In 2012/13 our Swindon League Men’s Team (our second men’s team) comfortably won Division 5 and were duly promoted to Division 4.

After a much tougher season in 2013/14 we came to play our final match when the 2 teams above had already completed their fixtures. In Swindon League matches 18 sets are played and a team gains a league point for every set won, plus a bonus 3 points for winning the match overall. In the last game we needed a 16-2 win to climb above the team in second place. We were playing the bottom team and it was at home…

We won 15-3 and so finished level on points! However, to decide position, sets lost over the season are then counted and…. we had lost fewer!

The team in the final game included Ollie Strutt, Pete Martin, Martin Doidge, Conrad Goodenough, plus father and son Will and Steve Moss. Other players have included Brian McGough, Julian Plumley, Yannick Purser, Steve Hill and James Grierson.

Special thanks go to James. For a midseason game a late injury meant we were a man short just a couple of hours before the game was due to start. James rearranged a meeting and postponed something else and drove to Swindon. If we had forfeited those 6 sets we would not have won promotion later!

It has been a pleasure captaining such a great squad and we have enjoyed so many close games throughout the season.