The inaugural 2024 Essex Racketball/Squash57 CUP competition took place at The
Woodford Wells Club on Sunday 23 June 2024. Eight teams, each consisting of five players,
competed in a series of fixtures that included three singles matches and one doubles
match, with each team playing in four to five fixtures.
The level of play was exceptionally high, and the sportsmanship displayed was
commendable. Broxbourne, Kingswood, and two teams from Woodford Wells advanced to
the semi-finals with some very close matches where match points were earned and then
lost. Ultimately, both Woodford Wells sides came through to compete in the final. This was
not the 1-sided affair that some were predicting. In the first wave of matches it was the
WW2 who won the doubles 2-0 and nearly the 2 nd string singles as well, losing 1-2, and so
there was still all to play for. When Patrick Osborn got to game point in the first game
against Gareth Naidoo it was as though anything could happen but WW2 (Pat Osborn, Marc
Thornley, David Morse, Mike O’Brien and Zoe Fennell) were destined to be the runners up
and the winners were WW1 (Gareth Naidoo, Dan Caton, Sam Weatherhead, Jon Caton and Simon
Shipgood).
Congratulations to the 10% who did not drop a game all day. A special thank you goes to the captains – Adam Grilli, Gareth Naidoo, Paul Chaplin, Rich McCarthy, Trevor Grinsted, and Zoe Fennell – who invested their time in assembling the teams and ensuring the event ran smoothly.
Lastly, a big thank you to our sponsor for the day, Karakal.