Season 12 Owners Meetings highlighted by separation of domestic cups between Banija and the Busoga Islands
BSL owners take a picture before entering Season 12 RBSA Owners meetings
BUSUKUMA, NATIONAL CAPITOL REGION- The Owners Meetings for Season 12 have come and gone, with the country(well, the countries) getting ready for what should be another exciting season of football. Banijan clubs were active in the transfer Window as they prepared for this upcoming season, with a number of clubs seemingly declaring themselves ready to make the leap, in whatever form that may be. There will be one major format change this season, however.
Last season, The Busoga Islands Soccer Association attempted to establish a domestic cup for the six Busoga Islander sides in the Banijan pyramid. After a compromise between BISA and the RBSA that did not allow for qualification to the Cup Winners Cup. But after further discussions between BISA and the RBSA, they have come to a compromise, acceptable to the clubs, that was able to give BISA what they want- a national competition within the confines of the Banijan pyramid.
This will occur by separating the domestic cups. The RBSA and BISA issued a joint statement after reaching yet another compromise deal. "Last season, we reached the core principles of a deal that would allow for the separation of domestic cup competitions. While Ownership did not approve, we believe this year's deals, with those same core principles, will allow us to truly get what we want. The core principle, of course, is that the pyramid remains a single-association league- we have not, and will never, try to be a multi-associational league under our present setup. All teams are members of the RBSA, including the 6 Busoga Islander sides, and that is how it should remain. There will be no seperate qualification for IFCF competition. Furthermore, BISA's tournament shall not be used to qualify for any international tournament besides the Cygnus Cup Winners Cup. If, in the unlikely possibility that the competition becomes one that contributes to IFCF ranking points, BISA involvement shall automatically cease, unless it gets the approval of ownership."
Various clubs that opposed the move last time around, now that the competition qualifies for the Cygnus Cup Winners Cup, now support the decision. The Busembe Timberwolves came out in favor of the proposed compromise, as well as did Mynda Electra. Lakiska SC, the biggest club on the Busoga Islands who opposed the decision last time, enthusiastically welcomed this compromise, saying that the deal 'paved a path to a legitimate Islander competition, while keeping the footballing bonds between the Islands and Banija." The plan passed with relatively little opposition. The change will be effective immediately, for this season and going forward.
The RBSA announced how they would change their tournament, which would now become a 62 team cup. They said, every year, 2 teams would get a bye to the Round of 32- the defending BSL Champion, and the defending RBSA Cup winner. If they are the same team, the second place team in the league would get a bye. And then, before the league season started, all of the other 60 teams would participate in the Preliminary Round. 30 winners, plus the 2 teams that had a bye, go to the Round of 32, which would keep the same scheduling as previously. So it'd mean just 1 preseason preliminary round, instead of two right now, but it'd invite more chaos as essentially everyone would participate. They also said that the two teams with byes would not play each other in the Round of 32, and would be guaranteed home games for that first round. All matches would continue to be played at home grounds except for the Final, which remains at the Stadium of the Restoration.
BISA, although they haven't named their tournament, announced how their tournament would work. The 6 Busoga Islander sides would participate in a 6 team, double elimination tournament. In both tournaments, of course, there would be no draws or replays- every match must have a winner. No neutral site matches at any point in BISA's tournament. Ownership was nearly unanimous behind the new arrangement, with both Banijan and Busogan clubs saying that this could make both tournaments stronger.
The second major order of business came just from the BSL. We will host the All-Star Game for the second consecutive season. Randolf Cherry announced, after last season's game at the Stadium of the Restoration, that teams would be able to bid on hosting the all-star game. While the BSL did not officially announce all the stadia that bid, the frontrunners were Tiones Lumber Field at the Wolf's Den in Busembe, Electra Stadium in Mynda, BCEL Stadium in Jinja City, Hangaza Unified Stadium in Aissa, and Kabonero III Field in Istria. After much debate, the ownership agreed to award the hosting rights to the All-Star Game to Hangaza Unified Stadium in Aissa, capacity of 55,000. Randolf Cherry said that he's 'excited' for the game to go out East.
The last order of business, was a proposal from Lakiska SC- end the ban on non-humans within the Banijan pyramid. The six Busoga Islander sides, and some of the BSL's larger sides, like Herzegovina City FC, argued in favor of it. They said that right in the Glorious Southwest, there was an 'abundance' of non-human talent that could be scouted out in Equestria, as well as Valanora. They said that doing so would greatly improve the competitiveness of the Banijan Soccer League. And they said it was an issue of fundamental fairness. All six Busoga Islander sides voted yes, as well as 10 BSL sides. However, there was a mass of opposition within the regional leagues. Many said that doing so would simply increase the gap between the 'haves and have-nots', and that it would not be right within Banija for humans to play with non-humans. Only 20 total teams voted in favor of the proposal, which means that in addition to the 10 BSL sides who opposed it, 38 out of the 43 Banijan sides in the regional leagues voted against the proposal.
Interesting times ahead, eh? And now, with the ownership meetings out of the way, Season 12 of the BSL is almost upon us. Who's ready?
