Season Reviews and Statistics

NOEFC Season Review 2024/25

P:42  W:25 D:1 L:16

Season Review

The 2024/25 North Oxford season was as busy and diverse as ever, with Monday evening practices at Summer Fields continuing uninterrupted, and large numbers of people playing large numbers of fixtures and competitions on a wide range of courts.

We were as competitive as ever in the team competitions, reaching the finals of the Boughton Bowl, the Richard Black Cup and the EFA Trophy. We only managed to get our hands on the silverware in the first of these, the sextet of Karen Hird, Rachel Wood, Grace Day, Nick Shaw, Tom McCahon and Alex Abrahams winning the tournament for the second time and the first since 2021, while our second string of Emily Scoones, Sze-Lynn Yuen, Mandie Barnes, Andy Bishop, Stefan Nowinski and Archie Cameron-Blackie came close to making it an historic one-two.

The Black Cup was notable for reaching a remarkable eleventh straight final, although our chances of a fourth win a row were scuppered by an excellent Old Salopian team. The good news was that the North Oxford was bringing through some new talent of its own with Charlotte Barr, Darcy Clarke, Olivia Prankerd Smith and Rachel McCormack all making their NOEFC BLack Cup debuts.

The EFA Trophy campaign was a familiar story of fine performances and ultimately a near miss with a strong qualification day followed by a fine semi-final win over old foes the Old Salopians and then yet another final defeat to add to the collection at the hands of local rivals Oxford University. With Alex Abrahams (now ineligible) and Matt Asquith (in the US) having moved on from last year, this was another fine showing from the team, which consisted of Isaac Weaver, Fred Prickett, Karen Hird, Stephen Thatcher, Nathan Turnbull and Archie Cameron-Blackie with Archie's badly timed thumb injury perhaps the crucial blow before finals day as he had to be replaced by a combination of Pete Scholey and Gareth Hoskins.

The league season once again saw us with a team in all three divisions of the league and not a single penalty point conceded across the board - a mighty feat. Andy Bishop's Division 3 team and the ever-changing Division 2 line-up finished joint third and third respectively in their Divisions and fulfilled their brief of having lots of close, enjoyable matches and providing playing opportunities for lots of different players. 46 different players represented the club in the league, with each of the three teams driven by a core group of players and lots of others popping in for a game here and there. The Division 1 team had their best season ever, both in terms of points scored and finishing position, ending up in second place behind the defending champions the Old Westminsters. It was particularly pleasing to see the core group of the Division 1 team consisting mainly of a group of young players who have all now found their feet at this level and are all improving, with Noah Caplin, Alex Abrahams, Tom McCahon, Gwydion Wiseman and Isaac Weaver all outstanding during the course of the year. With support from other youngsters such as Beau Swallow, Ben Hart, Frank Lebon, Tancred Campbell and some bloke called Cooley alongside club stalwarts Graham Pulsford, Darshan Patel, Chris Austin and Stephen Thatcher, some notable results were achieved throughout the year both in particular pairs and as a team. Even the club captain managed a first pair win in his only Division 1 appearance, although he doesn't like to talk about it much.

Monday nights at Summer Fields have also continued to produce plenty of new faces with appearances throughout the year from newcomers Olivia Prankerd Smith, Tim Boyes-Watson, Simon Beattie, Nick Jamieson, Giles Atwell, Rachel McCormack, George Lythgoe and Julia Schaub alongside the familiar old ones of Andy Bishop, Gareth Hoskins, Stephen Thatcher, Stefan Nowinski, Ian Mitchell, Mandie Barnes and Robert Thorogood. We've also been delighted to have been joined on most Mondays by Andrew Rennie, who has provided a welcome injection of quality into our on court efforts. Plenty of others have made the odd appearance here and there and anyone in the Oxford area on a Monday evening is always welcome to come and join us on the courts at Summer Fields.

There has been individual success for our players away from the team environment too - Isaac Weaver and Fred Prickett made the final of the U25s, Fred & Tom Hoskins got to the semi-finals of the Universities tournament for Exeter, a competition which was won by Beau Swallow & Ben Hart. Karen & Charlotta retained the Ladies Championships, Seb won plenty as always, Gwydion won the U21s and the Aberconway, Gareth won the Graves Cup and Alex deservedly picked up a Player of the Year nomination.

The other great joy of being part of North Oxford is the opportunity to do a variety of things: the summer barbecue at Broughton Castle (thanks, Martin!), Paume Artignoscaise in Provence, Warminster Fives, Prior Park Fives and a Christmas sortie onto the Real Tennis courts at Radley.

Thank you to everyone involved for making it such a fun season to be a part of and let's do it all again next year!

NOEFC Season Review 2023/24

P:46  W:21 D:1 L:21 N/A:3

Season Review

The 2023/24 season has been another enjoyably busy one for the Fives players of North Oxford, with close to 50 matches played and 70 different players representing the club on at least one occasion.

The early part of the season saw our weekly Monday evening games at Summer Fields hit peak numbers, with some enthusiastic SF gappers and staff and some moonlighting OUEFC students joining the regular merry band and on occasion the best part of 20 people turning up to play on our two courts. Luckily, the indoor courts and dry, warm seating (for the resting) or adjacent squash court Fives (for the energetic) kept everyone happy. The gapper turnover in January, the Iffley Road courts being back in action and one or two absentees meant that attendance returned to a slightly more manageable number by the end of the season, but we have still enjoyed welcoming a wide variety of occasional guest players as well as acquiring some new regular recruits such as James Wheale, Olivia Prankerd Smith, Tim Boyes-Weston and the returning Caleb Broomfield to join the long term Monday nighters.

Competition-wise, the emphasis has been very firmly on quantity, with a decent amount of quality thrown in from time to time. Once again, we entered a team in all three divisions of the league, this year with the additional complication of reduced availability from Matt Chinery and Karen Hird, both of whom have seemingly played in virtually every match in recent years. This simply meant greater opportunities for others, of course, and the Division 1 team managed to finish in a very creditable fourth place, using a wide range of players and trying where possible to focus on younger players. Alex Abrahams and Noah Caplin led the way, with strong support from Matt Asquith. Another injury-plagued season meant we didn’t see as much of Tom McCahon as we would have liked (let’s hope for better luck next year) but there were valuable contributions from Ben Hart, Beau Swallow, James Piggot, Will Ponsonby, Archie Cameron-Blackie, Steve Kaaber-Gore, Isaac Wagland and Nathan Turnbull. There were a couple of appearances from Seb Cooley, who looks a decent prospect; Stephen Thatcher, Paul Holland and Darshan Patel all stepped up when required and the old guard of Gareth Hoskins and Chris Austin and the even older guard of Graham Pulsford and Pete Scholey all did their bit.

The Division 2 season – especially with Matt & Karen’s reduced availability – was somewhat up and down results-wise but was again notable for the wide range of players who contributed. Twenty-four different players turned out in at least one match of the eight played in Division 2, with only Thatcher (5) and Pulsford (4) playing in at least half. Otherwise there was nice mix of old favourites – Austin, Hoskins, Turnbull, Scholey, Patel, Hird, Chinery, Ian Mitchell, Spencer Chapman, Henry Turcan, Robert Thorogood – and some new blood, with Will Thomas, Paul Holland and Jack Hopkins from Newbury, Lewis Drummond & Jamie Levinson from Cambridge, Old Summerfieldian contributions from Beau Swallow, Fred Prickett and Toby Bush and homegrown talent in the form of Harry Asquith and Gael Guetard.

NOEFC President Andy Bishop steered the Division 3 team to a respectable mid-table finish, often seeming to come up against opponents very much at full strength but again taking the opportunity to give lots of players a chance to get on court. Andy himself, plus Ian Mitchell, Stefan Nowinski and Toby Bush were the backbone of the team, with strong contributions from the NOEFC female contingent – Mandie Barnes, Bee Millar, Freya Butler, Sophie Clifford-King and Harry Asquith.

