East Lancs. Table Tennis League: Final Press Report 5th May 2014:

 From Neil Hepworth (East Lancs. Table Tennis League Press Officer)

Email: Hepworth_neil@hotmail.com. Mob 07873834942

 

Premier division league

Name	Played	Won	Draw	Loss	Points
Burnley Boys Club	18	16	0	2	479
East Lancs 1st	18	17	0	1	461
Ward & Stobbart	18	13	0	5	390
Ramsbottom Exiles A	18	10	0	8	349
Ramsbottom Town A	18	10	0	8	343
Hyndburn TTC A	18	7	0	11	316
Rovers	18	7	0	11	299
Old Masters A	18	4	0	14	282
KSB A	18	4	0	14	277
The Lions	18	2	0	16	201

 

First division league

Name	Played	Won	Draw	Loss	Points
East Lancs 2nd	20	18	0	2	550
Brierfield	20	18	0	2	492
Whalley Eagles	20	13	0	7	406
KSB B	20	10	0	10	398
Hyndburners	19	15	1	3	380
Ramsbottom Town B	19	10	0	9	376
Mavericks	20	10	1	9	375
Ramsbottom Exiles B	20	8	0	12	316
Whalley Kestrels	20	3	0	17	262
Tackyfire	20	2	0	18	262
Brierfield B	20	1	0	19	199

 

Second division league

Name	Played	Won	Draw	Loss	Points
Old Masters B	18	17	0	1	459
Whalley Hawks	18	13	0	5	416
Rolling Doals	18	13	0	5	399
Hyndburn TTC B	18	12	0	6	393
KSB C	18	10	0	8	356
Adpak Aces	18	7	0	11	299
KSB D	18	6	0	12	292
Whalley Kites	18	6	1	11	286
Ramsbottom Exiles C	18	5	1	12	267
Slayers	18	0	0	18	197

 

Third division league

Name	Played	Won	Draw	Loss	Points
Doals Marauders	18	16	1	1	453
KSB E	18	13	1	4	414
Hyndburn TTC C	18	12	0	6	388
The Best Centre	18	14	0	4	382
Best Centre Young Guns	18	7	1	10	342
KSB F	18	9	0	9	320
Whalley Falcons	18	2	2	14	287
Doals Vikings	18	8	0	10	281
Hyndburn TTC D	18	4	1	12	245
Whalley Merlins	18	2	0	16	205

 

 

Premier Merit Top 5 Players with less than 112 sets played excluded as per rule 22

Name	Team	Played	Won	Average
Dave Kay	Burnley Boys Club	173	129	74.57%
Liam Bedford	East Lancs 1st	194	143	73.71%
Matt Nettleton	East Lancs 1st	165	117	70.91%
Graham Hoy	Ramsbottom Exiles A	116	82	70.69%
Martin Wyatt	Burnley Boys Club	135	95	70.37%

 

First Division Merit Top 5 Players with less than 112 sets played excluded as per rule 22

Name Team Played Won Average Jack Keogh Brierfield 140 120 85.71% Mark Hanson East Lancs 2nd 150 121 80.67% Alan Whittle East Lancs 2nd 158 127 80.38% Duncan Rigby Hyndburners 192 150 78.13% Ian Haworth   East Lancs 2nd 209 163 77.99%

 

Second Div Merit Top 5 Players with less than 112 sets played excluded as per rule 22

Name	Team	Played	Won	Average
Neil Hepworth	Rolling Doals	175	131	74.86%
Kieran Cunliffe	Whalley Hawks	178	124	69.66%
Ian Pickles	Old Masters B	179	120	67.04%
Zachary Geldard	Hyndburn TTC B	198	129	65.15%
Carlton Cooper	KSB ‘D’	187	119	63.64%

 

Third Division Merit Top 5 Players with less than 112 sets played excluded as per rule 22

Name	Team	Won	Played	Average
David Greenwood	Doals Marauders	132	172	76.74%
Francis Kinsella	Hyndburn TTC C	140	199	70.35%
Will Cooper	KSB F	110	157	70.06%
Bernard Milnes	KSB E	137	197	69.54%
Jordan Moore	The Best Centre	80	118	67.80%

 

 

 

Overall league Summary

Congratulations to League & Premier Division champions Burnley Boys Club who have won the title for the second year running. They also boast the Premier Individual merit title winner Dave Kay, though his team mate Keith Lee performed slightly better but just missed not playing enough sets to qualify. With Martin Wyatt also finishing 5th in the merits we can see why Burnley Boys were triumphant.  East Lancs 1st pushed them close this year in runners up spot, evident from clinching 2nd & 3rd places in the individual merit places via Liam Bedford & Matt Nettleton. With their team mate Ashley Bradburn only missing out on a merit place by falling short by just 4 sets to make the 112 sets required to qualify it still caps a great season by East Lancs, who may fancy they can go one better next season. Ged Simpson, hardworking League Chairman will be pleased with his team, Ward & Stobbart finishing 3rd as well as being runners up in the Fred Holden Handicap Team Cup. Graham Hoy of Ramsbottom Exiles ‘A’ came 4th in the merit table. Teams going down are bottom placed The Lions & Kay Street Baptist ‘A’, whose genuine mistake in misunderstanding the reserve rule cost them the points that could have kept them up.

 

In Division One East Lancs 2nd are runaway winners and have 3 players in the top 5 merits (Mark Hanson 2nd  , Alan Whittle 3rd  , Ian Haworth 5th ), and will show I think that they are genuine Premier standard next year. Brierfield ‘A’ clinth the other promotion place as runners up and top individual player in Jack Keogh. Whalley Eagles whose best player of the season was Phil Mileham finished 3rd. The other top 5 merit position though was the ever consistent Hyndburners Duncan Rigby who gained 4th place. The relegated teams are bottom placed Brierfield ‘B’ & Tackyfire, who are having a bit of a ‘yo-yo’ experience in recent years between Div 1 & Div 2, but were unlucky in that they finished the same points as Whalley Kestrels so were divided by games won in which Ketsrals came out on top to just stay up.

