Author Archive | Roger Nichols

Despite the appalling weather today. the likes that we haven’t seen since week 12 the Committee has agreed that tonight’s Competitions taking place at Abingdon Conservative Club will go ahead. 

other options have been considered in the last couple of hours including switching the Competition indoors, postponing, cancelling and holding over the 2023 Founders & Legends Trophy until early 2024.

For one reason or another none of these options were either possible or considered feasible so in the best of Aunt Sally traditions we have decided to “grin and bear it” so bring along your waterproofs and umbrellas and make the most of the final Competition of the season!

We appreciate that today’s weather will affect entries, but we are a hardy lot and maybe there will be enough entries to make tonight’s Competition, as always, a really competitive evening.

Timescales will be as already stated with the re-arranged Captains Final first on at 7.15pm after the draw has been made for the Founders.

Where necessary (and assuming possible) we will take a break between games if the rain is too heavy, but come what may we will get the Competition completed tonight!

Well, Wednesday Night saw the finals of the team competitions take place plus the Secretaries trophy, also on Wednesday the final of the scheduled league fixtures took place when The Vine and Berinsfield SC A met in a re-arranged game postponed from Week 12. That last  league game of the season saw the completion of a remarkable  turnaround, but more of that later!

For now, I will focus solely on Wednesday’s Finals.

The Finals saw some entertaining and close encounters and some excellent scoring. We kicked off with the final of the 8’s where Premier league champions faced C section The Bell, Grove who, for the second successive season showed that with the handicap system working teams from outside the top sections can progress to the final of this team knockout competition.

On their route to the final The Bell had seen off Abingdon Conservative Club, also from the C section, in their semi final who had been finalists in 2022.

The Bell Grove did themselves proud, but succumbed to a 2-0  defeat against the mighty United/Con Club who were represented in all of the Finals on the night. The Bell chose to set in the first leg and despite missing a couple of their regular players hit a very creditable 18 dolls which, with their handicap of 6 dolls and a top score of 4 from Tony Hetherington set a challenging target of 24 for United.  For United both Dave Dix(more about his night later!) and the resurgent Bob Duff both hit 5 dolls and with Scott Humphries, Barry Parker and Leigh Clapton all adding 4 dolls each to see United home in that first leg by 29 dolls to 26.

The second leg saw The Bell set again and once again they set a challenging target hitting 19 dolls, which with their handicap gave them a set of 25. Top scorer for The Bell in this leg was Steve Weeks with 4 dolls. United were again chasing a challenging total and didn’t get off to the best of starts when their opening 2 players only managed 3 dolls between them, but then along came Dixie and his 6 put United back on track, 10 dolls  from their next 3 throwers still made the target challenging with 2 to throw and 7 dolls still needed. When a score is needed and even with his ongoing health problems you can normally rely on Barry Parker and he didn’t let his side down with a cracking 5 dolls leaving Leigh Clapton as anchor needing just 2 to secure the win. To keep the suspense going leigh hit the doll with his first stick, missed with his next 4 and then clinched the leg with his last stick enabling United to win the leg 26-25

A cracking final which included a first 6 on Finals night for Dave Dix, which subsequently wasn’t to be his last!

The next final was for the Secretaries Cup and was between Bob Duff and Martin Rawlings representing Berinsfield SC B from the B section. No handicap here and another very close f1rst leg contest with both players setting 2 dolls apiece with Bob eventually clinching the leg 3-2 after 3 sticks. The second leg saw Bob set 5 dolls which was too many for Martin so Bob retained his 2022 title.

Next up was the 5’s Final with Plum Pudding facing Abingdon United and the Abingdon United team going after their 3rd win of the evening.  United threw first and scored 11 dolls which didn’t prove to be enough as a 5 from Ken Fisher and a 4 from Paul Longford meant that with Phil Adams and Barry Townsend still to throw Plum Pudding only needed 2 dolls to win the leg and Phil duly obliged with 2 dolls from his first 3 sticks. The second leg produced a couple of 6’s with Phil Adams registering one for Plum Pudding and inevitably Dave Dix for United matching that. Overall though it was Plum Pudding with 18 dolls against United’s 14 were victors in 2 legs!

The 4’s final between Croft Nomads and Abingdon United was a bit of a one sided affair with United needing only 3 players to win the first leg 10-7 and Croft only using 2 players before falling to a straight 2 leg defeat in chasing United’s 16 dolls. In United’s 16 Dave Dix hit his 3rd six of the evening and he was well supported with a 5 from Scott Humphries with a 5 doll haul having hit a very unusual (for him) blob in the earlier 5’s final.

