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Chester 2004

A squad of 10 Suffolk based players - plucked from Ipswich, Stowmarket & Newmarket - invaded Chester on May 8th to take part in the annual EVA tournament. Dennis 'Tinkerman' Tattoo was charged with the responsibilty of coaching the side, nursing the oldies and ensuring the young 'uns were tucked up in bed by sunrise on the Sunday.

In all, 8 teams competed and it was clear from the start, that there would definately be an opportunity to qualify for the finals on Sunday. Drawn in our group were Berkshire, Manchester and the home side Chester. First up for the Tractor Boys were Manchester. We were slow out of the blocks, stuttering to 4-12 before running our fairly comfortable winners 3-0. All players got good court time allowing the nerves to settle down.

The second game pitted us against local side Chester. They were to prove stronger than Manchester, but we were able to win the first 2 sets to set up an unassailable lead (all 3 sets to 25 would be played out on the first day). Chester took the consolation third set. In a Newmarket strip, Rob would have claimed 4 points for successful pancakes, but county points do not count! Ballsiest play of the day, has to go to Chris, who pulled off an outrageous dump on 24 points all. You just know that his court time would have been drastically reduced had it failed!

Finally, with a semi-final berth assured, Berkshire were our opposition. They were able to field the outstanding player of the day on their team, and he was probably the difference between the sides as they edged the match 3-0 with the last two sets very tight.

By 6 o clock, the team were back at the ranch, the very nice Northrop Hall Hotel, and supping well earned pints of Ale! Ally tried to lose half the bunch in his old 'hood' by sending the taxis (he was chaffeur driven) to a dodgy bar similarly named to the one intended. The barmaid at the seedy joint pointed us back on track as she tugged on a well stocked 'reefer.'

The rumoured 10pm curfew was never enforced, and after bumping into a couple of hen nights, eating enough Chinese food to sink a battle ship, an hour wait for a cab, and a mysterious ankle injury, the team were all sleeping like babies by 1am (ish). Who would be suffering come breakfast...?

Somehow, Full English (or Full Welsh due to the location) breakfast's were the order of the day, though the author kept to his promise and consumed lashings of 'fresh' tinned grapefruit. John comfortably overcame Gab in the 'Who Can Eat The Most Breakfast' competition, with a couple of extra pork products and a few extra beans.

The main mystery surrounded Jamie's ankle injury and how it came about. Mark & 'Tin Tin' were unable to shed any light on things. I mean, if it was Pete's ankle hurting, it could have only been Andy kicking him during the night to stop his incessant snoring, but as it wasn't, the mystery remains unsolved...

So, onto Sunday. A new venue, some new opposition and some more familiar ones. We were first up against London, and were awful from start to finish. Maybe, we were feeling our legs a bit. Maybe we were feeling our heads a bit. Whatever the excuse, we were hussled out with alarming ease. Dennis kicked a boot into his chief setter's head (well that's what the Sun reported) and the team was awoken.

In the next match Berkshire, who had beaten us the previous day, were put to the sword 2-0. They were no doubt still reeling from their match with Merseyside, who had taken Gamesmanship to a new level while routing them 2-0. After a complaint to the organisers, they calmed down a bit and were pushed all the way by London. No doubt expecting an easy ride against our heroes, they were quickly brought down to earth, and Merseyside were soon a set down.

Partity was restored, and they pinched the deciding set to reach the grand final against London who I imagine they beat, much to most people's disappointment.

All in all, a grand weekend was had by everyone and a respectable 3rd place out of 8.

Here are a few action shots. Thankfully, I sell enough stickers for me not to rely on photography for an income. If one of the Suffolk girls team would like to send me a report, I will gladly post it here!