WCOAP TEAM EVENT

[CW86]

would take someone on a complete heater over the festival to perhaps catch you 2 guys up.

Hello  

Plenty of points still up for grabs both live and online for others to get themselves in the mix.

Working on it.

Batman > Robin after all.

gets a weekend 3rd in the online mtt and starts chirping...kapoww

[dwh103]

would take someone on a complete heater over the festival to perhaps catch you 2 guys up.

Hello  

Plenty of points still up for grabs both live and online for others to get themselves in the mix.

Working on it.

Batman > Robin after all.

gets a weekend 3rd in the online mtt and starts chirping...kapoww

With your chips too. Boom.

[hi_am_chris]

FWIW too i really don"t see at least for the home nations why a qualification series of tournaments or qualification for the team by POTY points would be such a bad idea and then a captain selected from within or a non playing captain selected.

Maybe a series of ten tournaments online with the top players selected however this would be slightly strange as it"s a live tournament :\

[Fatcatstu]

having looked at all the comments on this, feel i want to have my say. team selection is and has too be the captains choice. to introduce a selection on ranking points is a joke. its like the fa saying the top 11 performing players on ranking or .... and these are the playings going to the world cup.
also a ranking system ignores some issues, like players putting individual events before country. shame on them, do you think a footballer who put himself before country would ever play for said country again?
A ranking system does not allow for players in my situation. when this season dates were announced they were a disaster for me as i am working all but the english champs (which i played). unlike most of you i do not get to select my holidays, i am told when i am off. having said that, i got a phone call from gordon saying he was finding it hard to get a scottish team together and would i play. now for those of you who do not know me. I have in the past had a successful motorcycle racing career, played football to high level and tennis at club level. I have a trophy cabinet bursting with trophies, including a bronze replica from the iom tt races. But just being asked to rep scotland was one of my proudest moments and pulling on that blue jersey well to say i was bursting with pride would be an understatement. As for receiving a bronze in prague, for me the greatest moment ever, including my tt success. so i said yes. i travelled and played in both the home nations and european games. in both these events i was unable to play the main events as i had to return home for work and i would do the same again. country before individual and if you do not think that way shame on you, you do not warrent your countrys shirt. as for me i would sell my soul to the devil for scotland.

Very well put mate.

Shame on me indeed, although the fact that it clearly means waaaay more to others i would of thought people would be thankful i would have to decline playing for England (The fact that im in a real tough battle at the top of the poty with a great player for a vegas package presumably to you is irrelevant?)

Finally the worlds offer the one opportunity to play a variety of games i would never otherwise get to play (Only because of APAT i have ever played stud and razz)

Just to clarify...

If people are battling at the top of rankings then it is their choice to play or not. I was agreeing with the fact that it is an honour to represent my country, but each person has a right to prioritise as they see fit. It certainly wasnt meant as criticism towards anyone on my part.

I DO agree that rankings would be a slightly floored way to pick players, it should be the captains choice as to who plays, its part of being the captain! Also, other variations should be considered for the team events, it would definitely make it more fun.

[s4ooter]

Include Razz, Horse, stud etc

Oh and OFC!

Haha

[hi_am_chris]

Don"t really understand why it should be captains picks tbh,

Because it"s the way it"s always been done? Not suggesting rankings is the best way to do it but don"t really think the captain choosing is either.

Was it that leading player for each country in the online league got a place? in an ideal world i think you would have larger teams with players qualifying  along with a couple of wild card captain picks ala ryder cup.

[PHIL_TC]

Personally think it"s such a shame that the best players this season are already ruling themselves out as there"s the POTY to play for.

IMO in an ideal world...

There should be an appointed country captain
Team tactics decided by captain
The team event would run separate to any other ranking events making every player available to play.
The top of the online rankings for each country should get picked.
The top of the live rankings for each country should get picked.
The captain could then pick a wild card (or 2 if he/she did not want to play)

This gives incentives to keep playing the APAT online events
Means that captains cannot be accused of just picking their mates.. gets away from "cliques"
Rewards the better players over the season
Rewards the players who have consistanty supported APAT over the season

I would love to see lots of new people getting caps for their counties, rather than the same faces. There"s a lot of players out there who have never had the chance, or probably don"t bother applying as soon as they see who the captain is.

Just my twopenneth x

[AMRN]

Was it that leading player for each country in the online league got a place? in an ideal world i think you would have larger teams with players qualifying  along with a couple of wild card captain picks ala ryder cup.

