Welcome to the WRFC squash leagues.
Recent News & Events
Well it’s over. Phew. I think you’ll agree a real treat of a Squash Club Championships fortnight and worthy of WRFC’s 75th year. The finals day last Saturday was great entertainment and fantastic to see so many people down there, players and supporters. Apologies for the overrunning schedule – one we’ll take on for next year. Thanks to Phil and Will for sorting the finals day, also to Richard for doing the presentations and to the markers of matches. Thank you also to all the volunteers who I managed to con into doing a night or two to help run the evenings and make sure the games got played and record.
So onto the results… Well done to our Men’s Champion – James Balfour – who seems to be able to dig in when it looks like everything’s against him. Despite a close match and some fantastic winners from Ben, James took his first championship (?) with a 3-0 win. Thank you both to Nada and Jane for staging the first Ladies Championship final in recent times. In the Club Championship plate, with some great squash on display, Tim Robinson beat Obaid Dehlavi 3-1. Tim took a double win on finals day, taking the Gold Championship too, despatching the unseeded Dean Godfree. It was brute force vs youth in the Silver Championship with Oscar Golden Lee coming through against John Sawyer 3-1. The 035s plate was a real battle, Mark Williams coming back from 2-0 down to beat Richard Fitzhugh 3-2. Equally the 045s plate (or the Vets plate as Dave Peters called it) saw a mammoth battle with George ‘fling yourself into the walls’ Strydom overcoming Lewis Sammut 3-2. The Doubles Championship was dominated by youth and the El Kalaawy sisters taking both tournaments, Nada taking the Doubles Champs and Rawan the Plate event, ably assisted by Ben and Seigo respectively. Full results are below.
Club Championship James Balfour 3-0 Ben Coates
Club Championship Plate Tim Robinson 3-1 Obaid Dehlavi
Ladies Championship Nada El Kalaawy 3-0 Jane Allman
Gold Championship Tim Robinson 3-0 Dean Godfree
Gold Plate Ben Haines 3-0 Leigh Clements
Silver Championship Oscar Golden Lee 3-1 John Sawyer
Bronze Championship Steve Jarman 3-2 Richard de Jager
035s Championship Richard Balfour 3-0 Byron Davies
035s Plate Mark Williams 3-2 Richard Fitzhugh
045s Byron Davies 3-1 Dave Timperley
045s Plate George Strydom 3-2 Lewis Sammut
Doubles Championship Ben Coates/Nada El Kalaawy 3-2 Richard Balfour/Rob Cameron
Doubles Plate Seigo Masuda/Rawan El Kalaawy 3-1 Geoff Chapman/Byron Davies
I think you'll also agree an excellent BBQ put on in the evening despite challenging weather conditions, and also good to see a certain few members (who shall remain nameless) ensuring the club bar was used until late!
Thanks all for playing and wishing you all a good summer of squash!
Calling all squash players, friends, non members welcome. Following an incredibly successful club champs so far, please try to make yourself available to party at the club for the 75th birthday from 7pm this saturday.
We have 13 finals culminating in the Club championship at 6pm leading straight in to a BBQ and party night. It would be great to get a strong Squash presence to reflect the current success. Hope to see you there !
Before we launch back in to another summer season (coming soon w/c May 13th), i thought it best to close off our 11/12 Winter promotion season with a summary of the main performances.
Rather than writing a lengthy text i thought i would supply the stats and you can draw your own conclusions! Stats only relate to 5th Team squad members who played more than 3 games. Well done guys and thanks for your continued support.
We should also give mention and thanks to the 6th team. They stepped in and played 12 rubbers for us throughout the season, winning 10 of those. Well done stepping up a division and shows they easily deserved their own promotion! Stats Below (hope they have formatted ok)
Just tying up a few changes, we should be good to go by tomorrow morning, please check back then!
Anyone interested in playing a doubles fixture at the RAC club in Epsom on Thursday 28th June please drop me an email. We need 10 people, it is a great fun evening and hospitality is top class. First come first served. john.cross@uk.qbe.com
Just to keep you updated, we now have circa 25 people attending the end of season team dinner & drinks on Friday 16th March. An email with all the details will be circulated shortly. If you have accepted then please mark in your diary and look forward to seeing you all on the 16th. Good luck for the remainder of the season and thanks for all of your support.
