Green Un Club Match Angler Championship Final

Wold View Fisheries, Silver lake – 22 pegs

Sponsored by Climax Tackle

Richard Romps Home

On a day when wild winds whipped up a torrential squall in mid-match it was perhaps fitting that a sunbed engineer should take the honours in what proved to be a fascinating finale to the Climax Tackle sponsored 2008/9 Green Un Club Match Angler Championship.

A day fit for brollies and winter coats

Anglers were reporting sixty to 70lb catches in practise but heavy rains in the preceding 48 hours dropped the water temperature dramatically killing off any chance of bumper catches.

Wardle in action

Richard Wardle, a 40-year-old from Renishaw, qualified with the Black Diamond AC, Creswell, and he took full advantage of a favoured draw at permanent peg 18 catching mostly small carp to 8oz with an odd fish pushing a pound. This was in complete contrast to his practise sessions when he bagged-up on the pole but the strong wind blowing straight down the lake created a powerful undertow that left most anglers with little choice but to use a feeder but he was in action from start to finish, presenting two red maggots on an 18 hook, he fed micro pellets in groundbait.

Billups bags another

Runner-up Steve Billups who qualified with the Fighting Cocks, Rawmarsh, a club that entered the completion for the first time only last year, led a chasing pack of four anglers drawn on the opposite bank to the winner between pegs 30 and 33.

Billups went fish-for-fish with the Wardle for the first two hours but a lull in mid-match cost him dearly. The 28-year-old also fished double red maggot and feeder tactics to catch an identical stamp of fish.  

Third placed Ian Symonds from Retford was the only angler in the top five to catch consistently with the pole while Fred Turton proved once again that age, he’s on the wrong side of 70, is no barrier to success in angling.

5,000 reasons to be cheerful

The prize pool on the day totalled £5,400 with the winner netting £2,250, second £1,170, 3rd £630, fourth £350, 5th £250 plus a further 14 prizes of £50 and two at £25 for finishing joint section winners in the semi-final.

After the match our sponsor, Tony Flint, who owns Climax Fishing Tackle, Dronfield, surprised everyone by awarding Pauline Hurt a £100 tackle voucher in recognition of the hard work and effort she has freely devoted to the running of the Green Un semi’s and finals over the past ten years. Tony however, did made a point of insisting it was for Pauline alone to spend, and definitely not for her Husband Geoff who has been by her side every step of the way.

Pauline knows how to fish, though...

A smiling Geoff quipped, “Don’t worry, she’ll not know what to buy anyway!”

At the presentation Tony gave each competitor a commemorative polo shirt to mark their achievement of reaching the final and a special ‘one-off’ sweat shirt for the winner.

And just to round of a fantastic day he then whipped out trays of beer, lager, sanwiches and soft drinks for everyone. What a bloke, what a sponsor, thanks Tony – from everyone.

Result:

1. R Wardle (Black Diamond AC) 36-12; 2. S Billups (Fighting Cocks, Rawmarsh) 29-8, 3. I Symonds (Jenkins AC, Retford) 21-12; 4. L Hardwick (Joseph Glover AC) 21-4; 5. F Turton (Dormer AC)18-6.

Special thanks must go to Tony Flint for his fantastic support and sponsorship, Bryn Isley for providing the fantastic final venue free of charge, Pauline and Geoff Hurt for ten finals run like clockwork, Matt Brown for helping out with the pictures.

Gallery

Tension mounts at the draw

A poor draw wrecked reigning champ Ian Ward’s chances

Wardle unhooks a small carp

Tension on the scales

Geoff Hurt calls the winner's weight

Only good enough for second on the day

Ian Symonds with the day's best pole-caught catch

This is what two grand looks like!

Leon Hardwick with Tony Flint

Fred Turton - turned 70 but still going strong

It's not every day you pick up £5,000 in a 20-peg club match...

Beware the paparazzi...

They bite dogs!

If you fish with a club in the circulation area covered by the Green Un sports newspaper – that’s Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster, Barnsley and Chesterfield – and would like to see your match results published in the Green Un just download a form from this site or contact me by email (greenun@sky.com).

Entry is completely free and each match winner, plus any secretary who submits three or more match results, will be invited to fish in a semi final held annually on the first Monday in May (it’s a Bank Holiday). The section winners from this match go through to a 20-peg final where there’s a cool £5,000 up for grabs.

The competition is designed to inspire and encourage genuine fishing clubs and club match anglers. Results submitted from knock-ups featuring the likes of Will Raison, Alan Scotthorne, Tom Pickering, Jamie Masson, Rob Hitchens and all the other open circuit ‘gunslingers’ will go straight in the bin so don’t be offended or surprised.

We don’t get bogged down in too many rules and in all honesty there’s only one rule that matters – Bob is always right!  I am the law and what I say goes. It might sound draconian but in the 13 years I’ve been running the Club Match Angler Championship it has run like clockwork and grown bigger every single year. It works for us and if you want to join in the fun you’re welcome, but don’t think we’re going to waste any time fixing something that isn’t broken!

Oh, and one last word, as much as I’d love to, I don’t fish the match, either.

Here’s to 2009/2010…!

Bob Roberts

(alias ‘The Boss’)

The race is already on to qualify for the 2010 semi final on Monday 3rd May. Catch the results weekly in the Green Un newspaper angling column or search the archives here. Every match submitted to the competition will be reported in this section of the web site. Remember, it’s the match winner who goes through to the final, not necessarily the guys in the photographs.

The Colin Dyson Memorial Trophy

Could you be the next holder of the coveted Colin Dyson Memorial Trophy?

From The Green Un 6th June, 2009…

Middlewood Tavern AC, Bank End Fisheries

Roger Hill

An easy win for Roger Hill who took five carp on the pellet waggler before switching to pole and pellet to catch skimmers. The real battle was for second place where four anglers were in keen contention. John Ashworth fell 12 ounces short of Mark Lawton but what was most notable was he only had two bite all day, a carp of 8lb and a real lump weighing 12lb 6oz.

Result: 1. R Hill 37-5; 2. M Lawton 21-2; 3. J Ashforth 20-6; 4. P Stanton 16-8; 5. K Hill 16-6; 6. A McCurdy 11-10

The ‘Ooty’ Team Challenge

Cock Inn vs Pheasant vs Travellers Rest Oughtibridge, Mill Dam, Girton, Old Match Lake

Paul Stanton

Cold and wet conditions meant low weights were on the cards but an average weight per angler of 15lb 14oz was pleasing. Gary Radford eased home thanks to eight carp and a ‘proper’ bream on paste but Keith Smith ran him very close thanks to a cracking all-silver fish catch on short pole and maggot.

Result: 1. G Radford (Pheasant) 30-14; 2. K Smith (Pheasant) 29-4; 3. D Hallam (Travellers) 25-14; 4. P Thomson (Cock Inn) 24-4; 5. P Stanton (Cock Inn) 21-8; 6. A Smith (Travellers) 21-4.

Team Result: Two teams tied on points with The Pheasant beating The Travellers by 116-11 to 109-4 on a weight countback.

Thry Bar Mill, Rotherham Corus, Lodge Farm, Signal Pond

Craig Owen

With the majority of weights being made up with ide and carp to 3lb it was a case of feeding the fish up in the water and drawing them as close as they would settle. Craig Owen managed to get his fish within pole range which is by far the quickest way to build a weight but Alan Coley still managed to show him a clean pair of heels despite having to fish a waggler at 20 yards.

Result: 1. A Coley 30-0; 2. C Owen 28-4; 3. B Owen 22-8; 4. G Jackson 20-6; 5. S Nicholls 18-5; 6. P Finn 13-10.

Pairs winners: C Owen and S Law

Conisborough Cricket Club Angling Section, Bank End Fisheries, West Lake

Taking full advantage of a sheltered peg, John Allan romped home in this fixture fishing a polyball float at 12 metres to take predominantly ide and chub. The rest struggled in the strong winds with Gordon Wright’s best-of-the-rest falling over 18lb short.

Result: 1. J Allan 48-2; 2. G Wright 30-1; 3. J Jones 29-7; 4. T Reading 27-0; 5. B Ford 26-4; 6. A Stockwell 24-1.

UNISON AC, Messingham Sands, Island Pond 

Ian Hawkins

Ian Hawkins returned an astonishing weight in this match. With just one carp of 4lb and a few chub to 2lb the rest of his haul was made up entirely of silver fish to 8oz. He caught fishing maggot just 18 inches deep next to an overhanging tree.

Alas his performance wasn’t enough to win. That honour befell Kieran Hogan who drew the end peg and made full use of it. Learning the lesson of a year earlier when he had hi pole smashed by a carp on this venue, Kieran fished meat in the edge with an extra strong margin pole. He also managed to lose numerous fish on the legering tight to the ‘sticks’ that lie towards peg 62. By all accounts he was hooking a ‘lump’ every chuck at the end. 

On the downside, despite being warned not to let go of his rod before the start of the match, Gary MacDonald did just that, and then wondered why his rod and reel flew into the pond as he turned round to get some smaller pellets.

Fortunately it ended up in the next peg where Craig Richardson managed to hook the rod, and land the carp of around 4lb which was still attached. A debate then ensued as to who’s fish it was but as Craig landed it, he claimed it – word is that some people will do anything to try and beat the current UNISON champion!

Result: 1. Kieran Hogan 78-4; 2. Ian Hawkins 70-10; 3. Phil Count 62-1; 4. Wayne Frith 49-7; 5. Frank Greaves 39-2; 6. Graham Martin 39-0.  

The Golden Plover . Hackenthorpe. Sheffield, Grange Farm, Doncaster

The fun of club match fishing was summed up for me in one line of this match report, ‘Les (Flint) managed to drop his mobile in the pond but none of the carp answered it’. Sometimes I think about how much I miss the club outings I used to go on when we’d all travel down to the Trent on a coach. There was always something that raised a laugh and that throwaway line was just typical.

Strong winds and rain made for hard going and caused a bit of damage to brollies but David  Whittle caught straight from the off feeding corn and using corn on the hook. All his fish were caught in the margins fishing about a foot deep.

Result 1. D Whittle 66-1; 2. L Flint 37-15; 3. P Foster 37-10; 4. S Gambon 34-15; 5. R Lee 32-15; 6. J Ruston 32-6.                                                     

White Lion AC Sheffield, Mill Road , Addlington

Steve Gaston

First weekender of the year reported in the column but I’m sure there’ll be more to follow. Day one kicked off with a resounding win for Steve Gaston who caught 72lb 12oz of carp on pole and meat.

Result: 1. Steve Gaston 72-12; 2. P Campbell 48-6; 3. D Caton 43-0; 4. D Tomkinson 33-9; 5. G Wilkinson 30-5; 6. A Hopkins 29-2.

Mill Hill , Bratoft

Day two saw father and son double act David and Alan Hopkins claim one-two and it the old man who took the lion’s share of the spoils with an all-carp net.

Dave Tomkinson

Result: 1. D Hopkins 46-12; 2. A Hopkins 36-10; 3. S Gaston 34-7; 4. T Oldfield 30-12; 5. D Tomkinson 29-14; 6. G Wilkinson 27-12.

Woodlands , Spilsby, Ash Lake

Switching between catching carp shallow with caster and then on worm in the margins Dave Tomkinson secured an easy win to make it three framing performances in as many days.

Result: 1. D Tomkinson 45-8; 2. R Coldwater 35-11; 3. A Hopkins 32-4; 4. T Oldfield 16-9; 5. D Caton 15-6; 6. M Frain 14-14.

Woodseats AC, Lindholme  Willow   

Terry Oldfield

It was the kind of day when those with the strong wind off their backs sported T-shirts while those in the teeth of it were in winter gear. Dave Thompson came out on top in a tense battle with Terry Oldfield. Dave fished chopped worm and caster in the margins for a mostly chub catch while Terry took a mixed bag of ide, carp and trout losing out by just four ounces.

Result:

1. D Thompson  33-0; 2. T Oldfield  32-12; 3. P Smith 26-0; 4. P Broomhead  23-8; 5. D Byrne 20-4; 6. R Willis 17-2.

Hind AC, Aston Springs

Keith Hill

Howling winds and torrential rain failed to dampen the spirits of the the Hind crew and on a truly tough day everyone still managed to catch a few pounds of fish. Braving a head-on gale Keith Hill took a steady stream of roach and skimmers with caster and chopped worm at nine metres to easily hold off Dave Czajkowski’s challenge. It might have been a different story had Dave not lost three big carp in the rushes on paste. His claim that he didn’t swear seems a little tenuous though!

