by Bob Fromer
The opinions expressed in this article – particularly about GB drawing the short straw in most ESF draws – are those of the author, and do not necessarily represent the views of the BSF.
Draws were held at the European Softball Federation (ESF) Congress in Dublin on Saturday 7 February to determine pools at European Championships this summer – and as seems to happen far too often, GB teams have drawn the short straw.
The ESF used its standard method (borrowed from football's World Cup) of dividing teams into tiers, then drawing names from a hat to assign the teams to pools, for two of the European Fastpitch Championship competitions that will take place this summer – the Women's Championship, with 21 teams, and the Cadette (Under-16) Girls' Championship, with 12 teams.
In each case, GB has wound up in what is clearly the toughest pool in the tournament.
The method of using a random draw to assign teams to pools goes counter to seedings earned by teams when the competition was last run, and can mean that some teams get an easier ride than their seeding would have earned, while other teams get harder opposition. No one is claiming the draws are rigged, but GB has had amazingly bad luck since the ESF started this practice five years ago.
For example, it is generally recognised that the top five women's national teams in European softball are the Netherlands, Italy, the Czech Republic, Russia and GB, with a bit of a gap to the rest. With five “tough” teams, and four pools, you would think the odds against the GB Women being drawn in three straight European Championships with another tough team in their group would be pretty long – but that's what has happened.
And not only that, but on each occasion, GB has been paired with Italy!
On the other hand, because GB finished fifth in European Championships in 2013 (after finishing second in 2009 and third in 2011), we were bound to get drawn with another top team this time around – but getting Italy again (as opposed to Russia or the Czech Republic) was harsh and was not what the seedings would have produced.
Meanwhile, the other three top teams – the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and Russia – have always had draws since this system began that practically guaranteed them winning their group, which confers a distinct advantage in the second round.
In 2015, however, the GB Women's Team isn't the only GB team to fall victim to this ESF curse. If anything, the GB Under-16 Girls have suffered a worse draw than the Women, as you'll see below. Here is how things worked out for both our teams.
ESF Women's Championships
Below is the full draw for the 2015 ESF Women's Fastpitch Championships, with two teams from each group going through to the second round. Because Italy finished second in 2013 and GB fifth, had the seedings been strictly followed, GB and Russia would have been paired in Group D, not GB and Italy.
One thing to note – in Group C – is the first-ever appearance of Ireland in a European fastpitch competition.
| POOL A | POOL B | POOL C | POOL D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | Russia | Czech Republic | Italy |
| Sweden | Spain | Austria | Great Britain |
| Germany | Belgium | Ukraine | Slovakia |
| Denmark | Croatia | Poland | Switzerland |
| Israel | France | Slovenia | Bulgaria |
| Ireland |
ESF Cadette (Under-16) Championships
As noted above, the GB Under-16 Girls have been dealt an even tougher hand than the GB Women.
Here is the full draw for the 2015 ESF Cadette Championships, with two of the three teams in each group going through to the second round.
| POOL A | POOL B | POOL C | POOL D |
|---|---|---|---|
| Czech Republic | Russia | Netherlands | Belgium |
| Great Britain | Slovakia | Serbia | Ukraine |
| Italy | Spain | Israel | Lithuania |
The Czech Republic finished second in 2013 and GB sixth, so had seedings been strictly followed, GB would have wound up in Group C, paired with the Netherlands. But that's not the problem – GB were always going to have one of the top four teams seeded above them in their group.
The kicker is that Italy didn't compete in 2013, which means that, despite being a very strong team, they get put into the draw in the bottom tier, along with Spain, Israel and Lithuania -- and then the luck of the draw just happened to put them into GB's group.
ESF Under-19 Men's Championships
Meanwhile, no names were drawn out of the hat for this summer's European Under-19 Men's Championship, because only seven teams are playing and there will be only a single round-robin group.
This is a welcome advance on two years ago, when there were only five teams in the competition.
This year, the GB Under-19 Men's Team will be competing against the Czech Republic, Denmark, Croatia, Israel, Lithuania and Poland.
A cautionary note
The one cautionary note to all of the above is that teams in all of these competitions can still withdraw, without penalty, before 28 February.
Should any teams in the Women's and Cadette European Championships withdraw by the deadline, it could mean some shifting around of the groups. This would particularly be the case in the Cadette Championships, where any withdrawal would change the format of the tournament from four groups of three teams with two teams going through to the second round to two groups of five or six teams, with three going through to the second round.