The last final of the night was another close encounter again involving Abingdon United/Con Club and the Plum Pudding. It was the last final of the night and the only one to go to 3 legs. Plum Pudding came through 2-1 with a 5 from Barry Townsend in the 3rd leg securing a 9-8 leg win. Phil Adams hit successive 5’s in the first 2 legs. Leg scores were Abingdon United/Con Club 12,8 and 8, Plum Pudding 10,11, and 9. It was the only final of the night featuring Dave Dix where he failed to hit a maximum, but his average le score for the night was a remarkable 4.56!

Finally many thanks to everyone who took part in the Competitions this year, not just to the winners and runners up, but to everyone who took part and gave up their Sunday afternoon in both June and again in August to enter. Thanks to our Committee for their time and effort which is necessary to arrange plan and oversee the many Competitions and finally thanks to Abingdon United FC for hosting the 2 days and 1 evening of Competitions again this year.

A special mention also for our own  Mr Doll provider Brian Clapton who never let’s us down and to Kate, Abingdon United’s bar manager and her team for the excellent service and for kindly preparing food for us back in August and again on Wednesday. Also thank you to all of the callers and “stickers up” who play an essential role in holding competitions and who rarely get thanked!

It’s just a short summary of last week’s results, double digit scorers and details of outstanding matches, next week (Wednesday) it’s our Founders & Legends Competition which this year will be held at Abingdon Conservative Club and is open to all registered players aged over 50and a reminder that tonight is Finals Night at Abingdon United FC for the 8’s, 5’s, 4′, and 3’s team competitions with practice from 7pm with play starting at 7.30pm.

Last week’s highest scorers was Abingdon United/Con Club’s Dave Dix with a second successive 15 dolls, Phil Adams of the Plum Pudding hit 13 as did Derek Fletcher of Steventon Sports, Richard Jones of Berinsfield, Steve Martin (Bystander A) and the legend that is Barry Parker (Abingdon Utd/Con Club all managed 12 dolls apiece.  Ian Brook (Croft Nomads) and Dean Bowler (Red Lion A) and Rick Vincent (Harwellian B) all contributed 11 dolls for their teams and Alan Bell (Croft Nomads), Danny Hamilton and Josh Smith both of the Vine, Mick Christopher (Grapes B) Keiron Hughes (Wheatsheaf, Drayton) all recorded 10 dolls apiece to finish their personal seasons with a very credible 10 dolls each.

Surprisingly last game of the season, probably as good a Wednesday in weather terms that we have had all season, but nobody managed to finish the season with a perfect 6!

There are still some outstanding matches as The Vine and Berinsfield A are playing their previously postponed Premier/A section fixture tonight and the result of that could have a significant bearing on the runners up spot in the A section.

Also still to play are the play off for Runners up in the C section which will be between Royal Oak and The Bell, Grove and that will be played at Steventon Sports on September 27th and in a 3 way tie for Runners Up in the D section College Oak B, Grapes A and Bystander B will also play to determine the runners up place on the same night at the Croft Bar.

So last weeks results

Premier /A Section

The Hart 3  Abingdon United/Con  Club 3

 Stanford FC 0 Plum Pudding 6

Steventon Sports A 3 Croft Nomads 3

Bystander A 4 Berinsfield SC 2

Red Lion A 0 The Vine 6

B Section

Harwellian B 5 Abingdon Utd C 1 

Abingdon RBL 0 College Oak A 6

Fleur de Leys 4 Plough , Wittenham 2

Berinsfield B v Eight Bells Eaton walkover for Berinsfield 6-0

Abingdon Arms A 2 Wheatsheaf, Drayton 4

C Section

Royal Oak 2 Fox, Denchworth 4

Abingdon Con Club 2 Chequers 4

Grapes B 6 Boundary House 0

Bear &  Ragged Staff 2 The Bell 4

D Section

College Oak B 5 Bystander B 1

Croft Bar B 5 Red Lion B 1

RAL SC 2 Hanney RBL 4

Plough, Hanney 2 Grapes A 4

E Section

Sutton Courtenay FC 1 Queens Arms 5

The Midget 2 Brewery Tap A 4

Prince of Wales 6 Harwellian A 0

Brewery Tap B 2 North Star A 4

F Section

Black Horse 0 Abingdon Arms B 6

Wheatsheaf, Didcot 6 The Fox, Boars Hill 0

North Star B 0 Steventon Sports B 6

A full round up of tonight’s finals and a review of the league season will be on the web site in the next few days.

Well, here we are week 18 and for many it’s still all to play for with only 3 of the 6 sections winners already decided! In sections A, B and C it’s congratulations to Abingdon Utd/Con Club who by defeating Plum Pudding 4-2 last week secured the Premier section title once again, In the B section College Oak A have clearly enjoyed their new surroundings and have dominated the B section and emerged as worthy section winners and in the C section Grapes B have led the table for much of the season and deservedly clinched the C section title.

