It was hoped that at this inaugural event, there would be four teams, but unfortunately due to the close proximity of the Kinnaird and the fact that the Universities Tournament were being held on the same weekend, it was then necessary for the Rest of the World side to combine with Scotland to make a third team to join England.
Accordingly, play commenced at approximately 11 o'clock with England doing battle against the hybrid team. England were comfortable winners of this match with no games dropped in any of the three courts, and this quickly enabled the competitors to retire to the local hostelry to contemplate the arrival of the Welsh Nationals. They duly arrived at frequent intervals and whilst the Welsh first and third pairs won their games with relative ease, the second court match saw Charlie Brookfield and Martin Lindsay defeat Mark Williams and Hugh Ramsbotham by three games to one. Thus, with Wales victorious, the concluding match was between the undefeated England and the Welsh side.
The English third pair of Andrew Buxton and Richard Tyler, rapidly despatched the Welsh third pair but in both first and second courts the games were extremely close. In court 1 Richard Lambert and Tony Hughes seemed to be heading for a comfortable 3-0 victory against Andrew Lewis and Mark Williams, but there was a reversal of fortunes in the second game which was narrowly won by the Welsh pair 14-12, and although the third and fourth games were not particularly close, it was always an exciting match. In court 2, however, the story was different, John Reynolds had dominated the first game but Ian Hutchinson and Geoff Davies had levelled the scores at one-all, and after the English side went ahead 2-1, John Reynolds appeared to run out of steam and the Welsh pair took the fourth and fifth games without great difficulty, although David Dallaway for England did attempt to put up spirited resistance. Thus, England won the match 2-1 and also the Rolflex Trophy, but also suffered their first ever defeat of a pair in International Matches. The Tournament will now become a regular event in each season, and in order to avoid clashes with other competitions, it has been decided that the Tournament will be held next year on January 19th at Shrewsbury, and it is hoped that all team managers will be able to produce a full side for next season's championships.
After the final match, all the players and spectators were invited to an excellent hot buffet dinner with wine, at the home of David Davies, Managing Director of Rolflex Doors Limited, and the evening proved to be a most pleasant occasion. The Trophy was presented to England by Mrs. Janet Davies and our sincere thanks must go to David Davies who-sponsored the event in the fullest possible way; he was there for the start of play, watched all the matches avidly and was an excellent host during the evening's entertainment.
A.H.Rolflex Home International Tournament 1984 by Tony Hughes
Created 7th February 2006 by Mike Fenn
efa@etonfives.co.uk