Agree with you Chris, but would only apply to England - none of the other countries have selection issues (apart perhaps from Scotland), and for most it"s about scratching around to try and get people to play. For some, it even comes down to finding someone that qualifies because they might have seen the country in question on a map during a geography lesson at school.  

If a process is to be instated, it"s important that it can apply to ALL participating countries. As we saw in the ECOAP 2012, the process mandating that the home countries picked the highest ranked online league player meant that we had teams of 5 playing against non-home countries with teams of 4, and that caused disparity (and potential for ill feeling at times with players having to sitout for some of the event).    Whatever process applies to USA, Malaysia, Belgium and all other non GB countries must all apply to England, Scotland, etc, and vice versa.

[hi_am_chris]

Could a format work with teams of six? Would it be that hard for Italians etc to find the extra players?

[TheSnapper]

Agree with you Chris, but would only apply to England - none of the other countries have selection issues (apart perhaps from Scotland), and for most it"s about scratching around to try and get people to play. For some, it even comes down to finding someone that qualifies because they might have seen the country in question on a map during a geography lesson at school.  

If a process is to be instated, it"s important that it can apply to ALL participating countries. As we saw in the ECOAP 2012, the process mandating that the home countries picked the highest ranked online league player meant that we had teams of 5 playing against non-home countries with teams of 4, and that caused disparity (and potential for ill feeling at times with players having to sitout for some of the event).    Whatever process applies to USA, Malaysia, Belgium and all other non GB countries must all apply to England, Scotland, etc, and vice versa.

Apart from this cheap shot, this is an excellent assessment.

[TheSnapper]

Could a format work with teams of six? Would it be that hard for Italians etc to find the extra players?

Short term, that would be difficult for almost everyone bar England. Long term, probably best summarised by Rodders earlier in this thread...

• The player pool and situation England have is far from being the norm.



• the team event clashes with the best event of the year and by asking people to play in this event you are asking them to skip the majority of WCOAP. This makes it hard for small player pools to get enough players.  



• a lot of the players, who have played in the past, feel they have now been there and done that.



• you really don"t want to be picking players to effectively "make the numbers up". You want all teams to be as competitive as possible.

[DodgyEnd (Tom APAT.be)]

Could a format work with teams of six? Would it be that hard for Italians etc to find the extra players?

Speaking for Belgium; right now this would be difficult I think... And as I said before, 4 is most convenient for travelling etc.

We came to Prague by car and stayed in 1 hotel room, just to make it as cheap as possible... and Prague is pretty cheap, so for London it will be more expensive for people to come over.

[MintTrav]

Whatever process applies to USA, Malaysia, Belgium and all other non GB countries must all apply to England, Scotland, etc, and vice versa.

Why? Anyway, some of those teams are made up of a small group who know each other and enter a team. How could they ever have the same process as the GB/Ire teams?

Could a format work with teams of six? Would it be that hard for Italians etc to find the extra players?

Without checking, from memory, I think the E/WCOAP teams have only twice gone to five players and have always been teams of four otherwise. The five-player teams were unwieldy and didn"t work as well. Stick with four per team IMO.

I haven"t seen any viable reason posted not to select the top four from each of the Eng/Scot/Wal/Ire player groups from the combined Live/Online rankings and make one of them the captain (highest placed?), offering places down if declined. Phil has identified the reasons. It rewards the players who have supported APAT and who who have scored well. It avoids cliques and selection of friends and mutterings that the team has not been selected fairly. It allows new players to make the team quickly without being disadvantaged compared to those on the inside track. I wouldn"t have any wildcards - all they do is bring in players who are known to the captain or did well in the past at the expense of those who have done well recently but are not so well known, which seems pretty unfair. Leaving the selection process as it currently is would mean that we will continue to see players near the top of the rankings being left out of teams.

[AMRN]

Whatever process applies to USA, Malaysia, Belgium and all other non GB countries must all apply to England, Scotland, etc, and vice versa.

Why? Anyway, some of those teams are made up of a small group who know each other and enter a team. How could they ever have the same process as the GB/Ire teams?

Because having a mandate that applies only to one small subset of the event is not right. I refer to ECOAP 2012 where Eng, Ire, Sco, Wal, all had to play a 5 man team from which they could only have 4 on the tables at any one time, which meant someone from each team was always sat out, including the MTT round...... BUT, other countries did not have the same mandate, hence could just field a team of 4, all of whom would play the whole event.   It was a somewhat un-level playing field.... and that"s what I meant when I said the same set of rules must apply to all.

[hi_am_chris]

What does the captain have to do besides pick the team as things currently stand?