Result: 1. K Hill 24-13; 2. D Czajkowski 18-10; 3. S Lambley 8-2; 4.A Reid 8-0; 5. B Gregory        6-9; 6. D Johnson 6-4

From The Green Un 30th May, 2009…

Club Peck House

Lindholme  Fisheries, Willows Lake

Dave’s car won’t sink this time

If you read this column you’ll know that Dave Loveday has had the misfortune to park his car in two different lakes. What you may not know is that he’s also had his entire kit blown in  twice for good measure. 

When I was a lad we had a wicker basket, then came the blue Shakespeare plastic seat box which was superceded by fibreglass boxes. It wasn’t long before we arrived at the Continental seat box which has adjustable legs, a padded seat and multiple draws for pole rigs, knick-knacks and you name it. The new Fox ones have a built-in spirit level so you always set them exactly level. Honestly, they’re the nearest thing you’ll find to Dr Who’s Tardis. Unfortunately they weigh about the same.

On the heels of the Continental box came a whole new industry that provides an astonishing array of accessories from trays to bait waiters, feeder arms and keepnet brackets to pole rests and roosts, the list gets longer every season, so much so that some companies have coined the phrase ‘fishing station’ rather than seat box.

Since the commercial fishery revolution, practically all matches take place on man-made lakes with solid wood, concrete or even metal platforms to fish from and there’s no way in the world you could put up an umbrella without a special bracket that clamps on your seat box legs – but just you dare step off the box on a windy day. There’s a real danger of the whole lot taking to the skies like Mary Poppins.

If you’re lucky it ends up in the field behind you. If you’re Dave Loveday it ends up where he parks his cars.

The Loveday catastrophe syndrome has clearly perplexed members of the Peck House club so when he went to pick up his car for the first match of the season he found they’d added a few safety features including a lifebelt and floatation aids on the wing mirrors plus an anchor, just in case.

He had the last laugh though by winning the match with mixed bag of bream & carp.

Result: 1. Dave Loveday 17-6; 2. Murray Longmate 16-3; 3. Allan Mord 14-8; 4. Graham Longmate 13-9; 5. Colin Williams; 12-7; 6. Pete Marshall 9-9. 

Hind AC, Swanlands, Berger Lake

Result: 1.Steve Lambley 30-4; 2. Keith Hill 22-4; 3. Andy Reid 14-0; 4. Danny Johnson 12-0; 5. Andy Coultas 11-8; 6. Dave Czajkowski 10-0.        

Thry Bar Mill Corus Rotherham, Bank End Match Lake

Steven Scott eased home ahead of Glen Humphries thanks to a steady stream of carp to 3lb on bomb and meat but it’s the minor battles that make club matches so much fun. Reading the result alone would never reveal that Mark ‘One Leg’ Linton had battered Jimmy ‘The Owl’ Watts from the very next peg with a 17lb 12oz to 7lb 4oz margin, would it? Clearly there’s a bit of one-upmanship afoot here.

Result: 1. Steven Scott 63lb 2oz (Peg20); 2. Glen Humphies 50lb 2oz(Peg16); 3. Trevor Parkin 47lb 12oz(Peg11); 4. Craig Owen 37lb 2oz(Peg23); 5. Simon Nicholls 36lb 4oz(Peg21); 6. Barry Owen 29lb 8oz(Peg25).

Winning Pairs: T Parkin and S Nicholls

Houghton Main AC, Raker Lakes Acorn Lake

Winner caught carp using a feeder fishing corn tight up to an island.

1. Vic Molyneux 81-7; 2nd : P Crooks 43-14; 3. P Sissons 42-14.

Section Winners: Dave Taylor, Ray Chorlton and Rob Burgin.

British Oak AC, Aston Springs, Bottom Pond

Rain and a drop in temperatures always meant this would be a tricky match and Gary Turner put the experience he picked up from fishing a spring league on the same venue to good use. Fishing maggot over groundbait on the long pole he was able to catch a nice net of small roach and skimmers. It was enough to beat Tony Moshin who caught 7 small carp on the pellet waggler.

Result: 1. G Turner 15-10; 2. T Moshin 8-6; 3. A Charlesworth 8-5; 4. M Boosh 6-10; 5 P Lister 6-9; 6. S Cartwright 5-6.

British Oak AC, Swanlands, Thorne 

Five carp on floating bread gave Dave Oldfield a narrow win over Ian Ward who switched between pellet and meat on the pole.

Result: 1. D Oldfield 23-3; 2. I Ward 22-0; 3. A Bacon 21-13; 4. G Turner 19-0; 5. G Lister 11-8; 6. M Boosh 10-7. 

British Oak AC, Triangs Fishery, Thorne  

Fishing caster high up in the water using a polyball float produced five carp and some small roach for Alan Bacon and it was enough to fend off Glen Lister’s challenge. Lister had an 11lb 2oz ghost carp to thank for a big chunk of his weight but the top five weights were all pretty close.

1. A Bacon 21-2; 2. G Lister 18-3; 3. G Turner 17-13; 4. I Ward 17-6; 5. H Nicholson 17-5; 6. D Fletcher 13-7.

The Ranch AC, Hayfeld Lakes, Dannies Lake  

Watch out you Ranch guys, new kid on the block scored a runaway victory in his debut match with the club, doubling the weight of runner-up Mick Bailey. Fishing meat over pellet feed on the bomb gave Paul Shannon an unassailable 86lb net of carp.

Result: 1. P Shannon 86-12; 2. M Bailey 43-2; 3. R Foster 41-0; 4. I Wright 39-2; 5. L Jones 38-12; 6. P Beighton 37-8.

The Ranch AC, Loxley Fishies Sheffield

Heavy rain and falling temperatures kept weights down to a minimum in the latest Ranch AC match but Phil Chapman did just enough with a chopped worm and caster attack to nick the verdict from Omar Munaser.

Result: 1. P Chapman 18-1; 2. O Munaser 17-10; 3. M Bailey 16-15; 4. R Shipman 15-10; 5. M Grayson 11-9; 6. P Shannon 11-0.

Boundary AC, KJS Canal Lake

Ron Titterton

The star of this match finished sixth, well, star in terms of a remake of ‘The Little Mermaid’ because Keith Havenhand somehow managed to fall in the lake before the match had even started yet despite all the disturbance he still made the frame. Ron Titterton and Tom Savage enjoyed a ding-dong battle with just a single fish being the margin that gave Titterton the win.           

Result: 1. R Titterton 28-12; T Savage 27-9; 3. P Blythe 26-6; M Hawley 17-2; 5 A Bertram 9-8; 6. K Havenhand 9-2.           

From The Green Un 16th May, 2009…

Fighting Cocks FC Rawmarsh, Woodhouse Grange, Cobble Lake   

Barry Owen

Fishing high in the water with just two feet of line beneath his pole tip, Roy ‘No Float’ Stubbings caught ide and carp to 5lb on maggot and caster for a comfortable win at peg31. Barry Owen led the battle for second where just two pounds split the next three anglers. Poor old Wayne Heart had no other choice but to fish a feeder after breaking his pole just thirty minutes into the match.

Result: 1. R Stubbings 37-8; 2. B Owen 26-8; 3. A Edwards 25-2; 4. B Hudson 24-8; 5. S Billups 19-0; 6. T Eades 18-4.

Section Winners: S Billups, T Eades, N Owen.

Kilnhurst AC, Kiveton Hall Fisheries, Top Pond

Neil Owen

With a quarter of the field returning dry nets this proveStubbings, Royd to be an unusually tough day on a normally prolific fishery. Mark Cecha led the way at peg 26 with 4 carp and a skimmer on pole and pellet to hold off Steve Taylor who was second at peg 16 fishing with bomb and pellet.

Result: 1. M Cecha 18-15; 2. S Taylor 15-15; 3. S Hargraves 13-0; 4. N Owen 12-9; 5. D Arnott 12-7; 6. M Humphries 8-8;

Section Winners: N Owen and S Humphries.

Travellers Rest, Oughtibridge, Mill Dam, Old Match Lake

Steve Rogers

Don’t you hate it when someone reckons they’ve caught about 10lb and then puts double that on the scales? Well John Bennett reckoned he’d ‘about 30lb’ in this match and sure enough the scales told a completely different tale in the shape of almost 55lb of carp taken on a G-Bak feeder with worm. Steve Rogers was best of the rest with a 38lb net on pole and meat fished shallow at 16 metres.

Result: 1. J Bennett 54-12; 2. S Rogers 38-5; 3. P Wright 29-7; 4. L Ward 28-9; 5. D Hallam 27-5; 6. M Copley 20-10.

Travellers Rest, Oughtibridge, Mill Dam, Old Match Lake

Jamie Stuart

With carp getting ready to spawn the fishing can be pretty unpredictable as they switch on and off the feed at the drop of a hat. Paul Wright was coasting this one catching carp on an in-line feeder with maggot but after struggling all match, Mick Copley’s swim came to life with just two hours to go and he was kept busy right till the end with carp, ide and skimmers on pole fished corn but he fell agonisingly close and one more fish would have given him a victory that looked decidedly unlikely in mid-match.

Result: 1. P Wright 33-12; 2. M Copley 32-13; 3. L Ward 29-11; 4. J Bennett 27-4; 5. J Stuart 25-0; 6. F Skitt 17-15.

From The Green Un 9th May, 2009…

Semi Final (144 pegs), Lindhome Fisheries, Laurels, Bonsai, Willows, Oasis Lakes

Brian Searle

Heavy rain and blustery wind failed to put a dampener on our Club Match Angler Championship at Lindholme Fisheries last Monday even though the fishing proved to be much harder than anticipated. Almost 150 anglers, a record turn-out, braved the atrocious conditions in a bid to stake a place in the grand final on Sunday week, the 17th May at Wold View.

With payouts in this match topping £3,000 and another £5,000 up for grabs in the final it is easy to see why our Championship is so popular and it was terrific to see so many new faces.

23-years-old, Brian Searle, who qualified with Ranmoor Piscatorials, stormed to victory. The Darnal based angler, who began fishing when he was just six and won his first club match as a nine-year-old, has his father and grandfather to thank for their coaching and inspiration and it’s a testament to their commitment to this competition that they switched the dates of a family holiday just in case one of them qualified for the final.

Ian Ward

Drawn on Bonsai 40, Searle opted not to set up a pole due to the wind. Instead he fished a pellet feeder up to the point of an island using 6mm banded pellets on a size 18 B911 hook to a 4.6lb breaking strain hook link. It worked a treat as he caught carp to 3lb steadily throughout the match.

Runner-up Neil Owen paid dearly for a slow start. Opting to fish a method feeder he only managed to catch two carp but a switch to luncheon meat on the pole upped his catch rate, By the end of the match he was catching every put-in and had the match lasted another half hour he might have nicked a victory.

Last year’s winner Ian Ward made it safely through to the final, as did previous winners Paul Donnelly and Kevin Parkes.

Result: 1. B Searle 58-0; 2. N Owen 52-7; 3. P Cartledge 51-14; 4. P Donnelly 39-12; 5. K Parkes 39-4; 6. D Orwin 38-15.

From The Green Un 2nd May, 2009…

Conisborough Cricket Club Angling Section, Tyram Hall

Fishing maggot just 15 inches deep on the pole produced enough small fish to keep Jack Johnson busy all day long as he built up a very respectable net topping twenty pounds. It was enough to hold off a challenge from Gordon Wright on the next peg who switched between feeder fished corn and pole fished pellet to take two good carp but a brace of lost fish cost him the match.

Like many other waters at the moment Tyram didn’t fish too well but at least everyone on the match caught fish.

Result: 1. J Johnson 20-3; 2. G Wright 15-5; 3. A Stockwell 13-8; 4. J Jones 12-13; 5. A McKie 6-3; 6. B Ford 5-3;

Sportsman Hackenthorpe. Sheffield, Thorne Delves

Robin Leake

Rumours circulating that this lake had been affected by an oil spill were confirmed when the bailiff admitted it been closed for four days prior to the match so a clean-up could be carried out. Not exactly the news anyone wanted to hear and the general consensus among the Sportsman members afterwards was that the lake had fished, err…

Let’s just say it’s an anagram of carp!

With two thirds of the match gone, Kenny and Frank Sayles, known to everyone else as the ‘Warburton’ brothers due to their penchant for fishing with floating bread, couldn’t muster a pound of fish between them but out came the sun and it was all-change as carp began moving in the warmer surface layers. Drawn at adjacent pegs 19 and 18 the Sayles’ tactical master plan began to pay dividends.

