Final Press report 2014-2015
East Lancs. Table Tennis League: Final Press Report of season 2014-2015:
From Neil (East Lancs. Table Tennis League Press Officer)
Mob 07480 152268
Premier division league
Name |
Played |
Points |
B. L. C. Clarets |
18 |
463 |
Ramsbottom A |
18 |
398 |
East Lancs 1st |
18 |
381 |
K. Ward Plumbing |
18 |
379 |
East Lancs 2nd |
18 |
350 |
Hyndburn TTC A |
18 |
321 |
Brierfield |
18 |
317 |
Ramsbottom B |
18 |
316 |
Rovers |
18 |
299 |
The Lions |
18 |
167 |
Premier Individual Merit Top 5
(players who haven’t played in at least half the matches plus 1 are excluded as per rules)
Name |
Team |
Sets % |
Michael Moir |
Hyndburn TTC ‘A’ |
96.12 |
Martin Wyatt |
Ramsbottom A |
75.00 |
Dave Kay |
B.L.C Clarets |
74.52 |
Keith Lee |
B.L.C Clarets |
68.97 |
Andrea Harrison |
B.L.C Clarets |
68.78 |
Premier Division Doubles: Winners- K.Ward Plumbing, Runners up- Ramsbottom A
First division
Name |
Played |
Points |
Old Masters A |
20 |
464 |
Ramsbottom C |
20 |
453 |
Whalley Hawks |
20 |
447 |
Hyndburners |
20 |
446 |
KSB A |
20 |
409 |
Whalley Eagles |
20 |
399 |
Mavericks |
20 |
357 |
Hyndburn TTC B |
20 |
340 |
Whalley Kestrels |
20 |
339 |
Tackyfire |
20 |
293 |
20 |
256 |
First Division Individual Merit Top 5
(players who haven’t played in at least half the matches plus 1 are excluded as per rules)
Name |
Team |
Sets % |
Howard Whewell |
Old Masters A |
97.25 |
Daven Argile |
KSB B |
80.58 |
Duncan Rigby |
Hyndburners |
79.26 |
Adam Robinson |
Whalley Hawks |
67.19 |
Dominic Siddall |
Ramsbottom C |
63.46 |
First Division Doubles: Joint Winners- Old Masters A & Hyndburners
Second division league
Name |
Played |
Points |
Ramsbottom D |
16 |
434 |
Doals Marauders |
16 |
390 |
Rolling Doals |
16 |
305 |
Brierfield B |
16 |
299 |
Old Masters B |
16 |
264 |
KSB C |
16 |
262 |
Best Centre Jets |
16 |
262 |
KSB D |
16 |
261 |
Hyndburn TTC C |
16 |
257 |
Second Division Individual Merit Top 5(players who haven’t played in at least half the matches plus 1 are excluded as per rules)
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Second Division Doubles: Winners- Ramsbottom D, Runners up- Rolling Doals
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Third division league
Name |
Played |
Points |
Best Centre Raptors |
14 |
371 |
Ramsbottom E |
14 |
342 |
Slayers |
14 |
334 |
Whalley Falcons |
14 |
227 |
KSB E |
14 |
202 |
Doals Vikings |
14 |
191 |
Best Centre Phantoms |
14 |
171 |
Whalley Merlins |
14 |
167 |
Division Three Individual Merit Top 5
(players who haven’t played in at least half the matches are excluded)
Name |
Team |
Sets % |
Harry Bell |
Ramsbottom E |
78.69 |
Dylan Storey |
Best Centre Raptors |
74.63 |
Richard Tokeley |
Best Centre Raptors |
73.25 |
Paul Waddington |
Slayers |
72.09 |
Liam Walsh |
Best Centre Raptors |
69.70 |
Third Division Doubles: Winners- Best Centre Raptors, Runners up- Ramsbottom E
Overall league Summary
The season is complete and in several cases the winners and losers were not decided until the last games were played making it one of the most exciting and competitive campaigns for a long time.
The league champions and Premier Division winners are B.L.C Clarets whose top 5 merit winning trio of Dave Kay, Keith Lee & Andrea Harrison (3rd, 4th, 5th in individual merit tables respectively) along with Matt Harrison retained the crown. This was a great achievement considering their former best player left them for their closest rival’s last summer. That afore mentioned player Martyn Wyatt, still showed his pedigree however for his new club clinching the personal runner up place in the merit table, and helping them, Ramsbottom ‘A’ to the premier runner up place, aided by Mandy Winskill, Graham Hoy, David Poytress & Matthew Fields. Ramsbottom ‘A’ completed a trinity of runner up spots in the merit doubles. Premier doubles winners were K.Ward Plumbing whose trio of Keith Ward, Keith Jackson and Ged Simpson, had a good season finishing 4th and lifting the Fred Holden Cup! East Lancs 1st finished 3rd and Michael Moir of Hyndburn TTC ‘A’ proved himself the league’s best player again with 1st place in the merit. The two teams finishing in the relegation places were Rovers & The Lions.
Division One went to the wire with only 11 points separating the top four teams. Howard Whewell, personally undefeated & merit winner by a mile, led his team mates John Thornber & Ian Pickles who are Old Masters ‘A’ to the title. Ramsbottom ‘C’ (Dominic Siddall: 5th merit, Mohamed Butta, Tim Fields, Stephen Siddall) were fortunate in the end to play a largely reserve team in KSB ‘B’ in the last game of the season to give them enough points to claim 2nd place and promotion over Whalley Hawks. Ramsbottom C over the season deserved their promotion, though Hawks (Adam Robinson: merit 4th, Richard Barrow, Martin Drury & Kieran Cunliffe) had a fantastic late run and were unlucky to miss out in the end. Hawks should look forward to next season, and the Whalley Club as a whole can begin to dream of their first ever Premier division team (especially perhaps if they act smart and make a team from the top four players they have from their current 3 div 1 teams). Hyndburners finished 4th and just 1 point behind Hawks, built on the foundation of Duncan Rigby who finished 3rd in the merits. Teams demoted were Tackyfire & KSB B (despite Daven Argile finishing 2nd in the merits). Hyndburners & Old Masters were joint winners of the doubles merits.
