UCFL

(Update 06/08/2021: Please note that the Aug 6 deadline for entering the FAI Junior Cup has been extended by 3 days to Monday, Aug 9)

Following completion of the group stages of our pre-season tournament last Wednesday night (July 28), all teams not involved in the tournament finals will be turning their full attentions to the kick-off of the season proper. For the UCFL, this will be Saturday, August 21. We again remind teams of the importance of ensuring their player registrations are fully sorted out and up to date in advance of the kick-off. We hope to confirm the Divisions for the coming season in the near future.

(02/08/2021): FAI Junior Cup 2021/22 (Centenary competition) – entry deadline Aug 6

Somalia FC have yet to win at home.
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Benbulbin United
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Our website has an area (“Match Reports”) for input of short match reports which we felt would be of general interest to many of our teams and would enhance the usefulness of the website as a source of information. To this end, we allowed our clubs direct access to enter such information themselves, with an understanding that no comments of a critical or derogatory nature would be made.

The committee was informed of some allegations relating to a particular match last Saturday and we are investigating these allegations under our standard disciplinary procedures.

Unfortunately, they were also inadvertently entered into the match reports section of our website. We have removed them now and we are also removing access to this section until further notice pending a review of how it should be used in future.

Strand United are currently on a losing streak of 6 games.They have yet to win at home.
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Old Bawn FC
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Teams often arrange friendly games at this time of year and are responsible for all aspects of the game’s organisation, among them finding a referee. However, they should obtain approval for these games beforehand for several reasons, not least because referees will need it in place for insurance purposes.

Set out below is a reminder of the procedures which should be followed in order to obtain approval for a friendly game:

1. The organising club should request permission to hold the friendly from its own League via the League Hon Sec giving details of the proposed match i.e. opposition, pitch and date. If any of these details change then a new permission must be sought.

2. The Hon Sec will then confirm the sanction of the stated fixture by email to the organising club, which should in turn make this authentication available for inspection by the referee. Our referees will be advised of our procedures.

3. The organising club should be a current member of the league and ensure that both clubs have the necessary public liability insurance in place.

Arthur Griffith Park FC have yet to be beaten at home.
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Harding IF FC
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With another round of games successfully completed on the first Saturday in July, the UCFL can state that we are very pleased with progress since the pre-season tournament kicked off on June 9. We hope all participating teams continue to enjoy the competition in the spirit of good communication and co operation displayed to date.

As most of you will be aware, we are targetting July 28 as the date for completion of all group stage games, with finals scheduled for August 7. Given this timeframe, it may not be possible to re-schedule games, especially as availability of referees may be an additional factor limiting our flexibility. We would ask that teams bear this in mind when preparing for games throughout the rest of July.

This is the first game for both teams in this competition

The FAI referees department have added two courses for training new referees. The UCFL encourages anyone interested in taking up refereeing to consider signing up for one of these courses.

FAI Referee Beginner Course – 6th/7th/8th July

FAI Referee Beginner Course – 20th/21st/22nd July

This is the first game for both teams in this competition

[Update 09/06/2021: Ahead of tonight's kick-off, we would like to draw everyone's attention to Rule 4, permitting roll-on/ roll-off substitutions and Rule 7, which directs that a penalty shootout must take place after each drawn game, with the winner of the shootout being awarded an extra point in the Group competition (so the shootout winner receives two points in total for the game, with the shootout loser receiving one point for the draw in 90 minutes).]

With our pre-season tournament fast approaching, we would remind any participating teams which have not yet done so, to email the UCFL Hon Sec Paraic Treanor (paraic.treanor@ucfl.ie) confirming their wish to enter the tournament. Please do this now!

Tournament Rules & Procedures:

The committee have agreed a set of Rules governing the tournament and these can be viewed by clicking on the following link: 2021-22 Pre-Season Tournament Rules.

In addition, we would like to remind all teams, especially new teams, of the standard procedures ahead of each match:

The home team must contact the opposition and referee to ensure all is in order, give directions, check colours and any other items which may be relevant. Contact details can be found at the following links:

Teams: UCFL - Club Contact Details 2021/2022 (Based on information available to 05/06/2021)

Referees: Referees UCFL

A full fixture list has already been circulated to all clubs; any future alterations to these (e.g. kick-off times and referees for fixtures after June 16) will be advised in fixture updates which we intend to issue weekly during the tournament.

Benbulbin United
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Malawi FC
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Clubs are reminded that team applications for membership of the UCFL should be submitted as soon as possible. This is particularly important for teams intending to participate in the pre-season tournament, which is due to kick-off next week.

Registration of each team should be completed via the online team registration form available on this website at the following link:

UCFL online registration

In relation to the tournament itself, the groups and draft fixtures list were circulated to all clubs over the weekend. Fixtures will begin in 8 days time, on Wednesday, June and it is hoped to complete the group stages by July 28, leaving just a few play-off games between the various group/ section winners to take place after that.

The opening two rounds of fixtures are set out below:

This is the first game for both teams in this competition

With the end of the standard season on May 31 approaching, thoughts are now turning towards next season 2021/22. While the LFA have not yet confirmed their position regarding a possible extension of 2020/21 beyond May31, the UCFL are proceeding on the basis that 2020/21 will be abandoned.

Therefore, we are now asking all teams to begin preparations for next season 2021/22 immediately, beginning with team registration, before making arrangements to ensure their players can be registered once player registration for 2021/22 opens on June 1.

Registration of each team should be completed via the online team registration form available on this website at the following link:

UCFL online registration

Note that clubs with more than one team should, as usual, submit a separate application for each team.

Finally, please note that the registration form is also available in excel and pdf formats, though the online option is our preferred method.

This is the first game for both teams in this competition