Kenny went on to net three carp to Frank’s two for a comfortable win but they both admitted to losing fish and that allowed Robin Leake to sneak in front of Frank and prevent a brotherly one-two by a mere half ounce courtesy of a hard-earned net of small fish on chopped worm and micro pellets.

Result: 1. K Sayles 9-15oz; 2. R Leake 6-5-8; 3. F Sayles 6-5; 4. C Legdon 5-7; 5. E Maybury 5-0; 6. J Cundy 4-1.

MPACjack Summer League, Kiveton Hall Farm, Bottom Pond

Steve Newsome

The MPACjack Summer League kicked off with a good turn-out. From having no members three weeks ago the club has now filled every available place which is great news an yet another sign that despite the economical downturn club match fishing is still vibrant.

Steve Newsome put his faith in bread for this one and it paid off. Kicking off with a couple of carp on legered bread he switching later to punched bread on the pole to catch big roach plus carp for a match winning total of 29lb 6oz,

Roy Palmer caught steadily throughout but fell just one fish short while Steve Dobson in the first half of the match but came with a late challenge to finish third.

Result: 1. S Newsome 29-6; 2. R Palmer 28-0; 3. S Dobson 25-2; 4. A Cowley 20-12; 5. D Roberts 17-6; 6. M Fey 12-0. 

From The Green Un 25th April, 2009…

Conisborough Cricket Club Angling Section, Tyram Hall

For many clubs Easter sees the start of another summer of match fixtures with the number of results hitting my desk increasing as the weeks pass. Andy Stockwell’s mob are no different and I will look forward to fortnightly reports on their progress.

First match of Conisborough’s summer league was at Tyram where Jack Johnson caught well from the off only for sport to tail away. Fishing pole and maggot he caught some cracking roach backed up with a bonus tench and one carp. It was enough to see off the competition on a fairly tough day.

Result: 1. J Johnson 8-9; 2. A Stockwell 6-1; 3. A McKie 5-3; 4. G Wright 4-11; 5. P Smith 3-12; 6. T Reading 3-7.

CW Fletchers AC, Swanlands

Pete Hull

Contrasting styles by anglers pegged just two pegs apart produced bumper catches while the rest of the field struggled to get close. Dave Bunting caught better as the match progressed on meat fished shallow at 14 metres but he was always chasing to try and claw back the commanding lead built by Pete Hull who set off like a house on fire.

With three double figure carp in his net on dog biscuit before Bunting had a fish he simply had to hold his nerve and fish consistently.

Result: 1. P. Hull 77-2; 2. D. Bunting 63-1; 3. R. Hull 36-4.

Holmstead Vs Three Feathers Challenge Match, Woodlands Lakes

Dave Bunting

Dave Bunting seems to be permanently in the limelight of late – perhaps an omen for the upcoming semi final – with a couple of back to back wins. Meat fished shallow is certainly doing the business for him but with temperatures on the rise it can’t be long before pellets and paste take over as the bait everyone has to consider.

Pete Spooner was an early ace setter with a coupleof good carp in the opening minutes followed shortly afterwards by a 12-pounder but Bunting managed to stick to his task and claw back the lead.

Result: 1. D Bunting 43-2; 2. P. Spooner38-12;  3. P. Davis 36-6;

Fighting Cocks AC, Rawmarsh, Lodge Farm Fisheries, Signal pond

Craig Owen

It was nip and tuck right down to the wire on this match as Craig Owen and Alan Coley battled for supremacy.

In the end Coley nicked it using maggot on the waggler while Owen’s pole and pellet attack fell less than 2lb short.

Result: 1. A Coley 30-0; 2. C Owen 28-4; 3. B Owen 22-8; 4. G Jackson 20-6; 5. S Nicholls 18-5; 6. P Finn 13-10.

Tension mounts at the semi final draw

Lovely Jubbley!

The anglers listed below have secured their place in the 2010 semi final on Monday 3rd May, 2010, at a venue to be confirmed. The list contains details of the winner of each club match submitted to me, Bob Roberts, either by email, telephone or snail mail.

For a list of recent winners, scroll down to the bottom of the page but in the meantime, keep sending in those entries. Who knows, next year it could be you!

Details of whether your club may enter the competition can be found within this section of the web site as can details of how to submit entries.

The match reports can be found here:

http://www.bobrobertsonline.co.uk/guca-championship-reports-2009-10/

and here:

http://www.bobrobertsonline.co.uk/club-angler-championship-match-reports-2009-10-page-two/

Entry forms are here:

http://www.bobrobertsonline.co.uk/guca-champs-entry-forms/

Clubs do not have to register in order to submit entries, nor do they have to pay any entry fees. The only cost to the qualifying anglers is the semi final venue pegging fees and an optional pool for each match. All pools, minus the pegging fees, are paid out – 100%. Not one penny in administration fees is deducted. Instead the prize fund is boosted by a cool FIVE GRAND thanks to the generous sponsorship of Tony Flint at Climax Tackle, Dronfield.

If your name’s not here, you’re not in the game – yet!

Roll Of Honour – Winners Since 2001

2001 Winner Mark Holmes

2002 Winner Paul Donnelly

The race is already on to qualify for the 2010 semi final on Monday 3rd May. Catch the results weekly in the Green Un newspaper angling column or search the archives here. Every match submitted to the competition will be reported in this section of the web site. Remember, it’s the match winner who goes through to the final, not necessarily the guys in the photographs.

The Colin Dyson Memorial Trophy

Could you be the next holder of the coveted Colin Dyson Memorial Trophy?

From The Green Un 13th June, 2009…

Thurnscoe Coronation WMCAC, Lodge FarmFisheries, Lily Pool

It’s fair to say that Dave Nicholson, a stalwart member of the ‘Cora’ club has been on a bit of a losing streak of late.  Actually he’s not won a match in his past 180 outings with the club, a feat spanning 15 years.

However, on the eve of this match I gather he found a £20 note on the floor outside the club. Clearly a lucky omen. He then picked up £50 by winning the football card and just to round off what was turning into a fantastic evening he drew the golden peg for the following morning’s match. Perhaps the Gods were finally smiling on him.

Jeff Goring

Arriving at his peg he found it was like a jaccuzzi with fish fizzing and feeding all over the place. A win would have been worth £300 to Dave, not to mention a place in next year’s Green Un semi final for the very first time.

Unfortunately Carling don’t do fishing matches, but if they did old ‘Nicko’ wouldn’t have sunk without trace again!

As it was, the infamous ‘Gay’ Goring (as the Angling Times once christened him in error but a name like that tends to stick in Thurnscoe) nicked the narrowest of wins, two ounces ahead of John Hopes, fishing a pellet waggler. His net of just seven carp, all taken on ‘donkey choker’ 10mm pellets, was just enough to top Hopes’ net of skimmers and three carp on red maggot.

Result: 1. J Goring 28-6; 2. J Hopes 28-4; 3. M Cunliffe 25-11; 4. P White 21-2; 5. B Danforth 16-15; 6. K Feast 14-2.

Hogshead Angling, Straight Mile Fisheries

Aaron Neal

It’s bad enough to blank on a fishery as prolific as the Straight Mile but having to wear the dreaded Barnsley Blanker shirt for the Hogshead’s next match is just rubbing salt in the wounds of Gary Tyzack.

Paul Donavon had no such problems as he caught small barbel and chub to 4lb by switching between pole and feeder to present worm hook baits.

Result: 1. P Donavon 31-12; 2. L Beresford 23-10; 3. A Neal 22-8; 4 R Leake 21-2; 5. C Pridmore Snr 20-9; 6. J Dickens 20-1.

Tight Lines AC (Spring League 2009), Carterhall Fishery,  Sheffield

They say practise makes perfect but not in this case it doesn’t. Anglers practising for the final match of the Tight Lines Spring League made big catches of orfe to 2lb by spraying upwards of half a gallon of maggots but rising temperatures on match day saw that method fail miserably. Instead Lol ‘the ide man’ Lax had to target 6 different lines to keep the bites coming from what proved to be a much smaller stamp of ide.

League Winner Roy Gibson

The league itself was over before the match started thanks to Roy Gibson unassailable points tally so it was a case of who could claim second. Despite winning this match Lol Lax still had to settle for fourth spot. Phil Lakin needed another 8oz of fish on the day to claim second in this match and in the overall league. Alas Barrie Smith held him off which meant Barrie Moats sixth placed catch gave him enough points on the day for the pair to draw level on league points. A count-back on total weights over the series swung the verdict Moat’s way.

Result: 1. L Lax 20-0; 2. B Smith 19-8; 3. P Lakin 19-0; 4. G Dyke 14-8; 5. T Caulkwell 14-0; 6. B Moat 10-0.

Final League Standings

1. Roy Gibson 10 points; 2. Barrie Moat 20 points (total weight 215-1); 3. Phil Lakin 20 points (total weight 179-14);; 4. Lol Lax.

Houghton Main, Venue: Hayfield Lakes 

Rob Burgin

It’s rare to lose a match by a clear 16lb and then say one fish would have made all the difference but it certainly would have done if Alan Fisher’s biggest carp was anything to go by. Taking advantage of having an empty peg next door he fished meat tight to the platform and caught five ‘lumps’ the biggest weighing a staggering 17lb 3oz but it was the two he lost that left him ruing his chances. Like most, winner Vic Molyneux ground out his win using the pellet waggler but seagulls caused all manner of havoc in this match as they swooped at every airborne pellet, including those on the anglers lines. Two were hooked, one by Gary Craven and the other by Rob Burgin who effected a smart bit of catch and release with no harm done except to the seagull’s pride.

Result: 1. V Molyneux 76-6; 2. A Fisher 60-1; 3. B Ogley 57-7; 4. R Burgin 54-8; 5. A Wilburn 39-12; 6. D Molyneux 33-8.

Lord Nelson AC, Sheffield, Messingham Sands, Island Pond

On a cold, wet and windy day when Messingham failed to live up to its billing, Richard Hartley romped home using bomb and hair rigged large pellet, almost doubling Tony Marshall’s second placed catch, yet he had all his fish all in the first hour and a half.

Result: 1. R Hartley 52-14; 2. T Marshall 27-8; 3. N Hogg 21-14; 4. S Stokes 21-1.

Lord Nelson AC, Sheffield, Lindholme Fisheries, Willows Lake

Mark Williams

The Nelson’s next match saw a dramatic weather change but the scorching hot conditions meant the carp’s minds were more inclined towards spawning than feeding. Mark Williams decision to target chub, barbel and tench using chopped worm paid handsome dividends but we may have to keep an eye on fourth placed Josh Nelson as one for the future. At thirteen-years-old he’s already holding his own with far more experienced anglers.

1. M Williams 23-7; 2. C Hepworth 18-13; 3.  T Marshall 14-12; 4. J Nelson 13-10;

White Lion AC Sheffield, Lakeside, Ranskill

Lakeside Fisheries has to be one of the best all-round fisheries in the entire country and although this match was won by Graham Wilkinson topping up a silver fish catch with carp in the last hour it’s the overall silver fish potential that makes it so outstanding. Where else will you get a top six, each weighing over 50lb, that is mostly made up predominantly with bream, roach and ide?

Result: 1. G Wilkinson 80-15; 2. M Holmes 77-4; 3. P Broomhead 55-5; 4. I Varley 51-1; 5. D Tomkinson 50-5; 6. A Topham 50-1.

Fighting Cocks FC, Rawmarsh, Candy Corner

Three double figure carp in the last hour, the best weighing 14lb 12oz, gave Roy Stubbings a deserved win. He caught them presenting paste down the edge at peg 6.

Result: 1. R Stubbings 45-12; 2. L Billups 25-4; 3. D Jarvis 25-0; 4. N Stubbings 24-12; 5. N Owen 23-0; 6. B Hudson 22-0.

Section Winners: Jimmy King, Tony Eades and Neil Owen.

Conisborough Cricket Club Angling Section, Triangs Fishery, Thorne, Heron Pond

Losing a few carp made no difference to Andy Stockwell in this match as he dominated from start to finish catching carp to 15lb on pole and paste in shallow water

Result: 1. A Stockwell 74-2; 2. B Ford 44-7; 3. A Urrity 25-2; 4. J Jones 22-0; 5. K Hemmingway 21-1; 6. A McKie 12-3.

