Grimsby Table Tennis January 2012 - Transition Time

(Picture Credit - Kotaku)

Last season (20011-12) was one to forget for me. After half a season struggling in Division One, The Ashwells kindly persuaded the league to transfer me to Brian Lomas’s short-handed team in division three. Brian had shockingly lost the cheery Eric Williams, who had passed away around Christmas time.

In Division One I won just one match, beating Norman Hames, who later got his revenge. I did take games off Sean Ward, Jonathan Corry and other top players: good but no cigar. Captain Ryan Wadham and his team finished second from bottom but were spared relegation.

In Division Three I won most of my games, but only just. I could now relax as we settled in mid-table.

This season Dennis Burgoyne joined Brian Lomas and myself in D3 to form “Nemesis” (my name-suggestion). Dennis had not played for many years, so he made quite a gamble. Colin Tyas left us and joined Don Ellis’s team in D4.

Dennis loves to throw up a succession of high, swirling lobs. Every now and then he dashes in to play a blazing forehand kill. Dennis has a fine orthodox backhand but prefers to use that lob. He is quite a character and loves a can of Coke between games!   

Captain Brian Lomas is a good, solid, all-round attacking player who would do fine in D2. Like me he plays with an economy of movement and a flashing backhand.

Most of the season we have been second in D3 behind “Urban Juice”: Leo Tsang, Billy Wong and Dave Hanks. In the New Year we were top by one point but they had two games in hand. In fact I only saw them twice fail to win 8-2 or better. We held them to 7-3. They look certainties to become champions. Their high energy attacking play is too much for most players at this level. (Ed - They Won It!).

Actually I “friended” Leo and Billy on Facebook this week. Happily most of the top Grimsby League players are my Facebook friends. Of these, Sean Ward is now the current Men’s Singles Champion. Sean and some other younger players have made a respectable debut this season in the National League. As Lincoln veteran Andy Wignall says, a useful “reality check” for some of our youngsters.

You can only progress as a player by matching yourself against superior opposition.  For Sean and Jonathan that simply means taking on opponents from outside Grimsby. My former team-mate Jack Blyth looks well established in D1 now, with one of the leading sides.

Talking of ex team-mates: great to see my old buddy John Holmes is now regularly winning in D4. There was a time when he couldn’t buy a win, but he has completely turned the corner. People like John are what the game is all about.

Paul Butters

My Career in the Grimsby Table Tennis League 1882 - 1990 (The "Early Years")

My career in the Grimsby, England (U.K.) Table Tennis League spans 34 years. Most matches are now played at Clee Sports Hall, which usually runs about 6 or 7 fixtures per night. There were over 20 venues back in the day.

When I first joined the league in autumn 1982 (having moved here from Doncaster), we had four man\woman teams arranged in eight divisions plus a “Premier Division”. The league had in fact been cut by a division. There were 2 Schools Divisions and a Girl’s Division. Plus a 2 division summer league. No venues were listed then, but the following year there were twenty two! Matches were divided into two “draws”, so you only played half of the opposing team as an individual.

The NALGO club played at 76 a Pasture Street, an old run-down building later converted into flats. For the record, our then office manager Don Newton invited me to play for NALGO D in Division 6. Our squad: Roy (Captain) and Maureen Lincoln, Dave Gregory (deceased), reserve Diane Lord (Roy’s daughter) and others. We finished 4^th so Dave and I were promoted to a new NALGO D in Division 5. 

At that time Dave Skerratt (from Scunthorpe) had won the Grimsby Men’s Singles twice in a row and G Sharpe was long reigning Ladies’ Champion having depose Connie Moran in  c. 1979. (Pete Taylor won the Men’s in 1978).

For 83-84, the late Don Keightley (father of Ian) was captain and we added Roy Lee. We went undefeated and won the title. Connie Moran took back her Ladies’ title and kept it for many years. Matt Sheader took the Men’s and again monopolised it most years for a very long time. Brian Allison won it now and then I recall. As for the doubles.... Need I say?

