Watfordttblog

Watford League Handicap Cup - 1st Round Draw

Home team shown first. If you need to alter the date the match must be played in the same week

Monday 25th Jan 
  Audit "B" vs Watling "A"
  Watling "C" vs Watling "B"
  Post Office vs Oxhey Hall "A"
  Panthers vs Aardvarks
  Audit "A" vs Jaguars

Wednesday 27th Jan
   Meercats vs Watling "D"
   Newts vs Bats
   Eagles vs Lions
   WWCC "A" vs Kangaroos

Thursday 28th January
   Cougars vs Abbots Langley
   Iguanas vs Oxhey Hall "B"
   Hounds vs Falcons

Teams with byes in first round Gazelles, WWCC "B", Ospreys, Dolphins

Queries or questions contact : Stuart Seaholme

Closed Tournament Bumper Entry forces PLAYING SCHEDULE CHANGES!!

Good news first. The entry for this years tournament has been best for years!!! The down side is that as a result we considered we needed to reschedule some events.

Monday 4th Jan will now be Div 1, 2 and 3 singles. This event has been moved from Wed 6th Jan.

Tuesday 5th Jan remains the junior events. Play starts at 7pm. If you can help support and umpire there should be some time after the junior events for you to have a short practice.

Wednesday 6th Jan now solely dedicated to a very large mens doubles entry.

Thursday 7th Jan now solely dedicated to veterens singles as another large entry. The handicap singles has been postponed. That event is likely to be played later in the season

Sunday 8th Jan remains as planned with mens singles, womens singles, mixed doubles followed by the finals for all events starting at 4.30pm approx. Finals followed by refreshments should all be over by 8.30pm.

The Mayor of Watford is likely to attend some of the finals and make presentations. Please make the effort to get along and support.

Stuart Seaholme

Merry Christmas !!!

The Watford & District Table tennis league committee would like to wish everyone a very merry Christmas!!!

Thank you all for making the first half of the season a very enjoyable one... Good luck to all those who have entered our Championships in January, and we wish you all good fortune in the league during 2010.

Thanks to all those that have contributed so far to the Watford Table Tennis Blog during 2009 and we encourage those who have not to be 'a little more bold' in 2010 and join in the fun !!

Now... hang up the bat for a few days (that includes you Roger and Chris!! ) and enjoy the festive season!!

Watford Table Tennis League.

Bats vs Cougars - played Wed 16th Dec 2009

5 games and 2 wins by Stuart Seaholme for Bats against Paul Erdunast and Graham Gorb balanced by 2 wins from Tony Dias beating Neil Seaholme and David Warren and a win by Graham over Neil meant the match was finely balanced at 2 -3 to the Cougars.

David next up against Paul but the first leg to Paul at 7-11. not looking good for Bats so an urgent tactics chat required and David was able to pull himself together and won the next three legs 11, 7 and 3.

Match all square. Stuart in to defeat Tony 3 straight then to the doubles. Neil and David combined well to sweep past Paul and Graham 3-0 so Bats turned a possible defeat into a trilling 5-3 victory.

Geof I have score card & will hand in soon

Match report by : Stuart Saeholme

Finals Night Postponed ??

Ping pong merrily on high

Finals night was cancelled

Just coz snow fell from the sky

A reason insubstantial

 

Wha-a-a-a-a-a  Wha-a-a-a-a-a

The oppositions bleating

Wha-a-a-a-a-a Wha-a-a-a-a-a

Cannot take a beating !

 

merry xmas

 

Poem by : Ian Banfield ( all his own work !! )

Update on Will Maybanks

I dropped in and had a brief chat with Will Maybanks and Jeanette last night (Wednesday 23rd December 2009), Will is back in the UK from Hungary for approximately 3 weeks.

Will has been training hard in Budapest and playing in the Austrian Premier league at position no.2 for Linz. This means Will is getting to play all the better players in the opposing teams. Will has won 7 matches and lost 21, which shows he still has a long way to go. It is now half way through the season, and Will's coaches said if he won 10 matches in the whole season that would be a reasonable performance, so with Will improving all the time, hopefully he will beat the initial expectation and win even more matches in the second half.

William will be measuring his progress with a rare UK based tournament outing in Doncaster early in the new year, so it will be interesting to see how he gets on there... it's been over a year since Will competed here in the UK. Entrants for the Watford tournament will be pleased to here that the Doncaster grand prix tournament clashes with the Watford Closed so Will has withdrawn his entry from our local tournament!

Speaking with Jeanette (Will's mum) she indicated that she would be back on the Table Tennis scene playing in Watford after Xmas. Jeanette had a hip replacement some 12 months back, and is now ready to pick up the cudgels (or rather Table Tennis bat) again. I'm sure I can speak for all of us in welcoming Jeanette back into the fold, and we look forward to seeing her at the table again very soon!