Norton House Country Club Vs Sheffield Transport Club Challenge, Lodge Farm Fisheries, Field Lake

Phil Slater may have secured the individual honours for Norton House but in the team stakes for this annual challenge match it was the Transport Club lads who ran away with proceedings scoring a resounding 233lb 2oz to 132lb 5oz victory.

Slater shrugged off a despondent week following a futile trip to Wembley to see his beloved United miss out on promotion – I’ll not include the match secretary’s comments as he’s clearly an Owl(!) – to take full advantage of a warm wind on a scorching day blowing straight into his corner peg 18. Switching between meat, corn and maggots he caught carp to 4lb throughout the match.

Result: 1. P Slater(NHCC) 50-15; 2. L Binns (STC) 42-8; 3. D Wainwright (STC) 41-12; 4. P Heath (STC) 28-3.

Yew Tree FC, Coal Aston, Hallcroft Fisheries, Bridge Outer

Result: 1. Chris Case 40-0; 2. J Edwards 32-0; 3. J Goddard 16-4; 4. S Stead 14-0; 5. G Bluff 7-10; 6. R Booker 7-2.

From The Green Un 20th June, 2009…

Kilnhurst AC, Lindholme Fisheries, Bonsai Lake

Neil Owen

Five of the top six in this match drew in the forties and the competition was intense but it was Paul Roper who pulled away from Neil Owen fishing an in-line method feeder with pellet hook bait.

And don’t try telling Bob Hudson that Stillwater barbel don’t fight very well. He learned his lesson the hard way when one that snapped his pole clean in two!

Result: 1. P Roper 73-14; 2. N Owen 66-10; 3. M Cecha 56-12; 4. M Humphries 41-15; 5. S Hargreaves 37-12; 6. J Foster 37-11;

British Oak AC, Mill Dam Fishery, Girton

Gary Turner

With the venue’s carp pre-occupied by their summer nuptials this was never going to be an easy match but Gary Turner and Pal Lister, drawn pegs 20 and 23 respectively found plenty of obliging fish on top of the far shelf at 14.5 metres in 18 inches of water. With fish running between one and 6lb a fair few came adrift but Gary nicked it by exactly a pound with his worm hook baits marginally outscoring Pauls caster attack.

1. G Turner 48-13; 2. P Lister 47-13; 3. H Nicholson 23-10; 4. I Ward 15-2; 5 A Cartwright 13-7; 6. A Bacon 12-6.

Boundary AC, KJS Fisheries, Canal Lake

A good win this for Tom Savage who had to hold off a determined challenge from our own ‘Man From Atlantis’ Dave Loveday.

Result: 1. T Savage 54-6; 2. D Loveday 49-13; 3. P Blythe 47-7oz; 4. R Titterton 40-5; 5. P Hurt 27-12; 6. G Hurt 23-11.     

MPACjack Summer League, Brampton Straight Mile

Colin Prdmore

Changeable weather conditions in the run-up saw most anglers gamble on targeting the Straight Mile’s prolific roach stocks but Simon Wasden sewed this one up catching carp and chub straight from the off using chopped worm at Peg 74 .

Result: 1. S Wasden 22-3; 2. S Dobson 17-7; 3. S Bradshaw 13-3; 4. C Pridmore 13-5; 5. M Poss 10-15; 6. S Newsome 10-4.

Woodseats AC, Aston Pond, Pond Two  

Dave Tomkinson

On a very bright, clear day, there was plenty of fish activity to see but they were spawning rather than feeding. Drawn on peg three, Dave Tomkinson was the only angler to keep the fish coming regularly as fish to 10lb fell for his luncheon meat offerings

Result: 1. D Tomkinson 80-0; 2. P Broomhead 32-10; 3. T Oldfield 19-4; 4. D Sayles 18-4; 5. K Worrall 17-12; 6. P Gorman 16-0.
 
Blackburn And Wincobank Conservative Club AC, Sheffield Clanal, Plumpers Section

Only three anglers managed to break 5lb in the club’s Caffreys Cup match

With Neil Parnell netting mostly skimmers in an eight pound net.

Result: 1. N Parnell 8-2; 2. K Atkinson 6-13; 3. V Sheldon 5-13; 4.

A Compton 4-5; 5. M West 2-8; 6. S Bennett 2-7.

Blackburn And Wincobank Conservative Club AC, Lodge Farm Fisheries, Scrooby, Field Pond

Mick Hague

Blackburn’s Angler of the Year series kicked off on rain and wind swept Field Pond but Vic Sheldon shrugged off the weather as he drew the fish close. Fishing full depth at 3 metres out with pellet and worm, Vic took a mixed bag of small carp and skimmers to fend of a determined challenge from Martin Hague.

Result: 1. V Sheldon 33-5; 2. M Hague 25-15; 3. J Young 19-6; 4.

S Bennett 19-45. C Wilkes 18-8; 6. P Rasdale 14-10.

The Golden Plover AC, Sheffield, Woodhouse Grange Fisheries, Kingfisher Lake

Fishing corn over pellet at 10 metres Paul Foster put together a winning catch of roach and small carp but he was pushed all the way by Grant Pask who switched between pole and waggler to combat a very gusty wind.

Result: 1. P Foster 28-11; 2. G Pask 28-0; 3. K Oakley 20-4; 4. D Willoughby 19-10; 5. P Otter 16-0; 6. G Moore 13-10.                                                       

Woodhouse West End, Sheffield, Lindholme Fisheries, Willow and Sycamore Lakes

Paul Cartledge

Anglers struggled with the wind on this one as brollies were trashed and it proved impossible to fish a long pole in some areas. Knowing the venue well aided Paul Cartledge who opted to fish at just 5 metres where he able to tempt bites from a steady stream of obliging carp, tench and trout but it was two god carp late on that secured what proved to be comfortable win. It was a family affair for the runner-up spot as twins Wayne and Darren Upton matched each other fish for fish but it was Wayne who nudged ahead on the whistle.

Result: 1. P Cartledge 55-6; 2. W Upton 37-5; 3. D Upton 36-5; 4. S Duggan 33-2; 5. H Shaw 32-8; 6. B Hobson 29-8. 

West End AC, Portland Waters

John Mills

Torrential rain and even a thunderstorm failed to dampen the spirits of the West Rnd lads who enjoyed a rare old ‘bagging’ spree. John Mills Snr led the way falling one fish short of a ‘ton’ fishing meat tight over on the long pole to take carp to 4lb. Runner-up Paul Ashley caught on cat meat at short range and included carp and barbel to 3lb in his total.

Result: 1. J Mills Snr 97-0; 2. P Ashley 87-12; 3. P Donnelly  85-14; 4. G Dodsworth 68-04; 5. P Dobson 66-7; 6. M Turton 64-4.

Jenkins AC, Retford, Lakeside Fisheries, Ranskill

This was a romp for Darren Godley who fished pellet and meat across to the island at peg 7 to take skimmers and carp to 9lb. He finished a full 60lb clear of the second man, Ian Symonds on peg 10.

Result: 1. D Godley 85-4; 2. I Symonds 23-10; 3. B Taylor 19-2; 4. S McClean 18-6; 5. R Boulby 9-13; 6. J Hunt 7-8.

Conisborough Cricket Club AS, KJS Fisheries, First Pond

Match secretary Andy Stockwell coped better than most with the rain presenting worm, pellet and paste to an island at 12 metres to take small carp but it was the skimmers he caught at 3 metres that eased him home in front of Roger Barron.

Result: 1. A Stockwell 13-10; 2. R Barron 12-5; 3. A Urrity 11-6; 4. A McKie 10-14; 5. K Bywater 4-7; 6. J Jones 4-3.

Hogshead Angling, Sheffield’ Straight Mile Fishery

John Mulhearn

With no blank recorded in this match it means no-one gets to wear the Barnsley Blanker shirt next time out but that was never going to concern Lee Beresford who romped home catching chub to 3lb right from the off. Fishing worm just 6 inches deep at 16 metres he didn’t even need the bonus 12lb carp he caught.

John Dickens, who put 30lb of roach in his net made a poor tactical decision by gambling on catching a carp in the last hour. Unfortunately he didn’t have a bite as he slumped from second to fourth place.

Result: 1. L Beresford 70-9; 2. J Mulhearn 37-15; 3. J Neall 34-11; 4. J Dickens 30-15; 5. R Platts 27-14; 6. M Posinger 23-11.

Are You A Qualifier? 

2009 has been a fantastic summer for club match angling in South Yorkshire and the 293 names below stand as a firm testament to that.

Every one of these anglers has qualified on merit to take part in the Green Un Club Match Angler Championship Semi Final next May. It’s certain to be a record turn-out and with over four months of the competition still to run we’ve smashed every previous entry record so there’s a big thank you going out from me to all those hard working match secretaries who submit their match results each week.

The anglers listed below have all won qualifying matches and are eligible to compete in the semi final on Monday May 3rd, 2010, at Lindholme lakes.

The Club Match Angler Championship is open to any fishing club in the Green Un newspaper circulation area (which is Sheffield, Chesterfield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley). Entry to the Championship is completely free – just ask your club secretary or match organiser to contact me via the email address below.

 The competition is sponsored by Climax Tackle to the tune of £5,000 and (with pools) the total payout over the two matches should easily exceed £8,000.

Club match secretaries who submit 3 or more entries are rewarded with an invite to fish and these are now in the list.

No action is needed by qualifiers just yet, just sit tight in the knowledge you’re through to the big one. Full details will be published in the Green Un nearer the time (and on here) about what you need to do next (pay your pools!).

As always, the semi-final will be held on May Day Bank Holiday Monday, 3rd  May 2010.

Ifyou think you should have qualified but your name has been missed from the list, get in touch with me through your club secretary who should contact me through the normal channels.

Thanks for your support everyone.

Bob Roberts

PS: The email address for the competition is greenun@sky.com

The Lucky 300 (So Far…)

Greetings and welcome to the Late May blog. Might I suggest you make yourself comfortable, perhaps with a drink. It’s a bumper blog edition and you could be here a while. First things first though. You’ve probably seen on the front page of the site that I’m running two angling courses this summer on the River Wye.

This isn’t a case of plonking you on a barbel flier and then leaving you to it while I go and enjoy a bit of fishing myself and then expect you to pay a couple of hundred quid or more (dear me, the tales I’ve heard about a certain ‘guide’…!). No, this is proper coaching and it’s more than just chucking out a heavy feeder loaded with pellets. We’ll be fishing various methods using different baits for a variety of species. This is a proper angling experience, not just a catching one.

Speaking with the hotel owner (Peter – he’s a mad keen angler himself) I’m told there are a couple of places left on each course. As the TV advert says, when they’re gone, they’re gone. The price, including 4 nights accommodation in a fabulous hotel with full board – and we’re taking gourmet dining, plus coaching and fishing fees – is a ridiculously cheap £459.

Yes, you read that correctly. That’s not per day and there are no hidden add-ons, just your bar bill and a bit of petrol/ deisel as we dodge here and there on the river. Non-fishing guests (sharing the same room) are welcome to come along for just £299.

Like I say, each course is limited to 8 fishing places and when they’re filled the books are closed. The dates are as follows:

Sunday 27th June – Thursday 1st July 2010

Sunday 8th August – Thursday 13th July 2010

For more details just give the hotel a call on 01982 552601

Green Un Final

If you’re wondering what the Green Un Final is then the chances are you don’t live in South Yorkshire or the North Midlands. It’s a competition run by me for club match anglers each year and I’ve been at the helm since 1997 although the competition itself predates this by donkeys ages. I even used to fish in it myself 20 years ago.

It is run to promote club match angling and local fisheries and in doing so we create a Club Match Angler Champion for the region. To enter you simply have to live in the geographical area, submit your match results to me for publication in Sheffield’s dedicated Sports Paper (the Green Un) and the winner of each match goes through to a semi final.

The section winners from the semi make it through to the final. Each year, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Climax Tackle I’m able to pay out around £8,000 over the two matches. Back in 1997 I had 40 entries. This year I had over well over 500 and each season it gets bigger and better so I must be doing something right.

Mind you, I’d struggle to run matches on the scale of these without the support and help I get from Pauline and Geoff Hurt who’ve been by my side for over a decade, sorting out registrations, taking the pools, printing off weight cards, going round with the scales, you name it. They’re invaluable and they do it for absolutely nowt, like me.

This years final was staged on the Snake Lake (clue’s in the name!) and what a perfect venue it turned out to be. So many matches are won at the draw bag. How often have you watched even a Fish ‘O’ Mania and you know who’ll win it after the first hour?