The following year (84-85) I became captain of NALGO D as NALGO moved to the former Yarra Road Post Office, Cleethorpes. Terry Reddington (a Job Centre boss) was added. Then youngsters Andy Bruford and Will Jenner joined. We finished 5^th in division 4. Yarra Road was quite spacious if ancient.

85-86: we became NALGO B in Division 3. We added Mike Braithwaite and used Ian Keightley but finished 8^th. Andy and Will decided their priorities lay elsewhere.

Suddenly things happened fast. Clee Council joined the NALGO fold, and I effectively joined Clee Council. Richard Wilson was captain and Dave Wagstaff their star player. (He’ll love me saying that!). 

For 1986-87 the league adopted 3 player teams. We were called NALGO B and we finished 3^rd in Division 3, narrowly missing promotion. The Yarra was still our home.

87-88: most of NALGO were called “Longchamps” and played at the now Littlefield Lane Club. We were “NALGO Longchamps A”, stayed at The Yarra and we won Division 3.

88-89: I became captain of NALGO A as the whole of NALGO occupied The Yarra. We finished 3^rd in Division 2. Another promotion “close miss”.

89-90: NALGO club moved to Grimsby Tennis Club on College Street, we remained NALGO A but moved to Knoll Street, Cleethorpes. Suffice to say Knoll Street was called “The Goldfish Bowl”! The league still had 20 venues incidentally. We won Division 2 for the first time.

Actually this article is longer than I expected. Have dredged up shoals of facts. Richard, Dave and I won a number of titles until about 2002 when first Dave, then Richard retired. But that’s another story.

(C) Paul Butters 26\10\2010. Edited\Amended 1\1\2016.

Addicted to Table Tennis - Golden Oldie

Table tennis is one of the most skilful and dynamic games on the planet. Face a good player and you will be bamboozled by an almost endless variety of spin: loop, chop, side, mixed... Mostly mixed indeed. Some of the hitting and “killing” can be as fast and aggressive as a display of karate. Maybe that’s why the Chinese and Japanese (and their neighbours!) are so adept at the game. The similarities are obvious to me. Put another way, table tennis can be like a civilised form of boxing. The player can indeed feel quite alone at that table, just like a boxer in the ring. True, in a league game your team-mates can encourage you (but not coach), but they cannot lift a finger to help you.

In England, where I play in my local league, players use the term “ping pong” rather disparagingly. For us, ping pong is when two ultra defensive players endlessly tap or push the ball back and forth. Actually a good chop defender can be very successful up to a point. At the top levels the “three ball attacker” (serve, return, instant loop\drive) is king. Modern blades and rubbers (which make up “bats” as we call them here) have long since made fast spin-play the dominant style. Power to these players, I say. They make the game fast and beautiful.

As for me, I started playing regularly in 1970, in the Huddersfield University (then “Polytechnic”) Education Department common room. Bats were provided: hard wood with pimples out and no sponge beneath the rubber. I remember being very pleased when I managed to produce some topspin with such a bat. To be fair, modern pimple-in sponge rubber only appeared in the 1950s, so having a hard-bat then was the norm. I actually bought a reverse-pimple sponge bat then (D13), but kept this back for more serious play.

I actually played about four matches for the polytechnic in the local league (Division Eight!). The legality of this was questionable: I had to answer to the name “Alex”! I won most of my games until we faced some promotion candidates who were decent chop players. I kept trying to topspin the chop and putting the ball into the net. After a severe beating I decided table tennis was not for me! Later, I found a book on table tennis techniques, featuring how to block and push chop before opening up with a high loop. So I soon returned to the game! Earlier I had lost the Polytechnic Closed Men’s Final to a pure pusher, again from lack of experience.

Since those days I have played in four other local leagues. In fact I have played in Humberside since 1982. I was absent, however, for one of our most spectacular matches. The lads were playing at a fire-station and the alarm went off! Yes, a horde of fire-fighters slid down those poles and charged past our players. Must have been unforgettable... Enough for now.  

© Paul Butters, Yorkshire, Sunday 19\9\2010 at 21.40.