It was the North Oxford women who provided the highlight of the season once again by retaining the Richard Black Cup. With Karen Hird again playing for Repton, and Rachel Wood absent on maternity leave, this was a slightly against the odds victory and the result of some fantastic performances on the day. Harry Asquith led from the front and she and Francesca Turnbull produced the result of the day, winning comprehensively at first pair in the decisive game against the Shrewsbury pair who later in the season reached the national semi-finals. Natalie Lilienthal and Mandie Barnes provided experienced back up while newcomers Bee Millar and Grace Day deservedly tasted victory in this competition for the first time.

Elsewhere in the team competitions, we entered two teams in the Boughton Bowl, finishing third (a slightly disappointing result, maybe) and fifth and one team in the EFA Trophy, who made it through to finals day easily enough but then lost agonisingly – as usual – in the semi-finals, with Alex Abrahams & Matt Asquith narrowly failing to pull off what would have been an epic comeback win from 2-0 down.

Away from team competition, there were plenty of notable tournament performances from North Oxford players: Karen retained the ladies and mixed titles, Rachel returned from maternity leave to make the semi-finals of the ladies alongside Freya, Tom Hoskins & Fred Prickett took Exeter University to the semi-finals of the Universities tournament (which was won by Beau), Matt won the Northern Festival in a scratch pairing with Jon Shorrocks, Mandie won the Graves Cup and Alex reached new heights in the majors, including a first ever Kinnaird quarter-final appearance. There was nearly some extra silverware at the end of the season, too, as Andy Bishop & Stefan Nowinski came within a whisker of winning the Over 60s category at the Veterans tournament.

Away from the competitive (ish) arena, we played the usual assortment of friendly matches and travelled as far and wide as possible, with Cambridge, Iffley Road, Rydal, St.Bees, Warminster, Nelson, Bath, Wolverhampton, Ipswich, Orpington, Newbury, Rugby, Winchester, Broughton Castle and Zuoz all on the itinerary along with more pub lunches, sticky toffee puddings and curries than you can shake a stick at.

Here’s to doing it all over again next season!

NOEFC Season Review 2022/23

P:45  W:27 D:1 L:16 N/A:1 

Season Review

2022/23 has been another busy and successful season for North Oxford EFC, with nearly 50 matches played and every effort made to live up to the club’s mission statement of as much Fives being played by as many people as possible in as many different places as possible.

One of the unexpected delights of this season has been the number of new players we have introduced to the sport, especially at our regular Monday evening sessions on the courts at Summer Fields school. Summer Fields staff members Bee Millar and Emily Webb have both made huge strides since taking up the game at the start of the year and the Burford connection has given us the Saftoiu family (Calin, Catalina and Tudor following Burford school’s Luca onto the courts) and the talented Dan Lake, who is one to watch for next season for sure. There have been occasional forays from SF parents, gappers and staff at the local gym and hopefully some of those will also begin to turn into regulars next season. It is increasingly becoming the case that a majority of players on any given Monday will not have gone to a Fives-playing school and many will have learned the game with North Oxford on the Summer Fields courts.

The biggest problem is that we only have two courts to play on; with the beginners’ contingent, various OUEFC members (Nick Choustikov, Freya Butler, Ed Gosnell, Beau Swallow, Cyril Schroeder and Annie Calderbank especially), newly arrived superstars of the game in Andrew Rennie and Fred Prickett and regular Monday nighters of longer standing – Andy Bishop, Stephen Thatcher, Steve Gore, Stefan Nowinski, Ian Mitchell, Matt Chinery, Rachel Wood, Mandie Barnes, Robert Thorogood, Gael Guetard, Nick Shaw, various Scholeys, Stephen Jones, Chris Lloyd, Gareth Hoskins, Tom Hoskins, Kirby Clayton and assorted others. Even Spencer Chapman made the odd appearance. Luckily, a combination of several factors - indoor courts, plenty of short games and court juggling, a generally high level of bonhomie and tolerance, a bit of squash court Fives and the lack – so far – of an evening when everyone decides to turn up at once - has meant that we are still able to fit everything into one evening. The day can’t be far away, though, when we get 25 people turning up to play on two courts, having hit 19 on a couple of occasions this year.

As always, NOEFC’s activities extend well beyond the Summer Fields courts. Once again we entered a team into all three divisions of the league and once again we managed to play every single fixture without conceding a pair, a very pleasing achievement and 39 different players represented the club at least once in the league, an equally pleasing statistic. We even managed to play two Division 2 matches simultaneously at one point. All three teams acquitted themselves well; the Division 1 team suffered a little bit through injury – the McCahon knee, the Abrahams finger and the Caplin ankle depriving us of three of our young stars at various points of the season – but there were some dogged performances and occasional highlights. Steve Kaaber-Gore and Matt Asquith both performed to a very high level (a memorable win as a pair at Harrow will live long in the memory), Matt Chinery, Stephen Thatcher, Nirav Patel and Darshan Patel all began to establish themselves as Division 1 squad members and the ageless Graham Pulsford and Pete Scholey continued to defy medical science. Seb Cooley added some welcome stardust from time to time and if we can keep the star players fit and get a few more appearances out of the likes of James Piggot, James Cobb, Beau Swallow and Ben Hart then the signs look good for next season. The Division 2 team finished a very respectable third in the table, with lots of different people getting the chance to play a game or two, including rare league matches at Newbury and Iffley Road. The Division 3 team – led as ever by Club President Andy Bishop – had an excellent season, coming within a gnat’s whisker of claiming the Division 3 title, just missing out with a 2-3 defeat in the deciding pair of the deciding match at Newbury. We look forward to bigger and better things next year from the rapidly improving likes of Toby Bush, Sophie Clifford-King, Bee Millar and Cyril Schroeder.

There were other competitive highlights: we reached the EFA Trophy semi-finals once again, narrowly losing to the eventual winners; a relatively inexperienced Boughton Bowl team came third but put up a terrific defence of the title in a thrilling competition; and the Richard Black Cup was retained – a  magnificent achievement made all the more remarkable by being done without our captain and star player from previous triumphs Karen Hird, who was heading up the Repton team. Rachel Wood and Harry Asquith stepped up to the mark, remaining undefeated at first pair all day; Francesca Turnbull and Annalise Whitehead gelled superbly at second pair (we need to see more of Annalise next year!) and Erin Leatherbarrow stepped in at the last minute and combined with Sophie Clifford-King to get us over the line in the crucial third pair game in the final.

We also did the usual assortment of other stuff – various club members trying their hand at different variants of Fives from the three-walled court at East Preston in Sussex, to Warminster Fives, Paume Artignoscaise, Welsh Handball and occasional forays onto Winchester and Rugby Fives courts. Spencer Chapman again ran two Aston House spin-off teams in the Westway Summer Superleague and we played matches or tournaments on the courts at Marlborough, Wolverhampton, Rydal, St Bees, Cambridge, Uppingham and Oakham as well as consuming a vast quantity of pub lunches and curries at venues up and down the country. And with an eye on the future of the club, Steve & Kirby and Matt & Rachel have been doing their bit to produce the next generation of North Oxford Fives players.

NOEFC Season Review 2021/22

P:49  W:29 D:1 L:15 N/A:4

Season Review

After the stop start (more stop than start but we did our best) of the 2020/21 season, it was fantastic to be back into the normal rhythms and routines of a North Oxford Fives season this year. We finished one short of playing 50 fixtures and over 60 players represented the club at some stage during the year from club diehards to occasional players to one-off guest appearances. All were welcome and hopefully all enjoyed embracing the NOEFC philosophy of playing as much Fives as possible in as many different places as possible while eating and drinking our way around the pubs and curry houses of the Fives circuit.

