Archive | Competition News

Week 8 Review

By Roger Nichols on 24th June 2026 in Competition News, Newsletter, Summer League Reports

Tonight we complete the first half of the 2026 Summer Season, time flies and we started the season with cold and windy conditions and 9 weeks on we face playing in record breaking temperatures, possibly the highest June temperatures ever in the UK. It only goes to show the weather is as unpredictable as many of our own Aunt Sally form!!

I want to start this weeks update unusually from the Committee for with a big thank you despite the attraction of England’s opening World Cup tie last week 28 of the 30 planned week 8 fixtures took place and that was due to the co-operation of all teams who re-arranged match nights, start times and adjusted formats (excluded the beer leg in some cases). So well done to all.

Secondly, I just want to remind everyone that this coming Sunday the Singles, Pairs, Captains and Secretaries Competitions will take place at Abingdon United FC with play starting from, 12.45, and registration from 12.15 for all entries. Overall entries are down on previous years so if anyone wishes to make a very late entry we will be prepared to consider any late entries until 6pm on Friday of this week, simply because we want these competitions to be both popular and competitive. Play will be held on 2 pitches and food will be provided free of charge during the afternoon and all being well we expect to complete the competitions down to semi final (Pairs and Singles) and final (Captains and Secretaries) by 5pm. We have amalgamated the Captains and Secretaries into a combined competition this year as we did not have the required number of entrants to stage 2 separate comps.

I should also mention that Tony Ward one of the stalwarts of our game for many years, Summer and Winter was given a good send off last Friday and his funeral included many memories of his Aunt Sally career and reminded us of just how good and successful a player he was for so many years. I was a little surprised that more of his former teammates across several teams that Tony played for or against were not in attendance. So Doreen’s wish, Tony’s wife, that the celebration of his life would be commemorated with a game of Aunt Sally really didn’t happen despite the efforts of our Chairman! (Chairman: we, Tom Lach and I, did get them throwing some sticks though and they got to appreciate Tony’s skill!)

Well back to last week and pride of place, not surprisingly, goes to Dave Dix whose 16 dolls for Abingdon Con Club was not only the highest individual total of 2026, it also contributed to Abingdon Con Club’s sixth consecutive victory and taking them 2 points clear at the top of the Premier. Dave’s haul also established his doll average at over 4 dolls, a remarkable 82% strike rate and regrettably for the rest of us, entirely consistent and predictable from Dave!

Tom Lach also weighed in with a first leg maximum for the Con Club as the Con Club overcame The College Oak 4-2 with a first leg of 27 dolls their best of the season. The Oak’s excellent 25 dolls in the second leg helped them salvage a leg. Other results saw Steventon Sports SC A 6-0 winners in the A section, Berinsfield with both Stuart Wilson and Richard Jones leading the way with 10 dolls each enjoyed a 5-1 win at Abingdon United to remain in second spot in the Premier whilst Croft Nomads inconsistency this season was seized upon by Stanford FC who returned to the Vale 5-1 victors. Steventon Sports were clear winners in the top of the A section tussle with second placed Red Lion. The Sports won 6-0 with 3 winning legs totaling 70 dolls 11, of those courtesy of Derek Fletcher a season best for “Rod” b. Dean Bowler was “sixer” on the night for the Lion.

Plum Pudding were another side to record a welcome win and recorded their highest leg score (26) when winning 4-2 against The Wheatsheaf.

I mentioned earlier the very good individual performances last week and Terry Downes, the most consistent performer for the Plum was one , Terry along with Bob Glen for Stanford, John Mackay WADS B, Dean Costar, Earl of Abingdon A and Andy Hallett all registered 5 doll legs for their sides. Matt Rushton playing for the Fleur didn’t register a 5 doll leg, but hit 10 dolls for his side. lastly two more special mentions, Micky Neal playing for the Earl Of Abingdon was the forth player to hit a maximum last week and finally congratulations to Ben Green playing for The Seven Bells in section G. With 4 players scoring maximum legs and 5 others scoring legs of 5 dolls and several others reaching double figures over their 3 legs it does, at last seem like the league is belatedly “waking up” to Summer 2o26!

In the other sections the B section saw wins for Abingdon RBL, The Bear & Ragged Staff, The Croft Bar, The Vine (another with a top scoring leg of 23 dolls) whilst The Plough West Hanney and The WADS Bar shared the points

The C section saw the Grove RFC defeat the Earl B 4-2 with both sides hitting 17 in separate legs, The Boundary House were too strong for Harwellian B winning 6-0, The Fleur de Lys won 4-2 against Marcham Centre A and again some good leg scores in this game with an 18 for the Fleur and a 21 doll leg scored by Marcham. The other game in this section saw The Bell B come out on top against The Plough, Long Wittenham.

