Kinnaird Cup: Houlden & Young Become New Champions
08/04/24: The remarkable thirteen year winning streak in the Kinnaird Cup in association with Advanta Wealth was finally broken yesterday as Riki Houlden & Hugo Young defeated Seb Cooley & Tom Dunbar in the 2024 final at Berkhamsted.
R.Houlden & H.Young (1) beat S.Cooley & T.Dunbar (2) 3-1 (3-12, 12-0, 14-13, 12-8)
The Eton Fives Association was founded in 1924 and is celebrating its centenary this year. The first Kinnaird final was played one year later in 1925 and since then there have been 90 finals played, with the holding of the event a little bit patchy in the early years and an extended break for World War Two. Unbelievably, Tom Dunbar has played in over 25% of those finals, the first back in 2002, winning nineteen of them, including thirteen in a row with Seb Cooley since they first joined forces in 2011. Both are now in their forties but still at the top of their game and while their grip on the other two main trophies - the London and the Northern - has loosened in recent years, the one that has really mattered to them, the Kinnaird Cup, has remained out of reach to all challengers for thirteen successive seasons.
This finally changed at Berkhamsted yesterday where last year's runners-up, Riki Houlden & Hugo Young, ended the most incredible winning streak in the history of Eton Fives (and surely one that must be right up there with any sport, anywhere), coming from a game down to win 3-1 in front of a large and enthralled crowd, who were lucky enough to watch close to three hours of magnificent Fives.
The first stanza of the match was very much business as usual for the defending champions, who played a near flawless first game to win 12-3, returning plenty of cuts, dominating the volley and hardly making a mistake, while Riki & Hugo struggled to come close to Seb & Tom's return percentage and failed to make much attacking impression on the game as a result.
There have been plenty of matches in the past where a first game scoreline like that would be a prelude to an inevitable procession in the next two games. Such has been the quality of Riki & Hugo's Fives this season, that never seemed likely but even so the turnaround from game one to game two was as unexpected as it was dramatic. Suddenly the momentum was all the other way: Riki & Hugo were the ones returning cuts, Seb & Tom started making uncharacteristic mistakes and the result was a runaway 12-0 win, a first in the Kinnaird final, at least in the finals where the game scores have been recorded for posterity.
After two one-sided games, the third turned out to be a nail-biter and pivotal to the outcome of the match. For the first time, the two pairs were matching each other shot for shot and point for point as the score reached 9-9. While it was by no means guaranteed that the winner of this game would go on to win the match, it was clear that getting over the line in this one would be a massive step towards victory for the pair that managed it. The first move was made by Riki & Hugo, both finding the perfect length on a volley to move to 11-9. A nerveless Dunbar cut saved the first game point and two excellent rallies and winners from Seb on the next hand levelled the scores at 11-11, with the game now extended to foot at 13. Tom & Seb also scored the next point to go 12-11 ahead, before missing a decent chance to get to 13-11 and then hitting one slightly long to bring Riki & Hugo back to 12-12. A fine winner from Riki gave the Westminsters a second chance to win the game, which this time was saved by a trademark Dunbar volley, before another winner from Tom took the game to 13-13, with Seb serving at second hand. Seb produced an excellent return from a good gameball cut and a lengthy rally ensued, before Seb snatched at a tricky left-hand volley when the ball could perhaps have been left for Tom behind him. Seb's disappointment at missing that chance was then compounded as he almost immediately hit a straightforward right hand volley down from Riki's gameball return of cut to see the game slip away 13-14.
The fourth game saw Riki & Hugo continue in the ascendancy, establishing a 9-4 lead. The last few points are often the hardest, however, and Tom & Seb gradually picked away at the lead, pulling the score back to 9-8 and giving themselves a glimpse of a route back into the match. It wasn't to be, though, as Riki & Hugo held their nerve impressively, despite the pressure being heaped on them by the occasion and by their opponents, and moved away again to 10-8 (the relief from the breathing space given by reaching 10 first clearly visible on their faces), before closing the match out 12-8.
This was a fantastic performance from Riki & Hugo, who become the first Old Westminsters ever to win the Kinnaird Cup and who have completed the perfect season, with wins as a pair in the London, Northern and Kinnaird and as a team in the Alan Barber Cup and the league. The challenge for them now will be to see if they can keep their game at the level necessary to retain the trophy next year. After all, they only need nineteen more wins to overtake Tom at the top of the all time list.
As for Tom & Seb, perhaps the interesting comparison is with Real Tennis legend Rob Fahey, winner of twelve consecutive world championships between 1994 and 2014. Eventually he lost his crown in 2016 to long term challenger Camden Riviere...and then promptly won it back again a few weeks short of his 50th birthday in 2018 against the same opponent.
For now, though, it is enough to congratulate Tom & Seb on setting records that may well never be beaten and to congratulate Riki & Hugo on a terrific performance, one that has been some time and an awful lot of effort and hard work in the making. Finally it is worth noting that while the standard of play from all four players was absolutely exceptional, so too was the spirit in which the game was played and the sportsmanship demonstrated by both pairs was a perfect example of exactly how to play the game properly to everyone watching.
Our thanks go to Advanta Wealth for their sponsorship, to Berkhamsted for hosting the final and to all of the spectators who came to watch and helped make it such a memorable afternoon.
