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Summer 2024 Week 11 Results

By Paul Stone on 24th July 2024 in Newsletter, Summer League Reports

Match Results

P/A – Abingdon Utd@ConClub 4 – The Vine Cumnor 2; Legs (19-21, 23-22, 27-26)

P/A – Bystander A 4 – Plum Pudding 2; Legs (24-28, 35-23, 26-18)

P/A – Croft Nomads 6 – College Oak A 0; Legs (27-23, 21-20, 21-17)

P/A – Steventon Sports SC A 1 – Red Lion Drayton 5; Legs (15-27, 25-25, 18-30)

B – Abingdon RBL 6 – The Croft Bar 0; Legs (10-9, 11-10, 10-8)

B – Abingdon United C 4 – The Grapes B 2; Legs (16-14, 13-20, 16-13)

B – Fleur de Lys A, Hagbourne 0 – The Bell A Grove 6; Legs (15-17, 9-13, 8-11)

B – Stanford in the Vale FC 6 – The Fox Denchworth 0; Legs (15-9, 15-10, 18-11)

B – The Plough Long Wittenham 6 – Harwellian B 0; Legs (15-12, 13-10, 17-14)

C – Boundary House 6 – Eight Bells Eaton 0; Legs (11-9, 18-13, 10-7)

C – The Grapes A 1 – Abingdon Con Club 5; Legs (8-18, 13-13, 5-16)

C – The Prince of Wales Shippon 3 – The Bear and Ragged Staff Cumnor 3; Legs (12-7, 9-9, 5-16)

C – The Waggon and Horses Southmoor 2 – The Oak Didcot 4; Legs (10-6, 9-18, 10-11)

D – College Oak B 2 – Brewery Tap 4; Legs (11-9, 12-15, 7-9)

D – Harwellian A 5 – Berinsfield SC B 1; Legs (15-7, 11-10, 11-11)

D – Red Lion B Drayton 4 – The Lamb A Wantage 2; Legs (6-10, 16-10, 14-11)

D – The Midget 6 – The Queens Arms 0; Legs (14-6, 15-10, 11-9)

D – The Plough Hanney 2 – The Chequers Charney 4; Legs (6-8, 9-8, 4-13)

E – Hanney RBL 4 – Bystander B 2; Legs (10-11, 15-8, 8-6)

E – North Star A Steventon 3 – Steventon Sports SC B 3; Legs (11-11, 7-16, 11-9)

E – The Lamb B Wantage 6 – RAL SC 0; Legs (8-5, 13-12, 13-4)

F – Grove RFC 6 – The Plough Appleton 0; Legs (4-3, 7-5, 8-7)

F – Sutton Courtenay FC 2 – Fleur de Lys B Hagbourne 4; Legs (10-12, 10-13, 11-9)

F – WADS Bar 6 – Bystander C 0; Legs (13-9, 14-10, 14-11)

Blobbers

Bryan Pert (The Fox Denchworth), Ed Wilkinson (The Plough Hanney), Liz Dowthwaite (The Plough Appleton), Nell Ahier (Harwellian B), Richard Bunce (The Chequers Charney), Robbie Cook (Grove RFC), Roger Davidson (Bystander B), Sylvia Lelowittis (RAL SC).

Sixers

Chris Judkins (Hanney RBL), David Dix (Abingdon Utd@ConClub), Phil Adams (Abingdon Utd@ConClub).

Fivers

Alan Bell 5-2-3 (Croft Nomads) – Week 11

Andrew Morton 3-5-3 (Bystander A) – Week 11

Dave Collett 5-3-4 (The Plough Long Wittenham) – Week 11

David Mott 5-4-4 (Bystander A) – Week 11

Gareth Brown 5-4-3 (WADS Bar) – Week 11

Gary Daluzvieira 0-1-5 (Harwellian B) – Week 11

Ian Northover 2-5-3 (Brewery Tap) – Week 11

Leigh Clapton 2-3-5 (Abingdon Utd@ConClub) – Week 11

Marshall Muldoon 1-1-5 (Harwellian A) – Week 11

Phil Adams 3-5-6 (Abingdon Utd@ConClub) – Week 11

Richard Berry 5-2-3 (Croft Nomads) – Week 11

Steve Dingle 2-5-1 (The Plough Hanney) – Week 11

Steve Martin 2-5-4 (Bystander A) – Week 11

Week 11 review

By Roger Nichols on 24th July 2024 in Newsletter, Summer League Reports

A very quick resume of last week’s results and individual performances across the sections.