The fish in the snake are predominantly small orfe and little carp, averaging perhaps one to 4 ounces apiece. On top of this there are a few one pound carp, the occasional bonus perch and a few skimmers running to a couple of pounds. Honestly, once a match gets underway you haven’t a clue who’s in front even though the venue lends itself perfectly to spectating because there’s a high bank on one side where you can look down on every single competitor.

I was taking photographs for the various newspapers that like to cover the outcome, and (of course) this web site, so I was right in there in the thick of the action but I got the outcome totally wrong. Everyone was catching. Indeed three-quarters of the field topped 22lb with many topping 30lb. It was action all the way and I would have put my money on one of three anglers taking the crown but not one of them made the top three.

For Steve Newsome, who narrowly missed out on a place in last year’s final when he finished second in section in the semi, this was a final debut he’ll never forget.

The 44-year-old NHS Supplies Officer fished two short lines. To one side he fished caster, to the other he potted in groundbait, worm, caster and pellets and despite catching steadily, at no time did he imagine he was leading the pack. A friend who was spectating rang him up in mid-match to say he was probably in the top five.

Later on, after catching several bonus bream and carp, the forecast was upped to top three but it still came as a shock to him when he won. “It’ll sink in later.” Said the Tardis Tackle backed angler. Asked what he’d do with his winnings he said, “I’ve got a crap pole, a crap box and I need replacements! This is the perfect prize for me.”

Runner-up Barrie Moat has fished in the final on several occasions and he came so close this time to lifting the coveted title of Club Match Angler Champion. After a steady start the 47-year-old Fabricator Welder began picking up small carp and orfe on the long pole line where he’d been feeding pellet and groundbait. Twenty carp in the final 90 minutes took him agonisingly close to catching Newsome who’s net was boosted by a run of late bream.

Result:

1. Steve Newsome       44lb 3oz      (£2,000 tackle voucher plus £160 cash)

2. Barrie Moat              40lb 5oz      (£1,000 tackle voucher plus £100 cash)

3. Mick Scott                39lb 1oz      (£500 tackle voucher plus £80 cash)

4. Mick Brownell           36lb 0oz      (£300 tackle voucher plus £60 cash)

5. Roy Gibson               34lb 12oz    (£200 tackle voucher)

The twenty finalists each received a £50 tackle voucher

Cash payouts at the semi final alone included £400 to the winner and £350 for second ranging down to over £200 for 6th. Even the tenth placed angler picked up £100 (all cash) with the 20 section winners receiving £50 tackle vouchers. Amazing payouts for a club match, don’t you think?.

Footnote: Dedicated Or What?

If anyone should doubt what competing in the Green Un Final means to our club anglers spare a thought for 68-year-old Dave Loveday who had qualified for the final but was rushed into hospital just days before the match. Dave’s a great supporter of the Championship and has been a permanent fixture in the semis for as long as I’ve been running things.

Despite undergoing surgery in Chesterfield Hospital this week he managed to get himself discharged on Friday and turned out for the match still wearing his identification wrist band. It wasn’t to be Dave’s day but did he care? Nah!

“Bob,” He said, “It’s just brilliant to be out here fishing in the fresh air again.”

What a great attitude.

Footnote: Should you be interested the Aston SpringsFishery contact number is: 0114 2470876

Bob The Fish

I’ve never been one to look a gift horse in the mouth so when Bud Grover got in touch and offered to send me a bit of Bob The Fish merchandise to go with the stuff I’d already bought I practically snatched off his hand. What a nice bloke, and generous, too.

So I rushed out to greet the postman each day, all excited,  as you do.

Nothing! Just the usual bills and fliers.

And then I received a letter from Parcel Force informing me that HMRC wanted to charge me £11.36 VAT on the package (gift) that they were holding for me and just to throw in a double whammy there would also be an £8 handling charge payable to them on top for collecting it. So I had to cough up almost twenty quid just to see what they were holding on to.

To make matters worse you have to phone them agreeing to pay up and that doesn’t mean talking to a real person – oh no! What you get is, “If you’re pi**ed off, press one, (You have pressed one, says the robot).” Then you have to enter your 17-digit parcel reference, your 13-digit customs number, your post code, your credit card details, start date, expiry date, your security code, your inside leg measurement…

I’m sure you know what I mean. On and on it went. I reckon I’ve half a chance of a ‘no-win, no-fee claim’ for repetitive finger strain injury and stress now. Honestly I must have been on the phone ten minutes.

Still, it’s cheaper than flying back to Aruba to buy another T-shirt.

Mirror Shocker!

A report in the Daily Mirror this week reveals that, according to the insurance company Elephant, the safest drivers in the country are called Roberts…

Some of us knew that already. 

Glad I’m not called Clark though.  

Rivers Return

Anyone getting excited about the new river season yet? The ‘Glorious 16th’ and all that?

It ain’t glorious, is it? It’s the date when so-called do-gooding conservation minded anglers go out and target fish that have either just spawned, are spawning or are about to spawn. The idea of shutting down fishing through March and April (and the coldest May on record) just so that died-in-the-wool traditionalists can enjoy a ‘glorious’ opening day is so at odds with my intelligence I therefore find it hard to support them in anything else they try to achieve.

It’s their Achilles heel, for sure.

Look, we’ve towed the party line for nearly three months now and the vast majority of the species still left in our rivers HAVE NOT SPAWNED!!!!

Come the 16th June there’s every chance they will be spawning though.

And there’s the rub. In the past I have frequently been known to mount a one-man protest by staying at home on opening day, or going to work. It just seems wrong to fish the 16th and more often than not I’ve observed a 2-week stand-off, giving the fish until the 1st July, but as the years fly by and I realise I won’t live forever, I feel that extending an already over-long closed season is only punishing one person – and that’s me.

Those who preach ‘swim wild and swim free’ are all down the river trying to catch barbel. So much for care and conservation, eh?

But this year I’ll be joining them because until there’s a genuine desire to change the closed season and reflect the needs of the fish, why on earth should I be out of step with everyone else. So I’ll be out there with the rest of you even though I feel it’s wrong.

We need leadership from the Angling Trust and all the other specialist factions. To close the season on March 15th is totally un-neccessary. Pointless. It doesn’t help the fish and it doesn’t help the clubs and it doesn’t help the ailing tackle trade. Frankly it would do less harm to leave the rivers open until the end of April than it does to open them on the 16th.

Sticking your head in the sand and shouting, “La-la-la, I can’t hear you!” is no help to anyone.

The fish don’t require 93 days to spawn. That’s plain ridiculous. The whole of May and the whole of June would be more than adequate. THEN I’ll be happy to celebrate the Glorious First (of July). Unfortunately that won’t happen and the result we’ll end up with won’t be a compromise, it’ll be either-or, and seeing as we can now fish canals and stillwaters all-year-round with no discernable impact on the fish we’ll probably end up scrapping it altogether. And I don’t want that.

And the more folk complain that rivers are a special case and that barbel must be treated differently to other species, with none retained in keepnets or stocked in stillwaters, the more we’ll see those who only fish lakes and matches turning against this moral minority.

Wake up guys, you could be your own worst enemy.

What Closed Season?

A walk down my local river revealed a peg that has seen a bit of action recently. Whether it was from a courting couple indulging in a bit of al fresco coupling one can’t be sure but the remains of a fire suggest otherwise. I reckon someone’s been fishing here, don’t you?

There’s No Need To Ban Angling

You don’t have to walk too far away from the car park to find areas that definitely haven’t been fished. Sadly they probably won’t get fished when the season opens, either, because the river looked absolutely dead. I spent a good hour on the banks and walked about a mile, stopping now and then to observe what was happening.

I can tell you, nothing! The only fish I saw topping would struggle to make half an ounce. Not once did I see a single nice roach, or bream roll. No herons, no grebes, no kingfisher.

The river actually runs through a nature reserve and, of course, there are signs sticking up out of the adjacent lake at intervals to proclain ‘NO FISHING ALLOWED’. Like there’s anything left alive in there anyway? I don’t mind having restrictions on certain wetlands providing that alternative areas are allocated to those who prefer to fish rather than snoop on birds which is marginally better than being a Peeping Tom after all. However, there’s really no need to take the pi**, is there?

At the entrance to the reserve you find all manner of fancy notices and plaques laying down the ideals of the organisation that controls it. Things like, ‘We aim to protect all  wildlife’. And it would be a grand ambition – if they did care about ALL wildlife. There’s a whacking great clue on the introductory board what their stance is.

If they cared one jot for the indigenous British wildlife their concerns would encompass fish as well as flora and fauna. Not surprisingly there’s no mention of fish in any of the information on offer. Instead they feature a pretty piicture of a cormorant. That’s right, an alien bird that is ravaging our natural wildlife and given time will impact so badly on grebe, heron and kingfisher.

It’s already eaten the otter out of house and home…

Rockwell Rocks

Time for another art lesson, peeps…

Few will really be aware of the artist Norman Rockwell but you’ve probably seen some of his work. Born 1894 in New York City, Rockwell struggled to be recognised as a serious artist, dismissed by critics as ‘just an illustrator’, which was so unfair.

He worked in realism, painting more than 320 covers for the Saturday Evening Post, an occupation that brought him fame, wealth and enormous popularity. His subjects were painfully real, capturing life in the United States through bad times (the Great Depression and World War II) and good (the idyllic 50s), and, with the onset of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s, the uncomfortable and unjust.

Humour frequently shone through his perfect technical skills and it would be amazing were his collection of works held in one gallery today but unfortunately Rockwell didn’t value his art. Many of his paintings were simply given away to readers of the Post who wrote in and said they liked a particular work.

A number of his works have achieved iconic status, for instance the ones shown here dating back to 1943, Freedom of Speech  and Freedom to Worship that make up half of hisFour Freedoms. Other classic works include Rosie the Riveter, The Girl at the Mirror, Triple Self Portrait, The Golden Rule, The Problem We All LiveWith and many others.

Banksie eat your heart out!

Honestly, it’s worth spending a little time checking out his work. You’ll be amazed by the way he captures emotions and values. A Rockwell print is on my wish list for the lounge, trouble is, which one?

Eel Stocking Initiative

I was involved in the very early stages of forming the Don Rivers Trust but it was always going to be a tough ask for me because of my work commitments at the time and my transition into so-called retirement. I also felt that the real focus would be very much on the upper reaches and the trout angler in particular, but I’m no fool on that score. Get the top end right and everything else falls into place as we’re seeing with the River Wye.

So it was brilliant to learn the Trust had managed to secure £92,000 of Government funding towards boosting the eel population and this past week, Chris Firth was down at the RSPB’s Old Moor Nature Reserve to release 50,000 elvers in the heart of the Dearne Valley.

What impact they’ll have, I don’t know, but it’s a start. And it’s also good to see anglers working with  the RSPB. Recently one local angler threw a fit when I suggested he should be working with and not against bodies like the RSPB and canoeists. Learn, son. Watch and learn.

Chris Firth has done more for fishing in the Don Valley than any man alive. It’s due to him that we have barbel in the Dearne at all. Is he fighting the ‘enemy’? No, he’s working with them for all our best interests.

Never Another Saturday (2006 And All That…)

I picked up a copy of Tony Bluff and Steve Uttley’s book, Never Another Saturday  (Breedon Books) the other day which charts Donny Rovers’ final year at the old Belle Vue ground and it really brought home to me what a sh*thole the place was.

I cut my teeth watching football at Belle View and to me it was a magical place, especially the night games. But time dims the memories and those who condemn our new stadium as a ‘soulless bowl’ (yet they can never grasp the irony that their own description is completely un-original, too) need to get a grip on reality.

During the final full season there we beat both Man City and Aston Villa in the League cup. We then came so close to beating Arsenal in the quarter final – leading 2-1 withonly seconds of injury time left in extra time when Gilberto equalised. In our very last competitive game at Belle Vue we beat the mighty, twice Champions of Europe (and they’ll never let anyoneforget), Nottingham Forest, but for the majority of the 74 years we lived there it was a diet of dross both on and off the field.

But there were (a few) highlights. You really don’t want to know the low lights.

In my own lifetime I witnessed the compulsory demolition of the North Stand as a consequence of the Bradford fire because it was a timber construction. The west side Popular Terrace stand was demolished due to subsidence. Later it was rebuilt on a much smaller scale following a ‘Raise The Roof’ fund raising campaign. And then there was the main stand.

Bad enough you had to crane around a forest of girders in two seried rows to see anything, the then club chairman, Ken Richardson only tried to have it burned down! The arsonists succeeded in wrecking the roof and caused considerable damage but the stand survived, if not intact, unlike the chairman who went to prison for his role in the affair.

