This Sunday London Scottish under fifteens were forced to postpone their match against Old Albanians second team due to a shortage of players. In the days leading up to the game there were questions about wether there would be enough players for the game on Sunday. On Saturday the coaches sent round an email urging anyone who had not confirmed their availability to do so as soon as possible so that the match go ahead as scheduled.
The team uses TeamSnap (a team management app) to keep in touch and inform players about upcoming fixtures. However, many players have not adapted to using it. “Because we use TeamSnap so much, when the players don’t use it, it can lead to uncertainty”- said coach Robert. This undoubtedly makes organising fixtures and team composition difficult, which appears to have contributed to today’s cancellation.
After the email sent out by the coaches it turned out that only fourteen players had made themselve available via Teamsnap for this game. Surprisingly the coaches did not postpone or cancel - for those who do not know there are 15 players in a team, and usually 7 subsitutes. Many parents of the players emailed about this as they thought that this could not be allowed, or that the coaches had made a mistake. But the coaches confirmed that they would be playing with fourteen players.
Much later in the evening another email was sent round stating that a player had said they could not make it and that therefore the game was to be cancelled. So far another time has not be arranged for the game and today the team trained at their grounds in Richmond. If they are repeatedly unable to put a team for this match they will have to forfeit, this threat might force players to be more active on TeamSnap which will help with team management.