Let me start with the Premier and A section where Phil Adams and Dave Dix both posted maximum 6’s in Abingdon United/Con Clubs 4-2 home win over The Vine to maintain their lead at the top of the Premier. Phil actually posted the top score of the night with 14 dolls and he was well supported by team mates Dave Dix with 11 dolls and both Leigh Clapton and Ken Fisher who hit 10 apiece, so 45 dolls from 4 players on the night illustrates the strength of the league leaders. For the Vine Danny Hamilton hit 10 dolls.

Elsewhere in the Premier the Bystander were also 4-2 winners against the Plum Pudding at the “new” temporary venue for the Bystander who are playing their next 3 home matches at The Vine. David Mott hit his best of the season with 13 dolls ably assisted by Steve Martin and Andrew Morton who both scored double figures with 10 dolls each.

Also hitting 10 dolls were Alan Bell and Richard Berry for Croft Nomads in their narrow 6-0 win at home to College Oak A. Thanks to Phil Soden for reminding me that the closest of last week’s local derbies was this one! Where the College Oak A side didn’t even need to cross the road for their away trip to the Croft!! Perhaps I should have known that!!

10 dolls from Colin Brind wasn’t enough to earn Steventon Sports A anything other than 1 point as they went down 5-1 to The Red Lion for whom Ian Rogers top scored with 11.

In the B section Stanford in the Vale FC secured another 6-0 victory over The Fox Denchworth and the Croft Bar experienced their first 6-0 result of the season, but unfortunately they were on the wrong end of that score line with hosts Abingdon RBL securing the 6 points. The Plough, Long Wittenham with Dave Collett top scoring with 10 dolls were also 6-0 victors against Harwellian B for whom Gary Daluvzvieira following his first 2 leg 1’s with a 5 in the third. In a section of 6-0 wins it was also the same result, a victory for The Bell Grove when they visited the Fleur de Leys at Hagbourne.

The C section individual highlight was John Miles a recent world championship entrant hitting 10 dolls for league leaders Abingdon Con Club as they defeated hosts The Grapes 5-1.

In the D section Harwellian A defeated Berinsfield SC B 5-1 and Marshall Muldoon included a 5 doll leg on the night. The Plough Hanney were also defeated 4-2 by visitors Queens Arms with the Plough only hitting 19 dolls on the night 8 of which were scored by Steve Dingle! Also in the D section there were very credible scores from Ian Northover with 10 dolls in the Tap’s 4-2 win against the College Oak B and Richard Pike scored with 9 dolls for the Lamb A at the Red Lion Drayton.

Other outstanding individual performances to note last week were Chris Judkins who hit the E section’s first maximum leg in his 11 dolls for Hanney RBL against The Bystander B and Gareth Brown’s 12 doll total for the WADs bar as they maintained their chase for the F section championship with a 6-0 win over the Bystander C.

This week the most local of derbies will take place at the Vine Cumnor who welcome their new “lodgers” Bystander A,

Finally the draw for the semi finals will be made this week and decisions taken in the next few days and confirmed online about all of the other Competitions due to take place either on Sunday August 11th, or in the case of the other team competitions on dated to be arranged (subject to sufficient entries being received before next week’s meeting of the Committee).

They think it’s all over, well it is for England but not for Abingdon Aunt Sally, we are only halfway there!

By Roger Nichols on 16th July 2024 in Competition News, Newsletter, Summer League Reports

Well, most of us have been distracted by the Football, some of us by the Tennis at Wimbledon and we also had 3 days of Test Cricket and that’s all in the last week and like most sports there was a mix of good and bad, highs and lows, disappointments and ecstasy depending on who you support. The European Championship Cup Final was a major disappointment, but also a good performance reaching the final of a major championship which France, Germany, Portugal and 19 other countries didn’t!

