Group A

Amelia 14
Minizin 12
A.A.A. 12
Twerton 10
Zinman 9
Themaclad 4

Decent scoring week and one where the underdogs outperformed the usual suspects!! Amelia tops the weekly table with 14 points, she was one of 3 players to get a CR on the Gamball and backed that up with a CR on Bonus and picked up her scoreball as well. Minizin and AAA tied for 2nd with 12 points. Both of them got a CR on the Gamball but this gained Minizin two extra points as AAA did not play the Gamball this week!! Both of them also scored maximums on the Bonus but were unable to add much more which kept their scores down.

Twerton was the only other player in double figures with 10 points, he missed on all his balls but did manage 2 CSs and 3 CRs to post a decent score. Zinman had a similar week with 2 CSs but missed on the Bonus and Gamball. Themaclad had his worst week of the season so far finishing with jut 4 points!! He missed on all his balls and failed to get any CSs so there is hope for everyone else that even he can have bad weeks!!

142 Themaclad
113 Twerton
113 Minzin
110 Zinman
101 Amelia
90 A.A.A.

No actual positional changes in the table with the scoring being quite close. Zinman drops to 4th and Minizin goes joint second but its still very tight behind Themaclad. His lead is now down to 29 points, still very healthy but as this week shows it is reachable if others can find consistency.

Group B

I'll start with a potentially controversial executive decision. I failed to notice that Lady Jane had played 2 scoreballs rather than a bonus. If I took her first scoreball as the scoreball and the second as her bonus, she would have scored -2 points from them. If it had been the other way round, she would have scored +1 point - so I've decided to ignore both balls. If anyone objects to this treatment, please send your complaints to SCO!

Stairs 17
Snooty 14
Derby 13
Lady Jane 7
BBB 6
SCO 4
BaggieOne 4

A second consecutive wipout on the gamball offset an otherwise decent week with 28 correct predictions and 10 correct scores. Half of the week's fixtures saw one team fail to score - unfortunately for Group B, these were the games chosen for the scoreball so no points from that ball either.

Stairs heads the weekly table for the first time this season. He scored on 6 games and got 2 of them, including his bonus, as correct scores to collect 17 points, his best of the season. Snooty remains as the only player yet to head the table but he was only a ball away from doing so. He also scored on 6 games but turned 3 of them into correct scores, but his failure to pick up any ball points kept him 3 points from the top. Derby was the other player into double figures helped by his 1 correct score being his bonus ball.

Not much between the rest. Lady Jane failed to hit double figures for just the 4th week as she continues to take a breather after her incredible start to the season. BBB did match Stairs' 2 correct scores but only scored on 1 other game and blanked his balls. SCO and BaggieOne share bottom spot - B1 was the only player not to pick up a maximum but did at least get his bonus result right.

152 Lady Jane
124 Derby
102 Stairs
99 SCO
95 Snooty
94 BBB
80 BaggieOne

Some shuffling of the pack this week with Stairs rising 2 places to 3rddisplacing SCO and BBB. Snooty also climbs a place but given the congestion between 3rd and 6th places we can expect to see changes here most weeks. Still a healthy lead for our top 2 while BaaggieOne is drifting away from the pack.

Okay I AM gay, so if anyone is going to bring up such a topic it ought to be me.

I understand that as with many sports, football wants to stand aside from , and even above, politics. But I studied politics. The definition of politics that I came to accept was inclusive. It is remarkably easy to find a political aspect to everything that happens in human society. Hard to establish the a-political.

Once you have a complex society diverse human sexuality cannot but be an issue. Attitudes to it unavoidably shape that society. Whatever shapes the nature of a society must by definition also become political.

So my view is the "rainbow" campaign is political. You can therefore question whether embracing any particular view and publicising it should play any part in sport.

Personally I would love to see an openly gay world-class male footballer on the road to becoming an icon. Unfortunately were I now as good as I wanted to be at the game, with a temperament to match, I'd still feel very daunted about entering the dressing room and experiencing that culture every single day. For example how would I have felt about marching out to every big game, holding some random child's hand, as though the ability and desire to reproduce was all that could make me worthwhile as a man? And isn't that in itself a political act very little different from wearing rainbow laces? Politics is all around us, the very air we breathe.

BUT, if being gay and support or opposition to diverse sexuality is political, how come sport itself does not recognise that it cannot help being political? It is everywhere in our culture, it informs our lives and the way we live, it brings nations together and divides them. It presides over collisions in race, culture, religion ........ Sport is political. It makes Israel part of Europe. It makes countries which do not exist into international teams. It punishes Russia and rewards Qatar. Sport and politics ..... how do we divide them?

