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Post by slickdaddy96 on Feb 25, 2018 9:58:39 GMT -5
Concorde handled the Sunday games today very poorly. For an organization that is already notorious for weather cancellation s if someone spits on the fields, I really didn't think they could do much worse.
Rain doesn't even come in to most venues till 9am. Our team had games at 8am. Instead of allowing the first set of games to play, they do a two hour delay for "thunderstorms" moving in. There were no thunderstorms today. Just a little bit of wind with about 5 minutes of heavy rain.
The 8am games could have been played at most venues. Then at the 8am update they tell everyone games are on. So the parents of my son's team that didn't stay in a hotel start the 75 mile trek to our venue, only for Concorde to send an email canceling all games at 9am once most parents already were almost to the fields, and our coach was at the fields. He was pretty livid as well. If you are going to cancel why jerk all the people around wasting their gas and time?
I don't think they ever had any intentions of playing the games today otherwise they would have allowed the 8am games to go on as scheduled before the rain, but they had to make appearances that they tried to play the Sunday games even though they had no intention to.
There is only supposed to be 0.25-0.40 inches to fall between now and evening. We've played in worse and a lot of organization would not have cancelled.
I'll chalk this up to a money grab of not having to refund money, not having to give out medals, and not having to pay the refs so they net a little more in their coffers.
If they had any honesty they would refund all teams 1/3 of their money, but that will never happen.
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Post by Soccerhouse on Feb 25, 2018 10:16:37 GMT -5
My guess is the delaying tactic allowed most teams to be able to stay home and never head to the venues. Only the 8 am teams were screwed and had to probably head to venues.
8 am games hour away from metro Atlanta in garbage in my opinion. I won’t miss 8 am kickoffs in Gainesville, Douglasville, Dallas and Henry county that’s for sure!!!
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Post by spectator on Feb 25, 2018 10:49:06 GMT -5
From their rules TERMINATION of Games or Tournament DUE TO WEATHER/ACT OF GOD If the tournament is canceled due to inclement weather or any act of God, a refund will be issued. If the tournament is canceled after a team has played in 2 games, no refund will be issued to that team.
Why Concorde wont rent Lake Pointe for this tournament is beyond me. They dont own fields and rent grass ones every year. But this has always been more about money than soccer for Concorde. Pity it used to be a good local tournament
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Post by soccerfan30 on Feb 25, 2018 12:10:46 GMT -5
LakePointe is expensive to rent and would probably cut into net profits, although SSA has used it for their tournaments. As for the refs if the tournament cancels day of I think refs should get a portion if not all of their fee for the day, many refs have other jobs and take off work in order to be available to work tournaments.
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Post by soccerballz on Feb 25, 2018 12:28:24 GMT -5
Isn’t it the club/county that owns these fields the power that dictates the closures? Since Concorde doesn’t own the fields, do they really have control of the closures? I’m guessing the real keepers of the fields don’t want them trashed prior to the start of the season.
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Post by soccerfan30 on Feb 25, 2018 16:57:29 GMT -5
I'll give SSA a big thumbs up, a few weeks ago at their tournament they made a tremendous effort to secure turf fields on Thursday night prior to Saturday's games with 100% incoming rain for the weekend. Ultimately they had to close some of the grass parks and cancel a couple of divisions but felt they did all they could to get some of the games moved to turf fields in a 36 hour window so some age groups could play.
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Post by toonarmy on Feb 25, 2018 17:49:06 GMT -5
Yes, we played in the SSA tournament and got all games in including playing in the final on the turf fields.
Kudos to them for figuring this out!
When TA ran Norcross he gave out 100% refunds on one of their key tournaments was rained out. Without forward thinking like this it seems like most clubs are back to the bad old ways of limited or no refunds. It cost Norcross, but was the right thing to do. If you were an out of town club coming to a tournament guess which one you'd pick?
A friend of mine is team manager for a club here and flat our refuses to enter any Concorde tournaments for the reasons listed here. If more team managers took the same stance then things would have to change...