In Division Two, Ramsbottom ‘D’, were clear and worthy winners, also winning the doubles merit and all 3 regular players Adam Kensit, David Cain & Paul Wood finishing in the top 5 singles merits (3rd, 4th, 5th respectively). Runners up and promoted with them, were Doals Marauders (Neil Hepworth- singles merit winner, Cliff Dale: merit winner runner up, Ian Smith & David Greenwood). Rolling Doals (Ryan Fallon, John Farrow & Roman Mychajlshyn) had a credible 3rd place finish and won the doubles merit runner up. Brierfield finished 4th. The relegation fight was quite a close thing and as the remaining two fixtures of the division were played any 2 from 5 teams could still have gone down! In the end only 7 points separated 5th place from bottom, who were the unfortunate Hyndburn TTC ‘C’. The other team finishing in the relegation zone was KSB ‘D’ who went down by just 1 point from the team above.
Division Three was won deservedly by Best Centre Raptors, who lost their 100% record on the last game of the season drawing with Ramsbottom ‘E’ , but which also meant they remained the only league team to be undefeated all season. Congratulations is much deserved by Dylan Storey (merit 2nd), Richard Tokeley (merit 3rd), Liam Walsh (merit 5th) & Rob Tokeley. Ramsbottom ‘E’ were runners up, with a worthy merit singles winner in teenager Harry bell, but also with a strong squad playing their part:( Rob Lee, Bryan Edwards, Max Brooks, Roy Steventon & Chris Leaves). Raptors also won the doubles merit and Ramsbottom the runners up. Slayers with Paul Waddington claiming 4th singles merit place, were the other stand out team, but just missed out on promotion finishing 3rd in the end.
For info in how to start playing TT or how to join a club contact league development office Harry on Tel 01254 663451
Burnley Focus
Burnley boasts the best team in East Lancs table tennis league after BLC Clarets emerged victorious premiership winners with a great team performance from Dave Kay-(merit 3rd), Keith Lee(merit 4th), Andrea Harrison (merit 5th), & Matt Harrison. Burnley’s other premier division team Brierfield ‘A’ finished 7th and they will be pleased to have stayed in the top tier.
(There are no Burnley teams featured in the First Division)
In Division two Brierfield ‘B’ finished 4th , and Best Centre Jets survived by winning the very last game of the season!
Best Centre celebrate also having another team to join Jets in Div Two next year because Best Centre Raptors won Division Three and went the season undefeated. Their team of Dylan Storey, Richard Tokeley, Liam Walsh & Rob Tokeley also claimed three top 5 merit singles places and the doubles merit. Best Centre Phantoms improved throughout the season and managed in the end to win 3 games and finish above the bottom place. Best Centre is open to new players and beginners to join their club on a Monday night (Contact Darren for more info on 07736473609)
Rossendale Focus
Rossendale has clubs in Ramsbottom, Rawtenstall & Bacup.
In the Premier Division, Rossendale’s best team Ramsbottom ‘A’ finished in second place, with Martin Wyatt claiming the merit singles runner up as well. The Ramsbottom team also won the doubles merit runner up. Ramsbottom ‘B’ finished safe just above the two relegated teams. The strong Ramsbottom club will boast a 3rd Premiership team next season as Ramsbottom ‘C’ gained promotion in Division One finishing 2nd (Dominic Siddall merit:5th). Ramsbottom ‘D’ have won the Division Two title with Adam Kensit, David Cain & Paul Wood all finishing in the top 5 singles merit table. They also won the Div Two doubles award. Ramsbottom ‘E’ gained promotion from Div Three, with teenager Harry Bell winning the singles merit prize. Ramsbottom ‘E’ were doubles merit runners up as well. All in all a good season by the Ramsbottom Club, but they will hope to turn some of those second places into firsts next season, particularly with an eye on the premiership title.
Rawtenstall club Kay Street Baptists (KSB), had 5 teams this year. KSB ‘A’ are a good Division One team and finished 5th with their best players Matt Hirst on 78% & Trevor Elkington on 62% . Daven Argile won the singles merit runner up award in Division One, but this wasn’t enough to stop KSB ‘B’ finishing bottom and being relegated. In Division Two KSB ‘C’ & KSB ‘D’ were in a relegation/survival battle that went to the very last game of the season. In the end KSB ‘C’ survived by one point and KSB ‘D’ were unlucky to go down by just 1 point! KSB ‘E’ in Division Three finished 5th.
Doals Table Tennis Club (based in Doals Community Centre, Weir, Bacup) have a team playing in Division One next season for the first time after Doals Marauders clinched promotion and second spot in Division Two. Marauder’s Neil Hepworth was the merit singles winner and team mate Cliff Dale the runner up. Rolling Doals also won honours in doubles merit runners up award and finishing 3rd as a team. Doals Vikings finished 6th in Division Three with Thomas Sumner their best player with 55%.
For info of how to start playing TT in Rossendale please contact Ramsbottom Bryan on 01617975082, Rawtenstall contact Trevor on 07981387755. Bacup contact Neil on 07480 152268