Header
Logo

Macclesfield Quiz League
Sponsored by AstraZeneca

You are here:

News and Views
2011–12 Season

On this page:

Fixtures and Results
Question Balance
Week 1: 11 October 2011
Week 3: 1 November 2011
Week 4: 8 November 2011
Week 5: 15 November 2011
Week 10: 17 January 2012
Week 11: 24 January 2012
Week 12: 7 February 2012
Week 15: 6 March 2012
Week 17: 20 March 2012
Week 18: 27 March 2012

News and Views: 2011–12 Season

Fixtures and Results:

A League B League C League Cup Plate

Question Balance

The following table shows the number of games won each week by the teams going first and second, respectively, in the Specialist rounds.

Week Date No. of games First Second
1 11 October 2011 12 2 10
2 18 October 2011 12 6 6
3 1 November 2011 12 4 8
4 8 November 2011 12 9 2
5 15 November 2011 12 5 7
6 29 November 2011 12 4 7
7 6 December 2011 12 8 4
8 13 December 2011 12 8 4
9 10 January 2012 12 9 3
10 17 January 2012 12 6 5
11 24 January 2012 12 7 5
12 7 February 2012 12 6 6
13 14 February 2012 12 4 8
14 21 February 2012 12 6 6
15 6 March 2012 12 4 8
16 13 March 2012 12 5 7
17 20 March 2012 12 5 7
18 27 March 2012 12 8 4

In each of Weeks 4 and 10, one game was drawn.

Week 1: 11 October 2011

Season 31 commenced on time and the "big beasts" of quizzing (or some of them – online Ed.) have hit the ground running. Haydn Thompson from the Ox–fford 'C' has started with a score of 51, whilst the Weaver's Alan Levitt is on his tail with 48. Peter McBride (Dolphin) and Alice Walker (Ox–fford 'C') also racked up scores in the 40s, with 45 apiece. The Ox–fford 'C' top the A League table after Week 1.

In the B League, the British Flag are off to a storming start, Tony Browne's 36 being a driver behind their first week victory. There were wins also for the Plough Taverners, Albion and Waters Green Phoenix. Bob Langstaff scored a fine 36 for the Phoenix in a very close game against the Lamb Inn, for whom Paul Griffiths replied with the same score. Top of the individual shop goes to Keith Pointon from the Waters Green Rams with a fine 42.

In the C League, the Cock Inn are setting the pace and Peter Wilcox's 36 is the top individual score. We welcome also the Robin Hood who played their first game against the Moores Monopoly, aka the Chester Road Tavern. A fine game ended in a 12–point loss for the Robin Hood against a very experienced team, but a fine start nonetheless and we hope the Hood enjoyed it!

Week 1 will be followed by Week 2 – a fact that will no doubt delight the mathematically inclined amongst you. See you next week!

Weeks 3 and 4: 1 and 8 November 2011

Week 4 saw the first draw of the season, as the Ox–fford and Ox–fford 'C' shared the spoils with 163 points apiece. Week 4 saw some healthy scoring, with the Weaver's 191 being the best. No one has ever scored 200 in a game – will it ever be done?

Week 4 was also very much 'Derby Day', with a lot of the pubs with two teams playing each other. The Dolphin got the better of the Dolphin Dragons and the Waters Green Phoenix did likewise over the Waters Green Rams. Peter McBride scored 45 for the Dolphin, while Bob Langstaff chipped in with 42 for the Phoenix. The Taverners beat the Horntails in the Plough Derby, Phil Davies and Julian Amey top scoring with 30 for each team respectively.

Special mention to the Robin Hood who've had a very good couple of weeks, winning both their games to get them off the mark in the C League.

Week 5: 15 November 2011

Thanks are due to the Knot Originals and the Knot Know-Alls, and I cite Brian Bogie and Alan James particularly, for helping out with providing Question Masters at several minutes after the 11th hour last week due to illness amongst those scheduled to QM. Brian / Alan – and all those of you who have assisted at the last minutes this season – many thanks.