The tennis saw us have a really good number of English players reach the main competition, but there was never any real expectation of an English player making it through to the final stages of the singles competitions. In cricket we enjoyed a resounding win in the first test against the West Indies, but that was only the first of leg with two still to play!

So after missing last week to enable us to focus on our national sports it’s back to the bread and butter with the focus well and truly back on our own Aunt Sally league. We still have 50% of our games still to play so nothing can be decided or assumed yet! The one thing that is certain is that there will be winners and losers in all of our sections at the end of the season and like all sports we will be either delighted with our individual or team performances or disappointed that we didn’t play as well as we could or should have done! That’s what team sports and games are all about!

Talking of Competitions we have still not received any additional entries for the team 3’s, 4’s, and 5’s nor the Secretaries and Captains competitions and with the closing date only a couple of days away it really does look as if we will be unable to stage these comps this year simply because of a lack of entries which is extremely disappointing when you think we have 56 teams in our league each with a Captain and a Secretary and over 600 registered players! Still not to late though, but the closing date is Thursday and that cannot be extended any further!

So what does this Wednesday look like in terms of fixtures? Well, there are a few local or near local derbys. In the Premier/A section Steventon Sports entertain Red Lion Drayton who are just 3 bus stops down the road, in the B section league leaders host their near neighbours from Denchworth, the Fox, though I doubt there are any buses from Denchworth to Stanford on on a Wednesday evening! The Grapes B make the short trip to Abingdon United. The C section sees Abingdon Con Club make the short trip up Ock Street to play the Grapes A and might pass the Brewery Tap players as they make their way to North Abingdon to take on the College Oak B in section D where the Plough Hanney renew rivalry with near neighbours from the Chequers at neighbouring Charney Bassett. In the E section there’s a battle of the Causeway when the teams from Steventon Sports and the North Star meet at the Star, but the closest of all the near derbys will take place in Wootton where the Bystander C have to cross the road to get to the WAD’s bar!

Have a good week and don’t forget those last minute Competition entries!!

Summer 2024 Week 9 Results

By Paul Stone on 12th July 2024 in Newsletter, Summer League Reports

Match Results

P/A – Abingdon Utd@ConClub 5 – Plum Pudding 1; Legs (20-15, 22-22, 24-20)

P/A – Berinsfield SC A 0 – Steventon Sports SC A 6; Legs (23-31, 23-32, 16-22)

P/A – Bystander A 6 – College Oak A 0; Legs (24-23, 26-20, 21-17)

P/A – The Vine Cumnor 2 – Red Lion Drayton 4; Legs (23-16, 17-21, 20-22)

B – Abingdon RBL 0 – Harwellian B 6; Legs (7-11, 7-14, 12-14)

B – Abingdon United C 5 – The Fox Denchworth 1; Legs (15-15, 14-11, 14-11)

B – Stanford in the Vale FC 4 – The Croft Bar 2; Legs (9-5, 10-12, 12-6)

B – The Grapes B 6 – The Bell A Grove 0; Legs (14-10, 19-8, 17-6)

B – The Plough Long Wittenham 3 – Fleur de Lys A, Hagbourne 3; Legs (7-12, 9-9, 14-7)

C – Boundary House 6 – The Bear and Ragged Staff Cumnor 0; Legs (17-12, 17-12, 14-8)

C – The Bell B Grove 2 – The Oak Didcot 4; Legs (15-10, 13-14, 14-18)

C – The Prince of Wales Shippon 5 – The Grapes A 1; Legs (13-12, 13-11, 13-13)

C – The Waggon and Horses Southmoor 4 – Eight Bells Eaton 2; Legs (7-12, 16-12, 15-13)

D – College Oak B 6 – The Queens Arms 0; Legs (11-6, 13-11, 11-10)

D – Harwellian A 4 – Brewery Tap 2; Legs (15-9, 7-13, 11-6)

D – Red Lion B Drayton 4 – Berinsfield SC B 2; Legs (5-7, 14-9, 10-4)

D – The Lamb A Wantage 5 – The Chequers Charney 1; Legs (10-10, 14-8, 12-10)

D – The Midget 4 – The Plough Hanney 2; Legs (7-8, 12-11, 10-4)

E – Hanney RBL 2 – Marcham Centre A 4; Legs (9-8, 8-9, 4-14)