Report by : Chris Ogle

No Table Tennis tonight at Queens - 22nd Dec 2009

The weather has beaten us. No Table Tennis tonight at Queens. If you know anyone who may have go please telephone them.
 
Not open on 29th December. Tuesday 5th Jan it is the junior events of the Watford Tournament. They will be playing later than usual so adults please do not turn up at 8pm expecting to practice. You are very welcome to come along at 7pm and help with the umpiring and create some atmosphere. We have good some kids but many will be playing there first competitive games and it would be nice to have an audience If you do come early I will let you knock once the juniors finish.
 
I wish you all a happy christmas and new year and look forward to seeing you during the tournament and especially at the finals on Sunday 10th January from 4.30pm
 
Stuart Seaholme

CUP FINALS POSTPONED !!!

Sorry everyone I feel there is no alternative than to postpone the cup finals. The school car park has not been cleared & road conditions are very bad. You will have difficulty getting there & I suspect even more trouble getting home
 
I will advise a new date asap
 
Stuart Seaholme

CONTROVERSY - A NON Match Report !!

The Division 1 fixture - Oxhey vs Eagles match was a drab, jinxed affair that defies a match report even from the most imaginative of  authors. The match was won by Eagles but very much harder than the score of 7-1 would suggest.

The match itself was ruined and over shadowed by external influences. First Ian arrived to slip and slide in mud and puddles in a pitch black car park and already reeling from a bereavement wanted even less to play table tennis ..but no reserve could be found.
 
Secondly in the aforementioned pitch black secluded car park half way through the evening, an unlucky member of the home team had his car smashed into and property stolen.
 
Thirdly in the only home success, Ian despite comfortable at 2 sets to 1 up, was so distracted by hoots and noise behind the partition from lager louts watching that nights Sky football that the intense concentration needed to defeat a grimly determined John Batiovsky was totally lost-not to return. next two sets lost to 4 and 2!

The doubles was then understandably conceded in order to speak to the police.

James Banfield played two entertaining matches. first to beat Gerry Loader in three dueces  and then to beat John Batiovsky in a game where both players played neared their best.
 
Surely two issues must be addressed if this venue is to remain as a league fixture possibility

1. lighting and a CCTV camera should be installed in the car park
2. Loud bursts of noise from behind a thin wooden screen must be controlled in some shape or form.

Sorry Oxhey chaps - you are extremely nice friendly people but your venue leaves a lot to be desired!
 
Tips to visiting teams :-

1. Park in the street under a lamp post.
2. Wear wellies to negotiate the car park if its been raining.
3. Take earplugs for use if its football night in the bar.

Only good to come from the evening was that Spurs won the football 3-0

Match report by : Ian Banfield

WWCC 'A' vs Dolphins - 16th December 2009

West Watford Conservative Club (soon to be renamed Urban Progress (WBGS)) kept the Premier championship very much alive with a victory over Dolphins at the Grammar School stadium last night.

Dolphins had Ricky Tarani, Kevin williams and Gordon Cape with WWCC 'A' fielding the usual suspects, Chris Ogle, Roger Pyle and a re-invigorated Alan Thomas. The evening was made very special with a rare guest appearance of the WWCC 'A' team captain Howard Davies who these days is better known for his umpiring abilities and expertise on knee complaints!!

The match kicked off around 7:50pm with the first game on Alan Thomas and Kevin williams... Alan took the first leg but in the end it was ground out until the 5th set where Alan just managed to hold out to put the home side 1-0 up.

Chris Ogle in fine form quickly despatched Gordon Cape to take the home side 2-0 up but the runaway victory was checked when Ricky Tarani beat Roger in a 16-14 fifth set thriller. The Home side however continued their steady march when Chris Ogle overcame Kevin Williams 3-0 and this was further consolidated when Roger beat Gordon Cape 3-0 in a one sided affair. This game was played a little out of sequence as Ricky was also playing in another match on the adjacent table, a cup game in the Wembley and Harrow league...

Alan Thomas then back at the table to face Ricky Tarani with the home side already 4-1 up. Alan proved he was back from what has been an 'Annus Horribilis' for him so far this year with a revenge victory against Ricky from earlier in the season. 5-1 to the good, the doubles was now played to give Ricky a break between the two singles games. The home side pairing of Roger Pyle and Alan Thomas proving much too strong for Kevin Williams and Gordon Cape.

At 6-1 the last game Chris vs Ricky had a point riding in it, but the earlier inspiration against Roger deserted Ricky as he went down convincingly to power shots on both wings from Chris.

Final result 7-1 to WWCC 'A' and max points from a game played in good spirits and according to the umpire a cold hall!