Tuffy Announces 20-Team Line-Up, Tweed Left Out

ARTTSL President Wilkington Tuffy has astounded the Rebound Table Tennis world by announcing a single-tier, 20-team competition for 2011.

All eight teams that defected to the failed National HyperBall League in 2010 have been allowed to return, as Tuffy had previously eluded to in proposing a softer stance than his predecessor, the late Bernard Elksteine. However Tweed Heads, the portion of runners-up Gold Coast-Tweed, who dramatically defected to HyperBall after losing the 2010 Grand Final to Newcastle, have been excluded.

Tuffy told a packed press conference that the decision was made as the best means of re-unifying the game. He did not specifically state, but eluded to, the notion that he had avoided the mistakes of Elksteine, who forced teams into second-tier divisions, the apparent catalyst for last year’s defections.

The competition will consist of 19 rounds in which all teams will play each other once, followed by a four-week Finals Series using the McIntyre Final Eight System. Hence the entire competition will take 23 weeks, culminating in the Grand Final in early October.

Tuffy also noted that due to the late start to the season after resolving the defection/return issues, there would be no Pre-Season Trophy this year. However he said it might be possible to put something similar on post-season, but did not make any guarantees. Again he may be trying to avoid making Elksteine's mistakes, after tensions last year began with Second-Division sides being forced to play an extra round to qualify.

Some have compared the scenario to the aftermath of the Super League War which saw 22 teams playing in 1998, followed by significant measures over the following years to contract the number of teams through mergers and exclusions.

Tuffy would not comment on whether such a process would need to take place in coming years in the aftermath of the Rebound Table Tennis War. However speculation the Rebound Table Tennis War has only begun as been mounting since the mysterious return to Australia of Jimmy Spring, who remains in protective custody in Melbourne.

2011 ARTTSL Entrants
Adelaide
Brisbane
Canberra
Darwin
Geelong
Gold Coast
Greater Blacktown
Illawarra
Ipswich
Melbourne
Newcastle
North Melbourne
North New Zealand
North Queensland
Perth
Singapore
South New Zealand
Sunshine Coast
Sydney
Tasmania

Draw to be released soon.