14-Point Tournament 2013

20-21 July 2013, Crathes Castle and Albury Sports Centre

When the Crathes Croquet Club joined the SCA as its northernmost affiliated club in 2012, the club's officers were keen to pursue the idea of hosting an SCA tournament during the following season.  The outcome after much discussion and organising was this new 14-point handicap tournament on small courts at the club's two sites - Crathes Castle near Banchory and Albury Sports Centre in Aberdeen.

Saturday was devoted to doubles play, with a block of four pairs at each venue in the morning, and playoffs later in the day for the top two pairs from each block at Albury and for the other pairs at Crathes.  The timing was tight, as we had a civic reception and dinner in Aberdeen in the evening, but it all went nearly to schedule.  Sunday's programme consisted of singles games, with 14 players competing.

The tournament attracted entrants not only from the host club and from elsewhere in Scotland but also from England, and it was three of the players from south of the border who won the trophies - Ian Hall and Tom Ryan from Keswick receiving the doubles quaich (which they filled up with whisky and passed round at the dinner), and Bob Burnett (a distant Crathes Club member, now resident in Somerset) taking the quaich for the singles, though Ian would doubtless have put up a strong challenge for this in the final round on Sunday if he hadn't had to depart for a train at 5pm.

The hospitality of the Crathes Club and of Aberdeen City Council was superb, the croquet was very enjoyable too, and I would highly recommend a visit to Aberdeenshire for next year's tournament, which is yet to be planned in detail but may well be in September.

See also the report, with some additional photographs, on the News page of the Crathes Croquet Club website at www.crathescroquetclub.org.uk.

Fergus McInnes


Results

Doubles:

Albury block:
Bob Burnett & Elaine Mather beat Robert Bell & Charles Henderson +12
Ian Hall & Tom Ryan beat Bill Strachan & Dan Walker +13
Robert & Charles beat Bill & Dan +4T (11-7)
Bob & Elaine beat Ian & Tom +2T (12-10)
Bob & Elaine beat Bill & Dan +1T (11-10)
Ian & Tom beat Robert & Charles +11

Crathes block:
Alex Burns & Hamish Duguid beat Howard Bowron & Brian Clark +1T (5-4)
Allan Hawke & Malcom Robertson beat Lyn Gilpin & Fergus McInnes +9
Howard & Brian beat Allan & Malcolm +3T (7-4)
Lyn & Fergus beat Alex & Hamish +1T (9-8)
Alex & Hamish beat Allan & Malcolm +1T (5-4)
Lyn & Fergus beat Howard & Brian +9

Playoffs at Albury:
Bob & Elaine beat Alex & Hamish +1T (7-6)
Ian & Tom beat Lyn & Fergus +10T (13-3)
Ian & Tom beat Bob & Elaine +14
Alex & Hamish beat Lyn & Fergus +1T (9-8)

Playoffs at Crathes:
Robert & Charles beat Howard & Brian +3T (10-7)
Allan & Malcolm beat Bill & Dan +12
Allan & Malcolm beat Robert & Charles +2T (8-6)
Howard & Brian beat Bill & Dan +11

Singles:

Initial stage at Albury:
Allan Hawke (5) beat Tom Ryan (24) +10T (13-3)
Fergus McInnes (2.5) beat Brian Clark (16) +14
Ian Hall (19) beat Alex Burns (20) +10
Hamish Duguid (8) beat Lyn Gilpin (20) +9T (10-1)
Fergus beat Allan +9
Ian beat Hamish +10
Tom beat Brian +5T (10-5)
Alex beat Lyn +1T (6-5)
Ian beat Fergus +8
Hamish beat Allan +13
Tom beat Alex +3T (7-4)
Brian beat Lyn +3T (9-6)

Initial stage at Crathes:
Bob Burnett (1) beat Elaine Mather (22) +8
Charles Henderson (18) beat Robert Bell (18) +13
Howard Bowron (6) beat Dan Walker (20) +11
Bob beat Charles +8
Howard beat Elaine +12
Robert beat Dan +12
Bob beat Howard +2
Elaine beat Robert +1T (7-6)
Charles beat Dan +3T (10-7)

Final stage (at Albury - other games were planned but not played):
Ian beat Robert +10
Fergus beat Charles +7
Hamish beat Howard +1T (7-6)
Bob beat Tom +8
Ian beat Hamish +13
Bob beat Fergus +8
Charles v Tom unfinished
(final should have been Ian v Bob, but Ian conceded because he had to depart for his train)


Photographs

A busy scene at Albury with double-banked games in progress and putting in the background.  Players from left to right: Robert Bell, Hamish Duguid, Allan Hawke, Howard Bowron, Brian Clark, Lyn Gilpin, Bob Burnett, Tom Ryan.

Bob lining up his peel at hoop 6 in his game against Fergus (with Ian and Tom in play and Hamish on the bench in the background).

The hampered shot after the peel, with Howard refereeing and Charles looking on.  (Bob missed, and Fergus got a few more hoops before Bob pegged out.)