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Post by Keeper on Feb 25, 2018 17:59:56 GMT -5
Had an 8:00am this morning at tramore for Icebreakers and we played in the pouring rain for 20 minutes until half time. The fields puddled so quickly the only way you could move the ball was in the air. But up until 8:15am in Marietta there was no rain so yeah not sure why the first set of games couldn’t be attempted or at least canceled at 6:30am. I applaud RYSA for getting their girls tournament in though. And yeah SSA was ok moving all the 11v11 games to turf but for Puma Cup / Cherokee Impact last weekend to get ALL games moved to turf facilities was huge.
But yep, I will never go to a Concorde tournament because all that means is it’s going to rain and you won’t get Sunday in. Such a money grab for them.
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Post by SoccerMom on Feb 25, 2018 18:57:28 GMT -5
Yes, we played in the SSA tournament and got all games in including playing in the final on the turf fields. Kudos to them for figuring this out! When TA ran Norcross he gave out 100% refunds on one of their key tournaments was rained out. Without forward thinking like this it seems like most clubs are back to the bad old ways of limited or no refunds. It cost Norcross, but was the right thing to do. If you were an out of town club coming to a tournament guess which one you'd pick? A friend of mine is team manager for a club here and flat our refuses to enter any Concorde tournaments for the reasons listed here. If more team managers took the same stance then things would have to change... We played the Smyrna Cup which then became the Atlanta super cup last weekend, all games got moved to Turf for us a couple of days before. It barely sprinkled at Lakepoint on Saturday and it was beautiful and sunny on Sunday. TA always bought insurance for his tournaments at Norcross and that's why people got their refunds. I think now all UFA tournaments are insured? If not I think at least Generation Adidas is. But i know UFA will try to keep tournament going as long as they can. As far as ref $$ is concerned. If games don't even happen on Sunday then refs don't get paid. If they get cancelled during the day on Sunday they usually get paid for the whole day
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Post by SoccerMom on Feb 25, 2018 19:02:32 GMT -5
And im not sure how weather was for everyone but today we played in our outdoor league and it only sprinkled for maybe 30 minutes? It was gloomy but no rain. If we old people could play, bet the kids too.
But in all honesty....when is the last time a CF tournament didn't get rained out? If we ever have a drought just have them organize a tournament and voila! My daughter's coach wouldnt do CF tournaments either because every year it was the same issue and they never refunded people even though it was an ongoing complaint.
Didn't the other forum used to call it their annual fundraiser instead of a tournament?
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Post by Keeper on Feb 25, 2018 20:21:59 GMT -5
And im not sure how weather was for everyone but today we played in our outdoor league and it only sprinkled for maybe 30 minutes? It was gloomy but no rain. If we old people could play, bet the kids too. But in all honesty....when is the last time a CF tournament didn't get rained out? If we ever have a drought just have them organize a tournament and voila! My daughter's coach wouldnt do CF tournaments either because every year it was the same issue and they never refunded people even though it was an ongoing complaint. Didn't the other forum used to call it their annual fundraiser instead of a tournament? What did you think of the Super Cup? We did Puma Cup last year and have done NSE tournaments in the past so when I was told they merged Puma Cup and Smyrna’s Winter cup I was a little disappointed. Especially since they were suppose to play the 11v11 games at Smyrna. But the NSE staff did a great job pulling it off and getting everything reorganized. Plus those trophies this year are awesome!
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Post by Strikermom on Feb 26, 2018 9:34:57 GMT -5
I was TM for my team the year then NSA cancelled that tournament in December., It had been raining all week and there was no way anyone was going to be able to play. I beleive they cancelled on Thursday night, best decision.
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Post by mightydawg on Feb 26, 2018 10:25:38 GMT -5
While SSA got the 11 v 11 in, it cancelled everything else with only half refunds. They also offered a half credit for next year's tournament but the problem with that is teams change so someone else will get the benefit of the 1/2 price entry fee.
In the very few games that did occur on grass at Cartersville, several of the SSA teams withdrew from the tournament, which was counted as a forfeit in the standings but a game played when it came time to refund.
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Post by slickdaddy96 on Feb 26, 2018 12:32:36 GMT -5
SSA did the best they could for what was given them, and I give them credit for at least trying unlike Concorde. They give their SSA teams full refund, but gave others half. It does suck, and it is something they should look at fixing especially since most teams only getting half didn't play one game.