In the D section the re-opening of the North Star welcomed Aunt Sally back after a long wait and the home team enjoyed their return, but were held to a 3-3 share of the points, Elsewhere in Steventon the Sports B side defeated The Bell A 4-2 and it was the same scoreline for Long Wittenham AC winners against College Oak B. The Fox, Boars Hill continue to set the pace in this section remaining unbeaten, but they were held to a share of the points by The Black Horse, Hanney.

The E section saw some close encounters with The Ladygrove returning as 4-2 winners from their trip to Hanney RBL and The George and The Crown Marcham A were also 4-2 winners, The Red Lion B and The Lamb B drew 3-3 in a low scoring encounter whilst the Eight Bells Eaton saw off Berinsfield SC B 6-0.

The G section is probably the most unpredictable section of all with so many new sides and players taking part. Oxford RFC, The Old Anchor and The Seven Stars all seem to be enjoying their season so far with the first two winning 5-1 last week and The Seven Stars scoring a maximum 6 points and The White Hart B another side new to the league this year were also winners on the night.

Worth mentioning that we have a player from the G section in the Top 20 doll average list, well done

The league tables are beginning to take shape despite one or two of the league leaders being pegged back last week and next week we will have a fuller review of the season as we will have reached the halfway stage and also, unbelievably, the point of the year when the nights start to draw in!!

Don’t forget Sunday at Abingdon United and it’s still not too late to enter! Friday evening is your final, final cut off for any “stragglers”

Week 5 Highlights, lowlights and Competition Last shout out!

By Roger Nichols on 2nd June 2026 in Competition News, Newsletter, Summer League Reports

Well, the inevitable happened last week, Dave Dix hit 14 dolls for Abingdon Conservative Club as they recorded their second successive 6-0 win over Plum Pudding whose defeat continued their disappointing start to the season. Paul Barrett also continued his good form with another 12 doll haul! Paul has now hit 5, 5 doll legs in his last 4 games. Surely a maximum will soon happen!

Dave shared his best of the season with Richard Jones who also hit 14 dolls as Berinsfield SC A continued their excellent start to the season with a fifth consecutive victory as they beat the previously unbeaten Steventon Sports A 5-1.

Abingdon United A secured their first win of the season as they overcame Croft Nomads 4-2, Jason Bowler top scoring for United with 9 dolls. Ian Brook led the fight for the Nomads with 10 dolls.

Darren Bennett with 10 dolls and Martyn Bolton with 9 helped The Wheatsheaf to a 4-2 win at The College Oak and The Red Lion were also winners at Stanford FC 5-1 being the scoreline with Scott Tabor and Ian Rogers leading the way with 9 dolls apiece for the Lion. The B section saw Abingdon RBL land their first win of the season 4-2 against The Fox, Denchworth whilst the WADS Bar were 6-0 winners against The Bear & Ragged Staff. but with 23 points still trail the Vine by 1 point as they overcame The Plough, West Hanney 4-2 with a 10 doll contribution from Matt Dingle aided and abetted by 9 dolls each for Jerry Brandish and Steve Peedell and 8 dolls for Ethan Taylor making his first appearance for the Vine. The Croft Bar suffered a 4-2 defeat at the hands of the Royal Oak whose Steve Jones top scored with 10 dolls.

A first appearance of the season for skipper Brian Bosley with 8 dolls was not enough to get Marcham Centre A to stop Grove RFC landing their 5th win on the bounce as they continue to lead the C section. There were a share of the points between The Earl of Abingdon B and The Fleur de Lys A where 9 dolls was the order of the night. Russell Flower for the Earl and Darren Sargison and Danny Towlerton all falling just one doll short of making double figures.

The D section saw The Fox Boars Hill land their 5th win on the bounce at Steventon Sports with a maximum 6 points. The Earl of Abingdon were also 6-0 victors against The Prince of Wales despite 8 dolls scored by skipper Dave Harris for the Feathers. Craig Hillier for the Earl also hit 8. Debutant Matt Davies hit a first leg 5 dolls but it was not enough to secure a leg for the WADS Bar B as they also suffered a 6-0 loss against Long Wittenham AC for whom Michael Rainbow led the way with 9 dolls and it was a welcome 6-0 win for The Bell A in the same section for whom Steve Browning scored 11 dolls and Martin Bland added 9 more.

The E section also saw two 6-0 wins, as Hanney RBL carried on their successful start to the season at the Eight Bells and The Crown Marcham A turned over the Lamb B by the same score. Red Lion B and Challow & Childrey CC shared the points. In the F section Brewery Tap continue to lead the way and there were also wins for The George, Harwellian A and the Queens Arms.

Newcomers in the G section Oxford RFC had a 5-1 win, The Seven Stars were 4-2 winners at the Red Lion and the White Hart B side were also winners on the night.