There is a great deal of virtue-signalling with the rainbow campaign. There is also genuine support. Players who tie their boots and think sexuality shouldn't matter, skill should.

Does all this increase awareness and tolerance or does it eventually subside, like taking the knee, to just another thing that happens pre-kick-off?

What does anyone else think? And you don't need to be sensitive to an old poof.

Gamball:
WBA - Sheff Utd

Others:
Brentford - Newcastle
Cardiff - Watford
Hull - Blackburn
Luton - Swansea
Millwall - Coventry
Plymouth - Oxford
Portsmouth - Bristol City
QPR - Norwich
Spurs - Chelsea

An 1875 HSC summary:-

We can confirm four Hibernian Supporters directors met with club CEO Ben Kensell on Friday afternoon to discuss a range of topics raised by our members in recent weeks.

During the meeting we discussed a number of club matters, including board’s recent statement, the apparent disconnect between supporters and the club and the ongoing relationship with Bill Foley and Black Knight Football.

We also passed on many of the concerns shared with us in recent weeks by our members, and we thank everyone once again for taking the time to get in touch with us.

As significant shareholders, we are committed to doing all we can to support the fortunes of the club on and off the pitch. Many of our members believe there is currently a gap between the support base and the decision makers at the club, and we have reaffirmed our commitment to bridge that gap in any way we can.

Ben has agreed to look at ways in which shareholders, supporters’ groups, fans and other recognised bodies associated with Hibernian FC can work more closely together in order to drive the club forward in a positive way – and we have outlined our commitment and readiness to support with this.

While naturally there are a number of matters which cannot be discussed due to confidentiality, we remain positive that improved ongoing dialogue between supporters and the club can create a more cohesive feeling around Hibernian FC in the short, medium and long-term.

We have agreed to meet with Ben – and other members of the board – more regularly in the coming weeks in order to kickstart a new period of dialogue.

As ever, members are invited to share any views or concerns they have with us by email on info@hiberniansupporters.co.uk.

Thank you for your ongoing support.


Conclusion:- Ben Kensell still has a lot to prove in my humble opinion esp after that recent totally unimpressive short formal statement to all Hibs fans. all on his watch btw!! There are still too many non-Hibs fans within the footie ops structure of HFC. It was actually refreshing in recent times to listen to the likes of Marvin Bartley having a "real go" at Elie Youann with the kind of passion that we need from Hibs people within the club. And Youann firmly "put in his place" btw. A case of "one swallow disnae make a summer"!!! Most Hibs fans have sussed out this guy for long enough to realise he has let the club down more often than not, and that recent "couldnae care less" incident at Dens Park when he was practising "keepy-uppy", while David Gray issuing orders to the players soon after the Obita red card, just confirmed how most fans rated him. Bartley's stinging criticism clearly worked as he'd been "found out", in no uncertain terms, and rightly called out that it wisnae good enough. The big question is, "How long will that impact last on Youann"??? A case of wait n see!!

Charlton Athletic home, Nathan Jones you've been gone to long

Some amazing ties for the lesser clubs

In the third round, Albion will play Bournemouth away.

Tuesday 3 December 2024
Bradford City 1-1 Barrow
Cheltenham 0-2 Port Vale
Colchester 0-2 Swindon
Grimsby 1-2 Accrington
MK Dons 1-1 Chesterfield
Salford City 0-2 Harrogate
Tranmere 1-1 Morecambe
Walsall 2-1 Notts County
Wimbledon 1-0 Newport

Wednesday 4 December 2024
Bromley 1-3 Gillingham
Fleetwood 2-1 Doncaster

League Table After Match day 17

Devon - 312
Maclad - 307
Dancing - 305
SaltergateBorn - 299
Spireitematt - 293
Amelia - 279
Lord Snoots - 258
St Charles - 250

2 points for correct result
4 points for correct score
2 points for each correct scorer
Correct joker doubles your score   (correct score on a joker would give you 8 points)
Wrong joker result gives you minus 2
Correct Badger gives you 2 points

The prize for winning the league is one rep point.

Cup games: In the event of a draw, it's half the points if you've predicted a draw when it gets to 90 mins and the full points if it's still a draw after extra time. Half the points will be awarded for correctly predicting the winner of the match if it goes to penalties. However, if you do predict a draw and it's a match that won't be going to a replay, you can get a possible extra point by stating which of the two teams you think will eventually win.