As far as who closes fields, yes in theory the counties can close fields, and that is the boogie man that a lot of clubs like to use, but I know for a fact a lot of counties use liaisons within the clubs that are club employees that inspect the fields and determine whether to close them or not, and the county trusts those people to make the right decision.
The fields in question for us this weekend were in Rabbit Hill. Rabbit Hill has looked like garbage every time we have ever played on them. We have had two Sunday's cancelled in two different tournaments there. I don't know why Gwinnett County won't do something about those fields as far as drainage and sod goes. In reality those fields were not going to be in any worse shape than they already were had they allowed people to play on them Sunday or the other tournament that got canceled we went to as well back last May. I don't understand pre-season how fields like that can be in such bad shape. They obviously did no maintenance to them between Fall and Spring seasons.
My biggest gripe with Concorde as I said in my original post, was that they delay everything two hours at 6am. Then at 8am say games are on, only to cancel them at 9am after half my parents had already driven 60-75 miles to the fields. Luckily I had a hotel, but it is a horrible way to handle it. If you anticipating having to cancel just go ahead and do it instead of leaving people hanging just to cancel an hour after you said the games were on.
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Post by mightydawg on Feb 26, 2018 17:57:48 GMT -5
All of these tournaments are money grabs. The results do not matter as long as the clubs make their money. It is not about sending comparable teams to tournaments to find out which club is the best. Instead, it is "if you come to my tournament, I will come to your tournament." Club X sends 40 teams to club Y's tournament and then the next club x tournament, club Y will send 40 teams. So on and so on.
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Post by Keeper on Feb 26, 2018 19:50:30 GMT -5
The fields in question for us this weekend were in Rabbit Hill. Rabbit Hill has looked like garbage every time we have ever played on them. We have had two Sunday's cancelled in two different tournaments there. I don't know why Gwinnett County won't do something about those fields as far as drainage and sod goes. In reality those fields were not going to be in any worse shape than they already were had they allowed people to play on them Sunday or the other tournament that got canceled we went to as well back last May. I don't understand pre-season how fields like that can be in such bad shape. They obviously did no maintenance to them between Fall and Spring seasons. [. Gwinnett County allocates so much money to each park to use on sod, seed, resoding and keeping you know grass on the field. But Dacula, now gsa North, has always used that money on other “club expenses”. Odd since their fees are already so high, so wonder who’s wallet errr I mean what expenses are covered.
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Post by spectator on Feb 26, 2018 22:07:45 GMT -5
Yes, we played in the SSA tournament and got all games in including playing in the final on the turf fields. Kudos to them for figuring this out! When TA ran Norcross he gave out 100% refunds on one of their key tournaments was rained out. Without forward thinking like this it seems like most clubs are back to the bad old ways of limited or no refunds. It cost Norcross, but was the right thing to do. If you were an out of town club coming to a tournament guess which one you'd pick? A friend of mine is team manager for a club here and flat our refuses to enter any Concorde tournaments for the reasons listed here. If more team managers took the same stance then things would have to change... TA purchased insurance so that he could guarantee refunds - and that year our club opted for the Norcross tournament over Concorde because of it. Has Concorde ever purchased that insurance to guarantee refunds or are they just that blatant about this being their annual fundraiser every year? I don't think they even bother to print the years on the medals anymore so they can use next year what got rained out this year. Yes they rent fields and it is the owner of the field or parks and rec entity that can say yay or nay to them using them but you'd think by now, they'd at least attempt to rent out some turf fields. Lake Pointe can't be that expensive - much smaller less wealthy clubs have used it for their tournaments, too. And no, Concorde cannot control the weather but when this happens year after year after year for as many 'generations' of players that have come through, you'd think someone in that organization would wake up and do something.
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Post by Futsal Gawdess on Feb 26, 2018 22:42:03 GMT -5
Have they thought of skipping February and having the games maybe in early March? In February, It will always be hit or miss, one year the temperature is 20 degrees, another year it is raining cats and dogs. I have always thought it asinine to have tournaments sometimes so early, you and your team have barely had a chance to even practice but a couple of days.