Amazingly in all of the 7 sections the runners up slots is still up for grabs in every section so tomorrow night means there is still lots to play for. Likewise the top doll scorers in each of the sections look to be a last game scramble in several of the sections and in both the B and C sections only one doll separates the top 2 doll scorers and in the D section potentially it is still between 4 players to earn the mantle of “top dolly”.

So after an 18 week season there is still lots of competition both at team and individual level. This season, I think, that whilst many people suggest  our game is “dying”  the level of competitiveness, the results and participation of 51 teams suggest that some of the negativity  lots of us still enjoying our Wednesday night “Aunt Sally fix”.

Well what about last week’s results. A close encounter between Abingdon Utd/Con Club and Plum Pudding saw a 4-2 victory for the newly crowned Premier Section champions for whom Dave Dix not surprisingly top scored with his best of the season 15 dolls ably supported by teammates Paul Barrett and the legendary Barry Parker who scored 10 apiece in United’s 24-23, 24-19, 20-23 win. Scott Humphries usually so consistent had a night to forget for United, but for Plum Ken Fisher hit 14 dolls, his best of the season and the “Mr Consistent” Barry Townsend added 11 dolls. Plum were missing Phil Adams so maybe his absence would have made the result even closer.

In the race for runners up both Croft Nomads and Steventon Sports A went down 4-2. The Croft at The Vine who hit their highest doll count of the season with 70 dolls for whom skipper Roy Harrison hitting his first double digit score of the season and in the 3 legs The Vine avoided any blobs. Foe Croft Steve Enock hit another 11 dolls and Alan Bell 10, but despite a 28 third leg score Croft failed to take advantage of their chase for the runners up spot which means Steventon Sports only need to win a leg when the 2 sides meet at Steventon tomorrow.

Other double digit scorers in the league last week were Mickey Phillips and Dave Hudson for the Bystander A,  I( think in both cases his was their best scores of the season), Ian Rogers with 10 for the Red Lion, Kevin “the brush” Chapman  for College Oak A,  Andy Shipman for 10 Harwellian B, Dave Sapey also with 10 for Abingdon RBL, Colin Cherrill hit 11 dolls  for the Fox at Denchworth and Mark Brind late of Steventon Sports also hit 11 dolls for his 2023 home team The Plough Hanney in Section D.

In the next review we will look back across the season the “highs and lows”, the “might have beens”  and the feedback we have received (which is always welcome) whether it be good or bad, preferably not personal or abusive!! and look forward to the Winter League competition which starts in a couple of weeks and the 2024 summer season.

Don’t forget Finals Night will take place at Abingdon United on Wednesday 13th with the 8’s, 5’s, 4’s, 3′, Captains and Secretaries finals all taking place from 7.30 and the following week it’s the Founder’s and Legends Trophy for over 50’s which will be held, this year, at Abingdon Conservatice Club

Well we are almost there…………only 2 weeks to go of the 2023League season, but another couple of weeks of play for some with the Finals Night at Abingdon United on Wednesday September 13th, details of order of play, start times etc will be published in the next few days and then the following week for the over 50’s it’s the open Founders & Legends Trophy which this year will be held sat Abingdon Conservative Club with registration on the night.

Back to last week and a quick round up of some of the highlights. It was a return of the “sixers” with both Phil Adams for the Plum Pudding and Derek Fletcher for Steventon Sports both managing one leg maximums. Surprisingly despite their maximums both sides ended up sharing the spoils with their opponents with 3-3 draws. Phil hit 15 dolls which, I think, equals the highest individual score of the season so far, and he was well supported by Terry Downes contribution of 10 dolls, but opponents Berinsfield SC A  with Andy Phelps top scoring with 10 dolls. The shared points mean Plum Pudding are surprisingly at the foot of the Premier Section, but have an opportunity this week to spoil league when leaders Abingdon Utd/Con Club’s party when the 2 Premier “scratch” teams meet at the Con Club in their penultimate game of the season.

Abingdon United/Con Club were defeated by Croft Nomads last week 4-2  with Croft maintaining their recent run after a poor  early season. Alan Bell was in fine form for Croft with 13 dolls and he was matched by who else but, Dave Dix who also hit 13 and Bob Duff, who has also been a consistently good scorer for the Utd side through the season contributed another 11 dolls. United may feel they were hampered as they were missing key players with both Paul Barrett and Darren Holmes unavailable, but over the 18 week season it is many sides are unlikely to field their strongest side every week which is why sides can comprise up to 15 registered players .

In the A section Hart Harwell made it 5 games unbeaten edging our Stanford In the Vale FC 4-2  and Bystander A also got a 4-2 result against Red Lion A with  the ever consistent Dean Bowler the top scoring player on the night with another 10 dolls

In the B section 8 was the lucky  number for Abingdon United C with Matt Ashmall, Mickey Fenton and John Worrell all hitting 8 dolls in their 5-1 win over the Plough, Long Wittenham.