E – Horse & Jockey A 0 – The Wheatsheaf Didcot 6; Legs (4-8, 2-9, 6-9)

E – North Star A Steventon 6 – Bystander B 0; Legs (13-9, 17-9, 13-5)

E – Steventon Sports SC B 0 – RAL SC 6; Legs (5-7, 10-12, 10-13)

F – Fleur de Lys B Hagbourne 5 – North Star B Steventon 1; Legs (9-9, 12-5, 9-8)

F – Grove RFC 5 – Horse and Jockey B Stanford i-t-V 1; Legs (6-4, 7-7, 8-6)

F – Marcham Centre B 4 – Bystander C 2; Legs (10-3, 8-11, 12-7)

F – Sutton Courtenay FC 6 – The Plough Appleton 0; Legs (14-6, 12-9, 13-9)

Blobbers

Adam Harris (Hanney RBL), Alan Wilkinson (The Plough Hanney), Andy Latimer (North Star B Steventon), Billy O’Connell (Bystander C), Carey Lewis (Harwellian B), Charlotte Newbold (Steventon Sports SC B), David Carroll (RAL SC), Greg Coombs (Horse & Jockey A), Ian Bargus (The Croft Bar), Ian Crayford (The Chequers Charney), Joe Bowler (Eight Bells Eaton), John Walton (Berinsfield SC B), Jorge Eversion (Grove RFC), Kay Johnson (Brewery Tap), Keith Connolly (The Wheatsheaf Didcot), Keith McConnell (The Wheatsheaf Didcot), Lee Hutton (Marcham Centre A), Mark Jones (Brewery Tap), Mark Sheldon (Horse and Jockey B Stanford i-t-V), Martin Danby (North Star B Steventon), Rob France (Marcham Centre B), Scott Gardner (Horse & Jockey A), Stevie Hedges (The Queens Arms).

Sixers

Nick Moore (RAL SC).

Fivers

Alex Chamberlain 4-5-3 (Berinsfield SC A) – Week 9

Arran Gray 1-5-3 (The Oak Didcot) – Week 9

David Dix 5-3-4 (Abingdon Utd@ConClub) – Week 9

John Gould 0-5-1 (Red Lion B Drayton) – Week 9

Leigh Clapton 3-5-4 (Abingdon Utd@ConClub) – Week 9

Liam Brooks 5-3-2 (The Bell B Grove) – Week 9

Liam Priest 0-5-1 (The Queens Arms) – Week 9

Mick Brown 1-5-1 (The Grapes B) – Week 9

Phil Adams 3-5-3 (Abingdon Utd@ConClub) – Week 9

Rick Fletcher 5-5-1 (Steventon Sports SC A) – Week 9

It’s a belated week 9 round up and a halfway review of the league tables

By Roger Nichols on 12th July 2024 in Newsletter

Firstly, apologies for the delayed post. Blame my pre-occupation with the Euro’s and, together with the rest of the Committee, trying to determine how to manage the week 10 programme after England’s progress to the semi final stage which, in the games before last Saturday’s quarter final, seemed pretty unlikely. Last night’s semi final and our progress to Sunday’s final did, I think, justify our decision to postpone all of our scheduled week 10 fixtures which will now all be played on September 11th.

It does mean we will need to re-arrange the team competitions (3’s,4’s and 5’s) which we had scheduled provisionally for that day assuming that in the next few days (closing date next Thursday July 18th) so we do still need more entries to get the minimum numbers for these Competitions. At the moment we are still short of the 8 team entries per competition required.

Well, time to look back at week 9 results and some of the highlights across the sections. In the Premier section Abingdon Utd/Con Club’s 5-1 victory over the Plum Pudding enabled them to go 6 points clear at the top of the table. They were well served by Dave Dix and Leigh Clapton both top scoring with 12 dolls apiece and Phil Adams weighed in with his customary double figures this time with just 11!

Also in the Premier Bystander closed the gap to second placed Croft Nomads to just 1 point when 12 dolls from Jumbo Mott and 10 from Jason Bowler saw them get a maximum 6 points against College Oak. Also Steventon Sports enjoyed a 6-0 return against Berinsfield despite another 12 doll haul from Alec Chamberlain for the home side. For the Sports it was Father and Son Derek and Ricky Fletcher both hitting 11 dolls and Doug Bolton with 10 of his own who helped Steventon to their bets result of the season to date.

