This category is for the newsletter posts – as these are automatically emailed out to mailing list subscribers, it should only be used for important announcements and updates.
Draw has taken place for the Semi-final of the handicap 8’s knockout:-
Abingdon Con Club vs Ab.Utd@Con Club – Con Club get +6
Abingdon RBL vs The Bell Grove – Bell get +2
Matches to take place before the end of August and the Final will be on Finals Night on 18th September.
P/A – College Oak A 4 – Berinsfield SC A 2; Legs (21-24, 25-19, 22-20)
P/A – Plum Pudding 4 – Croft Nomads 2; Legs (20-23, 24-22, 26-24)
P/A – Red Lion Drayton 4 – Abingdon Utd@ConClub 2; Legs (24-22, 27-23, 20-23)
P/A – The Vine Cumnor 0 – Bystander A 6; Legs (16-22, 21-29, 23-25)
B – Harwellian B 3 – Fleur de Lys A, Hagbourne 3; Legs (13-7, 16-16, 9-11)
B – The Bell A Grove 2 – Abingdon United C 4; Legs (9-14, 15-13, 10-12)
B – The Croft Bar 4 – The Plough Long Wittenham 2; Legs (18-11, 11-14, 13-12)
B – The Fox Denchworth 6 – Abingdon RBL 0; Legs (14-12, 13-11, 12-6)
B – The Grapes B 3 – Stanford in the Vale FC 3; Legs (13-17, 14-14, 12-9)
C – Abingdon Con Club 4 – The Bell B Grove 2; Legs (9-13, 12-10, 19-13)
C – Eight Bells Eaton 4 – The Prince of Wales Shippon 2; Legs (16-10, 16-14, 10-15)
C – The Bear and Ragged Staff Cumnor 2 – The Grapes A 4; Legs (10-11, 12-14, 15-10)
C – The Oak Didcot 4 – Boundary House 2; Legs (14-7, 12-7, 9-12)
D – Berinsfield SC B 6 – College Oak B 0; Legs (9-6, 17-8, 7-6)
D – Brewery Tap 0 – The Midget 6; Legs (7-13, 8-11, 8-11)
D – The Chequers Charney 3 – Red Lion B Drayton 3; Legs (14-8, 12-12, 10-11)
D – The Lamb A Wantage 5 – Harwellian A 1; Legs (10-8, 13-13, 15-9)
D – The Queens Arms 6 – The Plough Hanney 0; Legs (13-7, 14-11, 14-8)
E – RAL SC 0 – North Star A Steventon 6; Legs (7-11, 8-14, 12-13)
E – Steventon Sports SC B 6 – Hanney RBL 0; Legs (16-4, 7-6, 11-10)
E – The Wheatsheaf Didcot 6 – The Lamb B Wantage 0; Legs (17-10, 11-10, 17-5)
F – Fleur de Lys B Hagbourne 6 – Grove RFC 0; Legs (12-6, 10-4, 8-6)
F – Horse and Jockey B Stanford i-t-V 4 – WADS Bar 2; Legs (11-7, 9-10, 8-7)
F – North Star B Steventon 5 – Sutton Courtenay FC 1; Legs (9-4, 10-6, 4-4)
F – The Plough Appleton 0 – Marcham Centre B 6; Legs (4-11, 5-9, 5-8)
Adam Challener (The Plough Long Wittenham), Alison Connolly (Grove RFC), Chris Dennis (Sutton Courtenay FC), Ciaron Hamlet (The Lamb B Wantage), Debbie Case (Grove RFC), Dylan Thomas (WADS Bar), Gary Smith (Hanney RBL), Jack Wrigglesworth (The Bell B Grove), Jan Bargus (Grove RFC), Liam Stapleton (Hanney RBL), Mark Jones (Brewery Tap), Nic Faulkner (College Oak B), Peter Packham (The Plough Hanney), Phil Neale (The Plough Appleton), Rob France (Marcham Centre B), Shauna Simpson (WADS Bar), Wayne Budziszewski (Fleur de Lys B Hagbourne).
Leigh Clapton (Abingdon Utd@ConClub), Paul Leach (Plum Pudding).
