Vic selection format for Claxton

[lonewolf75]

VODAFONE “BATTLE OF THE BAY”

Claxton Shield Selection Series

Baseball Victoria has confirmed that the Claxton Shield Selection Series will commence on Wednesday 15 October 2008 and will be played over six weeks.

Departing from the earlier idea of teams from North, South, East and West clubs playing off, organisers have decided that the selection series will be played between a North/West squad and a South/East squad. With long-standing, healthy rivalry existing between clubs from both sides of town, it was deemed appropriate for the series to be touted as Victoria’s own “Battle of the Bay”.

The North/West squad will represent the Doncaster, Essendon, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Preston, Footscray, Geelong, Melton, Newport, Port Melbourne, Sunshine, Werribee and Williamstown clubs.

The South/East squad is open to players from Bonbeach, Chelsea, Cheltenham, Moorabbin, Sandringham, Springvale, Malvern, Berwick, Blackburn, Mulgrave, Ormond/Glenhuntly, St Kilda, Upwey FTG and Waverley.

Both squads will be managed by some of our leading State League coaches, under the discerning eyes of Claxton Shield Head Coach Phil Dale and his assistants.

Although pitchers will be used sparingly, games may extend beyond two hours or seven innings should managers choose. The series should be an exciting addition to the Victorian baseball calendar. It will certainly be hard-fought and pride will be on the line, with players having the chance to impress Victorian selectors and get a shot at Australia’s pre-eminent competition.

“The beauty about it is that players from Division One, Two and Three will get the chance to try out for the Claxton squad,” said Victorian Head Coach Phil Dale.

“We’re aiming to put together the very best squad we can,” he said. “So we’ll be looking at all the options available to us.”


Schedule, venues and times:

Game 1: Melbourne Ballpark, Altona, Wednesday 15 October, 6.30 pm start

Game 2: Melbourne Ballpark, Altona, Wednesday 22 October, 6.30 pm start

Game 3: Melbourne Ballpark, Altona, Wednesday 29 October, 6.30 start

Game 4: Melbourne Ballpark, Altona, Wednesday 5 November, 6.30 start

Game 5: Waverley Baseball Club, Wednesday 12 November, 6.30 pm start

Game 6: Essendon Baseball Club, Wednesday 19 November, 6.30 pm start

Admission to games is free. All are invited.

On completion of the Vodafone “Battle of the Bay” series, a squad for the first Claxton Shield round will be announced. The squad can include one player from either the Australian Capital Territory or the Northern Territory.

www.baseballvictoria.com.au/?Page=47327
By Kingsley Collins

[thewholetruth]

free admission to altona, whod have thunk it.

[lonewolf75]

I work in the city and still dont think I will head out. I am from the east but. Might head out to the Wav game thou.

[lonewolf75]

Stupid question but will these teams have training?? When and where?? Do guys from each of the clubs just rock up, get nominated by club coaches or will some get the "I think you should try out" treatment??

[Deleted]

All BV clubs have been contacted to nominate players for the Selection Series. Claxton coaching staff/assistants will have been in contact with those players to keep them informed on days/dates they will be required over the next six weeks.

If any player feels that he has been overlooked, if information was not passed on by the club, if a player was overseas, interstate or whatever - and is interested in trying out - he should contact Baseball Victoria.

[huberfan]

Unfortunately I will not be able to attend any of the games, pity it wasn't weekend games

[barb05]

Oct 10, 2008 14:32:10 GMT 10 kc said:

All BV clubs have been contacted to nominate players for the Selection Series. Claxton coaching staff/assistants will have been in contact with those players to keep them informed on days/dates they will be required over the next six weeks.

If any player feels that he has been overlooked, if information was not passed on by the club, if a player was overseas, interstate or whatever - and is interested in trying out - he should contact Baseball Victoria.

Strange - as a club secretary, I didn't receive any such info to pass on to anyone. Are the clubs being circumvented in the selection process?

[Deleted]

The information given to me was that clubs were contacted and that BV was committed to making the selection process as transparent as possible.

It's not a perfect world and things can sometimes go wrong - such as emails or other correspondence not being received. Hence my earlier suggestion:

"If any player feels that he has been overlooked, if information was not passed on by the club, if a player was overseas, interstate or whatever - and is interested in trying out - he should contact Baseball Victoria".

[barb05]

I think of things from more of an administrator view, certainly not as a player. I've actually posed the question to the VBA, seeing that so many players on the forum have suggested all-star and other such games to be played at Malvern, and that over the past 4 years Malvern has been used for men's and women's state and VPBL tryouts and training bacause of its location, yet it's been overlooked for the new format, while Ess and Wav are being used.

