodation. Canterbury has been seeking to 
have one equal fee charged of every franchise.

Eagar says that, while equalisation is something the national body is 
genuinely interested in investigating and working towards, at this 
stage of the organisation for this season the board of New Zealand 
Softball believed it could not be implemented.

"Equalisation of costs for participating teams was something 
originally desired at the outset of the National League but was 
unable to be implemented at the time because of the requirements of 
the funding agencies.  It now appears that there is greater 
acceptance of this and is therefore something we are working towards 
for next season. While we understand Canterbury's view point the 
board of New Zealand Softball don't believe they are in a position 
where we could guarantee the successful implementation of 
equalisation at this stage," said Eagar.


While the Canterbury franchise may not be participating the regions 
players are still welcome to join the competition says Eagar. They 
can do so by registering with New Zealand Softball and seeking 
selection through the player draft.


By SNZ Media Liaison: Kelly Mitchell
*  mailto:kelly.mitchell at xtra.co.nz

http://www.softball.org.nz/
* mailto:snz at softball.org.nz


Cheers Vance
Softball New Zealand web master.
*   mailto:snz-webm at vanf-graphics.co.nz


  Als Fastball List
* Email: fastball at pmihrm.com
http://www.alsfastball.com/
http://www.ISCfastball.com/
NEWS: http://fastpitchwest.com/alsfastball
eScribe is down, and may be out