Westway Summer Superleague 2025
Freddie Rowe reports:
18/08/25:The Summer Superleague has reached a conclusion and Westway 2 take home the trophy!
If you’re only here for a bullet point then that’s your take-home. Savour it!
As many of you know Superleague was taken in-house by Team Westway this summer and revamped to be back closer to its original roots—same 4 players in a team but always No 4 was reserved for a player not normally in tournaments or the League and eager to try this out. Having a team of 4 distinct levels was credited with bringing more players into the mix and adding excitement and bonhomie to the evening’s fare.
After various comings and goings, defunct promises and lost causes six teams were left to compete. And each received an immediate financial bonus—a team would pay no more than £70 to cover all their costs! As the league proceeded, we whittled that down to zero!!
After Lancing had mauled a couple of teams the battle was on to bring them back into the pack.
Old Cits had a nervous start but, when they got the required muscle out, results slewed their way.
Cantabulous and Scratch That played in a volatile fashion and few results if any could be predicted.
Westway 1&2 hit the ground running, then hit an obstacle or two, before facing up to each other what in the end was a title decider and came away honours even.
The rest of the pack sensed an opening but couldn’t quite bring home the haul of points required.
One of the other big changes (did I mention everyone played free?) was the creation of a ringers group of helpful servants of the game ready, able and willing to step in for any gaps. This took a lot of the anxiety that comes with running a team out of the mix. Every captain and their players were a credit to themselves, each other and the game itself. In the end everyone kept to the rules, the many extra players enjoyed their taste of the games and the pub seemed to be unusually full of cultured accents on many occasions. Naturally Fives players brough that down to a more rumbustious level where they could enjoy Padron or pizza with equal gusto.
In any tournament there’s always room for improvement. Starting earlier in May and a couple more teams were early thoughts (Recreating the Beast league was still in the mix as a parallel competition)
The relaxed attitude to having on-court authority to change teams to create better games was tried, trusted and ticked. Obviously the people who had a better time were the honoured captains who found things easier and more rewarding for themselves. The players were a credit to the game and each other as well as introducing a few more to the competitive game. All were ever helpful to do whatever they could to create a better sporting environment. Any negative thoughts haven’t surfaced with the organisers even though lawyers and bailiffs have been stood down. What a happy ship of bunnies!