[Deleted]

I'm the humble messenger, barb, and I'm not in a position to make judgements on administrative decisions (in this forum, anyway).

Your point is well made and I can only suggest that you keep putting your club's case. Waverley and Essendon would appear to have been selected for the Claxton Selection Series because of the supporter base and location of each club. But, yep, a number of clubs - including Malvern - also have a legitimate case to argue on facilities, location and support.

That seems healthy, in the broader interest of the game.

On the Claxton series itself, just one game in Melbourne (at Altona) seems odd. Good to see the regions being exposed to some baseball, but there are 3.5 million people (or thereabouts) in Melb.

[barb05]

So I guess you certainly wouldn't suggest that the Claxton coaching staff using their home grounds would have anything to do with it.

Ok... that's very tongue in cheek, but seriously, all club agendas aside and good on Ess and Wav for getting the oppourtunity to be hosts. A clear fact remains, no one likes playing at Altona, and no one I've ever met likes spectating at Altona. The number of spectators who've attended midweeks at local clubs has been astounding, it seems the VBA can't even stick with a good thing when they find it, lights or not. We've now got a forum where the players are using their voice and still there are deaf ears.

[Deleted]

I don't know about the first bit, so won't comment.

But on the rest, you are spot on. I was at Essendon for the first round, and Geelong for the second. Both times there was an absolute army of people in support. I'd guess that the same thing has been happening at club grounds all around the place.

[barb05]

Mate, I was joking about the first one. Certainly won't hold any club back from hosting any of these games, that'd make me sound a bit silly. The more club based games the better, kind of goes with the game "giving back to the clubs" theory. I'm more likely to drive out to Ess to watch before I go to Altona. Guaranteed atmosphere and the chance to get in one of johne's videos. I'd rather my $20 over the bar at a club than Altona.

[Deleted]

It's a decent discussion, barb.....one that definitely should be had.

And along with 99.999 (nah, let's just make it 100%) of baseball people, I'd rather soak up the club atmosphere than Altona any time.....

[barb05]

My beef, is that the discussions never take place before these decisions are made. Last lot of claxton games in Melbourne was a farce, forcing tickets on the clubs etc. Now it's a great step to change the selection format, but still... the problem of high Claxton costs came about because of Altona (VBA's own words) and nothing has changed. Clubs get nothing out of this at all.

I could ask a bigger question, what is on the agenda for the VBA this year, what are their plans for the next 3 years, and who prioritises these?

Not asking you to answer these questions KC, even Goodo has his own thread on here, why doesn't the VBA. Don't tell me they're so archaic that they're not reading the forum.

[johne]

Oct 15, 2008 21:51:15 GMT 10 barb05 said:

.... Guaranteed atmosphere and the chance to get in one of johne's videos. ....

haha Ill make sure that my camera man gets some good footage of you next time we play. Then ill tag ya in facebook

[larry42]

let me first start by saying that i'm in the 99.999 per cent of people who'd rather watch a Claxton Shield game (or any game for that matter) at a good viewing club ground.

Is there something that we as the wider baseball community isn't aware of with the use of the 'white elephant' in Laverton? Maybe the VBA are under obligation to utilise a ground X amount of times per year that was purpose built for them by the state government all those years ago. VBA should have tried harder to stay put at the old South ground which was the mecca for baseball back in the day. Crowds there for mid week and claxton shield games were awesome. Now soccer get to enjoy the fruits of that stadium and the area.

Regardless of what people say about Waverley (i'm not a Wav person) the ground is one of the best in Vic (short porch and all) for playing/viewing baseball games. Malvern is not far behind. The vba are obviously open to some ideas, i know a couple of years ago they even had claxton shield preactise matches/training held at Port Melbourne. The National team has even trained there once under Deebs in recent years.

Does anyone know if there is an agreement in place that a criteria of games is played at altona?

[thegreathambino]

i think that the vba have to pay rent on the stadium and therefore in order to recoup the costs they like to schedule matches there and charge entrants fees. the more matches the more cost can be recouped. its a stupid system. the people who put altona in place clearly didn't have any strategic foresight or planning skills. my 22 yr old son could have done a better job at planning this kind of operation. bad managers will always choose the easy short term option. the land was free and it was easy to get. but it was free because the location was terrible. only complete morons don't understand this, you don't go for the short term fix. look at problems over the long term and you will find you make better overall decisions. basically we need a new administration running our sport clearly the guys currently in office can't get the job done. time for someone else to have a go. a vote of no confidence in the current administration.