The South end, or Spion Kop, was always an open terrace. It never even had a roof.

It didn’t matter where you watched from, the catering was crap and the toilets worse. And this book brings it all home. We were  a tin pot club and we were no better or worse than dozens of other minor league outfits who struggle constantly to remain in business.

How different today with our brand new all-seater stadium, fabulous training facilities, nice corporate hospitality suites, proper merchandising outlets and a place, for a while, in the Championship. But the events in the book were so recent, so fresh in the memory that the thought of falling back to where we came from and to where many fans, who sneer down their noses at our humble achievements, think we belong, sends a shiver down the spine.

Even so, the old ground did have a bit of history. In October 1948 during the post war football boom when attendances rocketed everywhere, over 37,000 souls packed into Belle Vue for a match against Hull City. Having been on the ground in a crowd of 25,000 I can’t imagine where they all stood and what they could possibly see. In 1987 the official capacity had been reduced to just 4,859! Later the capacity was increased to 8,259 and then down again to 7,294 (following the Hillsborough tragedy) until further improvements brought it back to 10,500.

You can see why the compact 15,000 all-seater Keepmoat Stadium with its lakeside setting and surrounding sports complex feels like a cathedral to some of us!

But back in 1952 Belle Vue made a bit of history that no-one can ever take away. On the evening of March 4th Rovers played a friendly match against Hibernian in front of 18,474 fascinated spectators. It was the first match outside of London to be played under floodlights.

Fair Play To Donny

Well, surviving in the Championship is one thing, actually winning something is another, but hang on, Donny picked up another trophy last weekend – actually handed out before the kick-off at Wembley by Prince William. Yes, Doncaster Rovers can now add the Championship Fair Play trophy to the list of honours having proven statistically to be the cleanest side in the Division.

Don’t laugh – the £10,000 prize money will come in handy. In fact it’ll probably double our transfer budget!

Donny conceded just 405 fouls over the course of last season, picked up 39 yellows, 3 reds and gave away 3 penalties. Interestingly the three teams at the other end of the table are all based in South Yorkshire – Sheffield United, Wednesday and the gritty Barnsley. Dirty buggers!

By comparison United gave away 627 fouls and picked up 86 yellow cards.

Arsenal won the award for the Premiership (see, I keep telling you we’re the Arsenal of the North) and Leeds didn’t win owt.

Interestingly, if you look back two seasons when Leeds and Donny competed in the same league, Doncaster Rovers finished second in the Fair Play League behind a very deserving Crewe. Guess who came bottom – who was the least fair team in the whole Division…?

That’s right, Dirty Leeds!

Catch The Ferry

There’s a little water just down the way from me called Ferryboat Fishery at Old Denaby. Some regard it as an oxbow lake but it was created 150 years ago when the course of the River Don was diverted by the Railway Companies to save the cost of building two bridges when they constructed the Doncaster to Sheffield railway line.

As commercial fisheries go, for that’s what it is now, it’s a bit of a picture, but it’s not one of your bag-up carp waters. There are carp but most winning weights here feature bream and tench as well as carp. In some ways it’s a shame the place has been developed because it held some rather big tench by Yorkshire standards as well as crucians to 2lb or so.

They still survive but it’s a case of sorting the brown goldfish and the F1s from the originals but it’s a venue I quite fancy having a dapple on sometime soon. Perhaps in mid-week because it’s not exactly busy right now. Weekends see the arrival of caravaners and club matches, not to mention a few pleasure lads.

What really appeals to me is that you can fish a pond that actually has the feel of fishing a river. Methinks a waggler is called for. Not the most efficient way to fish but stick a ripple on it and I can dream away!

Call Phil or Dawn on 01709 588088 or 01709 204593.

Should We Con-Dem This So-Called Democracy?

Well, we’ve finally replaced the old Government with a new one, but wasn’t the election a farce? Bad enough that hundreds of folk were unable to vote because polling stations couldn’t handle the crowds or that we had to wait nearly a week to find out who’d won. Turns out it was the Lib Dems.

But doesn’t it beg the question why we even had an election at all?

The idea of free and democratic elections is fine in principle. Each party lays down a set of promises, the electorate chooses which promises it likes and whichever party gets the most votes then goes ahead and delivers its promises. I think that’s how it’s supposed to work.

Unfortunately that hasn’t happened, has it?

We’ve ended up with the party that came third deciding who will run the country but only if it’s on their terms. In other words we have a Prime Minister being pulled around by a puppet master and is now trying to implement a mandate that was created on the hoof after the election took place rather than the one on which we were invited to vote on.

So what was the point of an election? There was never going to be a clear and outright winner from the off, so what was stopping the Tories and the Lib Dems just staging a coup, stripping Labour of its power and saving the country a small fortune?

Democracy, that’s what. So how come, after achieving his only real goal (I want, I want, I want to be the Prime Minister) can David Cameron be allowed to scrap his manifesto and re-jig everything just to suit Nick Clegg’s inflated sense of self importance? And how can a man who so patently lost the election, finishing third behind a washed up Labour party, be rewarded with the job of Deputy Prime Minister?

The Lib Dems and the Tories are a million miles apart on nuclear power, immigration and so much more. Even Clegg’s own party fear a sell-out. And all for what? Fudging and fiddling, consumption and corruption.

Expect to see lots of tough issues kicked into the long grass for someone else to sort out later.

The problem is simple. No-one trusted a single one of the three party leaders, Brown in particular. But with him out of the way, do any of the new candidates for the Labour leadership fill you with confidence?

Ed Balls-up!!! The Miliband Brothers? Andy Burnham? Not forgetting Dianne Abbott…

Chances are they’d do better with Russ Abbott in charge. What was his album called? That’s right, I love A Party.

Sounds like the only answer to me. Vote for Russ!

Public Eyesore

Wandering round Curacao recently a couple of statues caught my eye (no pun intended).

Something didn’t seem quite right, and then I realised. They were statues of men wearing glasses.

Odd that. Apart from the statue of Eric Morecome you never see spectacle wearing statues, do you?

Unless you know different…

That’s A Rum Old Drink Sailor Boy!

Hate to sound homophobic but how many bottles of this stuff would you have to drink before you’d actually do it…?

Might qualify you for this T-shirt though…

Believe it or not I’ve actually got a ‘Hell’ stamp in my passport now but please don’t misinterpret that statement!

Pre-Season Friendlies

At first glance the Rovers’ list of pre-season games looked rather mouthwatering. Quite tasty in fact. It included the likes of West Brom, Askern Villa and the Magpies. Three big premiership sides, I thought. That’ll do nicely.

It was only when I realised that it was the Magpies of Notts County and not Newcastle that I smelt a rat. On closer inspection, Askern Villa wasn’t a spelling mistake, either. That’s Askern, as in the mining village, not Aston, as in Birmingham.

The swines!

With my luck West Brom will turn out to be Guest Brom, you know, like one of those tribute rock bands, the Rolling Clones or something like that.

I can see it now, Donkey Rovers versus Askern Villa, live on the Horse and Country TV Channel. Of course it will be repeated each Monday, Thursday and Saturday at 10.00am, 2.00pm, 6.00pm and 11.00pm as light relief from Hywell Morgan, John Bailey and the horse jumping from Burliegh.

Err, and if you haven’t grasped the trivia band wavelength in this bon mot and have just spent several minutes wondering what the hell I’m on about, try these tribute acts for size. Honestly, they’re genuine working bands who worship their idols with the sincerest form of flattery – imitation.

Now why does that sound familiar…?

Soasis

No Way Sis

Red Mock Chili Peppers

Non Jovi

Bigphallica

Beatallica (Beatles songs sung in Metallica style)

Duran Duran Duran (Bad language and mini riot on film clip… Er, not DD tribute at all!)

Mini Kiss (all-midgets Kiss tribute)

Gabba (Abba songs in Ramones style)

Mandonna (all-male band)

Bjorn Again

AC/DShe (all-female band)

Four Fighters

Nearvana

Slack Sabbath

And the list goes on forever…

Askern Bloody Villa! I ask you. What great intellects came up with that one?

PS: In case you’re wondering bon mot  is not a Bon Jovi/ Mott The Hoople tribute act, it’s a clever saying or witticism, isn’t it Whiskerton!

Sobriquet, anyone?

I Don’t Believe It!!!!

A blog should never be this long but there’s just so much going on to comment about so I hope (a), that you’re still with me, and (b), you’ll forgive me my indulgence.

Now you’ll maybe recall I mentioned some while back that the ridiculous logo for the 2012 Olympics was so like Liza Simpson on her knees giving someone a bl*w job although even in my wildest dreams I really didn’t think the organising committee could sanction anything more laughable, however I have to say they have excelled themselves with the launch of the new Olympic Mascots.

Have you seen them yet? Let me introduce you to Wenlock and Mandeville…

Now you tell me. Are they not a bit phalic? The old one-eyed trouser snake in a snug jacket? Or is it an advert for condoms? The one on the left does look a bit like a used prophylactic wearing a Liza ‘head Job’ Simpson T-shirt, doesn’t he?

Perhaps the influence came from that old Woodie Allen film, Everything You Wanted To Know About Sex…

Or maybe they’re hoping to get Usain Bolt to drop the archer stance and dress up as…

Supersperm!

We may laugh about Wenlock and Mandeville, as they’re called, but London 2012 chair Paul Deighton expects them to raise between £70m and £80m in merchandising royalties and they’re expected to be a key money-spinner.

How long before we’re offered Wenlock and Mandeville condoms in six flavours? Well, they’re aiming at the youth market, after all.

Feel free to keep up with Wenlock and Mandeville on Facebook, on Twitter and on their own web site but if you don’t mind I’ll give it all a miss. But it’ll be manna from heaven for every commedian in the country and just wait for the parody sites to emerge…

Now they could be fun!

The 2013/14 Daiwa sponsored Green Un Club Match Angler semi final will be staged at Lodge Farm on Monday May 5th 2014 and it’s going to be a cracker. The venue is fishing brilliantly!

We are staging just one semi final this year and limiting the number of anglers to 120. If your name is in the list then you need to contact match organiser Geoff Hurt, 36 Hazelbarrow Road, Jordanthorpe, Sheffield, S8 8AW. You may speak to Geoff on 07921 166136 but only during sensible hours, please! He’ll need you to cough up your entry fees immediately.

Entry costs £20 (including pools) plus there will be an optional super pool of £5 on the day. As we’re pegging the match over 4 lakes there will be pay-outs for each individual lake. Entrants must provide their name, address and a contact phone number with each application.

The match is being staged over four lakes, Signal, Field, Long Island and Lilly and there will be no split sections. Sections will be five or 6 pegs maximum and it is the section winners who progresses to the final where £3,000 of Daiwa sponsored prizes will be up for grabs. The final is scheduled for Sykehouse Fisheries on Sunday June 8th.

All contestants must check out and abide by the fishery rules. Key points to take on board are no floating baits of any description, fishery feed pellets only, barbless hooks, a minimum of two keepnets and a pole limit of 14.5 metres. Full details are available on the fishery web site: www.lodgefarmfisheries.co.uk

Breakfasts will be available in the cafe from 7am.

The draw will commence at 8am with fishing from 10am till 4pm.

Daiwa Sports will be supporting the Championship once more with prizes to the tune of £3,000. The competition is free to enter and open to all clubs in the Sheffield Green Un Sports newspaper circulation area which covers Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster, Barnsley and Chesterfield. Clubs simply have to submit their match results to greenun@sky.com Please feel free to contact me via email for further details.