Monday nights at Summer Fields were hit hardest by the covid hiatus and only resumed shortly before the start of the season after close to 18 months on hold. We quickly hit the ground running, however, and have consistently welcomed at least two courts worth of players throughout the year, often wishing we had more courts available, although the squash courts do get used for our own version of Rugby Fives and the more senior Monday nighters are often glad of the opportunity to have a rest. One of the more noteworthy aspects of our Monday night sessions is the wide range of people they attract. There is a core of regular players, of course, with Andy Bishop, Gareth Hoskins, Stefan Nowinski, Ian Mitchell, Mandie Barnes, Steve Kaaber-Gore, Kirby Clayton, Matt Chinery, Rachel Wood, Stephen Thatcher, Gael Guetard, Annie Calderbank and Robert Thorogood to the fore but also plenty of occasional visitors and several new faces, including the likes of Andrew Rennie, Oli Lawton, Sophie Clifford-King, Issy Wong, Katie George, Ben Brendish, Cyril Schroeder, Ed Aldous, Henry Turcan, Beau Swallow, Freddie Kottler and Emma Spencer. Throw in some appearances from Fives royalty Chris Davies, long-term NOEFC stalwarts Nick Shaw, Pete Scholey (plus various other members of the Scholey family), Tom Hoskins, Spencer Chapman, Chris Lloyd, Karen Hird and even Jon Staley occasionally and it is clear to see that our weekly sessions continue to go from strength to strength and provide the foundations on which the rest of the club is built.

The highlights of the competitive season came early with a first ever win in the Boughton Bowl (the mixed team competition) and regaining the Richard Black Cup, both with final victories over strong Highgate sides. Both teams were led from the front by Karen Hird, who had a sensational season individually, playing a key part in North Oxford teams in all competitions, consolidating her position as the pre-eminent player in the women’s game and deservedly winning the Player of the Year award at the end of season EFA dinner. Another key player in those two victories having a remarkable season was Rachel Wood, who at one stage appeared to be winning a trophy every other week, finishing the season with wins in the Boughton Bowl, Black Cup, Universities Tournament, Universities Mixed Tournament and the Northern Festival. 

We once again reached the final of the EFA Trophy with a strong performance in the group stages and an excellent semi-final win over the OIs before we rather ran out of steam in the final against a very strong Salopian side. In the league, we once again entered a team in each division and finished with the proud record of not conceding a single penalty point, finishing in the top three in each division (without winning any of them!) and seeing 39 different players play at least one league match for us. With all due respect to the achievements of Bishop’s Buccaneers in Division 3 and the efforts of the Division 2 team (not least the burgeoning dream team partnership of Chinery & Thatcher, who went on to win the Pepperpot Trophy at the Kinnaird later in the season), most of the league highlights were centred around the Division 1 team’s excellent showing, the second place finish our best ever. This was achieved despite Seb Cooley failing to be available for any matches at all and was underpinned by some terrific Fives from youngsters Noah Caplin, Alex Abrahams, Tom McCahon, Nathan Turnbull and Matt Asquith. The best performances came from Noah & Alex, who teamed up on several occasions to claim some notable first pair scalps.

The non-competitive side is just as important to the Fives players of North Oxford, and it was fantastic to have the freedom once again to travel around the country playing all sorts of Fives in all sorts of places. There was the pre-season club barbecue at Broughton Castle, a fun day out at Cambridge with a mixture of coaching, playing and eating, the return of the Three Code Challenge, with Stefan Nowinski claiming the honours (a precursor to his claiming of the national Over 60s title later in the season), friendlies against various clubs at various locations (Iffley rd, KES Birmingham, Aldenham, Torry Hill, Cambridge) and the now traditional Wiltshire tour of Warminster and Marlborough with detours via the Cornmarket Café and the Zaika curry house.

The season ended – I mean it doesn’t really end, it just rolls into the next one – with another victorious Westway Superleague campaign, Aston House supremo Spencer Chapman somehow plotting a course to get both of his teams into the final, where the Stampede just about had the edge over the Thoroughbreds. Artignosc now beckons once again for several NOEFC members, followed by a pre-season tour of Sussex and then it will be into the 2022/23 season before you know it. Bring it on!

NOEFC Season Review 2020/21

P: 9 W:5 D:1 L:3 

Season review

This was a much disrupted season, a victim of lockdowns, court unavailability and having to seize opportunities as and when they arose. The competitive fixture list was heavily reduced and Monday nights at Summer Fields were ruled out for the whole year, but the Fives players of North Oxford are a resilient bunch and as well as getting in a few matches as and when it was possible, we assembled periodically on the courts of Eton, Mill Hill, High Elms and Torry Hill to keep things going as best we could.

The on court highlight was undoubtedly the early season 3-0 win against the Old Cholmeleians, with star billing going to the amazing five game first pair win by Tom McCahon & Nathan Turnbull over Jonny Ho & Matt Kovar. Not many other Division 1 matches were played but the continued improvements being made by Tom, Nathan, Alex Abrahams and Noah Caplin bode well for next year, which will hopefully see a return to a full programme.

NOEFC Season Review 2019/20

P: 41 W:23 D:1 L:14 N/A:3 

Appearances in the Mixed Team Tournament have been counted as matches played but N/A in terms of results. EFA Trophy group stage results have been counted as one match and have been recorded as a win (A team) or a defeat (B team). Group matches in the Richard Black Cup have been counted as a win; the semi-final and final have been included as a separate match.

Season review

The North Oxford season started with an international flavour with the now annual visit of the Dutch Real Tennis team to play on the courts at Summer Fields followed by the long awaited and frankly long overdue first ever NOEFC tour of Grillon. A near full house of 17 (the obligatory late withdrawal from Spencer of course) spent a memorable weekend thanks to Nigel & Jeff on the courts and round the dining table, combining the club's two main interests in one fantastic trip. Once back in the UK, the focus turned to two tournaments - the new Mixed team trophy and the Richard Black Cup, both providing a chance to shine for North Oxford's female contingent, who have long been at the forefront of the club's success.

We were able to put out three full teams for the Mixed team trophy at Eton, with a couple of extra players to spare; a day that started with pride at this achievement moved through the disappointment of our possible title hopes disappearing thanks to a Karen Hird injury onto the enjoyment of various combinations of our players taking part in a joyfully chaotic plate competition and ending with the farcical and highly entertaining sight of a spare North Oxford player playing in the deciding pair in the plate final against a bona fide North Oxford pair, trying to lose and failing spectacularly, his partner oblivious to what was going on. The Black Cup team were unchanged from last year and back to defend the title. Having seen off the departure of Highgate's "golden generation" to finally get hold of the silverware in 2017 and 2018, it was a new look Highgate team, led by Emily Scoones, who returned with a bang this year to take on the NOEFC sextet of Karen Hird, Harry Asquith, Rachel Wood, Francesca Turnbull, Faye Kerr and Mandie Barnes. The final was an absolute classic, with Karen & Harry dominant in victory at first pair, Rachel & Mandie unable to cope with two of Highgate's impressive youngsters at third pair and Faye & Francesca coming within one point of a thrilling victory before finally going down in three games. 

By this stage of the season, our Monday night sessions at Summer Fields were getting on a roll that was only halted by the coronavirus juggernaut in March. Since we started playing on Monday evenings nearly 25 years ago, large numbers of players have come and gone, the regular turnover and large player pool meaning that you rarely get the same set of players turning up twice and keeping those who regard themselves as part of the furniture very much on their toes. Numbers soared this year, with two courts never enough to meet demand; the warm indoor setting, back court camaraderie and squash court rugby fives for the more energetic/foolhardy meant that even when 16 or 17 players turned up, no-one failed to enjoy themselves. The mixture of players has been perfect this year, with teenage enthusiasm from Cassian Mcdonald, Will Bush and Tom Hoskins, a strong female presence from Rachel Wood, Faye Kerr, Mandie Barnes, Annie Calderbank, Amelia Hepburn, Eleanor Malone and Kirby Clayton, youthful vigour from Sam & Giles Mcloughlin, Steve & Mark Gore, Hugo Young (nice to have some professional expertise to raise standards!) and Jacob Ryde, enthusiastic new faces in Edward Aldous, Alan Pesskin and Erin Leatherbarrow and sage advice from the aforementioned furniture - Gareth Hoskins, Andy Bishop, Spencer Chapman, Stefan Nowinksi, Matt Chinery, Robert Thorogood, Pete Scholey, Nick Shaw, Chris Davies, Chris Lloyd, Ian Mitchell and Martin Fiennes. Andy even made it onto the court once or twice despite regular tweaks (or worse) to ankle, knee, finger and fetlock. The hiatus in Monday nights that began in mid-March has simply reinforced how important a part of so many people's lives they have become and we eagerly await their return, although when that happens we may need substantially more courts than Summer Fields can provide!

