2006 EUROPEAN MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS
There were 25 players in total this year, with almost as many spectators. There were upsets, shock returns of past greats, exciting new players, controversy and some shots so poor I was worried about the windows.
2006 SEEDS
1. Nathan (2005 champ)
2. Ben (2004 champ, finalist 2003, 2005)
3. Sean (2003 champ)
4. Dils
5. John (finalist 2004)
6. Guy
7. Corina (2005 ladies champ)
8. Katie
There were four groups of roughly 5 (In some cases 2 or more players played under one name), each including one of the first 4 seeds, and one of the second 4 seeds. The top two went through to the quarterfinals.
GROUP A
Matches
Sean beat Katie by 9
Sean beat Emily by 22
Sean beat Dudley by 5
Sean beat Dermot by 16
Katie beat Emily by 13
Dudley beat Katie by 1
Katie beat Dermot by 1
Dudley beat Emily by 16
Dermot beat Emily by 10
Dudley beat Dermot by 8
NB: The Dominic/Fiona team also played 2 games (both defeats) in this group but they were forced to withdraw early and so all their games were declared null and void and did not count in the league tables.
Sean made light work of group A and secured his place in the quarters with a series of relatively easy wins. The drama was all centred around second place, which saw the fall of the eighth seed, Katie. Katie’s inclusion as a seed was controversial and based on the “Tim Henman Principle” that no matter how rubbish you are, you get seeded when you are at home. However Katie’s skills should have seen her comfortably progress in second place. Instead she was beaten mercilessly by father-in-common-law Dudley, who quite rightly put glory before family. Dudley went through with 3 wins and Katie had to wait to see if her 2 wins were enough to give her a shot at the ladies title. After being battered by Dudley and Sean, newcomer Dermot managed a close game against Katie and a win against Emily to help give him some encouragement for his future prospects. Emily’s matches were split between 3 people including her in-laws, and the best that can be said is that it gave them a good base from which to build for next year – their over all ‘Toad difference’ of -61 may indeed be a record.
FINAL TABLE
| NAME | WINS | DEFEATS | TD |
| SEAN (3) | 4 | 0 | +52 |
| DUDLEY | 3 | 1 | +20 |
| KATIE (8) | 2 | 2 | +4 |
| DERMOT | 1 | 3 | -15 |
| EMILY | 0 | 4 | -61 |
GROUP B
Matches
Nathan beat Guy by 4
Ron beat Nathan by 1
Nathan beat The Spicers by 21
Nathan beat Nick by 6
Guy beat Ron by 1
Guy beat The Spicers by 7
Nick beat Guy by 5
Ron beat The Spicers by 8
Nick beat Ron by 4
Nick beat The Spicers by 5
The first cracks showed in the armour of last year’s awesome winner Nathan when he lost a close match to Ron, the highest ranked Dutch player on the European circuit. While Nathan still won the group on ‘Toad Difference’ (TD) it showed a vulnerability that gave hope to the rest. Group B also saw the emergence of a new power in the game of International Toad – Nick Lewis. A quick look at last year’s stats will show just how far he’s come. He ended group B with a strong second place, missing out on first due to his ‘TD’. After beating last years champ and the number 1 seed, Ron was unlucky to be beaten by both Guy and Nick and went out at the group stage. Guy’s poor form at the Europeans continued, since his semi final place in 2003, he’s yet to make the knock out stage. Meanwhile the Spicers showed impressive consistency by not winning any of their matches again this year.
