Finals' Night 2016 Report

Twenty-five years after foundation, by quiz fanatics who came together over a regular quiz night at the Station Hotel in Castleford in the summer of 1991, the 25^th Finals’ and Presentation evening took place at the George V WMC in Glasshoughton.

Flanagan’s Army from Upton won the Knockout Cup, the showpiece event of the evening, beating Crofton WMC by 79 points to 58 and Olde Taverners of Pontefract won the Plate Knockout, beating G-Fivers by a score of 78 to 49. Flanagan’s Army were always in the lead, all the way from Round One and never looked in danger, winning most of the ten rounds by 3-4 points and saw off the challenge from Crofton, who had returned to the FTQL as a Division Two side in 2015-16 after a year’s ‘rest’, with a winning margin of 21 and a final score of 79 points to 58.

The story was similar in the Plate Knockout Final, with third in the league finishing Olde Taverners dealing comfortably with the bottom side G-Fivers (one league win all season) and again, won nearly every round and finished the contest with the same margin of 21, the score being 70 points to 49.

After refreshments and raffle the trophies for the season were presented to; Wanderers who had retaken the Division One crown in the last week of the league season when Flanagan’s Army slipped up against Railwaymen, to (new team to the league) Last Orders of Featherstone who won Division Two at their first attempt, to Flanagan’s Army winners of the Knockout Cup (which is now named “the Harry Beevers Trophy” in memory of legendary local quizman Harry Beevers, one of the two founders of the league (along with Simon Curtis) and who passed away in February 2016 and the cup was kindly presented to the winning team on the evening by Harry’s wife Joan Beevers), to the Plate Winners Olde Taverners, to the two winners of the individual competitions, Ian Dalziel of Wanderers and Stuart Topps of Last Orders and to the winners of the ‘Spirit of the Game’ trophy, which is elected by a vote of all the league’s registered players for the season for outstanding contribution to the quiz league, Little ‘Un of South Elmsall, who become the first two-time winners of this trophy. Finally, four very special presentations of glass engraved mementoes were made to mark the 25^th anniversary of the Five Towns Quiz League, to the only four players who have played in every one of the twenty-five years of the league, Steve Scott of Golden Lion Dudes, Debby Aspland of Leading Ladies, Chris Cobb of RAFA Vulcan Club and David Leigh of Railwaymen. Also, a glass engraved presentation was made to Steve Scott as the individual who has made the most league appearances in the history of the FTQL with 378 league games.

Two final presentations of framed certificates were made to Keith King and Chris Mitchell both of Railwaymen who have in played 24 of the 25 seasons. The Finals’ night members' draw was won by a ticket held by Mick Gill of Railwaymen and his team’s prize is a free season’s league fees who become the sixth different team to win this prize in the six years since its inception.

As usual the Secretary produced his very entertaining Finals’ Night programme with themed front cover and humourous quiz-based articles and this year’s cover theme was based on the album sleeve for Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts’ Club Band by the Beatles under the soubriquet “It was twenty (five) years ago today…” and featuring more than a hundred members of the Five Towns Quiz League from over the years.

The Secretary made a closing address noting that he had been 27 when he and Harry Beevers started the league and is now 52, and where he paid tribute to Harry Beevers and to the members of the Five Towns Quiz League, their love of Monday night quizzing and not least their longevity, many of whom have been involved in the league for over 20 years. His closing hope was that at least a good number of us will be here in another 25 years saying “It was 50 years ago today…”.