New Team Update
The Management Committee have so far approved a total of 6 new teams into the league for next season but are still eager to hear from anybody that wishes to enter a team into the North-West's most competitive Sunday League.

As always the aim to strengthen our league at all levels and new teams, no matter what the standard, are always welcome.  We'd particularly like to hear from teams that feel they could compete in the top divisions of our league and in the first instance you are asked to email blackburn.nick@yahoo.co.uk

Teams from other leagues in the area are welcome to apply.

Please note all our games kick-off at 11am and only 9 fixtures in the entire league campaign last season took place without an officially appointed referee.

RDSFL Presentation Night 2009
The Rochdale & District Sunday Football League Presentation Night held at Richmond Hall saw Copperpot collecting multiple trophies following their domination of the season not only at local level, but also at regional level as they also picked up the Lancashire Trophy, won at the expense of another local league side, Littleborough.

League President Eddie Melvin and League Chairman Trevor Jones, comedian Dudley Doolittle, along with sponsors, including Rochdale Online Managing Director Pauline Journeaux, presented the awards.
Photos from the presentation night are on Rochdale Online...

Top Goal Scorers
Congratulations to the top goalscorers in each division who this season were:

Premier Division - Scott Highton (Midland Phoenix)  35
First Division - Peter Bradley (FC Bernard)  25
Second Division - Rick Sopel (Boundary Park)  20
Third Division - Nick Preston (Crown & Shuttle)  25

New Referees
In order to meet the demand of the increased league next season we are on the lookout for a number of new referees. Whether you are new to the refereeing scene or a veteran of hundreds of matches we want to hear from you. We would also particularly like to hear from former players that are keen to take up the whistle as they are always a welcome addition to our ranks.

Our league fee is £25 per match, all games kick-off at 11am sharp and the excellent reputation of our league goes without saying. If you are interested in joining our league contact The Referees Secretary Nick Gibbons via email at nick.gibbons@gmpte.gov.uk

 
Referee Marks 
Through the course of the season club award referees a mark after each game.  You may wonder what happens to these marks and perhaps whether anybody takes notice of them but the answer is that these marks are used for a wide variety of different reasons.
 
First of all they are used by Lancashire FA to determine whether a referee can achieve promotion.  Some of the leagues referees actively seek promotion each year and your marks can, in some cases, directly affect whether they achieve this or not.  The marks are also used by the Referees Secretary Nick Gibbons to determine which officials deserve to referee the 'bigger' games in the league and also the Referee of the Year is determined by the mark you have given your referee.  Cup Final appointments are also determined by a referee's average mark throughout the season.
 
Well for the first time we thought we'd actually print the average mark that each referee has been awarded during the season.  As you will see some referees officiate in more games than others but we thought it might make interesting reading for managers and players alike to see what mark each referee has achieved over the entire season.

Club Marks
It isn't only the teams that provide marks to the league because after each game your match referee also provides a mark out of 10 for the behaviour of each team. So being as though we're printing the referee marks we thought it only fair to also print the average mark each club has achieved over the course of the season. They are as follows:

Club conduct average based on 7 or more referee's cards received

Divisional Teams of the Year
At a recent management meeting the Divisional Teams of the Year were chosen and are as follows:

Congratulations to all players on their selection in these sides and a small momento in recognition of the honour will be available at the presentation evening on the 29th May.