FINAL TABLE
NAME WINS DEFEATS TD
NATHAN (1) 3 1 +30
NICK 3 1 +8
RON 2 2 +4
GUY (6) 2 2 -1
SPICERS 0 4 -41
GROUP C
Matches
Corina beat Dils by 6
Dils beat James by 8
Janet beat Dils by 1
Dils beat Fru by 3
Corina beat James by 10
Corina beat Janet by 3
Fru beat Corina 18
James beat Janet by 1
Fru beat James by 5
Janet beat Fru by 3
FINAL TABLE
NAME WINS DEFEATS TD
Corina (7) 3 1 +1
Fru 2 2 +17
Dils (4) 2 2 +4
Janet 2 2 0
James 1 3 -22
The big story here was the battle for second place. Dils and Fru have now played each other 3 times at this stage and the score so far is 2:1 to Dils, but Dils’ defeats against Corina and Janet left him with only 2 wins. Similarly Fru pulled off one of the biggest wins of the round against Corina but lost to Dils and Janet, leaving him with only 2 wins as well. That left Janet, whose play has improved remarkably since last year, with 2 wins under her belt and one more game to play against newcomer James. She looked certain to go through. But James, who’d yet to show any form at all, pulled off a shock win. That left three players on 2 wins and the group had to be decided on Toad Difference. Fru’s big win (Ironically against group winner Corina) was enough to give him a comfortable cushion over the other two and he went through to the quarterfinals in second place.
Janet’s surprise defeat against James, also meant that she would have to play off for a place in the ladies final – but more about that in minute.
GROUP D
Matches
Ben beat John by 7
Ben beat Cathy by 7
Ben Beat Joelle by 11
Ben beat Lou by 16
John beat Cathy by 1
John beat Joelle by 1
John beat Lou by 20
Cathy beat Joelle by 1
Cathy beat Lou by 14
Joelle beat Lou by 1 (?)
The only group to see both its seeds progress. John had played only once before in 2004 and in that tournament he not only knocked out the reigning champion, he also made it to the final in which he came just a toad away from an unassailable 2 game lead. Surely he couldn’t do it again after two years without a toad in his hand. His scrambled wins against 1st timer Joelle and 2003 women’s champ Cathy suggested not, but a big win against a previous semi-finalist, Lou, (the highest placing ever achieved by a lady) showed what he might be capable of. Lou’s past form deserted her ‘on the lead’ and she crashed out with 4 defeats. One of these was against Joelle, which meant yet another win for a first timer. It was a disappointing afternoon for Cathy, the 2003 ladies champion and Captain of the DCC Ladies Team, lost to John and Ben – but her wins against Lou and Joelle were enough to propel her into a tense three way play off with Janet and Katie for a shot at Corina and her Ladies trophy, not to mention this years beautiful medal with dainty pink ribbon.
FINAL TABLE
NAME WINS DEFEATS TD
Ben (2) 4 0 +41
John (5) 3 1 +15
Cathy 2 2 +7
Joelle 1 3 -12
Lou 0 4 -51
LADIES PLAY OFF’S
While tied places within groups could be settled on Toad Difference, the three way tie between Janet, Katie and Cathy couldn’t because they hadn’t been facing the same opposition. So a mini round-robin tournament was played.
Matches
Janet beat Cathy by 3
Katie beat Janet by 9
Cathy beat KT by 1
Inevitably with such an even group of players, each won a game and lost a game. This left the decision to Toad Difference and after thinking she was out and could go home (metaphorically), Katie found herself with a shot at the title and place in the ladies final against Corina.
FINAL MINI-TABLE
NAME WINS LOSSES TD
Katie 1 1 +8
Cathy 1 1 -2
Janet 1 1 -6
QUARTER-FINALS
Matches
John (5) beat Sean (3) by 2 games to 1
Nathan (1) beat Fru by 2 games to 1
Nick beat Corina (7) by 2 games to 0
Ben (2) beat Dudley by 2 games to 0
Controversy reigned over the organisation of matches for the quarter-finals, after suggestions that Ben had arranged a ‘soft’ draw for himself by avoiding meeting either Sean or Nathan before the final. But as events would show, it wasn’t Sean or Nathan that Ben was most lucky to avoid.
