GOLD - haven't forgotten about yea as usual

 GOLD has finally ended their slightly off the grid 7 match round robin followed by their extremely super straightforward crossover finals. If only each league could have 16 teams like Gold! Alas every year we have top two division teams rage quit after a relegation that was enforced or a promotion that was not to be, and hence Gold usually is like quantum physics - it just kind of stretches to fit whatever dark matter needs to go in there before the Platinumate sieve.


CHILTERN CHILLIES literally showed the world why they should NOT have been relegated, and pulled off the perfect season, dropping one miserly packet in the process (against one of the relegated to Platinum sides no less!) To put things into stark perspective - in their final two matches where angels would have feared to tread, they horsewhipped the two teams right under them (Lethe it Be and Carpal Diem) by 14 and 16 points respectively. These are margins that Premiership sides spend an entire season accumulating and Chiltern Chillies are really a classic example of why teams SHOULD honour their relegations, as ill-gotten or as ill-deserved as they should be - teams that honour such relegations really do tend to regroup, have heart to heart talks in the boardroom, go down eating humble pie and bounce back very, very strongly and become Premiership material, as opposed to teams that just literally live on the skin of their teeth every season. But hey. More on that later in the Champ writeup....


CARPAL DIEM are now on the verge of becoming one of the first sides to play in four divisions - considering we have had nine seasons so far, it is almost unthinkable that no team has done so, be it going up or going down. If they win their promotion playoff against Ghats in a week's time they will have gone from Ruby to Champ in around 6 seasons, which is as organic as it gets. They have really earned their place in second as they have battled to two precious, precious draws, one of which will haunt the team right below them...


This would be LETHE IT BE, who were hoping to get back to Champ at the first time of asking but by the looks of it finished just third where there is no action, just the tired drudgery of next season. Still hot off the elation of becoming "joint champions" together with Tequila Mockingbird of Gold in S6 - they now book another season in Purgatory. Gold is notably the hardest league to get out of, and we have constituent members who I swear have spent their entire tenure in AQL in Gold. Eg, Insane Clowns Possessed have been here since Season 3 i believe. 


Vetes Vulpes, Omega Six (fresh up from Plat) and Masoquizsts (fresh down from Champ) hence just about secure another midtable season. Quite tragically it means that BPHP go into another season changing league despite having a decent season this time around - Imran was not able to captain them to safety and off they go again to win Platinum next season. A Quarterful of Secrets just found it too hard going but one relegation later they should be far more settled in Gold if they ever come back again. On the bright side Movin's Minute Men, their kind of academy team, awaits in Plat to keep them company...


Over in Tigris THE QUADS MUST BE CRAZY finally secure promotion at the third time of asking, after two seasons literally finishing in the podium but not quite the podium in AQL. They go into their title match with Chiltern Chillies with nothing to lose, having already fended off Ghats on 2.5 extra packets won. GHATS and ST KITTS really did a photo finish at the end, and really both teams will be regretting the losses they should never have had. Ghats lost and drew with TQMBC and St Kitts respectively otherwise having a spotless record, whereas St Kitts, had they not inexplicably fallen to Six in the City on the opening day of S8, would be where TQMBC is now.


East India Company and Insane Clowns Possessed have had their somewhat uneventful regular season, and will just be pleased that they were never really at the bottom of the table - unusually in Gold this season, it was clear from the early days who was going down on both sides. Six in the City as usual played to a scare and left it till late, but will always cherish defeating St Kitts as the moment that kept them up. 


And now to the two who will be leaving us. On the Rocks started with so, so much promise - defeating the eventual title winners for Tigris - but could just never score big in the remaining matches and their only consolation is waving goodbye to IISERGard. The Hobbits on the other hand, previously touted as even promotion to Champ possible contenders, have had a horrendous, horrendous season, with two matches in the teens and the rest barely breaking even. And with that, we say goodbye to the three teams who came up from Plat, and who have gone down to where they came from. Plat to Gold really is the jump of a lifetime and we wish them well and will be sure to see them again to be honest. 

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