Some of our friends from Birch Green organised a great tournament last week as part of their Jubilee Weekend celebrations. They had tons of help organising but particularly wanted to call out Kevin Rowell for preparing the pitch so brilliantly!
Full report below from Steve Parsons.
BIRCH GREEN KUBB CHAMPIONSHIP
The Platinum Jubilee Trophy
First Edition – 2022
After debuting as an informal event at Birch Green’s post lockdown braai [barbecue] last summer (29.8.21), the Swedish sport of kubb returned to the Green for the Platinum Jubilee street party this year in the form of an organised competition.
Fourteen teams of varying sizes entered the competition on Saturday 4th June, on two pitches marked out on the Large Green. The 43 players were all residents of Birch Green, Staines, or their invited guests, and backgrounds as diverse as Afghan, Albanian, Cypriot, El Salvadorean, German, Irish, Jamaican, Polish, Romanian, Slovak, and South African, all celebrating the 70th year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth II.
The event began with ten Preliminary matches, as teams got to grips with the conditions which – although it remained mercifully dry – were at times blustery and overcast. Mike Zenonos’s team, 1 Waterboard Boys, were the pick of the Preliminaries, winning all three of their matches, whilst Ramona Enea’s Newbies team looked highly competitive and showed an accuracy that belied their name.
The field was reduced to eight for the Quarter-finals, but the combined Butterflies & Bees teams pulled out, giving Greatest Hits a bye. In the opener, 1 Waterboard Boys saw off the threat from James, Lucy & George French’s Team BG, whilst Molloyski proved to be dark horses with a good victory over the enthusiastic Girl Power team led by Moya and Izzy Zenonos. Another professional display from The Newbies was enough to defeat a TMB side that included the event organisers Steve Parsons and Michael McDonagh, alongside Brania Mihalíkova and Tara McDonagh.
Both semi-finals proved to be long and intense battles, and both ended in shock results. Molloyski, led by Jeff & Karolina finally overcame the previously unbeaten 1 Waterboard Boys, but the other game continued into the gathering gloom. The Newbies looked to have got into a position to repeat their preliminary victory over Greatest Hits, but a wayward toss saw the king go down out of turn, handing victory to the latter – an unfortunate side effect of tossing in the dark!
The decision was reluctantly taken to defer the final to the Sunday on safety grounds, and sadly Molloyski were not available that evening. A semi-final play-off was hastily arranged between the two defeated semi-finalists, which saw The Newbies return to their best form in defeating 1 Waterboard Boys, and so qualify to meet Greatest Hits for the third time in the competition.
The final proved an epic battle of shifting fortunes, between Greatest Hits and The Newbies. The Newbies won the lag and elected to change ends, a decision that initially seemed to unsettle Greatest Hits, who struggled early on. However one of The Newbies’ difficult corner baseline kubbs was toppled by a super toss by Migliorini and was inkast short by The Newbies, who then repeatedly failed to topple it over the next three turns. This gave Greatest Hits a platform for some deadly tossing, to wreak havoc among The Newbies’ kubbs. Newbies’ inkasts were exceptional, but their earlier deadly accuracy in the toss seemed to have deserted them, and eventually Greatest Hits started to earn attempts at the king. Four times these championship shots went begging, but on the fifth attempt, Archer achieved a topple, and with it the inaugural Platinum Jubilee Trophy, not to mention the generous cash prize of 2022 Birch Green Crowns per player. The presentations to the top three teams, including the rather more stingy runners-up prizes of BĞ1011 per player, took place in a well-attended ceremony on the Middle Green, to round off an enjoyable weekend’s festivities in this corner of Staines.
Entered teams [14]:
1 Waterboard Boys: Michael Zenonos, Nicolas Zenonos, Rafael Zenonos, Shayne Jawahur, Archie Molloy. On the Sunday, Izzy Zenonos added, Shayne and Archie dropped out.
Bees: Khaty Basharmal, Zohra Basharmal. Merged with Butterflies, as Butterflies & Bees, for elimination round, then withdrew.
Butterflies: Rabea Basharmal, Rania Basharmal, Mohsin Basharmal. Merged with Bees, as Butterflies & Bees, for elimination round, then withdrew.
Dream Team Spartans: Ian Lapworth, Brandon Lapworth, Justin Wilson.
Girl Power / Izzy’s Diamonds: Olivia Zenonos, Moya Zenonos, Isabella Zenonos, Isla Perry
Henwoods: Becky Henwood, Richard Henwood, Steve Parsons.
Molloyski: Jeff Molloy, Karolina Molloy, Archie Molloy, Sarah, Ronnie.
The Newbies: Ramona Enea, [+1], with Danny Enea on Saturday.
The Shielz: Tim Shiel, Beth Shiel. Did not participate.
Team BG: James French, Lucy French, George French. [Team originally entered as Bar Thirty].
TMB: Brania Mihalíkova, Mike McDonagh, Tara McDonagh. (Added Steve Parsons from Town Capers for elimination rounds).
Town Capers: Steve Parsons, Kevin Rowell. Kevin subsequently dropped out, and Steve joined Henwoods for Preliminary matches, and TMB for the elimination rounds.
Greatest Hits: Richard Archer, Clo Migliorini.
VIPs: Hugo, Ethan, Denice Smyth, Tanya Smyth, Tracy Rowell.
RESULTS
Saturday 4th June 2022
Preliminary Matches
Dream Team Spartans beat The Newbies
1 Waterboard Boys beat VIPs
Molloyski beat TMB
The Newbies beat Team BG
Henwoods beat Girl Power
Bees beat Butterflies
1 Waterboard Boys beat The Newbies
The Newbies beat Greatest Hits
1 Waterboard Boys beat Girl Power
Molloyski beat Henwoods
Elimination Matches
Quarter-Finals
Molloyski beat Girl Power
1 Waterboard Boys beat Team BG
Greatest Hits walked over Butterflies & Bees
The Newbies beat TMB
Semi-Finals
Molloyski beat 1 Waterboard Boys
Greatest Hits beat The Newbies
Sunday 5th June 2022
Semi-Final Play-Off
The Newbies beat 1 Waterboard Boys
Final
Greatest Hits beat The Newbies