The B section saw a game of 2 halves, 2 legions and 2 competitions take place on the same night at Abingdon RBL when the home side entertained the Harwellian side who play at the former Harwell RBL club. The 2 sides played a double header firstly playing their 8′ s quarter final which Abingdon won 2 legs to 1 Then they followed that with their scheduled league fixture, and perhaps the Harwellian side’s concentration and stamina was superior to their hosts because they turned that 8’s defeat into a 6-0 league win with 9 the dolls apiece from Rick Vincent and Andy Shipman leading the way.

There were 2 other 6-o victories in the B section that night when Lee Brown’s 11 dolls helped the Grapes B to a 6-0 win against The Bell and also Karl Ford hit 10 dolls when the Boundary House saw off the Bear & Ragged Staff by the same score line

In the C section Royal Oak beat he Bell Grove A 4-2 despite Liam Brooks 10 doll return for the Bell

Some other notable individual scores on the night were in the E section where Jim Lister’s 11 dolls for North Star A enabled the Star to win their encounter 6-0 against The Bystander B side and again in the E section Nick Moore hit a magnificent last leg 6 for visitors RAL SC who turned over Steventon Sports B on the Green 6-0 to record probably their best result of the season to date.

So, how do the league tables look at the halfway stage of the season. As mentioned earlier Ab Con Club/United lead the Premier by 6 points and the battle for second place is looking tight with only the one point now separating Croft Nomads and The Bystander A. Remarkably in the Premier/A section when you look at the total dolls (including handicaps) 8 of the 9 teams are separated by only 34 dolls! Who says the handicap system doesn’t work!

The B section sees Stanford in the Vale FC still leading after their 4-2 win over the previously unbeaten Croft Bar who in turn drop to 3rd place behind the Grapes who have a superior doll count.

Abingdon Con Club who had their bye in week 9 still lead the way in the C section and in the D section Harwellian are heading the table, one point above The Midget. Newcomers Horse & Jockey A are at the foot of the table and are still looking to register their first points!

The E section is also tight with The Wheatsheaf heading the table by 2 points from second placed North Star A and in the F section it looks like a battle between 2 new entrants with the Fleur de Leys just the one point head from the Fleur de Leys B.

Looking at the top dolls at the midpoint of the season it looks as if Phil Adams will be first to the 100 dolls mark needing just 4 dolls next Wednesday to pip team mate Dave Dix who has played a game less than Phil so has a higher doll average. The Premier top 10 includes 5 of the Ab. Utd/Con Club, 4 from Croft Nomads and skipper Steve Martin of the Bystander. In the A section Paul Leach of the Plum Pudding leads the doll count by just 1 doll from Danny Hamilton from the Vine followed by Terry Downes who is just 1 doll further back.

Tight at the moment in the B section with Andy Shipman of the Harwellian just a couple of dolls ahead of Dave Sapey and in the C section Liam Brooks is being chased by Steve Soden in the doll race, Roly Burns heads Rick Selby having played a game more than Rick at the halfway stage in the D section. The Wheatsheaf’s Darren Bennett comfortably leads the E section’s highest dolls, but in the F section the WAD’s Derrick Brown is shading North Star’s Rob Baker by just the one doll.

So in summary the Competition for both league honour’s and top dolls in each of the sections is, after 9 weeks of competition, being fiercely contested and if the second half of our Summer season stays that way we are in for some tight finishes come September!

My final reminder this week about Competition entries all of which will close next week. The 8’s are approaching the semi final stage, the singles and pairs will take place at Abingdon United on Sunday August 11th with entries still open, but all of the remaining Competitions are still in doubt unless we get more entries this week, that’s the team 3’s, 4’s, and 5’s and the individual Captain’s and Secretaries. We, on the Committee, want all of these Competitions to take, they are a big part of our heritage, but if we don’t get th entries it won’t happen this year! So get those entries in now!

EGM and Competitions

By Roger Nichols on 4th July 2024 in Committee Meetings, Competition News, Newsletter, Summer League Reports

On Tuesday evening the planned EGM to discuss the outstanding 2024 Competitions was held and was reasonably well attended.

