With the first game of the season being under 3 weeks away, I thought it was important to make everyone aware of this season’s selection and availability guidelines. 

Selection of the team this season will hopefully run smoother than ever before. The aim is to announce the team for a weekend game by Wednesday lunchtime. This will hopefully lead to more certainty for the ad hoc players who in previous seasons have not known if they are playing or not until Friday evening.                                              

For 2009 all availability will be conducted on the forum, and players will not be chased unless we are struggling for numbers. The 11 contracted players will be expected to set an example and get their availability on the forum at the earliest opportunity. 

There is also a change this year to ad hoc arrangements as in previous seasons ad hocs did not have to declare advanced availability but merely answer the call if the club came knocking. For 2009 ad hocs are asked to record their availability on the forum. 

The idea then is that the selectors will look at how many gaps there are from the 11 contracts on the Wednesday morning and then fill the available places from the ad hocs who have declared themselves available. 

If the selectors cannot fill 11 places by Wednesday lunchtime from those available they will have to begin the chase up process. 

For the club to have a good season we must have good availability, and by naming the team on a Wednesday it will give the match day skipper plenty of time to prepare his plans.