With the sudden and dramatic rearrangement of the Grifball League structure, there has been much debate over the legitimacy and fairness of the Amateur League. While there are few that would argue against the top 16 teams deserving their own league, many players have expressed concern for the level of competition in the Amateur League. Caliber teams such as Hard Liquor Chasers and The Green Army randomly playing against new, uninitiated Rookie teams as well as developing Rookie teams from previous seasons does not lend itself to fair competition on either end; Rookies getting pulverized and ex-Legacy players facing little challenge. With such apparently uneven levels of play, some forum members, myself included, expressed concern for the integrity of the league and the sport as well.

However, as a minion of the Individual Stats Committee under Thurmanator’s mighty leadership, I have recently had the supreme joy of looking at each and every individual player on each and every team in both leagues and I am definitely impressed with what I’ve seen. Rookie league administrators promised to spread out the more dominant teams in the Amateur League and make the divisions as competitively balanced as possible. They definitely delivered on their promise.

Although I do not know the strength of all the teams, particularly the newly formed ones, it is my impression that the divisions and the teams within them are very well suited. For example, Hammer Conference Division One has Str8 Griffin, Retarded Facekickers with Hammers and The Ways and Means Committee, three teams who have a pre-established spirited rivalry from GBWL09 and Division 2 of the Sword conference will have an interesting match up between Tobogganantion and the Galloping Seagulls. Although the other teams in this division are newly formed, they’ll have plenty of opportunity to fairly compete against one another as well as be challenged by the two former Legacy teams. Division 3 of the Hammer League has The Green Army playing Hard Liquor Chasers as well as two teams with previous experience in the league. So far as I have found, there is not a “Division of Doom” or a division stacked with so much experience as to negate any chance of new Rookie or old Rookie teams from earning a playoff berth.

Although it would have been ideal to have a Rookie, Legacy and Elite League, I believe that this alternative has worked out surprisingly well. Congratulations and thank you to the people that made this happen and I wish everyone good luck and good competition this season.