Overall last week there were some good scores (maybe the warmer weather helped!) with 24 dolls being the best legs of the night, a 23 leg from the Vine in Section B and leg scores 0f 16, 17 and 18 being recorded across the B, C, D and E sections. On the night there were no sixes, lots of individaul 5’s and there were 23 “blobbers” who failed to score on the night, but not for the lack of trying!

Just a reminder about the Competitions for singles, pairs, Captains and Secretaries which officially closed yesterday. As I write this we have only received entries from 4 teams! As both Paul and I haven’t been around for a few days I think we have to extend the date until this coming weekend, but not beyond then. At the moment we do not have enough entries for any of the planned competitions so if that doesn’t change significantly this week there will be no competitions held on the planned date (28th June) and personally I think that will be tragic for a league that has 66 teams and over 600 active registered players!!!

One final note regarding fixtures on June 17th when England play Croatia in the FIFA World Cup, with a 9pm GMT kick off time. We recognise that some teams will want to change their games scheduled for that night so in the next few days the committee will issue some guidance and options for fixtures scheduled to take place on that night. The guidance and outcome will need to be mutually agreed between the competing sides and based on being reasonable.

Another Aunt Sally Legend lost, Week 4 round up and Competition Reminder

By Roger Nichols on 27th May 2026 in Competition News, Newsletter, Summer League Reports

Again with apologies for the late post again! I will try to do better after tonight’s fixtures!

Firstly though I want to start by sharing some very sad news. Tony Ward one of the top Aunt Sally players in both our Winter and Summer Leagues over many years passed away last week. Many will know that Tony had battled against illness for several years and that illness had caused his retirement from our game in recent years. Our thoughts and sympathy go out to Doreen and all of Tony’s family and friends from all of the Aunt Sally community. Tony’s funeral will be held at the South Oxfordshire Crematorium at 1pm on Friday 19th June and will be followed by a gathering at Abingdon British Legion, just one of the venues that Tony played his Aunt Sally so successfully at.

Tony was a serial winner both as an individual and as a team member. Tony played for many teams in both our seasonal leagues including the Saxton Arms and Football Club, Abingdon Legion, Penlon, Heineken and Abingdon United. It was with the Legion that he featured in the highest single leg score in 1974 contributing 5 dolls in a 37 leg total when Abingdon Legion had 2 players who each hit maximums 3 others, who like Tony hit 5, one player with 5 and surprisingly one who managed only 1 doll. In that line up that night for the Legion were current players Dave Dix and Paul Leach and that was over 50 years ago!

Tony won the Singles title at least twice firstly whilst playing for the Saxton and also for Abingdon United and many, many other team awards for all the teams he represented.

Now, to last week’s results. In the Premier section there was a welcome return to winning ways for Abingdon Conservative Club even without the missing Dave Dix and Phil Adams. They still managed a 6-0 victory at their old stamping ground Abingdon United. Despite the margin of the win the doll difference on the night was only 7 dolls! Rolling back the years for the Con Club Brian Clapton hit 10 dolls and Paul Barrett for the 3rd successive week hit double figures. For United it was Dave Hudson leading the reply with 9 dolls.

In the Prem/A section the clash between the 2 previously unbeaten sides was another close encounter which resulted in a 4-2 win for Berinsfield SC A courtesy of a 1 doll winning 3rd leg at the Red Lion which puts the Berinsfield boys very well placed as leaders of the Premier section. Malcolm Jones recorded a maximum for the visitors and promptly followed it with a blob in the next leg!

Croft Nomads enjoyed a very sociable evening at the Wheatsheaf Didcot, helped by a 6-0 victory with double figure contributions from Steve Enock and Barry Townsend with 11 dolls each well supported by Alan Bell and Chris Jenkins both weighing in with 10 dolls

In the A section Stanford FC continued their strong start to the season winning their game at the College Oak 4-2. Steventon Sports A strengthened their position at the top of the A section beating the Plum Pudding, Scott Humphries and Derek Fletcher top scoring for the Sports with 9 dolls apiece and Terry Downes matched that score for the Plum.

In the B section it is WADS Bar heading the table with a 4th consecutive win 4-2 against The Fox Denchworth but on the night The Fox may have felt a little disappointed as they actually scored 42 dolls against the 40 scored by the winners! Derrick Brown scored 11 dolls for WAD’s. It was a similar close encounter at the Croft Bar whose 4-2 victory over the Fleur de Lys B side only featuring 66 dolls in total across the 3 legs.

A 4-2 victory was also secured by The Plough West Hanney against Abingdon RBL for whom Paul Ealey hit a maximum, only the second one of the night throughout the league, but the home side with a strong contribution from Mark Wheeler came out with the win with only a 1 doll advantage overall and ironically that was in the leg which saw Paul hit his maximum!!

