The meeting kicked off a little late, owing to a number of captains being sidetracked by the transgender bar downstairs, in the rather lovely new King Pub last Sunday at 4:30pm.

13 teams were represented on the day and they were as follows:

Sin Bin Potato

Sin Bin Tomato

Scrooge Pub Wonky Triangles

Scrooge Pub Phoenix

JR Pub All Stars

Dolce Vita Angry Birds

Dolce Vita Sweet Life

King Pub

Bulldog Estyle

Upper Deck Loose Cannons

Fat Albert's Scandal

Bull & Barrel Ballistics

Shenanigans Boomtown Rats

All teams will be presented with a shiny golden bonus point for their attendance.

The meeting kicked off with a short reminder that the previously agreed season dates had changed thanks to the committee generously allowing everyone a Seollal vacation day. This has pushed the whole schedule back a week and the captains were made aware of this.

There then followed a discussion about how the playoffs would work and how the promotion and relegation would proceed for this season. Everybody had lots of what ifs style questions but in the end it was the committee's decision to go with what has been decided and see how it plays out. The top team from Championships B & C after the 20 week season will be promoted up a division and the bottom teams from A & B championships will be relegated down a division regardless of their performance in play offs.

There was then a short discussion about whether we should limit the number of teams to 24 teams given the current system in operation by the league but given that this was all mixed in with a discussion about the budget that would surface later we then talked about the possibility that teams would illegally maneuver themselves in to a position ready for play offs to get a possible bye in the first round. This discussion eventually petered out.

The was a short warning from the president about talking or joking whilst opposing teams were shooting but seeing how this largely affected his team it fell on deaf ears.

The budget was the biggest and most wide-ranging item to be debated. Several good ideas were raised and the committee will act before the end of the season to ensure teams stay in the league for next season. It has been decided that payouts will come down this season for tournaments and that any charity donations will come from individuals or teams rather than the 50/50 raffle. 50% will now go to the league to recoup costs. The banquet will remain free of charge to all those who have competed in 3 matches.

On to the real votes...We discussed the possibility of moving to a Songtan format of 13 games in a night but delayed that until more members were available to vote. It may well be put forward at the banquet.

The issue of former professional players was next on the agenda. It was decided that ex-pros should have to wait for a certain period of time to join the league by 7 votes to 0. So we offered up 1 year, 2 years and 5 years as alternatives. 5 people voted for a 2 year gap and so that motion was passed. All ex-professionals who want to play in the league must now wait a minimum of 2 years from their last competitive professional match.

It was then decided nobody in the league wants bars from outside the Itaewon area to join the league.

The vice-president made an impassioned plea for an unattached players/out of favour players registry to be set up on line to help teams struggling to find players. All approved of this idea and it was warmly received.

Paul Riddle was given the floor and he spoke about his newly acquired status as a Seybert's representative and how he was willing to help all those who needed it get new cues and equipment. Again this was warmly received by the room and the committee agreed to help him promote items at future events.

Finally we voted that advisors to the shooter could place the bridge or rest for the shooter during time-outs by a score of 7-1.

The meeting broke up and everyone skipped off merrily into the evening.

Details

Written by Dominic Johnson

Category: Announcements

Published: 06 April 2016

Hits: 1189

The mid-season meeting was held in Phillies on a beautiful Autumn afternoon. A perfect day for the dungeon then! Maybe the good weather kept people away as there were only 11 teams out of 24 represented. Shocking carry on indeed. The following teams will each receive a bonus point for attendance:

Sin Bin Potato

Scrooge Wonky Triangles

Shenanigans Boomtown Rats

Dolce Vita Sweet Life

Dolce Vita Angry Birds

Sin Bin Tomato

Phillies Pheasants

3 Alley Seoul Misfits

Bull and Barrel Rising Stars

Seoul Pub FUTA

Hollywood Scandal

Dominic began by reiterating the important dates in the remainder of the season, and followed on by reminding the captains of their responsibilities. Preaching to the converted I reckon.

We were also informed of some upcoming changes in relation to Bull and Barrel. Unfortunately the back area of the bar has been closed down and the pool table moved upstairs. As a result. Rising Stars will now play their home games out of JJs (the old Manhattan). Ballistics are going to continue playing out of Bull and Barrel. 

There were only a few issues discussed at the meeting.

Firstly, we were reminded that the playoffs will be run in the same way as in June. The playoff system may be reviewed again next season.

Next, we voted on the proposal to introduce fees for banquet attendance for those who don't qualify for the playoffs (i.e. those who have played between one to four matches in the season).