In that section College Oak A also had a 5-1 win against the Eight Bells. Eight Bells  landlord Tom O’ Sullivan hit his best of the season 10 dolls, but the Oak’s 5 points ensured the B section Championship for them with 2 games still to play.

The battle for runners up  in this section is a going to be a close run thing between Fleur de Leys and Harwellian B who face each other this week at Harwell.

In the D section near neighbours  College Oak B and Croft Bar B met with the visitors Croft winning 4-2 to go top of the section, but top doll scorer on the night was James Faulkner with 10 dolls. 

In the E section Brewery Tap B had a “funny old night” in their 3-3 draw with the Prince of Wales. Thanks to Ian Northover with 9 dolls and 8 from Jonathan Hutt they salvaged 3 points despite two of their players failing to trouble the caller in all 3 legs.

So how does the tables look with just 2 weeks to go? Well the Premier section looks like Abingdon United/Con Club’s to win. They need 6 points from their last 2 games to secure the title, but Plum Pudding may have a say in that this week!

The B section is already decided with College Oak A champions and probably looking for a quick return to the top sections next season, Croft B look favourites for the Section D title, but both College Oak B and the Bystander could potentially still catch them.

The C section looks to be in the hands of Grapes B with a 5 point advantage as we go into the last 2 weeks of the season.

There’s a battle royal in the E section between Harwellian A and the Prince of Wales level on points, but Harwellian seem to have the advantage with 2 games remaining whilst the Feathers only have the 1 game left, but it is against Harwellian in the last game of the season next week, so it will all be decided on that game!

In the F section although Abingdon Arms B are only 2 points ahead of Wheatsheaf it looks like thie title as Wheatsheaf have actually only 1 game left whilst Abingdon Arms have 2. Both teams have to play the Fox, Boars Hill who could  determine the winners and runners up in this section.

I am aware that there are still a few scores outstanding in some sections either because of postponements, no shows or late submission of results. I will sort all those outstanding this week so no scores are outstanding or are incorrect when we play our final games of the season which with the exception of Bystander C  who have a bye as a result of the Black Swan’s withdrawal in the F section will involve all 50 teams on the finale to the 2023 season

Finally, just a couple of reminders Finals Night on the 13th, Founders & Legends for over 50’s on the 20th of September. Also if we have to have any play offs for winners or runners up in any of the sections (level on points, dolls don’t count!) these will be arranged during week commencing September 11th at neutral venues.

Also we need to have trophies returned by the end of September. I will be e mailing Captains and Secretaries to remind them later this week. Ideally any trophies that are not to be retained need to be returned to your pub or club for collection so that this year’s recipients can collect them on Presentation night in good condition in November!

Well, that was a good week with lots of good individual and team scoring, but another week without anyone hitting that magical 6! Lots and lots of 5’s and I wonder how many of those were the first five sticks with that last stick eluding the doll!

Top scorer of the week was Dave Dix with 14 dolls ably supported by team mates Bob Duff with 13 and Barry Parker with 12 dolls it meant that Abingdon Utd/Con Club looked to have taken a firm grasp on the Premier title as they beat their nearest rivals Steventon Sports A 6-0 with leg scores of 28-20, 23- 21 and 23-22 so a convincing first leg winning margin followed by 2 legs that perhaps could have gone either way. For Steventon the ever reliable Brindos aka Colin Brind hit 10 dolls

Elsewhere in the Premier/A section  5 players recorded double figures for Plum Pudding as they beat Red Lion 5-1. Leading the scoring for Plum Pudding was Phil Adams with 13 dolls and he was backed up by Paul Longford with 11 dolls and Ken Fisher and Barry Townsend registered 10 apiece. The return of Paul and Barry certainly shows the strength Plum have when everyone is available!

Croft Nomads also were grateful to their leading 3 on the night as they beat Berinsfield 4-2 to maintain their recent improvement by making it 5 wins on the bounce. Ian Brook with 12 dolls top scored with Steve Enock hitting 11 alongside the League Chairman Paul Stone who hit 11, his second successive double digit score. Berinsfield’s cause was helped by Mick Greenaway’s 11 and a dismal performance from yours truly who only managed 1 doll for Nomads and I think that was with my 18th stick! In the A section  for The Vine, who have not had the best of seasons so far, both Danny Hamilton and Matt Dingle hit 10 dolls to help them to a 4-2 victory over visitors Stanford in the Vale FC

Lots of other really good individual performances with Phil Soden and Matty Belcher both hitting 11 dolls apiece for B section leaders College Oak A. Stewart Towlerton also hit 11 dolls for second placed Fleur de Leys and Dave Collett hit 10 for The Plough Long Wittenham in the same section and in the C section Steve Weeks also hit 10 dolls for The Bell, Grove.