Alan Bell 4-4-5 (Croft Nomads) – Week 12
Alex Chamberlain 4-4-5 (Berinsfield SC A) – Week 12
Dave Hudson 2-5-3 (Bystander A) – Week 12
David Dix 5-4-4 (Abingdon Utd@ConClub) – Week 12
Jamie Smith 2-2-5 (College Oak A) – Week 12
Jono Warrell 2-5-1 (Abingdon United C) – Week 12
Keith McConnell 1-3-5 (The Wheatsheaf Didcot) – Week 12
Mandy Whiting 2-1-5 (North Star A Steventon) – Week 12
Mark Newman 2-3-5 (The Prince of Wales Shippon) – Week 12
Phil Adams 3-3-5 (Abingdon Utd@ConClub) – Week 12
Richard Jones 5-3-1 (Berinsfield SC A) – Week 12
Before I start with a review of last week’s highlights I need to highlight a totally unexpected situation which we experienced last week and one which led to the unfortunate abandonment of a league match in Section E between the Bystander B and Horse & Jockey A teams. It was a situation which previously we, as a league were totally unaware of, but which we need to bring to all of our teams attention. the Horse & Jockey had a number of players unavailable so the young daughter of the team captain was playing. She was a registered player, but is only 14 years old (there is no age restriction for registering players).
If the game had been played at the Horse & Jockey there would have been no problem, but the match was at the Bystander and although there is signage displayed at the pub entrance stating the conditions there is a licensing condition imposed on the Bystander licence which restricts under age children/young adults using the pub after 9pm including the garden where Aunt Sally is played. On this occasion, and at 9pm the 14 year old from Stanford in the Vale was told she had to leave and as she was 14 and no way of getting home alone that caused the match to be postponed midway through the second leg. Quite rightly other members of the team had to ensure she had transport home from Wootton!! All very unfortunate.
We were unaware of this restriction as indeed were the visiting side from the Horse & Jockey before last Wednesday. After questioning this “rule” with the Area Manager from Greene King it appears this is just one of several “special conditions” that can be applied to licensees by the licensing authority. Breaches of this can, if reported, result in fines being levied and potentially the pub licence being revoked.
Whilst on this occasion it was addressed by the licensee and affected one of our players the restriction would also apply to ANY under age child on the premises. So if a player was to take an under age child to the Bystander as a spectator on a warm and balmy Summer’s evening particularly during the school holidays they would/should be asked to leave at 9pm and in most events with games starting 8.15 this would be midway through the match. Fortunately, both sides were mature enough to agree a match outcome, but the evening was spoilt for both sides due to this previously unknown (until last Wednesday) restriction.
A lesson for us is that we need, before registering any team in future years, to understand whether there may be any restrictions limiting the prospect of Aunt Sally being played there or even spectated by children!! Really disappointing at a time when we are trying, and this year succeeding, to “grow” the league again post Covid as well as most importantly, getting people, via the game of Aunt Sally back into pubs spending money on Wednesday evening’s throughout the Summer.
If that was the lowlight of last week let’s now move on to look at last week’s highlights.
In the Premier/A section the two leading teams in the Premier both fell to defeat to sides, who are now the leading 2 teams in the A section. Abingdon Utd/Con Club retained the Premier top position despite their 4-2 defeat at the hands of the Red Lion Drayton whose win made this a league double over Ab Utd/Con Club. This defeat was despite a contribution of 13 dolls from Dave Dix, together with 12 from Leigh Clapton (including a 6) and 11 from Phil Adams for Con Club/Utd. For the Lion Dean Bowler led the way with 11 dolls and Scottie Tabor also returned double figures with 10.
Croft Nomads lost 4-2 at the Plum Pudding and this defeat enabled the Bystander to move into second place following their comprehensive 6-0 victory over The Vine. This was The Bystander’s third win on the bounce and The Vine’s 5th straight defeat. Croft Nomads top scorer was Alan Bell with another 13 doll haul and Barry Townsend also weighed in with 10 dolls, but Paul Leach’s 11 including a second leg 6 was a major contributor for the Plum in a game where over the 3 legs were separated by only 1 doll but crucially 2 points! The Bystander top scores were all 10’s from Dave Hudson, Jason Bowler and Jumbo Mott and the collective team amassed 76 dolls on the night!
Elsewhere in the Premier Alec Chamberlain was another star with a 13 doll haul for Berinsfield SC A but his efforts were in vain as College Oak ended a 3 match losing run with a 4-2 victory.