It was felt that five matches to qualify for free attendance to the banquet was a little harsh and so it was reduced to three matches.

The proposal was passed unanimously.

Starting at the end of season banquet those who have played in less than 3 matches will be required to pay 15,000 won to enter the banquet. All players who have played in 3 or more separate matches will still enter for free. Guests will again be asked to pay 30,000.

Finally, the make up of the divisions was discussed. Some people felt that drawing the divisions randomly was inappropriate when teams were required to play home and away within the division. There were a few ideas proposed:

Proposal 1: Keep the random draw.

Proposal 2: Revert back to seeding the divisions.

Proposal 3: Putting the top 6 teams in one division, teams 7-12 in another, and so on.

As you can imagine, proposal 3 certainly caused quite a stir. Many opinions were expressed,some insults were thrown, and a few choice expletives were used. All in the best possible taste of course.

After quite a bit of debate it was decided that we would have to flesh out the proposals before we could vote on them. How proposal 3 would work and how it would affect rankings and the playoffs needs to be understood. To that end a working committee has been established. The Executive Committee along with league stalwarts Lenny Erickson, Bernard Condrau, and Jim Dewey will work out all the details and present them at an Extraordinary Captains Meeting to be held some time before the end of season.

It is highly recommended that all teams be represented at this meeting. Important decisions need to be made and it affects all the teams. Represent yourselves people!

The meeting finished at 5pm, whereupon some of us retired to the bar upstairs to feast upon the roasted flesh of a noble cow.

Details

Written by Ronan Spillane

Category: Announcements

Published: 15 September 2015

Hits: 1040

The organisational meeting for the Winter/Spring 2016 season was held on January 6th in Scrooge Pub. A total of 22 teams registered for the new season:

Mark spoke first and gave a brief overview of the league's finances. Anyone is free to look over the books, just contact Mark at Scrooge Pub. The captains' responsibilities were then reiterated (although the captains who needed to hear it of course weren't present!).

We then moved on to discussing the divisional structure for the next season. It had been decided at the extraordinary captains meeting in December to go with three divisions, each with separate playoffs. The divisions will be: Solids, made up of the top 8 teams from last season; Stripes, made up of the next 7 teams; and Low Ball, made up of the final 7 teams. We will be keeping the new 'Australian' style playoff system which means the top 4 teams in each division will have a second chance. This means only 2 teams from each division will be knocked out in the first round of playoffs.

There were a couple of proposals concerning forfeiting to be voted on:

Proposal 1: A team that forfeits the first round of playoffs will be disqualified from the competition. Of course this only applies to those teams who have a second chance, i.e. the top four teams in each division this season. The proposal was passed by 12 votes to 4.

Proposal 2: A team will be disqualified for forfeiting any three matches during the season. This was defeated by a vote of 15:1 against the proposal.

Proposal 3: A team will be disqualified for forfeiting 3 matches in a row, or any 5 matches in a season. This was passed with a vote of 13:2 in favour of the proposal.

At this point a discussion ensued about forfeiting versus rescheduling. It was suggested that forfeiting a match should be a last resort. Captains should work together to ensure matches are rescheduled instead of being forfeited. Of course, informing an opposition captain of problems in fulfilling a fixture one hour before the match is scheduled to start is problematic. Captains should strive to know if they have players to fulfill a fixture at least one day in advance.

There were also a couple of proposals relating to players using real names and photo IDs.

Proposal 1: Each team captain will provide photos of all their players to be made available on the website.

Proposal 2: Players will have to use their real names on the website and must match with an ID card.

As these were proposed in response to the actions of only one team it was decided by a vote of 13:0 to not implement either of them.

Finally it was decided to make the new 'handicap ratings system' available to view on the website. This will award match points according the the ratings points won/lost, not the number of games won/lost. It is possible for a team to win by a score of say 10-5 and lose points in the handicap ranking. This new ranking is designed to add an interesting new feature in the statistics section of the website and will not supplant the usual points system. What, if any, awards will be offered for winners of this ranking system is to be decided by the executive committee. Many thanks to Bernard for his hard work in developing and implementing this new feature.

The meeting disbanded to a hearty chorus of "Huzzah" which almost, but not quite, drowned out an unidentified yet powerful "flubber" sound. A barrage of top hats and canes were thrown ecstatically, and Lenny was borne into the night on the shoulders of his adoring acolytes.

