Raiders going up!

Friday 03 April 2020

In some good news for a Friday evening, it's been confirmed the Raiders are going up, after a good run this season which saw them top of the league when the games were brought to an abrupt end by covid-19.

Despite officially being top of the league when the last game was played, they're not going up as Champions though, due to some mathematics which we'll try to explain.

Chris Gnapp, the Sponsorship Manager, told Express that the RFU looked at the points each team had won for each home game they had played to work out their final positions at the end of the league if the final few games had been played. 

Based on the games already played, the Raiders had an average home game average of 4.54 and an average away game average of 4.3. A great score overall which put them at the top of the league.

The Raiders still had four games to play though - two home and two away games. 

Their nearest competitor, Rochford Hundred in second place, had an average points score of 4.62 at home, and with three home games still to play that put them in a strong position so the RFU has awarded them the top spot in the London and SE Premier league at the end of the 2019/20 season.

This meant the Raiders were in second place which would have usually ended in a play off against the third placed team, which for this season was Maidenhead.

However, with the current lockdown in place, the statistics were studied again and based on previous scores it was decided the Raiders would have won that playoff so they go up in second place and will be playing in the National 2 South league next season.

When the season starts though is still uncertain, like many other things.

Mr Gnapp said the league is due to start in September, with the fixtures usually out by by mid June.

"We'll have to wait and see how things are over the coming month or so," he said. "I'm sure the RFU will be planning for the coming season already inspite of what's happening, and as soon as we've got the fixtures we'll get planning too.

"Training will start as soon as the teams are able to."

Pictured top: The Raiders lifting the Siam Cup in May 2018, the same year they were previously promoted to National 2 South.