The Bank of Valletta summer league will commence on 6 June and will end on 6 September.
This was announced yesterday by ASA president Joe Caruana Curran as he addressed a news conference before the draws for this year’s competition. He said that promotions and relegations will be introduced in this year’s edition of the Championship.
Ten teams have applied to participate in this year’s BOV waterpolo Summer Leagues, with the majority of them showing interest in participating in the Premier League. Thus the league will commence with a preliminary round with two groups of five teams drawn according to the seedings from last year’s Championship which were the following.
Seed 1: Neptunes Grimaldi, San Giljan Allcare Insurance. Seed 2: Sliema Frank Salt Real Estate, Sirens Ritter Sport Seed 3: Exiles Ferretti, Valletta McDonalds Seed 4: Marsascala More, Otters Nivea Seed 5: Ta´Xbiex Amigos, Marsaxlokk Fischer.
There will be a single round robin between the teams in each group. Following this round, the top three teams in each group, six in all, will play in the BOV Premier League, while the remaining four teams, that is, the bottom two teams in each group, will contest the BOV First Division League. The BOV Premier League 2014 will be played over two rounds. The direct encounters played in the Preliminary Round will also count for the 1st round. At the end of the Premier League, the top three teams will play another two rounds between them in the Championship Pool to determine the champions, runners-up and 3rd placed team.
The last three classified teams will also play another two rounds between them in the Relegation Pool to establish the 4th, 5th and 6th placed teams. Points gained or lost from matches in the Premier League will be carried forward to the Championship and Relegation Pools.
The BOV First Division will be played over four rounds. The direct encounters played in the Preliminary Round will also count for the 1st round.
Promotion and Relegation
At the end of all league competitions, the last placed team in the Relegation Pool will play a three-match play-out against the champions of the First Division. The eventual winner of the play-out will participate in the Premier Division the following year while the loser will play in the First Division. Should there be teams with equal points, classification would be decided by the goal difference of the direct encounters. Said Caruana Curran: “We are extremely pleased to see an in- crease in the teams willing to participate in the top level of Maltese waterpolo. This definitely means that the traditionally ‘smaller’ teams are strengthening their squads and will provide tougher competition and more entertainment value.’ “The changes in the league format also requires a larger number of referees this season’, added Caruana Curran. “This year we will also see foreign referees assisting the local referees in the first division matches as well as the BOV Premier Division as in previous seasons.” The ASA president is confident that following the national teams’ results, interest in the game will increase. “I am confi- dent that last year’s attendances will be repeated and possibly be exceeded this year,” he added. BoV Chief Officer Anthony Scicluna said: “‘Witnessing the recent successes of the national team is definite proof that the
level of the game in our country has improved. With the gold medal in the EU Nations Cup and the silver medal in the Commonwealth Championship, Maltese waterpolo is going through a golden era and we look forward to a summer of attractive competition in the pool. “We are honoured to be sponsoring the summer competitions as well,” he added.
Groups
The draws resulted as follows: Group A: Neptunes, Sliema, Valletta, Marsascala and Ta’ Xbiex. Group B: San Giljan, Sirens, Exiles, Otters and Marsaxlokk.
Programme for first round 6 June: Neptunes-Marsascala: Valletta-Xbiex. 7 June: Sliema-Otters; Exiles- Marsaxlokk There will only be one stoppage on 8 and 9 July – to allow the stag- ing of the Premier League KO quarterfinals on Tuesday 8 July.
However, the summer season will start on Tuesday 3 June with the staging of the Sports Journal- ists Association Cup match be- tween Valletta McDonalds and Marsascala More and the game for the President´s Cup between Neptunes Grimaldi and Sliema Frank Salt Real Estate.