ASA make minor changes to 2012 league format

The waterpolo league format, which last season incorporated the play-off system for both Division One and Division Two, will be retained for the 2012 summer championships.

However, there will be some important changes which are aimed at rewarding the effort made by the most consistent team during the opening round-robin phase of the champion-ship. This was announced at an ASA Council meeting held on Monday.

According to the altered system, the team placed first going into the play-offs will qualify as one of the finalists to be contested in a best-of-five series which will decide the destination of the championship. The teams finishing second and third in the preliminary phase will face each other in a play-off series (either best-of-three or five) to determine the other finalist.

The fourth- and fifth-placed teams in a five-team competition will play each other in a deciding match in order to determine the last two places in the league.

The final classification is necessary in view of the seeding process for the competition of the following year.

The ASA Executive Committee felt that this method goes some way towards addressing the main criticism levelled last year which pointed out that the format did not reward consistency.

Furthermore, it was claimed that the teams had no incentive to perform to the maximum during the preliminary phase since four out of five teams all stood a chance of proceeding to the final and hence carry off the league title irrespective of their placing in the preliminary phase including the third and fourth-placed teams.

Another consideration was the time-gap between the play-offs which was determined as warranting a rest period of two days.

This was intended to eliminate any possible discontent among the coaches and players who were of the opinion that the old format was too demanding.

As for the second division and in the event, as last year, that there are four contestants, the team placing first in the preliminary phase will accede straight to one of the final play-off places, while those finishing second and third will meet each other for a place in the final.

In the event that five teams participate in Division Two, then the system will be similar to the one used for the top league.

The championship will start in the first week of June and will end by not later than September 11.

It was also decided that the Winter League will not undergo any changes from last year as to the play-off format.

The ASA are in the process of preparing the 2012 calendar for all senior competitions based on the above considerations.