Away from Oxford, the competitive season was once again a great success. We again fielded a team in all three divisions without conceding a single penalty point, which is a considerable achievement. Bishop's Buccaneers were the worst affected by the premature end to the season, their charge to the title halted in its tracks with a run of games still to come in April and they had to settle for second place. The Division 2 side had a fine season, with loads of close matches, more of which were won than lost, finishing in second place behind only the all-conquering Old Salopians - the highlight of the Division 2 campaign probably being the 2-1 away win against the eventual champions with Karen Hird & a resurgent Robert Wilson (welcome back, Rob!) coming from behind to pinch the winning fifth game 14-12 with the rest of the team cheering them on and North Oxford supporters across the country (well me anyway) receiving regular text commentary of the thrilling closing stages. The Division 1 side also had a terrific season, finishing fifth out of nine and winning around 50% of pairs played with a team mainly consisting of players who had learned their Fives away from the major Fives schools; indeed the majority of the Division 1 team's appearances came from players who had learned their Fives at Ipswich, Wolverhampton, KES, Aldenham, Emanuel, Westway, Cranleigh, RGS High Wycombe, Lancing or indeed who learned to play as adults. There was only one appearance from team pro Seb Cooley and we relied much more on the younger players - Noah Caplin, Sam Mcloughlin, Nathan Turnbull, James Piggot, new signings Alex Abrahams and Cam Lyle and the outstanding Tom McCahon, who played all 14 matches, nearly all at first pair and with eight different partners, even managing to record a couple of vintage first pair wins against Berkhamsted and the Harrovians in tandem with the venerable club captain. There was solid support as always from veteran campaigners Gareth Hoskins, Pete Scholey, Graham Pulsford and Chris Austin but the team was less reliant on them than in previous years and all the better for it.

Tom was also at the forefront of our post-Christmas EFA trophy challenge as we once again came within a whisker of winning the tournament for the first time since 2009. This was the strongest North Oxford EFA Trophy squad for a long time and Tom, Alex Abrahams, Nathan Turnbull, Chris Lloyd, Karen Hird, Spencer Chapman and Steve Gore cruised through the qualifiers without breaking sweat. The addition of Phil Roper for finals day gave us real hope of winning and the semi-final against Eton College was duly won 3-0. The final against the Old Salopians was a cracker; Karen & Chris struggled to keep up against veterans Mike Hughes & Grant Williams, but Phil & Nathan produced a stunning performance at second pair to level at 1-1. The first pair match was of the highest quality as Tom & Alex took on Sam Mcloughlin & Will Sissons; the first two games were shared but ultimately the Salopian pair proved themselves stronger, winning in four. We'll be back next year!

For many involved, however, the delights of a North Oxford season are not measured by on court successes and failures but by the enjoyment to be had throughout the year - more pub lunches, curries and sticky toffee puddings than a serious sporting outfit should perhaps be consuming, trips to places off the beaten track such as Charterhouse, Bryanston, Aldenham and Cambridge. The premature end to the season meant that many of those things didn't happen this year and the 2020 summer tour - an eight day marathon involving a game on every single playable court in the country - will have to wait until 2021.

NOEFC Season Review 2018/19

P: 48 W:25 D:0 L:19 N/A:4 

Appearances in the cross-code match against Marlborough, the Aldenham ladder, Warminster trip and Three Code challenge have been counted as matches played but N/A in terms of results. EFA Trophy group stage results have been counted as one match and have been recorded as a win (A team) or a defeat (B team). Group matches in the Richard Black Cup have been counted as a win; the final has been included as a separate match.

Season Review

The 2018/19 season has been as busy as ever for North Oxford EFC.

The summer of 2018 saw the usual range of activities, starting with another strong Superleague showing from the Aston House Thoroughbreds and Showponies, taking in a moat-swimming detour at the summer club barbecue at Broughton Castle and a memorable Northern tour to Rossall, St.Bees and Sedbergh, which included an ascent of Great Gable before breakfast by Nick Shaw and Stefan Nowinski, Faye Kerr nearly joining the St.Bees choir, swimming in the Irish Sea and Christmas coming early for Karen Hird with a visit to the spiritual home of sticky toffee pudding at Cartmel. And some Fives. There were impressive performances from several NOEFC players at the Paume Artignoscaise World Cup and a first ever trip to play on the newly reopened court at Dover College, all before September had even started.

Monday evening sessions at Summer Fields have now been running for over 20 years; in that time an extraordinary number of players have graced the courts, some once or twice never to be seen again, some making the occasional guest appearance, some playing for a while before moving on and some there week in week out for those 20 years, clearly with nothing better to do.

This year’s Monday evenings have been reinvigorated with several new faces quickly turning into regulars. It already feels as if Robert Thorogood, Matt Chinery, Rachel Wood, Steve Gore and Faye Kerr have been playing with us for years; Gareth Hoskins, Andy Bishop, Chris Davies, Chris Lloyd, Martin Fiennes, Spencer Chapman, Pete Scholey, Nick Shaw and Stefan Nowinski actually have. The average age of Monday nighters has also seen a considerable drop with the presence this year of Summer Fields (and Dragon) gappers past & present Sam Mcloughlin, Caleb Broomfield, Iain Kidd, Zoe Bloomer and Eleanor Martin, the Bush brothers Toby, Will and Peter plus occasional visits from various Oxford students. We even hosted the Dutch Real Tennis team for a game at the start of the year, who were notable for a) being very good straight away and b) making even more noise than Faye.

Away from Summer Fields, the club continues to play more matches than just about any club in the country – around 50 this year – fielding teams in all three divisions again and playing friendly fixtures against a wide variety of opposition and at as many different venues as possible.

The league season was pretty successful with a mid-table finish in a Division 1 campaign that contained a few notable highlights – the star performances of new recruit Tom McCahon, a first ever win over the Old Harrovians (Tom Dunbar and all) in a thrilling match at Eton in November, huge and obvious improvements in the standard of play of Karen Hird, Sam Mcloughlin, Noah Caplin, Chris Lumbard and Nathan Turnbull, tantalising glimpses of our resident pro Seb Cooley and the talented James Piggot and age-defying (sort of) contributions from stalwarts Gareth Hoskins, Peter Scholey, Chris "The Wizard of Wolverhampton" Austin and Graham “Grandad” Pulsford.

The Division 2 season got off to a slow start, with seemingly every set of opposition putting out their strongest possible line-up against us, but a strong finish allowed us to achieve mid-table respectability. This left our Division 3 side “Bishop’s Buccaneers “ to take the glory, as they missed out on the title by just one point after a fine season under the leadership of Club President Andy Bishop, who was able to select from a settled squad starring the likes of Robert Thorogood, Steve Thatcher, Rachel Wood, Karen Hird, Harriet Asquith and the President himself.

We also had another excellent season in the cup competitions. The EFA Trophy squad of Tom McCahon, Karen Hird, Freddie Fairhead, David Cox, Chris Lloyd, Nathan Turnbull and Spencer Chapman qualified impressively for the semi-finals yet again and although they came up short in the last four against a formidable Old Salopian side, they went on to win the 3rd/4th place play-off against the Old Olavians in fine style.

The stars of the NOEFC season were once again the ladies team, who backed up their fantastic win in the 2017 Richard Black Cup by retaining the trophy at Eton in November. The sextet of Karen Hird, Harry Asquith, Rachel Wood, Faye Kerr, Francesca Turnbull and Mandie Barnes were immense all day, seeing off all challengers and clinching the trophy with a win in the final over a very strong Ipswich team. They’ll be back next season looking for three in a row!

There were individual successes again – Seb did ok, and Karen added another national title to her lengthy list. The Over 50s final was an all North Oxford affair with Pete & Grandad beating the Chrises, Gareth & Tom Hoskins won the Mike Fenn plate at the Aberconway Cup and Matt & Rachel won the Midlands Festival. Faye & Joe DaCosta even won a couple of matches at the Mixed.

