2007-2008 Season

Important Announcements and News Regarding the The National Christian Cup

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*** Important Information Released on 6th October 2007 ***

Letter from the NCC and NCT Executive sent out to all participating clubs

Hi All,

Well after lots of work and promoting the new format of the National Christian Cup and Trophy and preparing for the draw, we are very pleased to announce that we have 81 Christian-based Teams in all, 10 up on last years NCC! There are 44 Teams in the Cup and 37 teams in the Trophy. This is wonderful so a big thank-you for your patience in waiting for the draw as we made plenty of calls and emails to get to this stage!! Please also note, that due to very few teams choosing the League stage option in the Trophy, we decided to not go ahead with that option.

The draw is enclosed below in full, for both the Cup and Trophy. It was made at the SCORE Football Chaplains Conference at Lilleshall this week, so thanks to the Chaplains from Barnsley, Burnley, Darlington, Everton, Leicester City and Stockport County for their help and great banter!!

We are kicking the Competitions off in 3 weeks time on Saturday 27th October 2007 but you will notice that there are many teams that do not have games for that day.

However if you have a bye into the 2nd Round and are also playing a team who have received a bye, then you are free to play on October 27th if you wish but both teams will have to agree to this situation. If that is the case then obviously there will be a spare date later in the Competition but you may prefer to get the games out of the way whilst the weather is better - well that is the theory!!?

May God bless our games together and lets really aim to play for His Glory in every way, as well as effectively reach our non-Christian friends

Cheers,

Keith Hammond and Keith Barter NCC Exec.

*** Important Information Released on 6th October 2007 ***

Letter from the NCC and NCT Executive sent out to all participating clubs

Hi All,

I write concerning next season's National Christian Cup.

As many of you are aware, the National Christian Cup Executive Committee have been talking about introducing a new level of Competition for a few years. It was agreed towards the end of last season that this would happen for next Season.

I give all the relevant info below. Sorry it's quite a lot but please take the time to read it and come back to me (by email to the CIF Office) with comments especially with regards as to the grading system!!

A New Two Tier Structure!!

For the 2007/2008 season, the National Cup enters a new and exciting phase. For the first time, there will be two competitions, the current National Christian Cup, for the stronger Christian-based sides in the Country and the National Christian Trophy, for all teams that play at a more Intermediate / Junior level. The two main reasons are: 1) As the whole National Christian Football Network grows, one Competition can only handle a maximum of 64 teams with the present 5 Round format and with 71 entries last year, we were already beyond the ultimate number! So introducing another competition could allow us to double our capacity. 2) For each club to play at a level that is more suitable and comfortable for them.

The NCC Executive, after discussions with some Leagues and Clubs, has made an initial suggestion of which Christian-based Clubs and Church Leagues fit into what category. This is listed below but one of the purposes of this email is continue those discussions a little further to make a final decision by the end of next week Friday 14th July 2007. An interesting exercise and undertaking!

It will also mean that, to stage 2 Finals next year will of course increase the financial burden, so we will ask for a financial contribution from all the four Finalists. It is hoped that, in it s Premier Season, the two tier competition will be viable! This is dependant on the number of teams entering the two competitions, where we hope that 100 + teams will enter!

In the National Christian Cup (the Senior competition), there will not now be a League stage but a straight knock-out from the start! In the National Christian Trophy (the Intermediate/Junior competition), teams can opt to play in a League stage before the 1st Round if they wish. This guarantees at least two matches in the competition. A National/Regional option is still available in the 1st round and possibly the 2nd round for BOTH competitions! The whole competition goes National from the 3rd Round (last 16) onwards, so be ready to travel far and wide if you are successful!

Matches are played on fixed dates. These are now set and I include them here:

Match Dates - 2007 / 2008

League Stage (For Trophy only) Played during Sept/Oct by 6/10/07

Round 1 (Regional & National Knock-out) 27th October 2007

Round 2 (Regional & National Knock-out) 24th November 2007

Round 3 (Full National Knock-out) 19th January 2008

Quarter-Finals 1st March 2008

Semi-Finals 29th March 2008

Finals - Grounds to be confirmed During May 2008 (tbc)

Definition of Levels of Competition

We have decided to go for an A to D category system, where all the Christian Leagues in the country have been given a designated letter. The categories of A and D were more simple as the strongest and biggest Leagues were given an A grading and the smaller more Junior leagues were given a D grading. As for those more in the middle, it was a little more difficult and we may have to re grade in the coming seasons. As Leagues get bigger and stronger (or indeed smaller / weaker), grading may change season by season!! The grading is as follows:

Level A: All teams in the top Division of the League play in the National Christian Cup and all others in the National Christian Trophy.

Level B: All teams that finished in the top half of the League the previous season play in the National Christian Cup and all others in the National Christian Trophy. (If there are an odd number of teams, take the lower number).

Level C: The top 2 teams in the League the previous season play in the National Christian Cup and all others play in the National Christian Trophy.

Level D: All teams in these Leagues play in the National Christian Trophy.

An email containing the above information and a suggested placing in the above structure has been sent to each current participating league for comment. If you require any more information please contact the CIF Office.

National Christian Cup Important Sponsorship Announcement

2007-2008 Season: We are pleased to announce a new sponsorship agreement for this national christian football competition for christian based football teams with 'Verite CM Ltd', leading creator and supplier of high quality, contempory evangelistic resources with a world wide ministry. We want to publicly thank our former sponsors, 'Creative Digital Solutions' for their valuable support in the past.

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