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March 2010: OI and OW veterans battle it out on court

Simon Woolfries reports:

The first ever match between the Very Old Ipswichians and the Very Old Westminsters creaked its way onto court at Westminster earlier this week as the veterans of the two clubs battled it out over three pairs in what the two teams hope may be the precursor to a future Veterans mini-league.


The VOIs defeated the VOWs at Westminster recently by 345 to 330 – how so?

The veteran OI side were a combined 15 years older than the venerable OWs but managed to win the one-off challenge 2-1.

The VOIs fielded the youngest player in the match – the infantile John Levick at 47 – as well as the oldest, Mike Fenn celebrating his 69th. birthday on the day.

Both teams included some rare ‘Fives Fossils’ who had not been seen on the surface for many aeons – John Collett for the VOIs and Paul Hooper for the VOWs for example.

The third pairs were the first to finish, sparing Fenn and Collett (combined age 130) a long ordeal. The second court tapped out three long and closely contested games, but something approaching decent Fives occurred in the first court, where the draw of the pub and the keen battle for the first two games restricted the contest to best of three .

EVERYONE went to the pub and few mobile communications devices were in evidence, which greatly contributed to the atmosphere of conviviality and nostalgia.

Is any one else interested in arranging Very Old Fives matches – either based on one club, or around scratch teams? The VOWs and the VOIs will certainly be repeating their meeting next season.

Match result: Very Old Ipswichians beat Very Old Westminsters 2-1

P Boughton & J Levick lost to N Margerison & J Shaw

12-9, 8-12, 1-12

S Woolfries & R Wood beat A Aitken & J Sanderson

12-7, 12-9, 13-12

M Fenn & J Collett beat R Grant & P Hooper

12-9, 12-8, 12-1