As always, the emphasis this season has been on getting as many people playing as much Fives as possible and on having as much fun as possible. These are the yardsticks by which we measure our success – sticky toffee puddings and curries consumed as much as points and trophies won – and 2018/19 scores pretty highly. Hopefully next year will be even better!

NOEFC Season Review 2017/18

P: 48 W:27 D:2 L:15 N/A:4 

The notion of a Fives season is becoming increasingly anomalous for North Oxford as Fives becomes more and more of an all year round business.

The summer of 2017 saw a great deal of activity before the start of the competitive campaign, with an epic win for the Aston House Thoroughbreds in the Westway Summer Superleague – a first triumph for us in the competition since 2010, a weekend southern tour of unusual courts for Gareth Hoskins, Andy Bishop, Karen Hird, Ian Mitchell, Mandie Barnes, Ashley Lumbard, Chris Ballingall, Ralph Morgan and Spencer Chapman, the annual club barbecue at Broughton Castle in Oxfordshire and a week in Provence for several members of the club playing in the Paume Artignoscaise World Cup.

Our weekly Monday evening sessions at Summer Fields in Oxford have undergone something of a renaissance this year with numbers high – over 50 different players have appeared on a Monday evening at some point during the year – and a welcome influx of new blood such as Summer Fields gap year coach Sam Mcloughlin (along with an enthusiastic and talented assortment of antipodean SF gappers), newcomers Rachel Wood and Ian Brown and Old Uppinghamians Robert Thorogood and Matt Chinery. There has also been a welcome return for the maestro himself, EFA Chairman Chris Davies, as well as more regular appearances from the likes of Jon Staley, Martin Fiennes, Jake Ryde, David Cox, Dharmin Naik, Faye Kerr, Joe Da Costa, Sarah Greasley, Noah Caplin and various Turnbulls. With long-standing regulars Gareth Hoskins, Andy Bishop (various injuries permitting), Chris Lloyd and Stefan Nowinski all donning the gloves more often than not, the discussion has tended to turn to when Summer Fields are going to build us more courts rather than where are we going to find new players from. Even Spencer has turned up occasionally.

With the player base as strong as ever we once again embarked on a season that saw us play around 50 fixtures and enter teams in all three divisions, finishing fourth, third and second respectively. The Division 1 side suffered a little from our resident professional Seb Cooley only being available for a handful of matches but when he did play he certainly made a difference. With Phil Roper also sidelined for much of the year due to injury and work commitments, it was left to the old guard and the Oxford student brigade to lead the charge and this they did in splendid fashion, just about exceeding last year’s Division 1 points total and putting in consistently competitive performances. James Piggot, Tom Kirkby, Sam Oppenheimer, James Cobb and Noah Caplin all produced some fine performances for the club – an Oppenheimer/Piggot five game win at first pair away to the Olavians in Orpington a particular highlight – while Gareth Hoskins, Chris “The Wizard of Wolverhampton” Austin, Robert Wilson, Karen Hird, “Grandad” Graham Pulsford, Chris Davies and Pete Scholey all played regularly, frequently (although not always) doing more than just making up the numbers, with Pete and Graham surely setting records as the first Over 60s to win in Division 1 together as a pair and the oldest players to win at first pair in the top flight (we like setting Seb a challenge sometimes). There were also important contributions from Ashley Lumbard, Chris Ballingall, Spencer Chapman, Nathan Turnbull and Charlotta Cooley.

The Division 2 title challenge was slightly scuppered by a Hoskins ankle, a Staley sniffle and a Scholey mechanical issue but was otherwise a roaring success with some cracking matches, a wide variety of players taking part and an astonishingly large number of sticky toffee puddings consumed. Now in its second season, our Division 3 team, led by NOEFC President Andy Bishop, settled nicely into its multiple roles of providing some highly sociable Fives, putting out sides with a 50/50 gender balance, giving competitive opportunities for our newer or returning players and producing a few Ws for the Bishop win percentage on the club stats list. These matches also shone the spotlight on a few players keen to improve and move up the ladder, with the likes of Stephen Thatcher, Robert Thorogood and Old Summerfieldians (and current Etonians) Alfred Backhouse and Ben Porter all catching the eye at various times.

Elsewhere, the club once again put in a solid performance in the EFA Trophy, the team of Sam Mcloughlin, Adam Aslam-Baskeyfield, Spencer Chapman, Karen Hird, Chris Lloyd and David Cox qualifying for the last four with a dramatic come from behind miracle draw against London Universities in the group stages. For the third year in a row, however, we came off second best in the knockout stages against local rivals Oxford University, who deservedly went on to win the competition.

The highlight of the season came early on with the team’s first ever win in the Richard Black Cup. After four successive defeats in the final against the all-conquering Highgate team, this was finally our year as the tables were turned with a convincing 3-0 win in the final over the same opponents. The team of Karen Hird, Harry Asquith, Sarah Greasley, Francesca Turnbull, Mandie Barnes and Faye Kerr were magnificent all day, coming top in Group A with four wins out of four before seeing off the dangerous Shrewsbury team 2-1 in the semi-finals and then hitting top form in the final to win the trophy. A magnificent achievement.

There were individual highlights too: Seb won everything as usual, Karen won her sixth ladies title in a row and was named EFA Player of the Year and the Chrises won back the Over 50s title for the first time since 2013. The Summer Fields production line of future NOEFC players was also functioning well with Alfred Backhouse winning the U16s, Henry Daly the U14s and Sebastian Corso & Gus Stanhope the U13s at the schools’ championships.

It is also embedded in North Oxford’s DNA that we try and play as many friendly matches in as many different places as possible; as well as the 2017 southern tour, we’ve also managed to play at the likes of Shrewsbury, Cambridge, KES Birmingham, Marlborough, Mill Hill and Charterhouse this year and this summer will see a northern tour, taking in Rossall, St.Bees and Sedbergh as well as a return trip to Artignosc.

NOEFC Statistics 2016/17

P: 55 W:30 D:4 L:19 N/A:2

Appearances in the cross-code match against Marlborough and in the three code challenge have been counted as matches played but N/A in terms of results. EFA Trophy group stage results have been counted as one match and have been recorded as a win for the A team or a defeat for the B team. Group matches in the Richard Black Cup have been counted as a win; the semi-finals and final have been included as separate matches.

Season Review

It's been a breathlessly busy season for North Oxford, with a team in each division of the league for the first time and over fifty matches played in total. The club was founded on the back of regular Monday club nights at Summer Fields school. At the start of the year, these were looking to be slightly under threat, with numbers down as previous regulars moved away from the Oxford area. By the end of the season, however, Monday nights have undergone something of a resurgence with "new blood" appearing in the welcome form of Simon Cass, Dharmin Naik, Sarah Greasley, Jake Ryde, Anna Platz, Francesca Knight, Faye Kerr, Joe DaCosta and a rejuvenated Jon Staley to play alongside the old guard of Gareth Hoskins, Andy Bishop, Chris Lloyd, Stefan Nowinski, Spencer Chapman, Martin Fiennes and the Turnbull family. With plenty of others putting in the odd appearance and the summer addition of Oxford students Noah Caplin and Jacob Greenhouse, the supply line of North Oxford talent looks to be firmly back on track. As always we are extremely grateful to Summer Fields for allowing us to use the courts there.