The C section saw wins for Grove RFC, Harwellian B who included an equal top scoring 11 dolls on the night from Gary Daluz Veira and The Earl Of Abingdon A, In the D section had wins for The Bell A, Earl of Abingdon B to complete a winning double for the Earl sides and The Fox, Boars Hill for whom Rory Mangan top scored with 10 dolls against the soon to be “home again” North Star. We should mention our thanks to The Plough who have kindly “hosted” the Star whilst renovations have taken place. The pub should re-open next week!

The E section saw Challow & Childrey outscored by 1 doll on the night by Berinsfield SC B, but were still able to emerge winners on the night. Eight Bells Eaton had a very welcome 6-0 win when they visited The Crown and in the section it was a 4-2 win for current leaders The Brewery Tap and The Lamb A.

The G section which is made up almost entirely of new teams this season saw The Old Anchor claim local bragging rights when they defeated near neighbours The Black Swan and fellow newcomers The Seven Stars were 4-2 victors against The White Hart B.

The G section also included something last week that is/maybe/probably is a record that is a first in all of the history. There are 6 of the 7 sections led by teams who have won all their games played so far. Interestingly 2 of the teams are Rugby Clubs, 4 are predominately social clubs and only 2 are traditional “hostelries”, that together with our 3 football club based teams is confirmation that Aunt Sally is a game for everyone. This maybe/probably is representative of our licensed premises in these times, but it is good for our game that Aunt Sally is still able to be played in so many places.

An apology from me to anyone whose individual total scores I have missed in recent weeks (including this one) which I know includes Steve Fernback of the Fox Boars Hill, Dean Bowler of the Red Lion and I am sure several more. Not deliberate I promise!!

And now for a couple of reminders:-

Firstly, Competition entries for the Singles, Pairs, Captains and Secretaries (all open to all registered players from any section) need to be with us by next week with a closing date of May 31st (all competitions need a minimum entry of 8 and entry is just £1 per person) and will be played at Abingdon United on Sunday 28th June.

Secondly, already a number of fixtures have been postponed for sound reasons and these need to be re-arranged. Would the Captains/Secretaries please confirm the new dates as soon as possible to me please because the re-arranged games will need to be entered by the Committee in the week when they should have originally been played. Any fixtures not mutually arranged or played by the end of June may see the points to awarded against the side who originally requested the re-arrangement.

Thirdly, On Wednesday 17th June England are in World Cup action and will almost affect out fixtures that night with, hopefully, most it not all players, wanting to watch the game live. We will within the next week issue some guidance as to what the options (again they need to be mutually agreed) for fulfilling the fixtures scheduled that night.

SUMMER 2026!

By Paul Stone on 31st March 2026 in Competition News, Newsletter, Summer League Reports

We are here again for another season of Aunt Sally! Our 66th year since formation, despite being 66 years old the league is still younger than many of our players!!!

This year we have 65, yes sixty five teams entering so we now have a G section (and are still the biggest Aunt Sally league in the world!) ) Unfortunately our growth has necessitated some byes as each section our ideal make up is 10 teams but this year with 5 additional teams it means 5 sections will only have 9 teams so 16 matches instead of 18. Our simple choice was to accept all entrants or turn away some. Turning away teams is not conducive with our objectives which are to “grow our game”, encouraging more teams and players many of whom are totally new to our game, and importantly that provides custom to our local pubs and clubs!

Sections and handicaps have been calculated and teams are being set up in the score system and in parallel we are working with the printers to get the fixture list and other necessary paperwork finalised.

Sections are determined by the Committee who establish each teams top 8 2026 registered players and, use their 2025 doll average to determine the overall team average. Teams are then placed in sections which are expected to provide competitive teams of similar ability.

NEW TEAMS this year include:- The Old Anchor Abingdon, Oxford RFC , The Seven Stars Marsh Baldon. The Red Lion Northmoor, The White Hart, Harwell Check out our Venues Map to show where we play.

Welcome back to the ‘regulars’ and to all the new teams and players and a warm Diddy welcome from me to The Wheatsheaf Didcot into the A section (Tosh Woolloff and I will look forward to walking to our away match!)

League season starts slightly earlier this year in APRIL with the first league matches taking place on Wednesday 29th April.

The week before, Wednesday 22nd April will be the first rounds of the 8s Handicap Knockout competition. We have 15 entries so far so there’s still time to enter with the closing date being next Monday April 6th. You can enter via Team Support or directly via e mail to roger.nichols@hotmail.com

This year we are adjusting the handicap system from the simple ‘2 dolls a section’ approach of previous years to a section average approach based on all registered players for 2026 which benefits teams from the middle and lower sections with a doll or so extra than the previous system.

This will all be explained in your packs (and online) when Roger has done the necessary with the printers.