In between asking questions at the last minute and progressing to the Cup Quarter final, one of the Knot Originals team is the latest Quiz League regular to be published as an author. Richard Briand has contributed a chapter to the just published Prime Minister Boris... And Other Things That Never Happened. Thank God this one never happened anyway!

The book is an entertaining look at how recent history could have taken a different course if certain things had been altered just a tad. Surely a great Christmas gift for the politico in your life and available from all good bookshops etc, as they say.

Weeks 10 and 11: 17 and 24 January 2012

There were some comments about Week 11 in terms of the quantity of politics questions contained therein. Some people have had quite enough of politicians altogether as well, it seems!

I was quite happy with the questions, although I must confess to an abnormal interest in politics – there isn't much choice as far as I'm concerned as it is the system by which much does (or doesn't) get done. There were certainly more politics questions last week than you find in a single edition of that well known Westminster farce, PMQs ...

The fight for points at the top of the Leagues is getting so tight even Chris Huhne wouldn't give any away. The A League is still within the grasp of several teams, whilst the B League couldn't be tighter, the British Flag and the Waters Green Phoenix now being neck and neck with just 'points scored' in it. The C League, like the A League, could go anywhere if one side could just string a run of results together. 

Week 12: 7 February 2012

Special mention must be made of Andy Ridgway and the Prince of Wales this week. Andy stepped in to resolve a beyond–last–minute shortage of Question Masters in the C League, by collecting the questions and asking them for the match in which he should have been playing. This meant that the Prince of Wales were obliged to play with only three team members (against the Robin Hood).

Andy – thank you.

When your team is asking questions, do make sure all your team members know, and also know where they are going.

Week 15: 6 March 2012

Much has happened as a result of this week's scores, and the usual 'up' (but not yet 'down') arrows have started to appear, along with a couple of trophies.

Congratulations to the Ox–fford 'C' who are confirmed as A League Champions with three rounds of games to spare. Can they go through the entire League season unbeaten???

Similar congratulations must go to the British Flag, confirmed as B League Champions and promoted to the A League for next year. There is no end of possibilities for the runner–up spot, which the Waters Green Phoenix are clinging onto for now.

Finally, the C League is seeing a titanic tussle between the Know Know–Alls and the Robin Hood. Only points scored separates them now, with the Knot having scored just 11 points more over the season so far. Both will be promoted to the B League next year, and they will fight out the remainder of the current season to see who gets the title. Both the Knot Know–Alls and the Robin Hood have done fantastically well, bearing in mind that this is only the Knot's third season in the League and the Robin Hood's first.

Week 17: 20 March 2012

Where did 2011 go? With one week of League games to go in this season, various issues are still up for grabs.

Congratulations to the Ox–fford 'C' for becoming A League Champions, and to the British Flag for doing the same in the B League.

Apart from the Flag, everything else in the B League will be decided tonight. In promotion terms, one of the Waters Green Phoenix, Church House Bollington or Park Taverners will go up with the Flag. It's still completely unclear who may be going down to the C League; this will all hinge on the final games next week.

 The C League itself will have a resounding finish. We know the Knot Know–Alls and the Robin Hood are already promoted, but the Robin Hood will have to score a record number of points in beating the Cock Inn if they are to overtake the Knot for the C League title. Stranger things have happened though – many of those being penalties not given to visiting teams at Old Trafford ...

Week 18: 27 March 2012

In an excellent season, the Robin Hood have been promoted in their very first season and Jim Kennelly has won the C League Individual title.

In the B League, the British Flag and Church House Bollington triumphed again, with Keith Pointon adding the B League Individual title to his C League equivalent from last year.

The Ox–fford 'C' were deserving A League Champions, achieving that most unusual feat of never losing a League game all season – no mean effort! (And Mark Watson regained the A League Individual title, winning it for the sixth time in the last eight seasons - online Ed.)

The Ox–fford won the Cars and Vans 4U Ltd Question Setters Trophy for their multi–picture round Specialist set of questions from way back in Week 1!

If I don't see you before we start again, have a great summer and see you in the autumn when we will do it all again ...

Mark Watson

© Macclesfield Quiz League 2019