The NOEFC league season has been challenging - 34 matches is a lot - but ultimately successful and very rewarding. After two seasons bumping along at the bottom of Division 1, we finally found the formula to make a breakthrough and finish third with 9 wins and 24 points. In truth the formula was pretty simple - bring in the expertise of superstar Seb Cooley for half a dozen games, add in appearances from the young, eager and deep talent pool at Oxford University (James Piggot, Tom Kirkby, Barnaby Harrison, Will Ponsonby, Arthur Wellesley and Sam Oppenheimer all played at least one match), throw in the reliable old guard of Pete Scholey, Graham Pulsford, Chris Austin and Gareth Hoskins and finish off with the maturing Carl Rennie, the returning Robert Wilson and the underrated Phil Roper - surely the most improved player in the league? - and there you have it. Highlights of the season were the unbeaten first pair performances of the outstanding Cooley/Piggot combination, especially their double over the formidable Berkhamstedians, 3-0 away wins against the Olavians and the Cholms, a first pair win for Grandad Graham against the Salopians (thanks, Seb!) and a debut top flight win for Karen Hird. Oh and apparently Spencer took a game off Tom Dunbar in the Barber Cup; anyone who would like to be talked through this event point by point should contact Spencer, who will be only too happy to recount the tale. Again.

The second division season was a bit more stop start and title hopes were probably scuppered early on with a penalty point conceded against the Westminsters after a bizarre wardrobe/cat feeding/Grandad's back incident. Nevertheless, a strong finish in a tight division meant we ended up in second place and maintained the tradition of ridiculously long first pair matches against the Millhillians, this year's effort ending just after 11pm in a 14-12 fifth game win for Austin & Rennie, much to the dismay of Mrs Plummer, whose son was out far too late on a school night as a result. The new addition this year was the third team in Division 3, led by the club president, and Bishop's Buccaneers performed with distinction, allowing a wider variety of players to experience the friendly yet competitive Fives that is unique to the third division. Another third place finish meant that we finished the season with teams in the top three in each division - a tremendous achievement, to which can be added another semi-final appearance in the EFA Trophy and a nailbitingly narrow defeat to our University neighbours.

We at North Oxford also like to sample Fives life beyond the league and this year was no exception. Friendly fixtures were played far and wide - Iffley Road, Cambridge, Friston Place, Charterhouse, Ludgrove, Marlborough, Rugby and Winchester all got a visit this year - and a huge number of players turned out in at least one match for us against someone, somewhere. The Three Code Challenge was also back due to popular demand for its third outing, with 16 players once again tackling Rugby Fives at Rugby, Eton Fives at Eton and Winchester Fives at Winchester all in the same day. Special rules were devised to stop Seb winning - not being allowed to hit the buttress at Eton, being fined points for leaving his coat in Rugby and just generally not being allowed to win in the event of all else failing - and in the end it was our youngest participant Francesca Turnbull who added her name to those of Andy Bishop and Ralph Morgan on the Three Code roll of honour. Indeed, the North Oxford women as a group had another fine season, with Karen Hird winning yet another ladies title - this time beating NOEFC occasionals Emily Scoones and Ashley Lumbard in the final - and the team of Karen, Francesca, Harriet Asquith, Rosie Scott, Mandie Barnes and Izzy Watts narrowly failing to overturn the mighty Highgate in the final of the Black Cup once again. Next year...

NOEFC Statistics 2015/16

P: 41 W:18 D:3 L:18 N/A:2

Appearances in the cross-code match against Marlborough and in the coast to coast tour have been counted as matches played but N/A in terms of results. EFA Trophy group stage results have been counted as one match and have been recorded as a win for the A team or a defeat for the B team. Group matches in the Richard Black Cup have been counted as a win; the semi-finals and final have been included as separate matches.

Season Review

This has been another enjoyable and successful season for North Oxford EFC. We played a record 41 fixtures, in Divisions 1 and 2 of the league, in the Black Cup and EFA Trophy and in various friendlies. As usual a policy was pursued of playing as many matches as possible in as many different places as possible with as wide a range of standard as possible and this resulted in over 40 players turning out for us during the course of the season.

On the competitive side of things, our second season in Division 1 was as tough as the first, but there were signs of improvement - promising debuts from Oxford students James Cobb and James Piggot, a couple of wins, most notably a 2-1 home win over an Old Olavian side that included three Kinnaird winners and a finishing position of one off the bottom. Onwards and upwards! The second team were always competitive in a very tight Division 2 competition and next year we'll be playing in all three divisions as Andy Bishop leads a North Oxford third team into Division 3. The North Oxford girls were again outstanding all year, contributing hugely to the team's successes and once again reaching the final of the Richard Black Cup, only to lose out to Highgate School in the final again.

The club is about a lot more than competitive Fives, however. Monday nights at Summer Fields continue to thrive, with new players - Jake Ryde and Charlie Cook both impressing hugely this year -  coming in all the time to play alongside the old favourites, the Aston House teams continue to grace the Superleague and the start of season curry, christmas dinner in Cibo's and summer barbecue were all well attended.

NOEFC has also acquired a reputation over the years for going where other Fives clubs don't; this year's follies included a trip to Kent to play the annual unusual courts fixture against the Old Eds at Torry Hill and High Elms, the annual cross code fixture against Marlborough, this year played at Iffley Road, and finally the Coast to Coast tour, with eight intrepid North Oxonians playing ten games in two days, travelling from Colwyn Bay to Ipswich and playing at all points in between. The European version is in the planning stage, while the Christmas three code challenge will be back for a third edition in December.

I would like to thank everyone who has played for us this year, in fixtures and on Monday nights especially those who turn out game after game, whenever and wherever. I'd also like to very much thank Summer Fields School for their continued support in allowing us to use their courts and for providing us access to their production line of good Fives players!

NOEFC Statistics 2014/15

P: 37 W:15 D:3 L:16 N/A:2 

Appearances in the cross-code match against Marlborough and in the three code challenge have been counted as matches played but N/A in terms of results. EFA Trophy group stage results have been counted as one match and have been recorded as a defeat. Group matches in the Richard Black Cup have not been counted; the semi-finals and final have been included as separate matches.

Season Review

The 2014/15 season has been an historic one for North Oxford. Having joined the EFA league in 2006 in the humble surroundings of Division 3, we finally made our debut in the big league, taking on the best teams in the country in Division 1, as well as retaining a second team in Division 2. The result can generally be considered to be a success: the extra fixtures have led to us playing a record 37 fixtures across the season, with an epic 54 players representing the club at least once. 

We finished bottom of Division 1, with 2 wins in 10 matches and 5 points scored out of a possible 30. This doesn't tell the full story, however, as we were competitive in the vast majority of matches and were rarely thrashed. Old Cholmeleians Jonny Ho, Sam Little and Joe Marks helped out and hopefully gained valuable experience as a result; Carl Rennie improved enormously during the course of the season, often playing at first pair and old lags such as Gareth Hoskins, Pete Scholey, Spencer Chapman, "Grandad" Graham Pulsford and Chris Austin all enjoyed their outings in the top flight. There were valuable contributions, too, from Karen Hird and Ian Mitchell. With no-one coming up to Division 1 next season, we're going to give it another go, but with the Cholmeleians entering the league themselves, we will lose the services of Jonny, Sam and Joe; we thank them greatly for their contributions this season and look forward to welcoming young Etonians and Oxford students James Cobb and James Piggot to our Division 1 ranks next year.

One of the most pleasing aspects of doubling our league workload was the fact that in 20 matches across two divisions we didn't concede a single pair and always managed to get a full team out. That our second team managed to finish joint third in Division 2 was an added bonus and a fine achievement and was made possible thanks to contributions from a wide range of players. The old guard of Hoskins, Hird, Rennie, Chapman and Pulsford were all there but were joined by others from the NOEFC ranks - the North Oxford ladies contingent of Rosie Scott, Harry Asquith, Emily Scoones, Izzy Watts and Mandie Barnes, the Old Summerfieldian connection with Barnaby Kelly, Jack Parham, Ollie Sale and Hugo Meakin and Monday night stalwarts Chris Lloyd, Chris Davies, Andy Bishop, Nick Shaw, Justin Shaw, Stefan Nowinski and Alex Yusaf.

Equally important to the success of the season was that the increased league workload didn't impinge on our wide assortment of friendly fixtures and social Fives outings. The cross-code fixture with Marlborough is now an annual event, much enjoyed by all, and this year saw a second go at the three code challenge, with 16 players taking on Rugby Fives at Rugby, Eton Fives at Eton and Winchester Fives at Winchester all in the same day. There were also some ventures northwards, with a pre-season tour of Rossall, St.Bees and Sedbergh and the annual "unusual courts" fixture against the Old Edwardians this year taking place on the courts at Wrekin College in Shropshire. Assorted pub meals, curries and barbecues have punctuated the season as always and although the cake quotient has dropped due to Karen now having a real job, we have undoubtedly become a fitter, leaner Fives machine as a result.