The Chairman outlined the purpose of the meeting and why it had been called which was primarily because of the lack of entries received, which in turn, had led to the planned team Competitions that were due to be held in June having to be postponed. The extension of the entry date had marginally increased the number of entries, but at the date (2nd July) the Committee still felt there were insufficient entries to justify holding the Competitions. The cost of trophies for limited numbers was also a consideration, but it has always been recognised that the cost of competitions, an essential part of our Association since it’s conception over 60 years ago are never going to pay their own way.

One of the reasons it was felt necessary to call an EGM was to try and establish the reasons for the lack of entries.

A number of thoughts were put forward by the club representatives which included the problem of holding the Competitions on Sundays (agreed at the 2024 AGM), lack of knowledge of the Competitions by the players, assumed ability to compete with the Premier/A section sides, lack of handicaps to incentivise teams from lower sections and several others.

The number of entries for each competition received to date which, with the exception of the Singles and Pairs was still considered insufficient to run the remaining Competitions this season unless more entries could be generated and a number of teams represented said they would be prepared to enter teams.

After much discussion the following points were discussed and agreed.

No Competition will be held in 2024 unless a minimum of 8 entries are received
The entry date for all Competitions will be extended until July 18th. If less than 8 entries have been received by hat date that Competition will not take place this season.
Wednesday September 10th (week 19 as it were) will be set aside as the revised date for the team 3’s, 4’s, and 5’s competitions. All entries MUST be received by July 18th either via the Team Support link on the website or direct to Roger Nichols (roger.nichols@hotmail.com) together with the entry fees £1 per person per competition. Team members should be named where possible, but it is not essential at the time of entry. Venue and timings will be confirmed after July 18th.
The planned introduction/re-introduction of Competitions for both teams and players from the lower sections needs to be re-launched in 2025 as there has been little or no interest this year.

The Singles and Pairs Competitions will be held, as planned, on Sunday August 11th at Abingdon United FC. The draws will be made on the day. Assuming sufficient entries the Captains and Secretaries Competitions will also take place on that day.

A number of other suggestions received at the meeting will be included for discussion and, if appropriate agreement, at the 2025 AGM. These include the introduction of handicapping the team based competitions, the increase of registration fees to include automatic entry some of the Competitions, and the extension of the Summer season to free up some Wednesday’s for Competitions (this could involve reducing the number of teams in sections).

Well, I think that about summarises the discussions and outcomes from Tuesday’s meeting.

The Committee would like to thank the attendees or their contribution on the night and their commitment to share the outcomes with their team mates to boost the entries in the next couple of weeks. We really want all of these Competitions to take place, but it will only happen if we get he minimum entry numbers by July 18th.

Registration forms are still on the website so please let’s get those entries in and make our Competitions both valued and competitive!!

Singles World Championship 2024

By Paul Stone on 1st July 2024 in A Chairmans musings, Competition News, Newsletter, Special Events

The intrepid 8 from AASL

Glasses at the ready! Half pint souvenir glasses complete with beer vouchers.

Someone thought we ought to enter into the World Open Singles Aunt Sally Championship which is held each year at the Charlbury Beer Festival held at the Cricket Club.

So Paul Barrett organised our entrance, registration for the Aunt Sally and a mini-bus to get us there and, more importantly, back. We started off with breakfast at the Beans and Blends cafe at Peachcroft at 9.30 and the bus came for us at 11am getting us to the Charlbury Cricket Club just before opening at noon. This early entry allowed us to bag some of the covered seating next to the no.1 pitch, which was nice, as the draw for the matches would take place at 1pm.

This festival is in its 26th year and the Singles competition has been going since 2011 so this was the 12th year (due to covid omissions). Of course we were following in the footsteps of the greats of Barry Parker (2016) and Phil Adams (2019) as champions from the Abingdon league and other league winners like Trevor Dyer, Steve McAteer, Henry Johnson, Roger Goodall, Kevin Powney and latest champion for the last two years Rod Bradford.

League Players in capitals

Our contestants were Bob Duff, Ian Brook, John Miles, Micky Neal, Paul Barrett, Paul Stone, Steve Enoch & Tom Baldwin.