The league tables are still in several sections very open. As I said earlier Abingdon United/Con Club are clear favourites, but in the A section only 1 point separates leaders Bystander A and second placed Stanford in the Vale FC.

In D section Croft B and Bystander share the lead with College Oak B very close in 3rd place, all to play for there. 

In the E section it’s going to be a close run thing as well with Harwellian B just 3 points ahead of the Prince of Wales Shippon.

The contest for individual top doll scorers in each section is a pretty close thing. In the Premier Phil Adams leads from Dave Dix by just 3 dolls, in the A section Dean Bowler of the Red Lion is 10 dolls ahead of Danny Hamilton. The B section is at the moment a tie with both Dave Sapey (Abingdon RBL) and Phil Soden on 113 dolls . It’s abattle of the Grapes boys in the C section with mick Christopher leading Lee Brown by just 2 dolls and even close in the D section with College Oak’s Jason Major heading team mate Rick Selby by just 1 doll and they are closely pursued by Sam Higgs of  Bystander B and Croft Bar B’s Andy Barrett. In the E section Mark Newman of the POW,  Shippon is comfortably clear, but the EF section will be another tightly contested battle between Liam Brooks and Martin Trower throwing for Abingdon Arms B and Steventon Sports B respectively.

Just a couple of reminders, firstly Finals Night on the 13th of September will see the 8’s, 5’s, 4’s 3’s, Captains and Secretaries finals being competed for at Abingdon United FC. A full programme will be on the site in the next few days . The last of the finalists will be known on Wednesday when the second semi final of the 8’s between The Bell Grove and Abingdon Con Club meet. They are both without a league fixture this week so the timing is perfect. The winners will meet Abingdon Utd/Con Club on Finals Night with a favourable handicap of 6 dolls.

Secondly the Founders Trophy, an open competition for all registered players aged 50 or over will take place this year on September 20th at Abingdon Conservative Club. More details of start time etc nearer the date.

That’s about it for this week please excuse any of my usual errors or omissions and good luck to everyone this week!

Well, we had another fine July Wednesday last week, but the weather unusually didn’t encourage too much in the way of high scoring although there were many players in most sections recording double figures, many of whom, were reaching that goal for the first time this season. For example in the match between Croft Nomads and Plum Pudding in the Premier both Paul Stone for the Croftand John Ellaway for Plum Pudding  hit 10 dolls each to top their teams individual scores. Croft managed a 6-0 victory, but it has to be said that Plum Pudding were missing both Barry Townsend and Paul Longford on the night.

Top scorers on the night were Pete Beacham for Steventon Sports in their 6-0 win over Berinsfield with 11 dolls and both skipper Mick Jarvis and the reliable Colin Brind both contributed 10 dolls apiece.

For Berinsfield Geoff Lee also hit 11 dolls. This win for Steventon Sports narrowed the gap between the top 2 sides in the Premier to just 2 points.

The Hart Harwell’s away fixture against the Red Lion in section A was played at the Wheatsheaf due to the temporary closure of their home up the High Street and The Hart managed a 4-2 win with Simon Winterbourne and Roger Lee both topping the  scoring with 11 dolls and Paul Leach also hitting 10 dolls. For the Lion the ever reliable Dean Bowler hit 10. For at least one visiting  player the most remarkable part of the evening was not his double digit score, but the food provided by the Wheatsheaf! No Names mentioned Leachy!!

Elsewhere in the Premier/A section there were wins for Premier section leaders Abingdon Utd/Con Club 4-2 at Stanford in the Vale FC Vine. Barry Parker top scored with 11 dolls for the league leaders who were without Dave Dix on the night.

In the A section Bystander recent form saw them overcome The Vine 4-2 with Danny Hamilton leading individual scorer on the night with 10 dolls.

Other notable individual scores on the night included 11’s from Andy Shipman for Harwellian B who defeated Abingdon Arms A 6-0 in the B section, Dave Sapey with 10 dolls for Abingdon RBL, Brian Hudson with 11 dolls for Croft Bar B helping them to a 6-0 victory away to RAL which took Croft to the top of Section D. Also in the D section Dennis Ruffels hit 10 dolls for The Grapes as they beat the Bystander B 4-2 and in the E section Mark Newman hit a cracking 10 dolls as they also recorded a 4-2 win over North Star A.

The league table in most sections shows there is still a lot to play for. In the Premier as I said earlier, only 2 points separate league leaders Abingdon Utd/Con Club from second placed Steventon Sports A and they  meet this week at the Con Club, in the A section Stanford IN the Vale FC and Bystander share 40 points apiece and still have to play each other in the penultimate game of the season, College Oak A are clear favourites to win the B section, but who knows?, Grapes B look as it’s theirs to lose in Section C with a healthy points lead, but there’s still games to play.