2013/14 – Complete List Of Qualifiers

Adcock, Glen
Alcock, Steve
Bailey, Mick
Barker, Mel
Barnes, Steve
Bates, Andy
Baxter, Brian
Beckett, Des
Bentley, Chris
Bentley, Roger
Bestall, Steve
Billen, Marcus
Billups, Steve
Binns, Lee
Blakesley, Andy
Bows, Mark
Briggs, Mick
Brooks, Tony
Buckler, Mick
Buffon, Alan
Burgin, Rob
Burke, Mark
Burkinshaw, Matt
Cardwell, Dean
Carthy, Rob
Chambers, Roy
Chapman, Phil
Chisholme, John
Chorlton, Ray
Clark, Jeff
Coleman, Steve
Collinson, Shane
Copnell, Tony
Cowley, Alan
Crampton, Andy
Craven, Gary
Creighton, Andy
Crookes, Paul
Crossley, Neil
Crowther, Les
Cutts, Trevor
Czajkowski, Dave
Danforth, Sam
Dawson, Graham
Dawson, Mick
Dawson, Pete
Devine, Dave
Devlin, Andy
Didlock, C
Dodson, Mark
Donovan, Paul
Driver, Fred
Edwards, Ashley
Edwards, John
Elliott, Dave
Evason, Jack
Fawcett, Trevor
Fearn, Steve
Flynn, Keran
Foster, Rodger
Foster, Steve
Fox, Dave
Francis, Steve
Furniss, Andy
Gibson, Roy
Golland, Tom
Gorman, Paul
Gosney, Pete
Graham, Scott
Gregory, Brian
Gregory, Dean
Gregory, Paul
Griffin, Pete
Hague, Martin
Hall, Jamie
Hardy, Shaun
Hartley, Martin
Hattersley, Phil
Hawkins, Andy
Haywood, Chris
Hemmingham, Paul
Herring, Dave
Hill, Keith
Hill, Rodger
Hogan, Keiran
Holbery, Steve
Holmes, Mark
Hopkin, Steve
Howell, Kev
Humphreys, Mick
Hurt, Geoff
Hurt, Pauline
Hutchinson, Logan
Irving, Phil
Jackson, Kev
Jackson, Ricky
Johnson, Danny
Jones, Les
Lackenby, Dave
Lambley, Steve
Law, Shane
Leadwood, Frank
Lee, John
Lee, Jonathan
Leigh, Trevor
Leng, Steve
Lindley, Gareth
Loosemore, Warren
Lucas, Stuart
Lunn, Dave
Massey, Paul
Mathews, Gary
McCurdy, Alf
McGrath, Tommy
Mitchell, Ron
Moat, Barry
Molyneux, Dave
Molyneux, Vic
Munaser, Faisel
Munaser, Omar
Newbound, Steve
Newsome, Steve
Newton, Jay
Nicholson, Howard
Nightingale, Ray
Oldfield, Paul
Oldfield, Terry
Owen, Barry
Owen, Mick
Owen, Neil
Palmer, Matt
Palmer, Roy
Parker, Keith
Parkes, Gig
Parkes, Kev
Parkin, Phil
Parkin, Trevor
Parsisson, Craig
Pearson, Dave
Pearson, John
Pinder, Andy
Poss, Mick
Pridmore, Colin
Proffitt, Greg
Proffitt, Nigel
Reynolds, Dave
Richardson, Scott
Robinson, Dean
Roden, Eddie
Roper, Albert
Ross, George
Sanders, Shaun
Saxton, Malcolm
Sayles, David
Sayles, Frank
Schofield, Dave
Searle, Brian
Searle, Mick
Shaw, Adam
Shaw, Jim
Shaw, Mick
Shaw, Pete
Sheldon, Vic
Shone, Ray
Simpson, Gary
Sissons, Paul
Smith, Andy
Smith, Stewart
Soar, Barry
Speechley, Jack
Spencer, Wayne
Spooner, Pete
Stanley, Pete
Stephanovic, Eddie
Stephenson, Barry
Stokes, Steven
Stones, Neil
Tate, Mel
Taylor, Geoff
Thomas, Lewis
Thomas, Paul
Tollerfield, Dave
Tomkinson, Dave
Tunstall, John
Turner, Paul
Wadsworth, Dave
Wagstaffe, Corrie
Wainright, Dave
Walker, Steve
Walsh, Jim
Walton, Ken
Ward, Richard
Wardle, Richard
Warren, Tony
Wasden, Simon
Webster, Graham
West, Martyn
Whitam, Steve
Wilburn, Andy
Wilkinson, Dave
Wilkinson, Gareth
Williams, Elliott
Willis, Steve
Wooldridge, Alan
Wooton, Terry
Wragg, Mark

It’s Christmas and keeping with tradition here is the list of anglers who have so far qualified for the Daiwa sponsored Club Match Angler Championship semi finals, formerly known as the ‘Green Un’ Final but now hosted by the Sheffield Star newspaper.

It’s open to angling clubs in South Yorkshire and the North Midlands, nominally covering the old circulation area of the Green Un – that’s Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Doncaster and Chesterfield. The winner of every club match featured in the Star’s angling column gets a chance to compete in a semi final. Section winners from the semi go through to a grand final where £3,000 worth of Daiwa fishing tackle is up for grabs.

If your name’s not on the list and you think it should be then please make your case by emailing greenun@sky.com Shouldn’t be too difficult to prove as your original match entry will be in your match secretary’s sent items folder…

Here’s the list. Details of dates and venues will be announced later but for now, if your name’s on the list you need do nothing except check back in April when the important details like venues, times, dates, pools, etc., will be announced.

(The following list is correct as at 19.12.2014)

Time To Book Your Semi Final Tickets

As I previously announced there is an outstanding demand for semi final places in this year’s Daiwa Sponsored Club Match Angler Championship. To accommodate demand we’re organising not one, but two semi final matches in May.

There are almost 250 different names in the list already and in the next few weeks I’m sure I will hear all the usual lame excuses from folk pretending they sent in results that must have been lost in cyberspace!

Semi Final One will be staged on Saturday 9^th May, 2015

Semi Final Two will be staged on Saturday 30^th May, 2015

As ever the section winners go through to our Final where £3,000 worth of Daiwa sponsored prizes will be up for grabs on top of the pools on Sunday 28^th June.

All three matches will be hosted by the new Hayton Lakes complex on the outskirts of Retford and by all accounts Hayton is a prolific, all-action bagging water with small to medium sized carp dominating so every single section should be pretty competitive. Those in the list below can choose which semi they wish to fish but places are only available on a first come, first served basis. Once one date is sold out you will then only be able to book onto the other so it’s make your mind up time and time is pressing. Don’t come complaining if you fail to act in time. You need to act immediately.

Match entry is as ever £20 all-in and must be paid in advance to secure your place. Please send a cheque or postal order to the value of £20 payable to Green Un Club Match Angler Championship stating clearly the full name of the angler (or anglers), which semi final you are applying for, plus a separate address and contact phone number for each person covered by the entry to the match organiser:

Geoff Hurt, 36 Hazelbarrow Road, Jordanthorpe, Sheffield, S8 8AW.

2007 Winner Roy Chambers

You can speak to Geoff on 07921 166136 but please do so during sensible hours only. Here’s the latest list:

Star/ Green Un Club Match Angler Championship

Hayton Lakes, Little Grebe Lake

Eat your heart out Fish-o-Mania XXII… Twenty one anglers who successfully negotiated the semi final stages lined up to take part in the 39^th Green Un Final and it proved to be a tense affair. Things started well with everyone catching at the start then after the two hours Little Grebe Lake inexplicably simply switched off.

The only angler to keep fish feeding throughout was Geoff Hurt who used a 17 foot rod, 0.7g float with worm on the hook. He also fed heavier than anyone else getting through 4 bags of pellets and a kilo of worms but it was his decision to use a large bait on the hook that enabled him to sort out a better stamp of fish.

Geoff, 57, a site manager in the construction industry, proved a popular winner of this keenly contested competition as he and his wife Pauline have organised the practical element of every Green Un semi final and final for the past 18 years even when they haven’t qualified, ‘Organising matches is our life!’ he declared afterwards.

‘I’m so pleased for Geoff, he’s a truly deserving winner.’ Said Bob Roberts, who runs the competition through the various Sheffield Star newspapers. ‘Having Daiwa pump £3,000 worth of prizes into the competition is invaluable in what’s become my mission to encourage grass roots match fishing and to support both local tackle shops and fisheries.

Result: 1. G Hurt 51-3; 2. T Parkin 25-10; 3. K Parkes 25-6; 4. K Martin 24-4; 5. R Hadfield 20-10.

Stop Press: ‘I am pleased to announce that Daiwa Sports will be supporting the Star/ Green Un Club Match Angler Championship again in 2015/16 when the competition will achieve a significant milestone – its 40th consecutive year.’ Bob Roberts

The Green Un Championship is open to any angling club in the Sheffield Star circulation area which more or less covers Sheffield, Chesterfield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley. Entry is completely free. Just ask your match secretary to email your club’s results to: greenun@sky.com

Please use the same email address to ask for an entry form.

From Monday 4th April anglers who have qualified for the Daiwa Sports sponsored 2015/ 2016 Sheffield Star Club Match Angler Championships, better known for the past 39 years as ‘the Green Un Final’, can book a semi-final place by contacting match organiser Geoff Hurt. A full list of names can be found at the foot of this article.

Match entry costs £20 all-in and must be paid in advance. Please send a cheque or postal order for £20 payable to Green Un Match Anglers Championship and post it to:

Geoff Hurt, 36 Hazelbarrow Road, Jordanthorpe, Sheffield, S8 8AW. Tel: 07921 166136

Believe it or not this will be the 40th year of the competition. Forty years! And we’re proud to have Daiwa Sports on board yet again as our sponsor. Daiwa will be supplying three grand’s worth of top quality prizes and some lucky so-and-so will also be crowned Club Match Angler Champion.

As in recent years, the number of qualifiers leaves us with no choice but to stage two semi finals. Both will be staged at Hayton Lakes.

After consulting with numerous anglers and match secretaries the consensus was, could I possibly avoid Saturdays and Sundays because this conflicted with their own club calendars, hence the shift back to May’s two Bank Holiday Monday matches.

With this in mind the first semi will take place on Monday the 2nd followed by a second one on Monday 30th May. The advantage being if someone is away on holiday for one of the dates they’re probably going to be able for the other.

We wanted somewhere special for the 40th final. A venue that will potentially provide bumper weights, lots of action but without being overly peggy. That’s a near impossible ask but one venue that cries out to be used is somewhere we’ve not visited in the past, Bank End Fisheries Match Lake.

Again we’re going to avoid the weekend, instead we’ll stage the fina on the afternoon of Friday 24th June. This means we will have the whole lake at our disposal and that should help no end when it comes to fair pegging. Fishing into the evening should boost weights, too.

Most of you already know the facilities at Bank End are excellent with a superb on-site cafe and a well-stocked farm shop. Hot food is available until 1.30, perfect for an afternoon start.

Dates For Your Diary

Semi Final One: Monday 2nd May, Hayton Lakes, Kingfisher Lake

Semi Final Two: Monday 30th May, Hayton Lakes, Kingfisher Lake

Final: Friday 24th June, Bank End Fisheries, Match Lake

Have You Qualified?

If you’re already in the list below then you need to decide which semi you want to take part in and pay your pools because pegs are limited and allocated on a first come, first served basis. Regular updates can be found in the Sheffield Star’s regular Friday angling column.

2015/ 2016 has been a bumper year with 250 different anglers having qualified already. If you are one then you need to decide which semi final you wish to fish and book your place. Here’s the current list in alphabetical order:

Who Can Enter?

The Club Match Angler Championships is open to all fishing clubs in the Sheffield Star circulation area – which pretty much covers the whole of South Yorkshire and North Nottinghamshire (Sheffield, Chesterfield, Rotherham, Barnsley and Doncaster).

To qualify for the semi you need to win a club match and submit the result to me, Bob Roberts, within 7 days. The competition email address is greenun@sky.com and I’d appreciate if all correspondence about the competition is sent to that address.

Win a section in the semi final and you’re automatically through to the final where 20 anglers will compete for £3,000 worth of Daiwa gear. It’s as simple as that.

Entry forms (electronic) are available from the same address.

And Just For the Reprobates and Chancers…!

Each year a whole bunch of names creep out of the woodwork claiming that I must have ‘lost’ their entry. A likely story! If you think you should be in the list and are confident that you or your match secretary submitted an entry form, feel free to plead your case, via email, by writing to: greenun@sky.com

Please include full match details or better still, just forward the original; email. That way you are guaranteed a place.

Semi Final, Hayton Lakes, Kingfisher Lake

Strong winds and a spell of torrential rain battered Hayton Lakes on the most challenging of days when any pre-match hopes of big weights were dashed. So bad were the conditions that despite a heavy downpour in the later stages only one angler risked setting up an umbrella.

Most didn’t even set up a pole. To do so was equally pointless and just inviting breakages. The only angler who managed to fish with a pole from start to finish was the reigning Club Match Angler Champion Geoff Hurt who, despite drawing a slightly sheltered area, could risk using no more than 6 metres. No wonder a number of qualifiers, who had paid their pools in advance, chose to stay away. That’s how grim it was.