Elsewhere last week in the B section The Croft Bar got back to winning ways with a 4-2 home win against The Plough Long Wittenham and the Fox Denchworth enjoyed their first win since the opening week of the season beating Abingdon RBL with a maximum 6 points. Notable other individual double digit scorer on the night was Mark Newman for the Prince of Wales Shippon with 10 dolls.
COMPETITIONS
I need now to move to make a last impassioned plea to save our competitions for 2024. At the recent AGM it was agreed that any Competition with less than 8 entries would not be held this summer. We have tried, now on several occasions to enrol more entries by both sending out reminders to Captains and Secretaries as well as on the website.
I am pleased to say that has, in part, been successful and we have now sufficient entries in both the singles and pairs, but we are still short in others. To run the Captains and Secretaries competitions we need 2 more entries for each, so come on, there must be some Captains and Secretaries out there who are prepared to enter and ensure the future of these competitions. Also we need at least 2 more entries for both the team 4’s and the Red Drive team of 3’s to enable those competitions to go ahead. In our last desperate plea we have decided to allow late, late entries and we will accept entries right up until after next week’s league fixtures on Wednesday August 7th.
The singles and pairs competitions will take place at Abingdon United FC on Sunday August 11th with, probably, a 1pm draw and a 1.30 start. If we do get the additional entries we need we will play the Captains and Secretaries Competitions on the same day. The 3’s and 4’s if we do get some late entries will need to be arranged although we could possibly play those on the same day using the second throw. Unfortunately it doesn’t look as we will generate sufficient entries to stage the Tom Simmon’s 5’s trophy this year. That is really unfortunate because our President John Simmons has a vested interest in this Competition having both previously been on the winning side (more than once) and as the Trophy was presented and named in memory of his father.
SO DO TRY TO RUSTLE UP ENOUGH PLAYERS TO MAINTAIN THE LONG ESTABLISHED TRADITION OF BOTH INDIVIDUAL AND TEAM COMPETITIONS TAKING PLACE EACH SEASON AND PROVIDING EVERYONE WITH THE OPPORTUNITY OF COMPETING! WITHOUT THESE COMPETITIONS IT WILL BE LIKE FOOTBALL WITHOUT THE FA CUP AND WE ALL KNOW THAT OFTEN THE UNDEDRDOGS BEAT THE FAVOURITES IN ALL SPORTS!!
The 8’s competition is taking place and has reached the semi final stage with ties to be played before the end of August and there is only one team from the Premier/A section left so that should give us all the hope of causing an upset!! The semi draw is available in a separate post.
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)
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).
Chris Judkins (Hanney RBL), David Dix (Abingdon Utd@ConClub), Phil Adams (Abingdon Utd@ConClub).
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
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).
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!!
Match ResultsP/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)
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).
Nick Moore (RAL SC).
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
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!
For all of you who spotted my not so deliberate mistake in my recent e mail thank you! I was just pre-empting my hope for next Sunday’s final! On Wednesday we will definitely be playing Holland!
Due to the somewhat unexpected result in last night’s European Championship quarter final when England, although without conviction, saw off the challenge of Switzerland and after many of you will want to watch the semi final tie on Wednesday when England will face Holland at 8pm.
Even if you don’t want to watch the game I am sure some if not all will want to and many of our venues will turn into fan zones on the night just when we are due to play our week 10 fixtures and this will make it difficult, if not impossible for all of us to get enough players to forego the football in favour iof Aunt Sally.
So the Committee has looked at a number of options and the least difficult and disruptive, and therefore the most sensible, seemed to us to postpone ALL of this weeks fixtures. This weeks fixture will now be played on Wednesday September 11th extending the league season by one week. We did look at other options, but this seemed to be the most practical, fairest and easiest to administer for individuals, teams and the league and whilst I appreciate that not everyone will be glued to TV’s on Wednesday the decision we think is the best one for both the league and all of our players who can now concentrate on supporting England with the exception I am sure of one Abingdon United player who would probably have turned up wearing Orange!
So all fixtures scheduled for Wednesday will now become the final league fixtures on September 11th. The plan agreed only last week was to hold the 3’s, 4’s and 5’s Competitions on that evening if we attract enough entries, but we will need to find another date(s) for those before the end of the season and this will probably need to be on another weekday(s) during the second half of the season as all our Wednesday’s are now full!