Details

Written by Ronan Spillane

Category: Announcements

Published: 09 January 2016

Hits: 848

The Summer/Fall 2015 organizational meeting was held in Dolce Vita on July 8th, 2015. It was a lovely evening and everyone was full of cheer. Or Cass.

24 teams registered for the new season. There is one new bar, 3 Alley Seoul, located in the basement of the Chiel Building opposite the IP Boutique Hotel.  JR Pub has also returned to the league.

The teams for the Summer/Fall 2015 season are as follows:

The executive committee for 2015 will be:

President: Dominic Johnson

Vice President: Ronan Spillane

Secretary: Jumie Ahn

Treasurer: Mark Jones

First off, Dominic spoke about the captains’ responsibilities:

1)           Please ensure score sheets are correctly filled out and entered on the website as soon as possible after the match.

2)            Send a Kakaotalk photo of the score sheet to the President or Vice President after the match. Alternatively please drop off the score sheets at Scrooge Bar. These are important as they can help settle any possible disputes.

3)            Enter any new or migrated (this can’t be done until the season starts) players into the website as soon as possible. If you don’t know how to do this please speak to any league official and we’ll help you understand the process.

4)            Make sure team fees (350,000won) are paid by January 28th. The team fees can be paid to Mark Jones and he will be based at Scrooge Pub for the first three matches of the season. Any team that has not paid by that date risks elimination from the league and loss of deposit

5)            Manage your team’s behaviour. This is a social pool league and we aim to promote good sportsmanship and friendly competition. Please work with others throughout the league to settle any disputes fairly. We have a lot of experience in the league and most weeks you’ll be playing with or against someone who has worked for the league in the past so let’s try and resolve any problems amicably. If major disputes do arise you can contact anyone on the committee for advice on the night of the game.

6)            Make sure your table is free for an opposing team to practice on at 7pm or half an hour before the start of a game. If possible try to make sure the bar regularly keeps its table in the best possible condition.

7)            Make sure your team provides the required refreshments for the visiting team.

The President then went on to inform us that Bird Riders Food Delivery are offering a discount to IPL members on Thursdays. Leave your name as it appears on the website along with your team name in the comments box when ordering to avail of the discount. 

There were a number of proposals discussed and/or voted on by the captains. It was all very amicable apart from the odd offer to step outside.

Proposal 1: if a seeded team loses their first round play-off match, they should not be given a home match in the third round

This issue caused some heated debate but it was finally decided not to change the play-off system just yet. Proposal failed.

Proposal 2: to create a three tier system with Championships A,B and C

This proposal also failed after much discussion.

Proposal 3: to award teams who finish matches by 11pm with a bonus point (or dock teams who finish after 11pm)

This proposal led to some frank exchanges and a half-hearted offer of violence. Eventually it was defeated. Shot clocks are available people. Use them!

Proposal 4: To lag for the break in the upper brackets of tournaments

The proposal was defeated unanimously.

Proposal 5: To raise the qualification for play-offs from 5 to 10 matches

This was also unanimously defeated.

Proposal 6: To use slo-mo cameras to film suspect double hit/push shots

Another unanimous defeat here.

Proposal 7: Banquet Fees for players who have played less than 5 matches

It was noticed at the last banquet that there were many players present who had played less than 5 matches.  It was proposed that in future these players would be asked to pay a fee of 15,000 to attend. It was decided to postpone the vote until the midseason captain’s meeting.

There were also some debates about issues that weren’t voted on.

Issue 1: the Hall of Fame.

It was decided at last season’s organizational meeting to establish a Hall of Fame to honour people who have contributed to the league over the years. Much discussion has ensued about who should be eligible for induction and how it would be decided. After some debate it was decided that the issue should be dealt with by the executive committee.

Issue 2: Sunday Playoffs

Many teams have an issue with playing on Sundays during the playoffs. Captains were reminded that they are free to rearrange the games at any time between Friday and Monday, as long as both captains agree.

Issue 3: Choosing bars for tournaments

Some people have been complaining about the quality of the tables used at some tournaments, others think we play on the tables during the season so it doesn't matter. So should all bars be offered tournaments or only those with the best tables? The issue was divisive but it was decided that it is the prerogative of the executive committee to award tournaments as they see fit.

Issue 4: New Trophies

The feedback on the new trophies and medals has been mostly positive, although some present did lament the demise of the bigger trophies used in the past.

Finally the divisions for the new season were drawn randomly. Everybody had a good gawk at it and flitted out into the night muttering to themselves.

Details

Written by Ronan Spillane

Category: Announcements

Published: 11 July 2015

Hits: 991