Newbury HA1 Retain The Superleague
Mike Till reports:
25/07/24: The Westway Summer Super League has now concluded following the final round of matches on Tuesday evening. I am delighted to announce that Newbury HA1 were the deserved winners for the second year in a row - many congratulations to Will Thomas and his band of players.
They were certainly the most consistent team and managed to score points and win games every time they stepped on court. Nonetheless, they had to work hard for their wins, and they were worthy of their successes.
It was a close-run thing for the other positions, the Old Cantabs enjoyed a strong finish that took them ahead of Lancing to claim the runners up slot. None of the other teams were ever outclassed and all managed to put in good performances and play some very entertaining Fives.
The spirit of the Super League is the key thing, and the matches were played in a wonderful spirit and all appeared to enjoy their time on court on those balmy Westway evenings as the sun dipped below the tower blocks and the warm zephyrs drifted across the courts from the A4 flyover. We introduced a handicap system for the matches this year and I think it was a success as the more occasional players were able to start their matches in the knowledge that, at least at the beginning, the score was to their advantage. Indeed, several players took part in their first ever competitive Fives matches and a number of others were making a welcome return to court after some time away from the game.
Encouraging these players is really what the Super League is all about. My thanks to everyone for giving this new initiative a go and being so willing to make a success of it.
My thanks also to the team captains for all the time spent getting a team out at the appointed time. Arranging to get 16 players on court at Westway for 7.00 p.m. on a weekday really is an exercise in herding cats. It goes without saying that all appreciated the efforts made by them that enabled the matches to take place and I am grateful to the match captains for the hours spent on What’sApp sending desperate messages begging for that one extra player to ensure a fixture could still go ahead.
Many congratulations to Noah Caplin of Westway 1 as he proved to be far and away the most accurate marksman as he managed to achieve at total of 14 shots in the hole. Even more remarkable as he did not play in all of the games.
All that remains for me is to wish everyone a very pleasant summer. It won’t be long before the new season begins!
