The HKCA has released draft fixtures for the 2007-08 HKCA Saturday League which is scheduled to start on 1st September 2007.

The draft fixtures reflect a new format for the HKCA Saturday League, which has been modified to accommodate the loss of the Po Kong Village Road ground at the end of November 2007.

The new format, drawn up by HKCC’s Michael Jamieson, involves the previous 18-team league being split into two evenly balanced ‘divisions’ of 9 teams each. There will still only be one league but each team will only play ten matches in the preliminary rounds, with the top eight teams at the end of preliminary rounds playing in a finals series to determine the league champion.

A fuller explanation of the new format is shown below. Rules for the new league will be issued shortly.

Explanation of New Saturday League Format

The team games were determined taking two pools of 9 teams to play each other in 8 Games. The divisions were split from the final team placings of the 2006-07 season (i.e. 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 etc in Division A and then 2, 4, 6, 8 etc in Division B.). There was then a cross over between the two divisions to allow the number of games to reach 10, to ensure that there isn't a problem with the utilisation of grounds there has been some configuration to ensure ground availability is optimised.

The finals work as follows:

Final Eight

First, Second, Third and Fourth receive the double-chance, for example if they lose in week one of the finals they play the following week, where as should they win they receive direct entry to the Semi Finals.

Week one

•1st Qualifying Final: 1st seed hosts 4th seed

•2nd Qualifying Final: 2nd seed hosts 3rd seed

•1st Elimination Final: 5th seed hosts 8th seed

•2nd Elimination Final: 6th seed hosts 7th seed

The 8 finalists are split into two groups for the opening week of the Finals Series. The top four teams play the two Qualifying Finals.

The winners get a bye through to Week Three of the tournament, while the losers get home games in Week Two.

The bottom four teams play the two Elimination Finals, where the winners advance to Week Two games and the losers' are eliminated.

Week two

•1st Semi-final: Loser of 1st QF hosts winner of 1st EF

•2nd Semi-final: Loser of 2nd QF hosts winner of 2nd EF

Starting with this week, all matches are knockout rounds.

Week three

•1st Preliminary Final: Winner of 1st QF hosts winner of 2nd SF

•2nd Preliminary Final: Winner of 2nd QF hosts winner of 1st SF

Week four

Grand Final: Winners of 2 Preliminary Final meet in the Grand Final

What is the impact?

Firstly, there will be fewer matches played. Teams will be guaranteed 10 matches but for those not finishing in the top 8 after the round-robin stage, that will be their lot. There is no mention yet of whether a Saturday Cup competition will be played.

Secondly, each team’s 10 round-robin matches will be played over a total of 20 rounds which will mean there will be a lot of gaps in the schedule. Some teams will experience a sequence of four or five matches on consecutive weekends followed by a long spell of no games. For example, in the draft fixtures Crusaders will play 9 of their 10 matches by 17th November. Their 10th and final match won’t be played until 5th January 2008 - a full 7 weeks later! Tartars will play 3 games in the first 3 weeks of the competition but their 4th match will not be played until 10th November. They then play their remaining 7 games over 8 consecutive rounds.

Other teams in the league are similarly affected. Mainlanders, for example, will have played 9 of their 10 games before the end of October. Their final match will then be played on the last weekend of November. If they don’t make the top eight (and we won’t know the top eight until the end of January 2008) then that will be the end of their league season. If they are lucky enough to make the top eight, they will have only played one match in the three months preceding the finals play-off series.

Thirdly, some of the intra-club derby matches will be missing from the calendar. For example, the Crusaders v. Tartars match is missing from the schedule...

Will the new format be a success? Post your comments below.