The closest to silverware the club got this year was courtesy of the formidable NOEFC ladies side, who were once again runners-up in the Richard Black Cup in November. The gap on winners Highgate had narrowed appreciably since the previous year's competition, providing hope for a maiden win in this competition in 2015/16. The year's other big winner was club president Andy Bishop, who deservedly won the EFA's coach of the year award, having masterminded first ever wins for Summer Fields in the U12 and prep school competitions this year, ensuring that the next generation of North Oxford players are coming through as strongly as ever. As always we are immensely grateful to Andy and Summer Fields for allowing us to grace their courts every Monday evening. There were other individual successes for North Oxford players, with Karen Hird winning the ladies tournament for the third year in a row and Gareth Hoskins retaining his veterans title; together Gareth and Karen made the final of the Mixed championships; Carl Rennie and Graham Pulsford led Aldenham to victory in the EFA Trophy.

NOEFC Statistics 2013/14

P: 29 W:13 D:5 L:9 N/A:2

The 2013/14 season has been another enjoyable and successful one for North Oxford. Nearly 50 players represented the club over the course of the season in a wide variety of fixtures, from the competitive arenas of Division 2 and the EFA Trophy to friendly fixtures the length and breadth of the Fives-playing country. 

Monday evening numbers at Summer Fields have been consistently good, with both courts regularly filled; we entered two teams into the EFA Trophy this year for the first time in a while, which was pleasing, played a 6 pair fixture against Highgate School and had so many players wanting to play in a fixture at Eton in November that we simultaneously put out 3 pairs against the Etonians and 4 against Windsor & Eton. These are all encouraging indications of the strength in depth of the club, whose players have ventured to play fixtures this year from Wolverhampton to Orpington and at most points in between.

The competitive highlights of the year have been the Division 2 campaign and the Richard Black Cup. The North Oxford women have been a growing force in the club for the past couple of seasons, and we entered a team into the Black Cup for the first time this year; Karen Hird, Rosie Scott, Harriet Asquith, Mandie Barnes, Wendy Carling and Francesca Turnbull did the club proud, beating all comers until coming up against defending champions Highgate School in the final. The women also made a key contribution to our success in winning Division 2 for the third successive year; the policy at the start of the season was that one of the women should play in every league fixture. This quickly became two and by the end of the season was up to three. The standards achieved in these matches by Karen Hird, Izzy Watts, Harriet Asquith and Mandie Barnes were terrific; by the end of the season, the women had made 18 league appearances between them with 15 of them resulting in wins – an outstanding record. Next season will see us make a first attempt at playing in Division 1, whilst retaining a second team in Division 2.

There were several individual successes for North Oxford players around the circuit – Karen Hird successfully defended her ladies title and Gareth Hoskins celebrated becoming a veteran by winning the MJS-J Trophy with Old Harrovian Jamie Fleming. Gareth and Karen also teamed up to reach the quarter-finals of the Midland Tournament, the final of the Northern Festival and come third in the National Winchester Fives mixed doubles. Izzy Watts won the Universities title and led Oxford University to victory in the Varsity Match and Carl Rennie and Alex Yusaf teamed up to win the Kinnaird Festival. The season ended with the club receiving the EFA team of the year award at the end of season EFA dinner. 

Elsewhere all of the old staples remain in place – the start of season curry, Christmas dinner, summer barbecue, the best cakes on the circuit (thanks, Karen!), the unusual courts fixture against the Old Eds (Newbury this year) and the cross-code match in Marlborough. This year’s addition to the calendar – in addition to January’s match in the mud at High Elms - was the epic fund-raising Fives marathon for Sports Relief with 12 club players aiming to play 12 matches in one day on 12 different sets of courts at the end of June. The all-year round nature of the club’s activities also continues, with Monday night Fives, two Aston House teams in the Westway Superleague and the occasional summer friendly. 

As always we are indebted to Andy Bishop and Summer Fields school for allowing us the use of their courts. We also continue to benefit from a youthful injection of former SF pupils turning out for us. My thanks also go to everyone who has played for us this season and let’s hope for an even better season next time round.

NOEFC Statistics 2012/13

P: 27 W:16 D:3 L:8 N/A:1

 Appearances in the cross-code match against Marlborough RFC and the three code challenge have been counted as matches played, but recorded as N/A in terms of results

EFA Trophy group matches have been included in the overall team results and counts as a match played but as N/A in terms of personal results

Season Review

This has been another enjoyable season for North Oxford. There have been successes to savour on and off court with the club retaining the Division 2 title in fine style and individual triumphs for the Chrises Lloyd and Davies in the Over 50s, for Gareth Hoskins and Rosie Scott in the Midland Festival and Karen Hird in just about everything she played in, including the Under 25s with Emily Scoones. Karen then went on to finish the season with a bang, claiming her first ever national ladies title and winning the EFA Young Player of the Year award. North Oxford came third in the team of the year category.

These were all highlights of the season, but there were many other great moments, not least the inaugural three code challenge undertaken in December, with 17 players plus a posse of spectators enjoying a fantastic day playing Rugby Fives at Rugby, Eton Fives at Eton and Winchester Fives at Winchester. All of the other old favourites were also in place - the summer barbecue, the start of season curry, the ever popular cross code match against the Marlborough Town club and the "unusual courts" fixture against the Old Edwardians, which this year took us down to Lancing College (thanks to Andrew Betts for his hospitality and giving up an afternoon to watch us huff and puff around his Fives courts!).

The league win was based around the usual core of the aging/aged (you know who you are!), but the good news is that we also have some young talent coming through. Carl Rennie is developing into a fine player and was a key part of the league triumph; Old Summerfieldian Jack Parham made a good impression in his first few NOEFC matches and two sons of NOEFC members - Dan Byam Shaw and Charlie Fairbanks-Smith - are also threatening to eclipse their fathers before too long. It was good to see Charlie sporting his NOEFC top at the Schools' Championships in Shrewsbury! The Sale brothers also made a mid-season (re-)appearance and with Tom Faber, Tom Cox and Jeremy Hindle all turning out, the Old Summerfieldian contingent is all present and correct. It is easy to forget with everything else going on that the club was started by Summer Fields M-i-C Andy Bishop, who is still a core playing member, and is still based around the Monday evening practices at Summer Fields. We are extremely grateful to Andy and the school for allowing us to use the courts and are always keen to include as many SF old boys as possible in our matches.

The other area of expansion for NOEFC this year has been in ladies Fives. With experienced players such as Karen Hird, Mandie Barnes, Rosie Scott and Emily Scoones in the ranks already, the close links the club now has with the all-conquering Oxford University ladies team have seen the Summer Fields courts regularly graced this year by the likes of Connie Mantle, Izzy Watts, Harriet Asquith and Harriet Allan. The biggest compliment I can pay to them is that even the most cynical of old lags among the Monday night regulars now doesn't think twice about playing on the same court as any of the girls - they know that the standard is going to be so high that a good game is guaranteed every time. With several of the girls leaving Oxford next year and therefore no longer available to the University team, a North Oxford team in next season's Richard Black Cup could be a possibility.

Thanks are due to my right hand man and chief club sponsor Spencer Chapman plus everyone who has turned out for us this year (42 players in total!). Let's hope the 2013/14 season is just as good.

