West of Scotland Championship 2018

29-30 September 2018, Knightswood

Unlike the terrible weather throughout 2017 the Knightswood lawns were in much better condition and despite some intermittent showers remained medium-paced throughout the weekend.  The tournament was played using the Egyptian format with games lasting three hours.  With six players on the Saturday increasing to eight on Sunday it was possible for each player to complete three games on each day.

On the Saturday George Plant attempted a bisque-assisted triple against Alan Wilson which unfortunately came adrift at hoop 4 while attempting to regain position for the second peel.  Well done George for playing positively with bisques.  Two players were in contention for winning the event: James Thomson and Kevin Russell (Stefan Colling would have been added to this list if he had been able to play on both days).  Game 5 on Sunday was effectively a final with James beating Kevin in a closely fought match with the score 25-19T. 

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Spalding Trophy 2018

25-26 August, Knightswood

Eight pairs contested the Spalding trophy at Knightswood this year, teams largely consisting of one low handicap and one high handicap player.  Favourites, inasmuch as they had won the first two playings of the trophy and were the lowest of the low bisquers and the lowest of the high bisquers, were John Surgener and Bill Strachan.  However the manager had introduced a complication by giving all the other teams a small number of bisques.  He intended these to be used to allow promising breaks, particularly peeling ones, to continue after errors.  In the event quite a few were used to pick up breaks. The competition was as usual played as alternate stroke doubles to the laws of advanced play.

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The Fergus McInnes Tankard

The Fergus McInnes Tankard is awarded annually in recognition of a personal best peeling exploit by an SCA member: it could be your first triple, your first straight triple, your first fifth or sixth turn triple, the first time you had two triples in a best-of-three. The circumstances of the game might matter: a triple to win +2tp would be special, or indeed a three-ball triple for a +1tp victory. It might be the first time you managed four, five or six peels, though if you regularly complete triples, performing your first quadruple by sticking in 3-back and having the innings gifted back by your opponent would not be particularly highly regarded.

If you manage a peeling exploit which is a special one for you, please email a description of your achievement, including details of the tournament, venue and opponent, to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., who will collate submissions for the consideration of the executive committee at their end-of-season meeting.

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