With the League players and walk-ins we got to the magic 64 contenders for the challenge.

The draw allocated 32 each side of the ‘board’ – this allowed the organiser (Nick) to split the sides of the board over the two pitches.

(The league players are in capitals the tryers in lower case)

We were the furthest away from the Beer tent which wasn’t such a bad thing as we still had to be able to see the doll! Beer vouchers were £10 for 4 halves and the bartender just crossed off your sheet. You can take your own pint glass but the half pint must be used to it fill up.

We were also farthest away from the music tent – one band was ‘giving it all’ in my first game and it made me stop and concentrate! There was a wide variety of performers playing through the day. There must have been 70+ beers available so don’t try testing every one. The free programme listed them all with tasting notes and Cider and Wine drinkers weren’t forgotten.

Anyway back to Aunt Sally and Paul Barrett was first up on pitch 2 drawing Tracey Denton and losing a straight 2 legs (2-1, 3-2). Not a great start and one which he got a ribbing for on the bus home. At this point previous champ Henry Johnson had gone through to be beaten by Semifinalist Alan Goodgame who ended up beating his brother Ian Goodgame to get into the final who’d beat me in the last 32 after one of the lowest scoring tight games! Legs 2-2, 1-1, 2-2 and a 3sticker 1-1 then 1 stick 1-1 then 0-1 in what I thought was back to 6 sticks but it was Oxford rules 1 stick! Never mind – I went out to a solid player on sudden death.

I can tell you its SO much different to a league match when its just you, the sticks and the doll and if you don’t enter competitions you’ll never be able to understand how to control your nerves.

Steve Enock couldn’t find form but strung it out against Luke Manning with 1 stick killer – legs (0-1, 1-1, 2-1 3 stick 1-1 1 stick 0-1) so another one bit the dust.

With the luck of the draw Tom Baldwin played Ian Brook in the first round – so we were guaranteed someone in the next 32! However Tom played his socks off with a straight 2 leg win 3-1 and 4-0! I’ll be honest I wouldn’t have put money on that given Ian’s pedigree. Just shows anything can happen in singles. It was just before this game that I got interviewed live on BBC Radio Oxford who were there reporting on all the proceedings with regular ‘updates’ on Aunt Sally.

John Miles went out to Mark Poulter (1-3, 1-2) who was eventually taken out by Roger Goodall. Micky Neal was also taken out in the first round by Dick Walsh over 3 legs (1-2, 3-3, 1-1). Dick was recounting the Black Prince trophy (Woodstock) which is no longer played due to the pub closing last year. Dick eventually went out to Ian McAteer.

Meanwhile on Pitch 1 Bob Duff took out Darren Grant (2-1, 1-3, 2-1) and then John Bradshaw again over 3 legs (1-1, 3-0, 2-1) and then into the quarter final after taking out Dave Fry (3-3, 2-1, 1-1). Unfortunately I didn’t get to see Bob play last year’s champion Rob Bradford as I was queuing for food (for a good 20 mins!) and as you can see I didn’t get a snap of the scores on the board. Suffice to say that Bob did his best and it, as it goes sometimes, was not his best.

World Champion Trophies

Roger Goodall’s winners trophy, sticks and his trademark bottle of talcum powder used on his sticks.

So the final was between Roger Goodall and Alan Goodgame. I did record the event and it’ll be on AuntSallyTV.

Roger became the champion once again (previously 2017) so deserved congratulations to him and a big thanks to the organiser Nick and his team and the bricky (Rob Tudge) who stuck up what seemed like most of the time in the sunshine and set out the pitches!

The Abingdon Eight can certainly recommend going if not for the beer and entertainment then for the Aunt Sally, after all anyone of us COULD have been a winner!

