News and Views: 2018–19 Season – Plate Final and AGM – 10 September 2019

By Haydn Thompson.

Plate Final

The first two rounds were closely contested, and after 40 questions the score was 29–28 to the Academicals. From the Lemmings' point of view the damage was done in Rounds 3 and 4, both of which the Harrington won by some margin. The Lemmings pulled seven points back in Round 5, but were unable to narrow the gap any further in the final round; the result was a convincing victory for the Harrington Academicals.

Congratulations to the Harrington Academicals on their fourth victory in this competition, following their hat–trick of wins from 2010 to 2012.

An entertaining set of questions had been collated by the Robin Hood and the Harrington 'B'. They were read by Paul Morrissey, with Mark Watson scoring.

It's perhaps worth noting that from the start of Round 3 the Lemmings were asked no fewer than seven consecutive Sport questions (odd numbers, 41 to 53). In principle this is not necessarily a bad thing, but seven in a row is perhaps a little excessive. The Lemmings freely admit that sport is not their best subject; they did manage to get two of the seven right, but the Academicals picked up fourteen points over the same run of questions (five of their own six questions answered correctly, plus four passed over). The question that the Accies got wrong was the only one in this sequence that wasn't about sport: the one about the more common name for the plant Lunaria (answer: honesty).

2019 Annual General Meeting

The first matches of the 2019–20 season will be played on Tuesday 1 October.

Our Secretary, Mark Watson, was pleased to announce that all 24 teams from last season were keen to continue; so we will once again have three leagues of eight teams each. There are just two changes of venue, with possibly one more to be announced.

After the best part of 30 years at the same venue, but following some disruption in recent years, the Cock Inn are moving to the Broken Cross Institute (a.k.a. the Broken Cross Club) – just on the 'town' side of the Broken Cross roundabout, on the left as you drive towards town. And the Ox–fford 'C' are moving to the Queens Hotel on Albert Place – just off Waters Green, to the left as you look from the station.

Members of the former Ox–fford 'C' who were present at the AGM, of both genders, confirmed that they are happy to be referred to as 'the Queens'. There will however be no definite article in the results, tables etc., as is customary (cases such as The Crown from 1998 to 2001 being the exception that proves the rule).

The Ox–fford are undecided, at the time of writing, whether they should stay or go. Hopefully they will have made their minds up by the start of the season on 1 October!

All officers were re–elected unopposed to their existing posts. For details, refer to the Information Pack published at the start of the season.

Mark and Marshall will be at the Weaver from around 18:30 until 20:00 on Tuesday 24 September, to hand out fixture lists and collect the fees. Please bring a cheque for £50, made out to Macclesfield Quiz League, or that amount of cash.

Mark hopes to be able to email the fixtures to the normal circulation list later that evening. He also announced that the Rushton Diamonds have volunteered to set the questions for the opening week of the season, ending a run of the season being got under way by the Ox–fford – a ten–year sequence that goes back to the 2009–10 season.

There were two further matters raised:

Peter McBride asked whether it would be possible to arrange the fixture list so that in principle, matches for each team alternated between Home and Away – rather than having a preponderance of one or the other at different stages in the season. Mark agreed to do whatever he could to make this happen.

Alasdair Reid proposed that teams that get a bye in the first round of the Cup competition one year should be guaranteed a first round game the following season. Only those teams that get knocked out in the first round of the Cup are entered in the Plate; consequently, those that receive a bye in the first round, and go on to lose their second round game, play only one knockout match. This proposal was passed overwhelmingly.

Finally ... Mark was pleased to welcome some new faces to the meeting, who have become aware of the League's existence thanks to Karyn Johnston's marketing efforts. Some of them have found teams to play for, but if your team is looking to recruit new members, please contact markw@maccql and he will put you in touch.

© Macclesfield Quiz League 2019