Which Regional Team Can I Play For?

[SirPercival]

Am I to take it that if people are not going to play against their country of birth (which is their choice obviously), then is it  the end of the home internationals A & B teams where everyone is required to play against players from their home countries. Just asking ? Apologies if a bit off thread but it is all linked I guess.

I"d be happy to play for Scotland A or Scotland B and therefore have to play against the other. Completly different circumstances than not having the option to play for your country (region) of birth.

[lucasj37]

Those decisions astound me I have to say.

Me too.

Come on Stuart, please re consider. Yorkshire have adopted you, don"t leave us now.

[Des]

The league is a regional event, not a country event.  

[lucasj37]

Am I to take it that if people are not going to play against their country of birth (which is their choice obviously), then is it  the end of the home internationals A & B teams where everyone is required to play against players from their home countries. Just asking ? Apologies if a bit off thread but it is all linked I guess.

A & B Teams slightly different but if you follow the logic being applied here through, I will only be available for england, cos that"s where I live, along with Ger, Des, Stu, Leigh etc.

No it has already been mentioned that this is a regional event not an international one!

[Mikeyboy9361]

Those decisions astound me I have to say.

Me too! Bloody hell guys you are playing Poker in a amateur, low buy in event, I can"t believe the team you play for is that important, after all the whole purpose of these events is to have a laugh and play some good standard Poker. If I moved to Glasgow I would happily play for Scotland, and if there was an England team I would play against them too. I am a proud Yorshireman, but I am having to play for the North West, cos that where I live, no big deal!
As a Yorkshireman I played junior County cricket for Lancashire, then played senior Cricket for Worcester, before ending my career playing for Cumberland, and I made great friends all over the country playing a game I loved! I"m rambling now, but FFS guys get behind the concept, the rules and play some Poker!!

[dwh103]

I can see the idea and understand the clarification. The regions are reasonably equal chunks population wise so having to play for the area where you live should see fairly balanced teams. Also understand the stance of those such as Leigh, if I lived in Glasgow I"d prefer to play for an English region.

Would it be worth temporarily suspending the sign ups whilst this fuss is sorted out? Appointing captains first may in some small way assist some of the other regions that are effectively starting from scratch. Certain regions (i.e. West Mids, Scotland, Wales) lend themselves to a very quick sign up rate whether it"s due to previous clubs or national pride. This has clearly spooked some people and up comes the imbalance debate again.

Incidentally, according to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regions_of_England I can see why Luton may be a bit confused about where they should be signing up! Removing "Home counties" from the London area would make the regions far easier to define imo.

Based on some of the above comments though this is the last thing that needs sorting. More added value for the rest of us, but that"s not the point and I hope a suitable path is decided upon. Good luck Des

[AJDUK]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_Kingdom_nations_by_population

Click on each region - it"ll tell you more about where it is.

Only thing being that London + Home Counties needs more clarification as it isn"t an officicial region as defined above:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_counties

My own opinion would be to remove Home Counties and just use the official regions as a reference.

Note that Bedfordshire, which includes Luton, is NOT in the Home Counties or London so people living there must register for the East of England region as I understand it given the clarification from Des.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedfordshire

Assumption here being that we would take the wiki definitions of regions as being our guide.

[SirPercival]

Am I to take it that if people are not going to play against their country of birth (which is their choice obviously), then is it  the end of the home internationals A & B teams where everyone is required to play against players from their home countries. Just asking ? Apologies if a bit off thread but it is all linked I guess.

A & B Teams slightly different but if you follow the logic being applied here through, I will only be available for england, cos that"s where I live, along with Ger, Des, Stu, Leigh etc.

No it has already been mentioned that this is a regional event not an international one!

I know that Richard but as I said in my earlier post calling one of the regions "Scotland" is different. If the region was "north" and included parts of England it wouldn"t be an issue.

Where you live is where you live - I live in Yorkshire and love it here, I have made many friends here. At some point I may move again to another part of England or another country all together. My country of birth will never change however.

To deny me the opportunity to play for Scotland when my nationality is Scottish is just wrong.

[SirPercival]

Those decisions astound me I have to say.

Me too! Bloody hell guys you are playing Poker in a amateur, low buy in event, I can"t believe the team you play for is that important, after all the whole purpose of these events is to have a laugh and play some good standard Poker. If I moved to Glasgow I would happily play for Scotland, and if there was an England team I would play against them too. I am a proud Yorshireman, but I am having to play for the North West, cos that where I live, no big deal!
As a Yorkshireman I played junior County cricket for Lancashire, then played senior Cricket for Worcester, before ending my career playing for Cumberland, and I made great friends all over the country playing a game I loved! I"m rambling now, but FFS guys get behind the concept, the rules and play some Poker!!

slag  

[Des]

Given the strength of feeling on this issue, I will organise discussions with Richard Baker, Stuart Oliver, John Murray and Rich Prew conerning 1) Regional borders and 2) Player Eligibility.  Having the discussions doesn"t necessarily mean the current positon will change, but Rich and I will listen to all sides and communicate an outcome later this evening.

[AMRN]

Can"t believe all that I"ve just read. We"re talking about a little weekly $10 poker comp with some significant added value but which has taken a huge amount of negotiation and organisation by the guys at APAT.

Yet despite all that, we have people throwing toys out of the pram?    For crying out loud, I"d even play for Stockton if it meant I could get a decent game with a decent bunch of people, and some competitive spirit every week...... and although I was born in Bournemouth, I don"t feel the need to play for a Southern Region - I live in the West Midlands, and will be happy to play with them as my local region.

Need to see the bigger picture here guys.

[GiMac]

I can only speak from my own experience. I havent played in the regional leagues for the last couple of years cos I wasn"t fussed about representing Newcastle/Stockton/Sunderland/NorthEast. So was quite excited that finally I had a team I would commit the time to and felt I could play for, now I am told I can"t. Shame.

[SirPercival]

Given the strength of feeling on this issue, I will organise discussions with Richard Baker, Stuart Oliver, John Murray and Rich Prew conerning 1) Regional borders and 2) Player Eligibility.  Having the discussions doesn"t necessarily mean the current positon will change, but Rich and I will listen to all sides and communicate an outcome later this evening.

Many Thanks Des. I will support whatever decision comes about from this discussion.

[Sef]

Can"t believe all that I"ve just read. We"re talking about a little weekly $10 poker comp with some significant added value but which has taken a huge amount of negotiation and organisation by the guys at APAT.

Yet despite all that, we have people throwing toys out of the pram?    For crying out loud, I"d even play for Stockton if it meant I could get a decent game with a decent bunch of people, and some competitive spirit every week...... and although I was born in Bournemouth, I don"t feel the need to play for a Southern Region - I live in the West Midlands, and will be happy to play with them as my local region.

Need to see the bigger picture here guys.

It"s a bit different playing for a region of England as opposed to saying heres an England team but you can only play for Ireland. I"m sure most would rather play for their country as we have seen a few express.

[AJDUK]

Given the strength of feeling on this issue, I will organise discussions with Richard Baker, Stuart Oliver, John Murray and Rich Prew conerning 1) Regional borders and 2) Player Eligibility.  Having the discussions doesn"t necessarily mean the current positon will change, but Rich and I will listen to all sides and communicate an outcome later this evening.

Is this the APAT players committee?
If not does this prove we need one?