[amigo]

imagine how great Waverley would be if the visitors 'bus shelter' was upgraded!

[nudrun]

Oct 16, 2008 13:26:25 GMT 10 amigo said:

imagine how great Waverley would be if the visitors 'bus shelter' was upgraded!

gold

[larry42]

The VBA were offered the south melbourne site years ago, but chose to take the option of having a purpose built stadium erected. Laverton was one of the options, as were a few other outer suburban places. Wrong decisions were made years ago and victorian baseball has paid for it ever since.

Now that the vba are in albert park i'm not sure there is any official standing out there. does anyone know this for sure?

[snacks]

ok. I might be just completely stupid (pls dont use this as an opportunity to confirm) but why is it called the 'Battle of the Bay'?

What Bay?

[duke]

the image would suggest Port Phillip Bay....

north/west clubs vs the south and east? old club rivalries. just guessing.

[goodo]

Oct 10, 2008 13:04:36 GMT 10 @thewholetruth said:

free admission to altona, whod have thunk it.

I umpired the first round of this last night and the Phils have got their work cutout for them. Anyone who is anyone appears to be trying out. It looks like they have really opened it all up to get a really representative side this year. I guess we will see how it pans out in the long run. End of the day they have to put in the best balanced side they can to try to winn it.

Oh yeah, I thought I saw someone in the stands but when I truned around they were gone. seats look the same as ever.

[duke]

Lack of spectators is no surprise to anyone. Should be much better when it goes to the club venues.

Reports on BV website have been quoting the Phils as saying they want to look at all prospects available - maybe some of the cynics should start believing that the Claxton coaches know what they are about.

[broomsticks]

I don't remember anyone complaining about Altona on Grand Final Day when their team held up the Champions Cup. There have been some intense exciting moments there...no question! Yes it is not the most loved location or ground playing surface....I agree. But it seems to me a lot of things in life are about attitude and mainly eastern suburbs types have a p poor attitude about any baseball played west of Malvern. The truth is to play a Claxton Shield Game at Waverley, Blackburn, Essendon is laughable. They are NOT up to standard and any one who sais they are ARE DREAMIN. Elite sportsman enjoy playing at the best grounds with the best facilities. The two baseball parks that meet this criteria are Altona and Geelong...all the rest is ATTITUDE

[duke]

Fair call, broomsticks.

But the reality is that the supporters don't like Altona. If and when a National League is resurrected, this will surely be taken into account. It's interesting - and quite proper - that Geelong has scored three Claxton Shield games, Altona one and Mildura a couple (don't quite how the last one is going to provide the facilities and surfaces for that level, but good on 'em).

My earlier post related to the location of the lead-up games - the "Battle of the Bay" selection games - rather than the Claxton Shield proper. I would have thought there was an argument to play more of the lead-up games at more club grounds - bound to get some spectator support and help the clubs make a few quid with catering.

[crogers20]

Any results/scores/stats from the Claxton Shield trials that happened last week? Who were the squad members? How did they perform?

[lonewolf75]

Pretty weak by BV, pushing this format but have not seen or heard anything regrading teams or results from last week. Maybe they are planning to keep results as quite as possable so people cant object to any selection decissions

[mc15]

Oct 16, 2008 20:02:34 GMT 10 @broomsticks said:

I don't remember anyone complaining about Altona on Grand Final Day when their team held up the Champions Cup. There have been some intense exciting moments there...no question! Yes it is not the most loved location or ground playing surface....I agree. But it seems to me a lot of things in life are about attitude and mainly eastern suburbs types have a p poor attitude about any baseball played west of Malvern. The truth is to play a Claxton Shield Game at Waverley, Blackburn, Essendon is laughable. They are NOT up to standard and any one who sais they are ARE DREAMIN. Elite sportsman enjoy playing at the best grounds with the best facilities. The two baseball parks that meet this criteria are Altona and Geelong...all the rest is ATTITUDE

I'm sorry broomsticks but Altona is not up to scratch. Astroturf, shocking mound, batters box where you need to wear spikes to get any footing and an outfield which is patchy, hard and has rabbit holes in it. Geelong is a fantastic ground which in my opinion should be the showcase for the state as it is right now. Latrobe is also very very good and is underutilized. Sorry I think the whole east/west attitude argument is crap. It come down to playing on a good ground plain and simple. For the eastern games, how is Springvale's surface these day? Was brilliant for years. Legit size ground too.

One thing about Altona though, best showers in the league