 NOEFC Statistics 2011/12

P: 23 W:13 D:3 L:6 N/A:1

Appearances in the cross-code match against Marlborough RFC have been counted as matches played, but recorded as N/A in terms of results

Player of the Year: Graham Pulsford

Most Improved Player of the Year: Karen Hird 

Season Review

2011/12 was another successful and enjoyable season for North Oxford with the competitive highlight the regaining of the Aston House Stud trophy for winning League Division 2 after two successive seasons as runners-up. The title win was built around an experienced core squad of Gareth Hoskins, Graham Pulsford, Chris Austin, Nick Shaw, Spencer Chapman, Peter Scholey, Justin Shaw, Chris Davies and Chris Lloyd with contributions from Hugo Tobias, Jonny Nelmes, Nigel Cox, Carl Rennie, Karen Hird and Andy Bishop. Further silverware was gained for the club by the Chrises – Davies and Lloyd – who won the Over 50 title at the Veterans Tournament and by Emily Scoones and Karen Hird, who won the Under 25s title before going on to be semi-finalists in the Ladies Nationals. Karen also teamed up with Gareth Hoskins to reach the semi-finals of the Mixed Tournament and went on to finish third in the EFA Player of the Season awards.

We weren’t entirely able to shake off the bridesmaid’s tag, however, finishing as beaten finalists in the EFA Trophy once again at the hands of the Old Wulfrunians and runners-up in the 2011 Westway Summer Superleague as the Aston House Studs. The 2012 Westway campaign is underway as I write, with another title challenge hopefully on the cards.

NOEFC is about a lot more than competitive Fives, however, and we have expanded our repertoire even further this year, variously trying our hand at Rugby Fives, in the cross code fixture against Marlborough RFC, St.John’s Fives, as the annual unusual courts match against the Old Edwardians took us to Leatherhead, and Real Tennis, with Karen Hird and Andy Bishop our expert guides to the game on the court at Radley College.

Our weekly Monday night sessions at Summer Fields continue to flourish, with over 30 different players gracing the courts at various points during the season, including the welcome addition of several members of the all-conquering Oxford University Ladies team. The start of season curry, the Christmas Dinner and the summer family barbecue were all well attended and are all becoming NOEFC institutions. 

 NOEFC Statistics 2010/11

P: 25 W:16 D:1 L:6 N/A:2

EFA Trophy group stage results have been counted as one match (individual points scored on the day counted as W, D or L)

Appearances in the cross-code matches against Marlborough RFC have been counted as matches played, but recorded as N/A in terms of results

Player of the Year: Spencer Chapman

Most Improved Player of the Year: Mandie Barnes

Season Review

The North Oxford season started on a high as Spencer Chapman led the Aston House Studs to the inaugural Westway Summer Superleague title, with the squad of Spencer, Gareth Hoskins, Justin Byam Shaw, Jeremy Hindle, Nick Shaw, Laurie Brock, Robert Desmond, Ian Mitchell, Ewan Thompson and Emily Scoones remaining unbeaten throughout the qualifying campaign before winning nail-bitingly close semi-final and final matches to win the silverware. Gareth Hoskins also won the Superleague MVP award.

Normal service was resumed in September and our Monday night gatherings at Summer Fields continue to be well attended. Job and University moves mean that we lost a few Monday regulars such as Alex Sale, Jeremy Hindle, Dan Ghui and Chris Davies but new players have arrived to fill the gaps with Old Salopian Stefan Nowinski returning to the game after a lengthy absence, the Scholey production line producing yet more talent across two generations and the Ladies section receiving a boost with the arrival of Karen Hird and Oxford University duo Hannah Cutmore-Scott and Connie Mantle.

The league team were determined to regain the Division 2 title after narrowly coming second to Berkhamsted in 2009/10 and got off to a flying start, dropping only one point out of the first 24. A settled line-up featuring Graham Pulsford, Spencer Chapman, Gareth Hoskins, Jeremy Hindle, Nick Shaw and Chris Austin with appearances from Chris Lloyd, Chris Davies, Robert Desmond, Carl Rennie, Hugo Tobias, Andy Bishop and Karen Hird were too good for most of the teams in the Division with the exception of the Old Millhillians and with the two clubs neck and neck at the top of the table and well clear of the rest, the league title came down to the head to head match between the two teams at Mill Hill in March. In a terrific match, all three pairs were level at 1-1 after the first two games; only the North Oxford third pair were able to go on to win, however, and the 2-1 win for the Old Millhillians was the difference between the two teams at the end of the season.

The EFA Trophy was North Oxford’s other competitive target for the season. With Gareth Hoskins and Nick Shaw ineligible and Chris Austin playing for the Wulfrunians, our strength in depth was tested. The response in the qualifying stages was good with a comfortable second place finish in the Harrow group; the semi-final against Berkhamsted proved to be a step too far, however, with the line-up of Graham Pulsford, Jeremy Hindle, Justin Byam Shaw, Carl Rennie, Spencer Chapman and Chris Lloyd fighting hard but losing 2-1.

Whilst the competitive side of things is important, the club prides itself on playing as many friendlies as possible at as many different venues as possible, providing the opportunity for all of our players to play fun and enjoyable Fives at the right standard. This year we played at venues such as Cranleigh, Stowe, Marlborough, Aldenham, KES Birmingham and Iffley Road, including several fixtures for the North Oxford Ladies team (now relying less and less on imported talent!) and one of the highlights of the year, our home and away cross-code challenge matches against Marlborough Town Rugby Fives Club. With Marlborough and Oxford University’s Iffley Road the only two venues in the country with both Eton and Rugby Fives courts on the same site, it provided the ideal opportunity for 20 or so players from the two clubs to play mix and match games on both sets of the courts, with everyone getting the opportunity to play both codes followed, of course, by the obligatory beer and curry. We’re already looking forward to the next instalment of this fixture, hopefully on the Winchester Fives courts of Bradfield at some stage next season.

Off court the club continues to expand its range of social events, with the traditional summer family barbecue at Summer Fields and the Christmas Dinner – which went ahead this year despite snow and temperatures of -15º – now joined by a start of season curry in Oxford. We are always looking for anybody in the Oxford area who would like to come and join us for a game at Summer Fields on a Monday; please get in touch with Gareth Hoskins at garethjhoskins@yahoo.co.uk. 

NOEFC Statistics 2009/10

P: 26 W:15 D:5 L:6

EFA Trophy group stage results have been counted as one match (individual points scored on the day counted as W, D or L)

Player of the Year: Gareth Hoskins

Most Improved Player of the Year: Dan Ghui 

Season Review

Following North Oxford’s double-winning annus mirabilis of 2008-09 was always going to be a tall order; nevertheless, this has been another highly enjoyable year for the North Oxford club, both on an off the court. Despite the loss to other sides of several members of our Division 2 title-winning team of the year before, we managed to put up a highly creditable defence of our title, winning 26 point out of an available 36 to clinch the runners-up spot behind a very strong Berkhamsted outfit. The EFA Trophy defence looks more disappointing at first glance, as our A team failed to make it through the group stages. However, a closer look shows that we missed out by just a single point and more importantly our team contained 3 players aged 21 or under, all of whom are former Summer Fields pupils.

In fact, the number of good young Old Summerfieldians joining our ranks is increasing all the time and is both a good indicator of future success and a source of great pride for Club President and Summer Fields Master in Charge Andy Bishop and captain and sometime SF coach Gareth Hoskins. Jeremy Hindle, Alex Sale, Theo Bossom, Tom Cox, Hugo Meakin, Barnaby Bossom and Barnaby Kelly all come into this category.

A wide-range of friendlies was played this year; again we fielded 8 pairs against Cambridge University at Eton and played matches at venues as diverse as Aldenham, Charterhouse, Oakham, Uppingham, Wolverhampton and Berkhamsted as well as at Summer Fields. An exciting new development was the increased number of fixtures for the newly created North Oxford Ladies, featuring our own “home-grown” talent Mandie Clemmett and Vanda Scholey, assisted by a selection of hand-picked talent such as Emily Scoones, Emma Double and Charlotta Cooley and the members of the Oxford University Ladies team. The other new additions this year were another club sponsor (Campion Capital – thanks, Will!) and North Oxford offshoot the Aston House Studs, run by Chief Stud Spencer Chapman and competing in the Westway Summer Superleague.

Monday evenings at Summer Fields continue to be the core of the club’s existence with a large number of attendees – some more regular than others – and a wide range of ages and abilities. 

NOEFC Statistics 2008/09 

P: 26 W:16 D:3 L:7