Martigny - Verbier Red Ice

[torero]

Hello everyone.

I came accross a small article informing about the Red Ice spanking 15-1 Morzine Avoriaz (their goal was scored at 56th min... Red Ice stopped working earlier), Morzine Avoriaz is a mid team from the french Magnus League.

I know we are good.

more seriously ... 1st league spanking 15-1 a mid Magnus team is not normal. Morzine Avoriaz is a team composed 40% of foreigners ... (russians, canadians, lavians americans ... usual suspects) ...

So it came as a surprise boasting my Swiss Ego ... then to discover than Redi Ice has been behaving almost alike with its 1st league peers. (less goals ... but still they lead having lost 10% of games with an average of 7 goals/game vs 2 goals against/game.

Then on this same article ... Yuri Egerov, a Moscovite businessman is a main investor for the Red Ice. ok . he targets the LNB. ok . in light of the team's results, ok , NLB will be a step between where they are now and where they want to be, ... NLA ... guys seems on average a bit small (knowing nothing about them .... you grab info you can find) so the team's players size is small. (most are smaller than me ! 1.83).
(remembers me Amstutz ... or Amstuz ... whatever and GSHC).

Does someone has more information about this very interesting plan that is rolling out ?

[stv11]

I wouldn't read too much into that specific game. Every years there are many preseason games between Magnus league and NLB teams, and most are close. I think it's fair to say that France's top league is roughly the same level as the NLB.

About Red Ice, their team is mostly made of former NLB players and guys who couldn't cut it in Lausanne. Enough to dominate the 1st league and maybe get promoted, but they would face many issues in the NLB.

First, let's not forget that Martigny played twice in the NLB in recent memories and both time they were relagated due to financial difficulties. Sierre and Visp both have a longer tradition and a bigger fan base and on the other side you have Lausanne not too far away (I can't see people from the Montreux area support Red Ice above Lausanne). Then you have the arena issue. Martigny's would be the crappiest in the NLB, which is saying something when you look at the barns where Ajoie, Olten, Sierre.... play.

Then you have to find NLB caliber players. Given that Red Ice's development program would not provide such players (most of their teams play in the A category), the whole team would have to be bought. When you look at the issues raised above, it's obvious that such a team wouldn't be sustainable and would have to be supported by private investments only.

In short, a high level team in Martigny would have to be a one man project, and would live and die with that man.

[SvenskaRiga]

When I first see this I though Morzine sent their Division 3 unit, which I could then understand, but once I found the score sheet I was really surprised to see it was their Ligue Magnus squad. Geez, what a total embarrassment for them. What I dont understand is why they played this match a day after playing a league match, travel what, over an hour (I know not a long travel) just to play a friendly then have to play an important league match two days later....seems like very poor timing, unless you wanted to test out the younger players, which they didnt.

Anyways, how exactly do you get promoted to NLB, much like 2.Bundesliga to DEL where you must be Champion then meet whatever standards and finances NLB requires?

[stv11]

That's pretty much it. Teams wanting to be promoted to the NLB need to apply to the national league before a deadline in January I think (not sure about the date) and if the meet the standards, they can get promoted.

The top amateur league is split into three groups (West, Centre and East) and all three playoff winners meet in a final tournament to be crowned amateur league champion. Some years ago, winning your group was enough to get promoted (as long as the other two winners didn't apply), but now I think you have to win the final tournament as well.

Promotion to the NLB are seldom nowadays, because most clubs are happy with their amateur statue and don't have the financing to be semi-professional. And the fact that some still tried and went bankrupt in less than two seasons makes others more cautious.

Last season, Red Ice would have been promoted but the finished 2nd of the final tournament behind Huttwil, the team involved in that KHL project. But as Huttwil failed to produce the requested docuements to apply in time, they were denied promotion.

[SvenskaRiga]

Red Ice is playing Morzine-Avoriaz again tonight, lets see how it goes this time.

http://www.hcma.fr/accueil/item/1304...undi-soir.html

[SvenskaRiga]

Red Ice wins again..Morzine - Red Ice 4:7 (1:1, 2:1, 1:5)