 

Old Masters ‘B’ were never in doubt for the Division Two title once former National League player Howard Whewell joined them last November. Though he hadn’t played for about ten years his quality showed immediately at this level dropping just two sets and only missing out on the merit title due to not playing enough games. A fine player, with a good temperament who I am sure will take division 1 by storm next season. It wasn’t just a one man show though and that other Old Master Ian Pickles did his part and claimed 3rd place in the merit league. Whalley Hawks were worthy runners up, with a strong squad led by merit runner up Kieran Cunliffe, who had a great second half of the season. Again they lost points which meant they would have got closer to Old Masters than they did, because of a genuine mistake over the reserve rule. Rolling Doals were disappointed to finish 3rd for the second year running and miss out on the automatic promotion places again, despite Neil Hepworth claiming the individual merit title & Ian Smith finishing 6th. Young man Zachary Geldhard of Hyndburn TTC ‘D’ finished strong to be 4th in the merits, but apart from Howard Whewell was probably the divisions best player in the second half of the season and is ready for a move up to a higher division. KSB ‘D’ escaped relegation in the end and finished 7th  helped by 5th placed merit achiever Carlton Cooper. The demoted teams are bottom placed Slayers & Ramsbottom Exiles ‘C’.

 

Despite losing their 100% record to a loss & draw in the last two games of the season when due to player shortage they had to play with a player short, Doals Marauders were comfortable Division Three champions, led by the steady and consistent David Greenwood who won the individual performance honours, and joined regularly through the season by Jon Andrews who had a good campaign as well. The runners up and also promoted are KSB ‘E’, with Bernard Milnes having a good season and finishing 4th in the merits.  Hyndburn TTC ‘C’ finished 3rd, with youngster Francis Kinsella also finishing runner up in the merits, who along with Eli Smith from Hyndburn TTC ‘D’ who fell just a few sets played short to claim the runner up place himself, should perform well together if put in a division 2 team in the Hyndburn club next year. Best Centre deserve a mention in their debut season doing very well with their first team finishing 4th (Jordan Moore claiming the 5th merit place as well) & their Young Guns finishing 5th. The Young Guns were also victorious in The Fred Holden Team Handicap Cup. A great start for the new Burnley Club who hope to do even better and field more teams next season. Finally KSB ‘F’s Will Cooper deserves a mention for finishing 3rd in the merits

 

For info in how to start playing TT or how to join a club contact league development office Harry Rawcliffe on Tel 01254 663451

 

Burnley Focus

Burnley based teams have done well this season and boast East Lancs. League Champions for the second year running in Burnley Boys Club. The ‘Boys’ also claimed Premier Division merit individual winner in Dave Kay & 5th place in the merits with Martin Wyatt.

In Division One  Brierfield ‘A’ claim individual merit winner in Jack Keogh who helped the Briefrield ‘A’ team claim promotion in the runners up spot. Unfortunately the Brierfield ‘B’ team came bottom and will be demoted to Div 2 next season.

Burnley are represented by Adpak Aces in Division Two who have had another steady season and finished 6th. Their best player was Paul McGovern who with 57% finished 12th in the merits.

Division Three has seen new club Best Centre enter two teams with their ’best’ team doing well to finish 4th (best player Jordan Moore on 67% & 5th in the merits) &  their ‘young Guns’ 5th (best player Richard Tokeley on 57%). Young Guns also won the Fred Holden Handicap Cup Team Trophy in a great final overcoming Premier Team Ward & Stobbart.

Best Centre can expect to keep getting better and look forward to next season where they hope to field even more teams.

Best Centre is open to new players and beginners to join their club on a Monday night (Contact Darren Wright for more info on 07736473609)

 

Rossendale Focus

The highest finishing Rossendale based team is Ramsbottom Town ‘A’ who finished 5th place in the premier division, who were helped by their best player Martin Holt who had stats of 55% and finished 12th in the merits. Sadly the other Rossendale based premier team  KSB ‘A’, after a promising start this year, were demoted in the end (not aided by a penalty points deduction over a mistake over the reserve rule). This is despite a credible season by Matt Hirst with 57% & Daven Argile on 51%.

In Division One KSB ‘B’ finished 4th  & Ramsbottom Town B 6th ,their best players respectively being Trevor Elkington  63 %, Stephen Siddall 64%.

In Division Two Rolling Doals (based in Doals Community Centre, Weir, Bacup) have just missed out on promotion for the second year running finishing 3rd, though Neil Hepworth finished first in the individual merit league & Ian Smith 6th. KSB ‘C’ finished 5th, (best player Stuart Cole 57%). KSB ‘D’ avoided demotion finishing 7th in the end, with Carlton Cooper on an impressive 64% and 5th in the merits.

In Division Three two Rossendale teams took the honours to be promoted. The Div 3 champions were Doals Marauders, with David Greenwood also being the merit winner. KSB ‘E’ family trio took the runners up spot with Bernard Milnes finishing 4th  in the merits. KSB ‘F’ finished 6th with Will Cooper doing well to finish 3rd in the merits. Doals Vikings finished 8th with their best player being Bob Thompson on 60%.

For info of how to start playing TT in Rossendale contact Ramsbottom’s Bryan Edwards on 01617975082, or Doals (Bacup) Neil Hepworth on 07873834942, or KSB (Rawtenstall) Trevor Elkington on 07981387755.