In the D section, there is  some real  local rivalry in Peachcroft with leaders Croft B and second placed College Oak B separated by only 2 points the, both have a week with a bye in their last fixtures and will meet next week when College Oak may be the new leaders as the Croft’s bye is this week.

Finally, the E section is wide open with 3 teams in close contention. The Midget despite being in second place, may be slight favourites as they still have 3 games to play whilst current league leaders Harwellian A only have 2 to play! F section is possibly sorted with Abingdon Arms B favourites although they only have 2 games remaining.

That’s about it for a summary of last week’s games etc. next week we will update top scorers and averages and give a few details of the programme for Finals Night which is now only 4 weeks away and which will bring the curtain down on our outdoor Summer season 2023!

So soon and Tosh has already given us evidence of that by issuing his fixture list and timetable for the 2023/4 Winter league!!!

Well here we are week 14 already only 5 weeks left of the Summer 2023  league season! Unbelievable that we are already into the second week of August!

Before I start last week’s league round up just a few important things to note. Firstly The Red Lion, Drayton  closed last week leaving both their Aunt Sally teams, at least temporarily, homeless!

The A side have been able to  take immediate steps to play their remaining home fixtures just down the road at The Wheatsheaf starting with tonight’s game against The Hart , Harwell. Scheduled games against both The Bystander and The Vine will also take place at the Wheatsheaf. Fortunately the Wheatsheaf team have no scheduled home games so the arrangement works perfectly.

The Red Lion B side have 2 remaining home matches and hopefully these can be re-arranged at a convenient and available alternative venue or maybe played as away matches. We will liaise with their secretary to see how we can help them to complete their scheduled home fixtures on the 16th and 30th August.

Thanks again to all who entered and supported the Competitions last Sunday and the earlier Competitions held in June. Both days were successful and we are now down to the finalists in all of the Competitions with the exception of the 8’s where I think, the semi final between The Bell Grove and Abingdon Con Club is still outstanding. The winners of that tie will meet Abingdon Utd/Con Club in the final on Wednesday 13th September at Abingdon United.

We know that holding Competitions on Sunday is not universally popular, but the Committee made  those who attended the AGM aware of our plans and the decision was voted upon at the AGM back in the Spring. What was good to see is that our President John Simmons together with one of his former team mates John Gapper  took time out to come along  and watch for much of the afternoon and share some banter with many of those playing. Thanks to everyone for their support and participation on the day.

Before next year’s AGM we will once again look at the future of all of our Competitions, the options  and how best to organise them so we try to ensure maximum participation and more importantly, to find out how we attract as many entries from all sections rather than just from the Premier and A section. We want all the Competitions  to be more inclusive, but we also need them to be manageable to administer! We will ask all clubs and teams for their views and put the responses to the AGM early in 2024.

Well back to last weeks highlights and lowlights! 

Firstly, congratulations to the Plum Pudding who (without the assistance of any handicap) hit 30 dolls in the 3rd leg against Steventon Sports A, who themselves recorded 30 dolls in the second leg of that match. Stevie did have the advantage of a 4 plus handicap in their 30! Plum’s total of 30 was even more remarkable in that it included a blob! 

Leg scores were Plum 26,25 and 30, Stevie 27 30 19 so despite Plum having 6 players hitting double figures they still lost 4-2. Individual highlights were Phil Adams including a 6 in his total of 14, Dave Butler scoring 12 , Tosh Wooloff and Barry Townsend  11 apiece and Terry Downes 10.

For Steventon Colin Brind also included a 6 in registering 12 dolls, but he was outscored by Derek (Rod) Fletcher who top scored with 13 dolls for the visitors. I might be mistaken, but I think that game featured the highest number of dolls scored in any game this season so far, so it is worthy of a special mention!

Premier section leaders Abingdon Utd/Con Club like second placed Steventon Sports were also victors 4-2 at home to the Bystander A and Dave Dix was another “sixer” he hit 14 dolls and with Darren Holmes hitting 13 and Scott Humphries 10 to maintain their position as likely title favourites. For Bystander Duncan Taylor hit a season’s best with 12 dolls and Mickey Phillips also hit a season’s best score with 11 dolls.

Steve Enock also hit his best of the season and shared the top dolls score of the night with 14 dolls, well supported by Alan Bell with 10 dolls in Croft Nomads 6-0 home win against Red Lion A who not only are now homeless, but after 3 successive 6-0 victories earlier in the season that enabled them to lead section A  have now fallen to 5 successive defeats and to third place in the table.

Elsewhere  double digit scores were recorded by Roger Lee of The Hart Harwell, Stewart Towlerton and Darren Sargison of the Fleur de Leys and Abingdon United’s C  Captain and music maestro Matt Ashmall in Section B.

