The Eton Fives match is a comparative youngster as Varsity matches go: the first Rackets match was played in 1852, Real Tennis in 1859 and even Squash was played three years before the first Eton Fives match in 1928. However, eighty years later, it is a pleasure to report a keenly fought contest of high quality fives: the fact that Cambridge won the ‘blues match’ 3-0 – their fourth victory in a row - hides the fact that courts 2 and 3 both went to five games.
There was a strong Highgate presence on the first court where the Cambridge pair, James O’Callaghan and Robert Desmond, both Cholmeleians, proved too strong for Oxford, whose captain was the son of the former Headmaster of Highgate.
On the second court, illness caused a late call to Jamie Potts, another Cholmeleian, to partner the Cambridge captain, Michael Birkett. In spite of Potts’s lack of practice, Cambridge came through powerfully to take the fifth game 12-7.
In an even more closely fought third pair match, in which three games were ‘set’, James Womersley and William Illingworth emerged as victors, thus giving Cambridge a clean sweep.
There were once six Eton Fives courts at Cambridge: two at Portugal Place, two at Caius, one at Emmanuel and one at Magdalene, in addition to the two courts at The Leys School. Although there are plans to build courts at the proposed sports complex at the West Cambridge site, today only the Magdalene court survives, so the Cambridge success is much to the credit of their captain and team.
The Penguins/Peppers match resulted in a win for Oxford 2-1
In the women’s match, Rosie Scott, one of several promising players to come from Lancing College in recent years, ensured a convincing win for Oxford and, in the second team match, Oxford Peppers beat Cambridge Penguins 2-1, their first victory for five years.
As reported elsewhere, the Past Players’ match, played in the morning, helped to make this day at Eton a splendid festival of fives: it was good to see support for both sides coming from a vociferous crowd of spectators. The only thing that grated on the eye of an old buffer was the clothes that most of the players deemed appropriate. After all, this was the Varsity Match and players over the last eighty years have taken great pride in wearing the ‘half blue’ sweater and socks with the double blue hoops. To the jaundiced eye of an old timer, most of the players looked as if they were heading off to a pop concert or on an ‘outward bound’ course. O tempora O mores. I hope it doesn’t spread to the Boat Race.
Following the match, a reception and dinner, generously sponsored by Pol Roger Champagne, was held at Bekynton. Our thanks go to them, to the Provost and Fellows of Eton College and to Mark Williams, our ‘man at Eton’, for making the 2008 Varsity match a successful and most enjoyable occasion.
The Blues: Cambridge Won 3-0The Penguins/Peppers: Oxford Won 2-1
Oliver Watts (Trinity Hall & Ipswich) & Matthew Andrew (Fitzwilliam & Berkhamsted) lost to
Frederick Krespi (Pembroke & Westminster) & Benjamin Samuel (New & Westminster)
12-10, 10-12, 5-12, 12-14
Maximilian Kirchoff (Downing & Stowe) & Yassar Mustafa (Downing & King Edward's Birmingham lost to
Jonathan Nelmes (Oriel & Lancing) & Theodore Peterson (Corpus Christi & Westminster)
2-12, 6-12, 8-12
Ralph Morgan (Pembroke & Abingdon) & Fred Lyon (Pembroke & Westminster beat
James Duboff (Queen's & University College School) & Hugh Pattenden (St Benet's Hall & Perse)
12-3, 12-5, 12-3
The Ladies: Oxford won 1-0
Annabel Griffiths (Gonville and Caius & Ipswich) & Emmalina Thompsell (Gonville and Caius & Westminster) lost to
Rosie Scott (Magdalen & Lancing) & Juliet Browning (St Peter's & Lancing)
2-12, 5-12
Additional match: Cambridge beat Oxford II (Cambridge only fielded one pair)
Annabel Griffiths (Gonville and Caius & Ipswich) & Emmalina Thompsell (Gonville and Caius & Westminster) beat
Emma Cernis (St Edmund Hall & Berkhamsted) & Alexandra Colvin (Merton & Newstead Wood)
12-8, 12-6
J.D.C.V.
Varsity Match Report 2007-2008 by Dale Vargas
Created 22nd April by Mike Fenn
efa@etonfives.co.uk