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Post by Keeper on Feb 27, 2018 0:56:45 GMT -5
Have they thought of skipping February and having the games maybe in early March? In February, It will always be hit or miss, one year the temperature is 20 degrees, another year it is raining cats and dogs. I have always thought it asinine to have tournaments sometimes so early, you and your team have barely had a chance to even practice but a couple of days. That’s so true! I mean Savannah United and Carolina FC had great tournaments the last 2 weekends of January. I mean who’s ready for that? We didn’t even start practices until February. Then there’s the dreaded Red Diamond/Vulcan Cup in Birmingham in the beginning of March that I think has been rained out 4 of the last 5 Years, but sells out yearly. I’m glad to see Chiefs & DDY doing a St Patrick’s Day tournament with all the rainouts though. Hopefully St Paddy’s is cold, sunny, and dry, the best weather for Soccer and pints of Guinness.
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Post by SoccerMom on Feb 27, 2018 11:51:38 GMT -5
And im not sure how weather was for everyone but today we played in our outdoor league and it only sprinkled for maybe 30 minutes? It was gloomy but no rain. If we old people could play, bet the kids too. But in all honesty....when is the last time a CF tournament didn't get rained out? If we ever have a drought just have them organize a tournament and voila! My daughter's coach wouldnt do CF tournaments either because every year it was the same issue and they never refunded people even though it was an ongoing complaint. Didn't the other forum used to call it their annual fundraiser instead of a tournament? What did you think of the Super Cup? We did Puma Cup last year and have done NSE tournaments in the past so when I was told they merged Puma Cup and Smyrna’s Winter cup I was a little disappointed. Especially since they were suppose to play the 11v11 games at Smyrna. But the NSE staff did a great job pulling it off and getting everything reorganized. Plus those trophies this year are awesome! It was ok, but the level of competition was all over the place. Brackets would have a couple of top teams and then some 3rd teams and they would get destroyed. I assume that the reason they merged them at the last minute was because of lack of teams.
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Post by SoccerMom on Feb 27, 2018 11:54:21 GMT -5
Have they thought of skipping February and having the games maybe in early March? In February, It will always be hit or miss, one year the temperature is 20 degrees, another year it is raining cats and dogs. I have always thought it asinine to have tournaments sometimes so early, you and your team have barely had a chance to even practice but a couple of days. Once the season begins you wont get many teams participating. Regular season begins this weekend and kids have games almost every weekend
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Post by Futsal Gawdess on Feb 28, 2018 5:25:07 GMT -5
Have they thought of skipping February and having the games maybe in early March? In February, It will always be hit or miss, one year the temperature is 20 degrees, another year it is raining cats and dogs. I have always thought it asinine to have tournaments sometimes so early, you and your team have barely had a chance to even practice but a couple of days. Once the season begins you wont get many teams participating. Regular season begins this weekend and kids have games almost every weekend Obviously once the season begins you won't get many teams participating, I was referring to trend overall. Many of these tournaments are quid quo pro money-grab setup. Whereby, you send X numbers of teams to my tournament and I reciprocate. If the clubs can agree to not have tournaments in February, then the regular season schedulers would plan accordingly. Plus, it would give new and returning referees time to become re/certified in January and February.
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Post by SoccerMom on Feb 28, 2018 6:04:16 GMT -5
I don't think the clubs determine the start dates but GA soccer. With so much rain in the spring, pushing the season would already mean less games and then to start later would add to that
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Post by Futsal Gawdess on Feb 28, 2018 8:52:39 GMT -5
It is true that GA Soccer sanctions tournaments. In that case they should step up and change the Mandate of when teams start tournaments. Teams, players and parents are tired of having games needlessly cancelled just to fill the coffers of the big clubs. If it extends the season, so be it. A little more soccer didn't hurt anyone.
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Post by soccerfan30 on Feb 28, 2018 9:06:39 GMT -5
Can't push the spring season too much, as it will overlap into State Cup. Additionally many teams participate in tournaments during the regular season and already have to blackout those weekends from the GA Soccer schedule
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