Hey all, the new leagues are on their way tonight. Just waiting on new joiners and leavers to be confirmed before we go live. Apologies for the delay.
Following the success of the team players xmas party and the performance of all our 6 teams this winter season, we thought it only right that we have an end of season celebration. Idea was to have a meal at the club from 7pm onwards and then take us wherever the night unfolds. Maybe on the week following the last match – thurs 15th or fri 16th March ? Once we know numbers we can get back to you with prices. Please email phillip@wimbledonclub.co.uk & John.cross@uk.qbe.com All the best for the remainder of the season
A brief update before moving into the festive transfer window.
As promised i have not kept up to date with match reports but i’m sure the lengthy ones bore you in any event. Following on from Warlingham away we cruised to victory 19-3 over Nuffield West Byfleet 3, 14-7 victory over David Lloyd Hampton 3 and a 19-5 win away at Ebbisham 3 was particularly pleasing as we had three 6th team players playing up.
A reminder that David Timperley hosts a training session every tuesday night from 7.20. This session is specifically aimed at people playing in the gold leagues.
Reminder - at the club Thursday 15th December, please contact Phil Rushworth if you have not already booked your place.
Our imported Yorkshire Number 1 met his maker and played against a gifted player – lost 3-0. His opponent was younger than 21 (too young to holiday in Vegas), and tells us he is on course to make £2-3 million in poker in the next few years, before investing everything in property (Simon, you may have a new client) and relaxing for the rest of his life. We wished him luck, and asked him what time his mum was collecting him from the game.
Fresh from our victory over the previously unbeaten New Malden, we headed down to bottom of the table Purley confident of securing a large number of points to give our campaign a little more momentum.
The first team were given a boost ahead of the fixture against West Byfleet, with the news that the new team shirts had arrived. A big thank you to Steve Payne for organising the shirts which look splendid!
I thought it would be a good idea (I don’t come up with many) to organise a Squash Christmas dinner for all our players that are involved in team squash at WR & FC. The kitchen are getting very booked up with Christmas bookings as they have always been hugely successful! So I have reserved Thursday 15th December for us.
The dinner is 3 courses with all the trimmings & is £15 per head.
Please let me know if you would like to reserve a place as soon as possible.
Phil
Preceding this match there was plenty of chat regarding the team order for our battle against the league leaders New Malden. Larry wasn’t really convinced of his position at the top of the tree, some complaints about mint sauce disagreeing with him and not really liking the smell of rosemary. Plus the idea of playing our top five nominations had been scuppered by H (sorry Mr H) being unavailable, so NPC had to step in to become NNPC.
It was a great week for the WRFC teams in Surrey with five wins out of five.
The second team took on and defeated local rivals Surbiton 16-8. The highlight of this match was the 5 set battle of the former housemates James Greenhead and former Wimbledon player Dan Carpenter which sadly went to the bad guys, you'll get him on the return James!
The 3s again took it to the wire, as is their wont this season, with a 3-2 win at New Malden which proved last week was just a glitch. Partially disabled captain Petch came off the bench for the first time this season and hacked his way to three valuable points which set the team on course.
A rearguard action from the 4th team lower order saved the day, convincing wins from veterans Austin, Fairclough plus a spritely Claudet provided the points to see off Purley.
Mark Williams stepped up a team and did the business for the fifth team in a close encounter of the Warlingham kind. Obaid and Timps also stormed to victory giving us the match 3-2.
The 6th team kept their 100% record with a crushing 4-1 victory over Dorking and stay right at the top of their div. A big game on the horizon with unbeaten Surbiton just around the corner will determine who goes into the Christmas break on top of the pile.
Following the team reorganisation i promised myself two things at the beginning of the winter season. Firstly we would not lose a fixture all season and secondly to be more like Dom, the new 4th team captain. The second probably needs more explanation than the first, Dom always delivers on the match reports which i keep promising to emulate, but more importantly DF never drives to a fixture as it is his night for the beers (even if this means getting a bus) and for this he certainly needs commending. Being in charge of a carless team could make for a long season for him but i wish him well on his travelcard journies.