In section B College Oak A have gone 7 games unbeaten and now lead the section hotly pursued by  the Fleur de Leys. Another side on a good run is Bystander B in Section D who have recorded 4 successive wins.

It still is all very open in terms of who are going to be top dogs and runners up in each of the sections with very little , in terms of points separating several teams at the moment and with 5 games to play in the Premier/A section and 3 to play in the other sections there will, I am sure, be more changes at the top and bottom  before the end of the season.

Well that’s about it for another week other than to say it looks like the deluge of a couple of weeks ago seems to be behind us and we can look forward to a warm and dry evening tonight.

Mentioning the rain on July 26th I notice that there are a few results are outstanding from that week, together with a couple from last week so I will be chasing those in the next few days so that we can keep all of our individual and team tables up to date.

Firstly, I think we have sorted all of the confusion caused to some because I failed to update the week number and at least 9 teams had entered the match score before I realised! So a bit of rework was required and I think with Paul Stone’s help we have recovered all of the scores and they are in the right week! The good news is that this week, week 1,  has already  been reset so hopefully no problems for those who get their scores online so quickly!

The other good news is that I am on holiday for the next 2 weeks so I won’t be making any cocks up on the site at least until I am back! In the meantime if any team has any problems loading scores or need to register additional players to cope with holiday absences etc Paul Stone will be looking after things in my absence. Ideally any match cards should be emailed (photos) to team support and Paul should pick them up and will enter for you. Paul’s own e mail address is on the paulmjstone@gmail.com.

Shortly we will be featuring on this site some memories and photographs of a former singles winner who has been in contact with us from his home in Perth, Western Australia. Frank Sanders played in both the Oxford and Abingdon Leagues and emigrated to Australia many years ago, but I am sure some of you will remember him.

Well, back to last week’s results and highlights (in my case lowlights!). There was  lots of double digit scores recorded last week, probably the most in a single week so far this season. Leading the way were the Plum Pudding where Terry Downes recorded  the highest individual score of the night with 14 dolls, a very welcome return to form for Terry who was ably assisted by both Ken Fisher and Graham Brown, Ken hitting 12 dolls and Graham 10. As a result Plum beat the Vine whose Danny Hamilton also recorded double figures on the night.

Abingdon Utd/Con Club also had a trio of double digit scorers with Paul Barrett notching 11 dolls for the second successive week and both Dave Dix and Scott Humphries with their usual reliability both hitting 10. Despite this Berinsfield managed a 3-3 shared result on the night with skipper Stuart Wilson top scoring with 11 dolls for the home side. 

Elsewhere in the Premier /A section Dave Hudon top scored with 10 dolls for the Bystander A team and Neil Tame also hit 10 dolls for the league leaders his best of the season and despite going down 4-2 Steventon Sports still remain top of the Premier although the gap is now down to just 1 point!

Garry Gibbard, for many years a native of Steventon, was also amongst the dolls for Stanford in the Vale FC scoring 10 in the Football Club’s 5-1 victory over league leaders Red Lion A who were missing their highest scorer, Dean Bowler on the night. That result makes both teams level on 32 points a t the top of the A section.

Elsewhere there was some other good scoring with both Phil Soden and matty Belcher contributing 10 dolls apiece in College Oak A’s 67-0 victory over local rivals Abingdon United C in the B section. Also for College Oak B in the D section Jason Major was another double digit scorer in the game against RAL SC and Sam Higgs hit 11 for Bystander B who defeated Hanney RBL 6-0 in a match where every third throw of the 48 on the night was a blob! 

Just  another use(ful) or use(less) statistic from last week of the 23 matches played 34% were drawn, 30% resulted in a 4-2 scoreline, 17% ended 5-1 and 20% finished with 6-0! I know that adds up to 101%, but that’s ue to the rounding!

A final call for the Competitions taking place at Abingdon United on August 6th, yes it’s a Sunday! It’s not too late to enter, It’s the Singles, Pairs , Captains and Secretaries comps taking place and the start time will be 1.30pm with the draws taking place 30 minutes before each competition. Only those recorded as present at the time the draw takes place will be able to play. 

At the moment we have just over 30 entries for the singles, 18 pairs for the pairs and only a disappointing 6 entries for both the Captains and Secretaries. it should be a good day (and definitely  not as long as last year) so if you want to enter please let us know through the Team Support page on this site or by contacting any of the Committee direct. Entries will be open right up until Friday 4th August.

Competitions have always been an important part of our calendar and the more people who enter and participate the better the competition, and equally as important, the more significant it is for those who win the competition! 

The bar will be open all afternoon so bring along your family,  friends and  teammates for  both support and banter!!

Well, it seems only a few days since we were looking forward to a new season and yet here we are halfway through the season already! Where does the time go when you are enjoying yet another year of Abingdon and District Aunt Sally.