Paul Stone
Chairman

Summer 2024 Week 8 Results

By Paul Stone on 1st July 2024 in Newsletter, Summer League Reports

Match Results

P/A – Berinsfield SC A 4 – The Vine Cumnor 2; Legs (23-20, 27-25, 19-23)

P/A – Croft Nomads 2 – Abingdon Utd@ConClub 4; Legs (22-21, 20-21, 21-27)

P/A – Steventon Sports SC A 2 – Plum Pudding 4; Legs (24-21, 22-23, 16-25)

P/A – Red Lion Drayton 4 – Bystander A 2; Legs (21-27, 21-15, 25-20)

B – Abingdon RBL 2 – Abingdon United C 4; Legs (14-8, 13-16, 10-12)

B – Fleur de Lys A, Hagbourne 5 – The Fox Denchworth 1; Legs (9-8, 11-11, 18-6)

B – Harwellian B 4 – The Croft Bar 2; Legs (16-12, 11-12, 12-10)

B – The Bell A Grove 6 – Stanford in the Vale FC 0; Legs (13-10, 17-12, 15-13)

B – The Plough Long Wittenham 2 – The Grapes B 4; Legs (11-17, 8-13, 13-10)

C – Abingdon Con Club 2 – The Waggon and Horses Southmoor 4; Legs (16-17, 16-4, 11-13)

C – Boundary House 2 – The Bell B Grove 4; Legs (10-9, 9-11, 8-10)

C – The Grapes A 2 – The Oak Didcot 4; Legs (14-13, 11-14, 14-15)

D – College Oak B 4 – Red Lion B Drayton 2; Legs (8-9, 15-10, 16-10)

D – The Chequers Charney 2 – Harwellian A 4; Legs (10-12, 11-10, 9-10)

D – The Midget 6 – The Lamb A Wantage 0; Legs (13-11, 16-10, 13-12)

D – The Plough Hanney 3 – Berinsfield SC B 3; Legs (13-9, 8-8, 6-14)

D – The Queens Arms 2 – Brewery Tap 4; Legs (10-8, 13-14, 4-18)

E – Horse & Jockey A 0 – North Star A Steventon 6; Legs (1-12, 5-11, 3-4)

E – RAL SC 2 – Hanney RBL 4; Legs (9-10, 14-5, 10-17)

E – The Lamb B Wantage 4 – Bystander B 2; Legs (8-13, 12-11, 12-7)

E – The Wheatsheaf Didcot 6 – Marcham Centre A 0; Legs (13-11, 17-14, 16-7)

F – Bystander C 3 – Horse and Jockey B Stanford i-t-V 3; Legs (7-7, 6-8, 10-6)

F – Marcham Centre B 0 – Sutton Courtenay FC 6; Legs (5-7, 3-6, 8-9)

F – North Star B Steventon 4 – Grove RFC 2; Legs (9-6, 9-5, 5-7)

F – WADS Bar 4 – Fleur de Lys B Hagbourne 2; Legs (12-12, 13-9, 12-12)

Blobbers

Ashley Wheeler (The Waggon and Horses Southmoor), Ben Newman (Bystander C), Bob Humphreys (The Plough Long Wittenham), Chris Hoy (Bystander B), Chris Wilding (North Star B Steventon), Duncan Nicholls (Grove RFC), Edward Houlihan (Boundary House), Enya Mayall (Horse & Jockey A), Harvey Dundson (North Star B Steventon), James Smith (The Plough Hanney), Keith Brown (The Plough Long Wittenham), Liam Stapleton (Hanney RBL), Robbie Cook (Grove RFC), Scott Gardner (Horse & Jockey A), Viv Albin (Bystander B).

Sixers

David Dix (Abingdon Utd@ConClub) & Simon Winterbourne (Plum Pudding).

Fivers

Colin Brind 5-3-2 (Steventon Sports SC A) – Week 8

David Dix 5-3-6 (Abingdon Utd@ConClub) – Week 8

David Mott 5-1-3 (Bystander A) – Week 8

Dean Bowler 5-1-2 (Red Lion Drayton) – Week 8

Glenn Woolley 1-1-5 (Red Lion Drayton) – Week 8

Mike Phipps 5-1-3 (The Waggon and Horses Southmoor) – Week 8

Phil Adams 3-5-4 (Abingdon Utd@ConClub) – Week 8

Scott Humphries 2-2-5 (Abingdon Utd@ConClub) – Week 8

Steve Martin 5-2-3 (Bystander A) – Week 8

Steve Peedell 2-5-3 (The Vine Cumnor) – Week 8

Stuart Wilson 2-5-2 (Berinsfield SC A) – Week 8

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