After the summer leagues the decision was taken to reorganise the teams due to the fact both the 3rd team captain, Dom and myself, John were no longer making the starting line up of the team we managed. It was either this or retirement from the cut and thrust of top level competitive squash...., time for drastic action.
All the clubs have been closed down... too much fighting on the dance floor.... As most of you know yours truly on the eve of the 4ths big game against Purley could be found tired and emotional, teary eyed and brother cuddling in the middle of Brixton after midnight having experienced an epic night watching the Specials at the Academy. I will shut up about it now.
After a great start to the season, with a couple of nail biting finishes the thirds where flying high after our photo-shoot, when Dorking showed for our home fixture. A continued cracking selection policy by NPC, provided another season début, this time for Mr Harvey. Mind you if half the team are ill, injured or just showing poor commitment (playing in another county - Livestrong) it makes these things easier. I have nothing to say on the matter of Reliable and Havit both coming down with the flu on the same week..... Pre WRC final nerves no doubt.
And so it came to pass that technology finally caught up with the old man. Yes you may be as busy as Dr Fox's best man and don't know if you are coming or going (or giving or receiving) but now I can still knock up a match report while watching the goggle box late on a Sunday night on my iPad thing or on my crack berry or for all I know my new kettle is probably wi fi connected.
Hey all, the site has been mostly broken this weekend after an upgrade went horribly wrong!
I have 90% restored the Gold leagues but there is a chance some people may not be in the same league they were previously. If this is the case please let me know and I will rectify it.
If you could hold off entering any results for the time being I would be most grateful.
Away matches, everyone’s favourite especially when your team selection contains a minimum number of drivers. After promises of driving from Havit, we ended up getting our new addition (Don’t Call Me Tubs - DCMT) to drive everyone to Colets. Although it must be said answering the phone as a home emergency response for the driver was an interesting experience - thanks to Dani for letting Drives out to play. Perhaps buses are the way forwards after all.
The problem with having such a gifted squad is the fact that you can’t play everyone, so with the first match of the season looming I decided to step aside and operate as an NPC for the first match. Many thanks to the insightful mind of JB who asked if this stood for ‘now playing crap’ – yes it could well have done, but that’s beside the point. So after completing the new ‘speed sessions’ offered on court 5, I headed back with the rest of the ‘speed squad’ to see how the Thirds were getting on.
Buses. They are the way forward. As instructed by WB I boarded the 131, squash bag on shoulder with map in hand and said to Drives “take me to New Malden squash club there’s a good chap” to which he retorted “don’t get cocky with me son or you will be off my f@@king bus”. Charming.
Golf. It should not be that difficult. Hitting a ball with a stick into a hole. What complicates matters is of course all the mind gubbins; should I get further away from the ball? Should I swing more slowly? Should I adjust my feet? Should i be playing such a ridiculous game? Put simply if we could clear all the cerebral detritus then one's sporting proficiency should improve.
A common theme is emerging with Skippers availability for match reports……….. he was once again otherwise engaged so could not make the penultimate match yesterday – another work golf jolly, it’s a tough life! But the match report from Wednesdays game is en route shortly we hear, alongside the one against the 2nd team – or is that still too painful to write?
As some of you may know, Skipper has been sunning himself in the Mediterranean for the past few weeks – tough life being a lawyer / solicitor / paralegal / barrister (delete as appropriate). So in his continued absence I was volunteered to be Dom for the night!
The 3rd team made probably the longest trek of the season down to Dorking – a lovely part of the world, rolling hills, fresh air, and according to someone in the team……… full of inbreds! Skipper had given us 3 weeks off to go and think about our future after some pitiful performances against the lucky duffers in the 2nds – threats have been made about chopping out dead wood to be replaced by younger models, fantastic motivation for some members of the team!
So, we have had two matches since my last missive. One against our mates at the RAC and the other against our superiors from the club (aka the second team).
Second match of the Summer season for the 3rd team last night involved the long and arduous trek to Christophers – our sister club in Wimbledon. The 3rd team normally pop along there and play celebrity squash players and a few familiar faces that we’ve had tough matches against down the years………. But that’s their third team, so we weren’t quite sure what to expect as we had to play their first team, how did that happen!?