Random score generator: I will be using the random score generator again for those who miss predicting, so we shouldn't get some people too far behind that after missing a couple of weeks they lose all interest, because I know it's not easy getting on here every week.
To be fair to everybody, this is going to be like, say if three people in one week miss their predictions, the first one in the table will be given all 0-0, the second one down the line will get 1-0 and the third will get 0-1 and so on, like if there's four missing the 4th will get 1-1, then 5th 2-1, 6th 1-2. and if there are so many missing, might as well pack in.
And if you miss two weeks on the trot, I'll stop until you come back on again. Not doing it for half a season like I did t'other year.  


At the end of the season, the winner of group 2 and the bottom of group 1 will swap places in what is commonly known as "promotion" and "relegation". It's something that most football fans will be familiar with, unless you're a fan of Liverpool or Arsenal or one of those other fashionable clubs.

The second placed player in group 2 will then have a play off with the player who finishes second from the bottom in group 1 to decide whether they will be going up, down or staying where they are.

We're going to have two seasons in one though, just to try and make it a bit more interesting and not so long drawn out. The first season will end on the Boxing Day fixtures, with the play offs being on the dates of the Twixtmas fixtures and the NYD fixtures.

The second season will start the following week, which is usually the FA Cup 3rd round, finishing on the last game of the League One season. Then another period of relegation/promotion play off games, taking in such fixtures as the EFL play offs, FA Cup Final, UEFA finals and such like.

Each group will have it's own set of fixtures. Both groups will have the Town games, with scorers to predict as before. Then it will be a split of League One fixtures and bonus matches, hopefully around ten, eleven or twelve games per Matchday.

The random badger is restricted to three goal scorers in any of the fixtures in your group.

Here's how that will appear at the end of the fixture list. All you have to do is fill in the blanks.......


*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

Any of those will score two points if correct. No minus points for getting it wrong.

Postponed matches will only count if the match is re-played before the next Matchday is under way. Abandoned matches will be awarded half the points for the score at the time of abandonment, so 1 point if you have the correct result, 2 points if you have the correct score.

Substitute or scorer in one of the Town games:- These will be only be allowed if you change them before the match involved has kicked off.

Prediction League Archive: https://www.sportsbabble.co.uk/showthread.php?tid=12830



Division One table after Matchday 17:

1. themaclad = 325 pts
   
2. jjamez = 306 pts
   
3. St Charles Owl = 305 pts
   
4. Baggiebob(BBB) = 294 pts
   
5. Lord Snooty = 270 pts
   
6. SHEP_HTAFC = 260 pts
   

Saturday 7th December:
Mansfield v Town
Town scorers:
Mansfield scorers:

Wigan Athletic v Leyton Orient (12:30)
Bristol Rovers v Bolton Wanderers
Cambridge United v Shrewsbury Town
Crawley Town v Stevenage
Stockport County v Exeter City
Wycombe Wanderers v Reading

Tuesday 10th December:
EFL Trophy rd 2:
Bolton v Town (19:45)
Town scorers:
Bolton scorers:

Rotherham United v Tranmere Rovers (19:00)

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
Championship:
Sheffield Wednesday v Preston North End (12:30)

Sunday:
West Bromwich Albion v Sheffield United (15:00)

Premier League:
Tottenham Hotspur v Chelsea (16:30)

*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

1. neonfoxinthebox = 337 pts
   
2. theo_luddite = 331 pts
   
3. Devongone = 291 pts
   
4. ritchiebaby = 276 pts
   
5. Amelia Chaffinch = 249 pts
   
6. WakeyTerrier = 239 pts
   

Saturday 7th December:
Mansfield v Town
Town scorers:
Mansfield scorers:

Lincoln City v Charlton Athletic (12:30)
Barnsley v Birmingham City
Blackpool v Rotherham United
Bristol Rovers v Bolton Wanderers
Burton Albion v Wrexham

Monday 9th December:
Northampton Town v Peterborough United (20:00)

Tuesday 10th December:
EFL Trophy rd 2:
Bolton v Town (19:45)
Town scorers:
Bolton scorers:

Chesterfield v Wigan Athletic (19:00)
Doncaster Rovers v Port Vale (19:00)

Bonus matches:
Saturday:
Premier League:
Everton v Liverpool (12:30)

Scottish Premiership:
Celtic v Hibernian

*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***
*** scores for ***

As we are so decidedly moderate at the moment, packed to the gunwhales with geriatrics I just wondered if there any rumours flying around that we are interested in Tom Cursons?

Who?

Well he is playing down the road at Ilkeston. He's scoring plenty of goals and looking like an EFL-class act every week. Apparently a number of EFL clubs are after him, I just vaguely wondered if we might be one of them? He's a student at Nottingham Trent.

If we can't even beat Gary Caldwell isn't it time to wake ourselves up and start to look like a Paul Cook side more than once every six weeks? And perhaps consider bringing back Bailey Hobson and Kane Drummond too to freshen things up?