League Player Of the Month Awards

By Ian Williams, Club Representative, Vodkat League Management Committee

As many of you will know, each club in our league has to nominate a player and goalkeeper of the month for each month of the season in each division.

The forms are submitted to me, and from those I draw up a short list for each category. From there I will usually consult other members of the management committee and also take into account any games I’ve seen myself, check playing records and club performances for the month in question, and then make a decision as to who gets the awards.

Season 2008-09 is the second season I’ve selected the awards – and for the second season in a row I’ve been on the receiving end of phone calls, e-mails and various comments about who I’ve picked. Some might say it sounds like an easy job, but I would like to outline several problems that occur each month, and give everyone a bit of an insight into some of the issues I end up having to cope with.

Let’s start with some facts from this season. We’ve had 22 clubs in the Premier Division and 18 clubs in the First Division. On average each month over the season, 6 clubs will not submit a form, and in turn incur a fine. Typically around 15 clubs will submit a form without nominating a player by indicating N/A, and slightly more, probably around 18 clubs, will not put forward a Goalkeeper by indicating N/A. Technically these clubs are meeting the criteria by submitting the form – but they are hardly contributing to the spirit of the awards.

Once the awards are announced, I often get emails and telephone calls from concerned clubs asking why their players have not won the award .

Let me tell some of the main reasons for this, and some of the problems I encounter. Firstly presentation is the main problem – entries sent by e-mail are OK but I can hardly read the writing on some of those sent to me by post.

Not enough information relating to the nomination of the Player/Goalkeeper is another problem. On the forms, each club has to explain the reason for nominating a player. Here are some actual real life examples taken from forms submitted this season – and remember, these comments are in response to clubs being asked to write a descriptive paragraph explaining why a player is nominated.

For goalkeepers:

“Made some good saves”

“Always shouting at his players, catches the ball well”

For Players:

“Good at clearing the ball under pressure and leads his team forward”

“Has played in several different positions this month and is well liked by his team mates”

“Has scored some good goals this month and should have scored more”

These are just some of the entries I have had in this season. But what I am looking for from Club Secretaries are reports like these below, and these are extracts taken from clubs whose players who have won the awards this year.

PLAYER

X has played well this month leading by example, playing in the heart of the defence breaking down attack after attack. His aerial ability is second to none, and he is strong and powerful. X has won 3 M O Ms awarded to him by the opposition, and he has also scored four goals this month and contributed 3 assists.

GOALKEEPER

X has been outstanding for us this month, during which he has recieved 3 M O M from the opposition. Despite his tender age of 17 X has kept us in the game on several occasions, and his ability to recover quickly from reflex saves have been second to none. During this month X has made three penalty saves and denied four one on one goal scoring chances. Among his many attributes is his ability to release the ball with speed to set up attacks.

Despite numerous reminders, clubs still persist in sending in half baked excuses for nominating players, or don’t send in the full information we need on the form, and then wonder why their player hasn’t been chosen.

Over the past couple of years I have been accused of various things when doing the job. One club secretary contacted me to accuse me of bias towards clubs in a particular area. Another phoned to complain that his player had won five man of the match awards in one month and deserved the award – but I had checked the records and the player in question had only won two nominations.

“Why do you pick so many players from club X” is another favourite – could it possibly be due to the fact that the secretary in question takes time to fill out the form properly, and gives a truthful and accurate explanation of his reasons for nominating a player?

Another big problem is that forms are sent in but don’t meet the criteria, because they are not filled in correctly. Please may I remind clubs that even if you send in your forms without indicating the Boot or Gloves sizes, they will not be nominated, so it is so important that you fill in what is required on the form to make things easier for us.

It would be much easier if clubs send them in via e-mail for two reasons. If the post is late, the forms will not count, and also e-mail means I will find them easier to read. If clubs don’t want to use the electronic forms provided, then that’s no problem as long as they send the correct info in the body of an e-mail. All I need is:

Players full name

Glove/Boot size

Number of games Played in

Results Won/Lost/Drawn

And of course, a description of why he has been nominated.

Finally, to all of you who ask me directly, or post questions on message boards wondering why player X at your club has not won the monthly award – maybe you should ask your club secretary who was nominated and how, and what information was passed on for assessment. You might just be surprised.