Week 9 should have been the first week of this season when we had a full fixture lists with all the teams numbers listed as byes in Sections through C to F were actually drawn against each other (team 2 v team7). Unfortunately the withdrawal of the Black Swan spoilt and Bystander C were the only side not playing last week as a consequence. 

Now to last week’s matches and top scorers. In the Premier Steventon Sports remain at the top of the table despite their first defeat of the season going down 4-2  when they visited bottom of the Premier Croft Nomads. In Stevie’s defence they were missing their leading doll scorer Colin Brind and his absence clearly upset them as in the first leg 4 of their 8 players act failed to trouble the doll!

Elsewhere in the Premier both Abingdon Utd/Con Club and the Plum Pudding  both recorded 6-0 victories against The Hart and Stanford FC respectively. The Bystander continued their recent good form and Jumbo Mott was the week’s leading doll scorer including the week’s only 6 doll maximum and hitting  14 cracking dolls at Berinsfield and he was  ably supported by Captain Steve Martin with Bystander winning 4-2.

Lots of double digit individual scores last week With Jumbo at the top of the tree with his 14, Barry Townsend and Dave Dix both hit 13 for Plum Pudding and Abingdon Utd/Con , Steve Enock hit 12 for the Croft and there were  11’s recorded by Phil Adams, Alan Bell, Paul Barrett in the Premier and Dean Bowler for the Red Lion in the A section and Paul Ealey for Abingdon RBL in the B section. Lot’s of 10’s as well last week including Dave Butler a welcome first double figures of the season, Geoff Lee. Paul Kelsey and Phil Soden for the College Oak A in the B section Richard Bunce and Ian McCregor for the Chequers, Charney and Steve Soden for the Grapes (matching his old man for bragging rights! Dave Heard for the Queens Arms Didcot and Karl Humphries for Abingdon Arms B also showed again that high scoring individuals don’t just belong in the higher section both contributing 10 dolls apiece for their sides.

I should also mention that Fox Denchworth who last week (8) recorded their first win of the season and probably against the local rivals  who they would most like to beat from up the road in Charney!! They followed that up with a share of the points against the Royal Oak.

A few interesting encounters tonight including the “battle of the Taps” in the E section as Brewery Tap A and B meet, College Oak A entertain Abingdon United C with both sides including a Worrell in their line ups and The Chequers have another West Berks derby when they travel to play the Bell at Grove.

Finally for this week we have a lot of discussions and sometimes debate about the handicap system, how fair it is, and why we need it. I think the reasons we need it are pretty obvious it’s to make the section’s as competitive as possible and also to give encouragement so that all games are competitive. It’s for broadly the same objective as the handicapping of racehorses based on previous form, golf uses handicaps and so does table tennis it’s a form of “levelling up”.

Out of interest and of no particular importance I have looked at the results in terms of average leg scores for the Premier/A and B sections after 9 games have been played and removed the handicap received by each of the teams in the Premier and A sections. The total dolls and  leg averages in rank order show the following:

1. Abingdon Utd/Con Club                                             566      20.96
2. Plum Pudding                                                                523       19.37
3. Steventon Sports A                                                       450      16.66      
4. Berinsfield A                                                                   449      16.63
5. Croft Nomads                                                                 443      16.40
6. Red Lion A                                                                      422      15.63
7. Bystander A                                                                     412      15.25
8. The Vine                                                                            400    14.81
9. Stanford FC                                                                       383    14.18
10. The Hart                                                                            380    14.07
11. College Oak A                                                                    373     13.81
12. Fleur de Leys                                                                     352     13.03
13. Abingdon United C                                                           330     12.22
14. The Plough                                                                          328     12.14
15. Abingdon RBL                                                                    312    11.55
16. Harwellian B                                                                        310     11.48
17. The Wheatsheaf                                                                   307     11.37     
18. Berinsfield B                                                                         300    11.11
19.  Abingdon Arms A                                                                259     9.58*
20. Eight Bells                                                                              252       9.33*                                                        

• Have only played 8 games, but total and average assume same doll count and leg average for the 9th game which was forfeited by both teams.

Using the actual leg average and the handicap added together means, shows that at this stage of the season  there is only 1.9 doll difference between the highest scoring team (no handicap) and the lowest scoring team (+5) in the Premier/A section. Without a handicap there would be a massive 7 doll difference and that would be neither competitive nor challenging for most sides in the Premier and A section. 

The comparison of scores for all teams based on actual results of the top 8 players is a much more useful way of determining the sections rather than straightforward promotion and relegation as is the norm in most sports.

My final word for this week is that the closing date for the final 4 competitions, Captains, Secretaries, Pairs and Singles is Monday 17th July. The Competitions will take place on Sunday August 6th at Abingdon United and the draw will be made on the day based on both entries and attendance.

Have  a good week