Sean against John, gave Sean a chance to avenge his shock defeat in the 2004 semi and the result looked to be on track after Sean took the first game. But after a shaky group stage, John was starting to hit his form and as the match progressed John got stronger and Sean struggled to hold his form. Two games later Sean was out – beaten again by his ‘bogey player’ John. Amazingly for player quite rightly ranked 3rd in Europe, Sean hasn’t made the Championship final since his win in 2003. John marched on, with increasing confidence
The current holder Nathan meanwhile scrambled his way through to the semis with a nervous win against Fru. Nathan’s invulnerability of last year was still suspiciously absent, but he was doing enough each time to progress. A drugs test was called for and Nathan passed, which may explain why he wasn’t playing as well. Fru’s growing skill and confidence suggests that it won’t be long before he’s challenging for silverware.
A look at Corina and Nick’s form should have given the 2005 ladies champion confidence but, Toad isn’t played on paper, it’s played on a sheet of Lead/zinc alloy. Perhaps still affected by her mauling at the hands of Fru (insert joke here), Corina was unable to rediscover her form and Nick managed a two nil win that showed he might cause some upsets at the later stages.
Ben and Dudley was a father son grudge match. Ben could have been forgiven for going easy on his competitor, but having seen Dudley mercilessly knock out Katie in the first round, Ben was taking no chances. A two nil win followed that showed Ben would take some stopping. It was however a good showing from Dudley who was once again the highest placed over-41 year old player.
SEMI-FINALS
Matches
John (5) beat Nathan (1) by 3 games to 1
Ben (2) beat Nick by 3 games to 0
Nick Lewis is without doubt this years most improved player, but ultimately he had to settle for a semi final place after he came up against Ben on top form. Ben’s 3 nil win meant so far his record was played 9 won 9, the same record that he had at this stage last year when he went on to get hammered in the final by Nathan. It looked like a rematch was on the cards. The only thing that could prevent it was another shock win from John. Surely he couldn’t do it again?
In the second semi final, each game was close, but after building up a two one lead in games, John found himself needing just 2 points with 2 toads for victory. His first toad scored one, leaving an easy single shot for the match – but <drama> his second toad knocked the first in the hole and scored itself – busting him with 3. That left Nathan with a one toad/one point out-shot to level the score. It was a foregone conclusion. But as spectators went off to get drinks ready for the deciding match, Nathan threw his toad on the floor, leaving the match open for John who didn’t mess up this time. This is John’s second Championship and in both appearances he has knocked out the reigning champ in the semis!
With John and Ben through – the final would be a repeat 2004.
LADIES FINAL
MATCHES
Katie (8) beat Corina (7) by 2 games to 0
2 hours earlier Katie thought she was out, but James’ shock defeat of Janet, Katie’s close match against Cathy and big win against Janet in the round robin play offs all led to the unlikely result of a Corina vs Katie final. And for Corina this match came at the wrong end of the day. Earlier on she’d comfortably beaten strong players like Janet and Fru, but her form had been waning, while Katie had been going from strength to strength. In the end it was a convincing win for Katie, who it’s only fair to warn people has started taking games off me when we play at home (Insert jokes here).
Katie’s win now means that each member of the current ladies DCC team is a current or previous European champion.
FINAL
Ben (2) beat John (5) by 4 games to 1
In 2004 John took the first game and would have gone two games up if he hadn’t bust an out-shot. The 2006 final was very different. In the first three games Ben was averaging 5’s and even though John manage a few fives and even sixes, they were never enough to catch Ben, who was relentlessly marching on to out-shots he never looked like missing. Ben stumbled in the fourth game and John made the most of the errors (3:1). But the fifth game was just as one sided as the first 3 and the final score was 4:1.
Ben becomes the first person to win any European title more than once.
Medals were presented by last year’s winners Nathan and Corina, who both have a lot of training to do if they want to regain their crowns.
It is also the second time that a couple have won the top two honours, with Sean and Cathy doing the ‘double’ in 2003.
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