{"id":3086,"date":"2024-09-25T19:49:34","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T18:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/?p=3086"},"modified":"2024-09-25T19:53:54","modified_gmt":"2024-09-25T18:53:54","slug":"same-again-for-the-panthers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/2024\/09\/25\/same-again-for-the-panthers\/","title":{"rendered":"Same again for the Panthers?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the last twenty-five Clacton and District League seasons, only<br>four teams have taken the Division One title.<br>Brotherhood B have won it twice and Windsor Condors once but<br>otherwise the title has been dominated by two teams &#8211; the<br>legendary Brotherhood A team of Binns, Burgess, Andrews and<br>Stubbings, and the current Nomads Panthers\u2019 side, both of whom<br>have won it eleven times.<br>And it would be a brave pundit who\u2019d bet against the Panthers<br>making it a record twelfth consecutive title, with the Nomads\u2019 star<br>strengthened even further by the addition of Denes Somodi.<br>Gary Young moves from Brotherhood A to Windsor Hawks to<br>replace his son Daniel which will mean the Brotherhood team will do<br>well to repeat last year\u2019s runners-up position.<br>Paul Hume is included in an otherwise unchanged Nomads Lions\u2019<br>squad and they, together with the new-look Walton A team of Price,<br>James, Foster, Willis and Binns, will all hope to be top-four<br>challengers.<br>John Hobson\u2019s Windsor Eagles had an indifferent season in 2023\/24<br>by their own high standards and they may well be pleased with<br>mid-table respectability.<br>Walton C struggled at the foot of the table last season but their<br>Knock-Out Cup win will surely inspire them to better things,<br>although they may well still feature in a relegation battle with Paul<br>Newbould\u2019s Walton B, weakened by the absence of Gavin Price, and<br>promoted Lawford, this year including Glen Laing.<br>However, all eyes will also be on promoted Brotherhood B who<br>swept aside all before them in Division Two last year. With the two<br>Plummers and two Smith-Dayes supplemented by Daryl Lott, it will<br>be interesting to see how this quintet fare at the highest level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Division Two relegated Windsor Buzzards have added Scott<br>Campbell to their squad and they start as strong pre-season<br>favourites. Mark Salter\u2019s Brotherhood D look the best of the rest.<br>Paul Woolnough replaces Scott Campbell in last season\u2019s third-<br>placed team Windsor Penguins who also welcome Paul Stanton back<br>into the League ranks, while John Gallagher\u2019s Brotherhood C, which<br>has developed into an all-round competitive side, is unchanged.<br>It\u2019s good to see Tom Wilkin back in the table tennis fold leading the<br>Nomads Jaguars, whilst the new-look Nomads Tigers comprising<br>Jillins, Shafat, Wellum, Wilkinson and Miller will be relying heavily<br>on skipper Miller to steer them to safety.<br>Kevin Pryor\u2019s addition to promoted Brotherhood E\u2019s squad should be<br>the key to their survival whilst the other promoted side, Windsor<br>Harriers, make a first change to their squad in eleven seasons,<br>Barry Allen replacing Ferdy Rodriguez.<br>But the Harriers, like the unchanged Windsor Kestrels who finished<br>bottom last term, will both need to play well to keep clear of the<br>relegation zone where two promoted teams, Brotherhood G with<br>new signing Adhuna Das, and an unchanged Windsor Magpies, will<br>do well to survive.<br>With a number of new teams and new faces in Division Three, the<br>battle at the top may well develop into a two-horse race between<br>the talented juniors of Brotherhood F and ever-improving Nomads<br>Bobcats.<br>Lynette Sparks\u2019 Walton D is unchanged and they will, as always, be<br>agreeable and competitive opponents whilst Kelvin Olano is a<br>welcome League, playing for Windsor Falcons who, with Ferdy<br>Rodrigues as first reserve, should be a competitive outfit.<br>Dominic Joannou is the only survivor in the Nomads Leopards side,<br>their much-changed side this year led by Ann Bonny, whilst<br>Nomads Ocelots contain five familiar faces in Hazel Blanche, Sue<br>Lee, Norman Jacobs, Andrew Cousins and Arthur Wells-Garrett who<br>will be hoping to avoid finishing bottom for a second year running.<br>And if you\u2019re looking for a team to spring a surprise or two, watch<br>out for the new Brotherhood H team which includes the promising<br>De Silva brothers.<br>Finally, the League bids a warm welcome to four teams from the<br>new Holland Club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All four teams are led by established players, with Club Secretary<br>leading Holland Lancasters, although it could be the Hurricanes,<br>headed by Ian Gwillim and Gerry Widnell, who prove to be the best<br>of the four Holland teams.<br>James Horsler and Mick Coker are the familiar names for the<br>Vulcans whilst Pam Blakeley\u2019s Mosquitos complete the Holland<br>quartet.<br>So good luck to all competitors, both the long-established players<br>as well those taking their first steps in competitive table tennis but,<br>above all else, enjoy your table tennis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tony Oswick<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-0 is-cropped\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><\/ul><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the last twenty-five Clacton and District League seasons, onlyfour teams have taken the Division One title.Brotherhood B have won it twice and Windsor Condors once butotherwise the title has been dominated by two teams &#8211; thelegendary Brotherhood A team of Binns, Burgess, Andrews andStubbings, and the current Nomads Panthers\u2019 side, both of whomhave won [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[10],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3086"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3086"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3088,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3086\/revisions\/3088"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.essextabletennis.org.uk\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}