Well, we stuck to tradition and went with the old lulling the rest of the league into a false sense of security tactic and decided to come second last night against Spencer 1 at our place.
The 4th team travel to RAC club this evening knowing that they have won the division 6R title without having to gain a single point. RAC are placed in runners up spot, trailing by 25 points with only this fixture left to play.
Upon arrival at the village next to Brighton Geoff and I discovered we were the only ones who were on time! That said Geoff had been in intensive altitude training for the previous 2 weeks for this crunch match and was determined to leash his new found lung capacity on court 2. His thin, frail, dejected opponent was no match for the avalanches of good squash that came his way and quickly snow balled to 3-1 defeat!! Good work Geoff Glarus Alps Chapman!
So I was at Twickenham on Saturday to see the charge to the Grand Slam gaining momentum whilst on Sunday I managed to see one of the greatest cricket one day games I can remember before watching Birmingham steal a last gasp victory in the worthless cup final rounded off with Luke Donald’s victory in the World Match play. Where would our squash match against Christophers 2 last Thursday fit into the pantheon of sporting greatness? Probably below those events .That does not mean though that it was without excitement. It was certainly a feisty encounter with some rather close matches and some less so.
After two very close defeats to Colets and St.Georges Hill in successive weeks, Wimbledon finally came out on top against one of the stronger teams, Esporta.
The Wimbledon crowd were treated to a very special night of squash against a strong St.Georges Hill team. The final score (4-1 defeat) doesn’t really show the overall picture, as Wimbledon pushed their opposition to the maximum, which on another night could have quite easily have ended in a 3-2 win.
We trekked down to Purley last Thursday, sadly without our young, hirsute captain, but we did have a strong line up of Greek, Reliable, Vice Skipper, Eubank and Whisky Boy. We had a few minor transportation issues due to punctures and confusion as who does and doesn’t have cars – but we all got there in the end.
It all came flooding back to me last night as we journeyed to the big man’s alma mater in Guildford - the 7 hours per week lectures and tutorials at which I was rarely present. The need to explain at the end of the first term to my tutor that I was still on the course and had not left the university (it was Loughborough for those interested) the accusations of being a complete waste of space having scraped a third in year 2 before the 2 years abroad allowed me to find myself and storm the last year with a first to enable me to get a 2.1 overall. Oh academia whither now?
Another demolition of lowly Surbiton has seen the first team move into their highest league position for many years at this stage in the season. All this despite putting out what was probably the youngest ever team to brace the Surrey Cup Division 1.
So baby balloon is grumpy late one night as he cannot get to sleep. “I know!” he thinks “I will go and get into Mummy and Daddy’s bed” so he bounces into their room and jumps up on to their bed but realises he cannot fit in. “I know” he thinks and he proceeds to deflate Mummy a bit to give him more room in the bed so he undoes her releases some air and ties Mummy back up and then tries to get in but still no joy.
Well I enjoyed myself last night and managed to get stuck into some ale and (league please note) I bought my own food. I must also say that the meal provided by the club was plentiful and tasty as was the banter with Christophers third team’s resident celebrity who seems to be a lot jollier when he is victorious.
After 3 dreadful seasons of relegation, relegation and relegation the 4th team have finally bounced back.
Well we played again last night against Princes and Yours Truly took 3 points before I arrived owing to the fact that our oppo could only field a team of four. I did flirt with the idea of having a hit with someone but the call of the ale was too strong.
Starting from this league all results will
start to count towards your ranking.
We have compiled the current score using
all your results from league results in
2010, have a look at them here
It all seems like a distant memory owing to an intervening golf day and a weekend of frolics but I do have a vague recollection of our second match of the season at home to Dorking on Thursday. I apologise for the delayed report and for any resulting errors in accuracy.
So we stuck to the plan of the last few seasons and lost our first match against Christophers 3s at their place last night to lull the rest of the league into a false sense of security.
See how you did in the last league and see who you have got this league. Do try to remember your game scores as we can record them for posterity and for some interesting statistics later on.