The face of the angling scene is set to change with the formation of the Angling Professional League (APL), based on the cricketing winning formula, the IPL.
At a meeting held under the auspices of Breakwaters Angling Club, the blueprint for the APL was laid out, and it will make for an exciting season ahead.
Each of the league, knock-out, and grand challenge competitions will carry a prize of R500, which will be awarded to the winning team. The ‘Angler of the Day’ will be awarded with an outright trophy in recognition of his achievement, and get the chance to wear the ‘orange’ cap. The top three anglers per competition will be rewarded for their achievements as well as with outright trophies.
Anglers catching carp over 4kg or barbel over 10kg will be awarded will be awarded a bonus prize of R500 for their efforts.
If there is a tie, the angler with the heaviest carp or barbel will be declared the winner.
Interested anglers need not affiliate as teams, but as individuals who will be allocated into teams for the purposes of the competition.
The ‘Angler of the Year’ will receive the usual trophies as well cash incentives, including a family weekend getaway prize. The angler leading the log table will be afforded the honour of wearing the purple cap as each round of the competition progresses.
In addition to these trophies and incentives, other competitions will take place simultaneously, which include the league champions, knock-out champion, most fish caught, champion of champions, social outing champion (scaled and non-scaled), internal knock-out doubles and singles knock-out, junior and senior Anglers of the Year, highest point-scorer, heaviest scaled fish and non-scaled fish, et cetera. These incentives and trophies will be awarded at a glamorous awards function, which will be held at the completion of the season.
A special meeting will be held to discuss the composition of the teams, as well as the appointment of captains, vice captains and record clerks for each team.
The governing body to administer the affairs of the APL includes Matthew Shunmugam (President); Terrence Chetty (Vice-President); Kidd Rampersadh (Treasurer); Vicky Bhooli (Secretary); Anil Boodhoo (Record Clerk); Ajen Goli (PRO); Monty Slabbert (Captain) and Prenesh Pandoy (Vice-Captain). Other members will be elected onto the controlling body should the need arise.
Application forms for the APL can be obtained from Midas Spares (Mr Omar), or interested anglers can contact Kidd Rampersadh (084 600 8333); Terence Chetty (072 786 0866) or Monty Slabbert (082 391 6324) for more information.
The APL begins with its first competition on August 3 at Richgate Park in Zones 2 or 4.