Worksop and District Table Tennis League

 

 

ITS A FACT

 

  1. Sixty different families have played in the Worksop Table Tennis League (See Families )

  2. Rhodesia have won Division One most times since 1935 - a total of 6 times.

  3. CWS have finished runner-up in division One most times since 1935 - a total of 12 times

  4. Manton A, Manton B and Rockware A and Rockware B are the only club teams to win Division One and Division Two in the same season - 1958-59 - 1998-99.

  5. Whitwell Old Boys were the League's very first champions 1935-36.

  6. Only twice has there been need for a play-off for the Division One title - 1972-73 and 1978-79.

  7. CWS Glassworks are the only club to have played in the League every season since 1935.  Quite a record!

  8. Boys Club hold the record for the most number of points scored when winning the Division One title - 42 points in 1947-48.

  9. Rhodesia hold the record for winning Division One the most times without dropping a single point. - 3 times 1959-60, 1960-61, 1962-63.

  10. Dormer have the unenviable record of finishing bottom of Division One the most times - 6 in all.

  11. Rhodesia hold the record for the largest winning margin of points when winning Division One - 16 points in 1960-61.

  12. Boys Club hold the record for the largest set difference when winning the Division One Title.  154 in 1947-48.

  13. Carlton Youth Club hold the record for the highest number of teams ever entered in the League from one club in one season. 9 teams in the 1988 Summer League.

  14. Phillip Spencer holds the record for the number of Open Singles titles won in succession from 1969-1976 - 8 in total.

  15. Pete Kenyon was the first Worksop player to be selected for the County team.

  16. Mick Bell holds the record for the largest gap between winning the Open Singles title - 14 seasons 1978- 1992.  Jack Tarr has broken the record held by David Piper for the longest gap between winning any event.  He first won the Open Doubles title in 1961-62 with Tommy Brown and collected the Carnation Cup winners trophy with his partner Shaun Lee in 2005-06. But David Piper still holds the record for the longest gap between defeating  the same player in an event, when he won the Division Two Singles title against Mike Tunningley in 1962 and then Veterans Singles title 2000 against the same player.  Mike Tunningley holds the record for the longest gap for a runner-up when he lost the Division Two Singles title in 1962 to David Piper and ironically again to Piper some 38 years later in the season 2000-01 when they met in the Veterans Singles final.

  17. Worksop Cricket Club hold the record for the leagues longest table tennis match - 4 hours 10 minutes against Dormer.

  18. Worksop Cricket Club also hold the record for the shortest league table tennis match - 70 minutes against Carlton Youth Club A.

  19. Phillip Spencer and Paul Clarke share the record for the number of Open Singles titles won.  Both have eight.

  20. The first Worksop Guardian Table Tennis photograph took place on 17 April 1970 and showed a group picture of finalists.

  21. The most successful doubles partnership in the League's history was that of Mick Bell and Terry Moran who won the title no less than 6 times in succession between 1974 and 1980.

  22. The most successful doubles player in the leagues history is Tommy Brown who with various partners won the title a total of 12 times, between 1948 and 1970.

  23. The most successful club of all time are CWS Glassworks, or Rockware Glass as they were later known, with a total of 33 league/divisional championship or runners-up trophies to their credit plus 3 Summer League trophies and 3 Mike Tunningley Shield awards and finally 1 Carnation Cup runner-up trophy.

  24. The most successful junior was Paul Davison who won the title 3 times in 5 years before moving into the seniors.

  25. The most successful veteran is Keith Bloomfield who reached the Veterans Final 5 times in 7 years winning it twice.

  26. Paul Davison is also the most successful Cadet, winning the title 3 times in succession between 1986 and 1988.

  27. Paul Clarke holds the outstanding record of the longest unbeaten run of 12 years between 1981 and 1993 in league matches.

  28. Doug Bennett was the first Worksop player to win the Nottinghamshire Closed Singles title in the 1938-39 season.

  29. Sarah Smith became the League's first representative at any level to represent England. This was for England Schools at, under 14,under 16 and under 19. 

  30. Did you know that only two players, Tim Simpson and Richard Wesley have won the Junior and Open singles titles in the same year - 1996 and 2000 respectively.

  31. Sarah Smith became the first lady to win the Open Singles title when she defeated Paul Clarke in the 1999 final.

  32. Did you know that Louise Durrant became the highest ranked Worksop based player in England when she reached No 2 in the junior rankings in 2000.  (Nicola Deaton, England's No 1 lady played in the Worksop league in 1988 but was from Barlborough in Derbyshire).  Durrant went on to become England Under-21Champion in 2001.

  33. Sarah Perks is Worksop's youngest ever National Champion after winning the National Under-12s Doubles title in 2001. 

  34. Sarah Smith holds more Singles titles than any player in Worksop's history.  A total of 13 Ladies Singles Championships up to the season 2005/6.

  35. Louise Durrant was the youngest Worksop player to represent England in 1995 in the British Primary Schools Championships at the tender age of eleven.

  36. Six former Worksop players have won the Mansfield & District Open Singles title.  They are: Phil Spencer in 1966 and again in 1967; Colin Deaton in 1970; Terry Moran in 1976; Mick Bell in 1980; Geoff Gill in 1985 and again 1992; while Chris Cattell completes the list after winning in 1995.

  37. Chris Mokes became the first player to win both the Carnation Cup and the DTH Senior Doubles in the same season during 1998. Peter Eyre however, became the first player to win both titles in the same week in the 2001/2 season. Finally Andy Lee became the third brother of the same family to reach the Carnation Cup final in 2009.  Gary and Shaun winning the event in 1990 and 2005.

  38. Ivanisovich Ettinger was the first European player to join the Worksop Table Tennis League.  He was Polish and always wore a white cap whilst playing, which amused the Worksop born players.  He played another international Bill Cotton from Canada in the Open Singles final of 1948.

  39. Peter Kenyon changed the face of fashion in Worksop when, after playing his table tennis in Barnsley, he introduced shorts into the Worksop after noting that all the players were wearing long trousers.

  40. Peter Eyre and Matthew Lemon became the first pairing to win both the DTH Senior Doubles and the Carnation Cup in the same season 2009/10 and they did it within four days!