The majority of competitors, especially those drawn towards the windward end of the lake were forced to adopt feeder tactics, which is far from the easiest way to catch the predominant species, shy-biting F1 carp. Still, such conditions are a great leveller and the result was something of a shock in that Mel Barker, a 49-year-old company director with MB International Systems, romped home with a superb net of mainly chub. Having the wind over his head enabled him to fish effectively at range with waggler and maggot. He loose fed 3 pints of maggots whilst fishing less than 3 feet deep with 4 and 6 gram waggler floats. A single maggot on a size 18 hook producing a bite a cast in the latter stages and a top payout of £300.

Result: 1. Mel Barker 39-0; 2. Steve Curtis 37-1; 3. Richard Wardle 34-11; 4. Geoff Hurt 34-5; 5. Brian Searle 31-13; 6. Trevor Jordan 31-5.

The following section winners qualify for the final at Bank End on (date):

Trevor Jordan

Greg Proffitt

Brett Chapman

Brian Searle

James Mellor

Mel Barker

Mick Turton

Steve Curtis

Geoff Hurt

Graham Webster

Richard Wardle

Bank Holiday Monday delivered yet another challenging day for our second Club Match Angler Championship semi finalists. With a bitter northeast wind hacking straight down the open waters of Kingfisher Lake it was never going to be an easy day for the qualifiers although the outcome was not quite as unpredictable as the first semi when Mel Barker triumphed with a fabulous net of chub.

This time out normal service was resumed and all the leading weights were made up with F1 carp, although getting them to settle down and feed for any length of time proved challenging. Gary Brookes took full advantage of his end-peg draw and cruised into the final with over 80lbs, 20lbs clear of runner-up Tom McGrath.

Result

1. Gary Brookes 80-14
2. Tom McGrath 60-12
3. Paul Stanton 48-8
4. Steve Newsome 47-2
5. Roger Hill 44-6
6. Gary Morris 32-12

Winner’s Dossier

Gary Brookes, a 53-year-old retired miner from Maltby, fed 4mm pellets on the long pole line presenting a 6mm banded pellet on the hook beneath a jigger float set between two and 3 feet deep. He caught mainly F1 carp throughout the match at Peg 83. Although he was kept busy throughout he did find time to play ‘knight in shining armour’ when Jamie Unsworth, on the next peg, had his top 3 pole sections come adrift whilst playing a fish. Spotting what had happened Brookes picked up his feeder rod and cast over the rapidly disappearing pole sections to rescue both the precious carbon sections and the hooked fish. Asked if he was now looking forward to the final on Bank End’s prolific Match Lake, he told the Star, “Bank End can be peggy but if I get the right draw then yes, I will certainly fancy my chances.”

Please Note

If you are one of the lucky finalists but for any reason cannot make the match, please, please contact the match organiser, Geoff Hurt on 07921 166136. Your place will then be offered to whoever finished second in your qualifying section.

Special Mentions

Pauline and Geoff Hurt who have done all the legwork in organising this and every other Club Match Angler Championship finals event for the past 15 years – it simply couldn’t exist without their dedication to the cause.

Daiwa Sports for generously supporting the competition for the 5^th year in a row.

Gary Simpson of the https://slipfishin.net/ web site for stepping in and taking all the images used here. You’re a budding star Gary!

Final Details 2016

We now have a definitive list of qualifiers for the 40^th running of the Daiwa Sponsored Club Match Angler Championship at Bank End Fisheries on the afternoon of Friday 24^th June. These are anglers who initially won club matches to reach the semi final and then won sections in the semis. In other words, they are winners among winners in the most hotly contested club match competition in the UK.

It’s a fantastic final line-up containing no less than 5 previous winners. Spectators will be made more than welcome at a venue offering a pick-your-own fruit farm, farm shop and restaurant

Daiwa Sports will be providing £3,000 worth of tackle prizes on top of which there will be additional cash pay-outs. If you have qualified, please make a note that registration will take place at Bank End between noon and 12.30pm with fishing from 2pm till 7pm.

Qualifiying from the first semi final are:

Trevor Jordan, Greg Proffitt, Brett Chapman, Brian Searle, James Mellor, Mel Barker, Mick Turton, Steve Curtis, Geoff Hurt, Graham Webster, Richard Wardle.

Qualifiying from the second semi final are:

Pete Gosney, Steve Newsome, Tom McGrath, Mark Sixsmith, Rob Burgin, Julian Tindal, Garry Morris, Paul Stanton, Gary Brookes, Kev Parkes, Omar Munaser.

Please Note

If you are one of the lucky finalists but for any reason cannot make the match, please, please contact the match organiser, Geoff Hurt on 07921 166136. Your place will then be offered to whoever finished second in your qualifying section.

There is no other competition dedicated solely to club match anglers that can even come close to the Daiwa sponsored Club Match Angler Championship run in conjunction with the Star Newspapers’ Grass Roots in Sheffield. Now in its 41st consecutive year the event has attracted getting on towards an astonishing £100,000 in sponsorship during that era. 

Open to all club match anglers in the Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster, Barnsley and Chesterfield region, entry is completely free. It just requires your match secretary to submit results to me, Bob Roberts, via email to greenun@sky.com

Match winners are invited to participate in the semi final stage with section winners going through to the grand final.

Tension mounts at the draw

With each year that passes the demand grows, so much so that it has become necessary to hold two semi finals and a final to determine who will be crowned the Club Match Angler Champion. Qualifying is open until April with semis being fished (usually) in May. Throw in the optional pools and we’re definitely talking the richest club-only event in the country.

Dates for the finals will be released shortly but for now it’s all about claiming a place. Already we have over 220 different qualifiers. If you’re in the list then you need do nothing for now other than to keep an eye open for updates. I’ll let you know how to secure your tickets to the semis around the end of March/ beginning of April. Regulars will know the score. It’ll be the same as always with pools paid up front to Geoff and Pauline Hurt.

So here we go. If you’re not in the verified list (below) but think you’ve been missed then please get in touch via the Green Un email address (above) and plead your case. Make sure you send some kind of proof that your match result was submitted, say a copy of the result – ideally resend the original email – that works every time. Forgetting to submit results (or sending them in 6 months late) is not my problem and counts for nothing. Claiming emails get lost is just as weak an excuse. If you sent it then you’ll have a copy of the original in your sent mail folder. But occasionally I do make mistakes…

Here’s the latest list of semi finalists in alphabetical order as of 14th January, 2017.

Green Un/ Sheffield Star Club Match Angler Championship

Sponsored by Daiwa Sports

The eagerly anticipated 41st Club Match Angler Championship is almost upon us and I can now confirm the dates and venues to be used.

Semi Final One will be staged on Sunday 7th May at Hayfield Lakes. All pegs on Island, Little and Big Adams are available to us.

Semi Final Two will be staged on Monday 29th May at Hayfield Lakes. All pegs on Island, Little and Big Adams are available to us.

How To Book Your Place

Providing you won a genuine club match, your match secretary submitted a report, in which case it will have been reported in the Star newspaper Angling Column, then your name should appear in the list below. Please note that we will continue to add to the list right up to the first semi final should you qualify between now and then.

If you decide to take part in one of the semi finals then you must pre-pay pools and pegging by contacting the match organiser, Geoff Hurt, in advance. Match entry is £20 all-in with a 100 per cent pay-out, minus pegging fees. This can be paid in cash, direct to Geoff Hurt, or by cheque or postal order for £20 made out to Green Un Match Anglers Championship.But please ensure you include your contact telephone number. This is very important. If someone qualifies in the semi but can’t make the final, that place then goes to the section runner-up, providing we can contact you.

Geoff Hurt’s contact details are:

36 Hazelbarrow Road, Jordanthorpe, Sheffield, S8 8AW.

Phone: 07921 166136

Please note that if you intend to fish the second semi final and wish to pay by cheque or postal order then payment must be with Geoff by no later than Sunday14^th May.

Semi Final Details – Hayfield Fisheries (All Pegs)

Date: Sunday 7th May

Register on the day up to 8.00am at the Hayfield Pub

Draw commences at 8.15am

Fishing will be from 10.00am till 4.00pm

Section winners only secure a place in the final

Final Venue – Hallcroft Fisheries, Moat Island Lake

Date: Sunday 8th July

Register on the day up to 8.00am at the Hallcroft Cafe

Draw commences at 8.15am

Fishing will be from 10.00am till 4.00pm

Presentation afterwards

List of Qualifiers

Roll Up For The Final Showdown

It’s Semi Final time in the Club Match Angler Championship and if you have any designs on lifting the coveted Colin Dyson Memorial Trophy then you need to act soon. Tickets for the semi final stage are limited this year. We are holding just ONE semi final as opposed to the two in recent years and there are only 140 places up for grabs which will be available on a first-come, first served basis. If you intend to be part of the biggest club match angler competition in the UK then urgent action is required.

Demand is expected to be high. It may even outstrip supply so don’t hang about.

If you are in the list below and wish to secure a place don’t hang about, contact the match organiser, Geoff Hurt (details below), to register, pay your pools and book your place. Match entry is £20 all-in with a 100 per cent pay-out on the day, minus pegging fees.

This year’s venue is the home of Fish-‘o’-Mania, Hayfield Fisheries, near Doncaster, and following your suggestions, bearing in mind the match covers all three lakes – Island, Big and Little Adams, we are changing the semi final payout structure to level the playing field. Instead of jackpot pay-outs for the individual top weights the main cash pool will be spread equally across the 20 sections. In other words you will only be fishing against your own section and not the whole field.

Assuming a sell-out we will split the match into 20 separate sections of 7 anglers. That means you simply have to beat the other 6 anglers in your section to win £100 and automatically qualify for the £2,500 Daiwa sponsored final.

This means you are not reliant upon drawing a ‘flier’ any more. Wherever you draw you will now be rewarded equally. There will be no such thing as a bad peg or bad section. Saying that, some folk do like a flutter so in addition to the main pool we will organise a completely optional £5 pool on the day which, subject to agreement, will be split equally between the winners of each lake.

In the final, section winners from the semi will be competing for cash pools on the day plus £2,500 worth of Daiwa tackle prize vouchers. Following the success of last year’s trial, the top 4 anglers in the 20-peg final will win Daiwa tackle vouchers  to the value of £1,000, £750, £500 and £250. These can be redeemed against any items of their choice from the latest range up to the face value of the voucher or indeed as part-payment towards a bigger ticket item.

Details For Your Diary

Semi Final: Sunday 6th May, Hayfield Lakes, All pegs

Register up to 8.00am

Draw at 8.15am

Fish 10.00am till 4.00pm

Final: To Be Announced Shortly

How To Book Your Place

Assuming you’ve already qualified via a match published in my column in the Sheffield Star newspaper or one of it’s sister publications (Rotherham, Barnsley, Doncaster, Chesterfield), to take part in the semi final you must contact the match organiser, Geoff Hurt and pre-pay your £20 pools and pegging fee. This can be paid in cash direct to Geoff or by cheque or postal order made payable to Green Un Match Anglers Championship. Should you decide to enter the optional £5 pool this will be collected on the day.

Whichever way you decide to pay, you MUST include a contact telephone number. If you qualify for the final and for any reason cannot make the final, this enables us to allocate your place to whoever came second in the section. Contact details will be treated as confidential and will not be used for marketing purposes or for any other reason other than to contact you regarding this match.

Geoff Hurt’s contact details are: 36 Hazelbarrow Road, Jordanthorpe, Sheffield. S8 8AW. Tel: 07921 166136

Here’s the list that matters…

Match Details At A Glance

Semi Final: Monday 6th May: Semi Final at Hayton Fisheries, Retford.

Register up to 8.00am at the fishery office. Please note the on-site cafe is currently closed until the erection of a permanent building has been completed.

Draw at 8.15am

Fish 10.00am till 4.00pm

Final: Sunday 2nd June: Final at KJS Aston Springs, Snake Lake.

How To Book Your Place

To take part in the semi final you must contact the match organiser, Geoff Hurt, to pre-pay your £20 pools and pegging. This can be paid in cash direct to Geoff or by cheque or postal order made payable to Green Un Match Anglers Championship. Should you decide to enter the optional £5 pool this will be collected on the day.

Whichever way you decide to pay, you MUST include a contact telephone number. If you win your section and for any reason cannot make the final, this enables us to allocate your place to whoever came second in that section. Contact details will be treated as confidential and will not be used for marketing purposes or for any other reason other than to contact you regarding this match.

Geoff Hurt’s contact details are:

36 Hazelbarrow Road

Jordanthorpe

Sheffield

S8 8AW

Tel: 07921 166136

The Qualifiers To Date

Ainley, Boo; Alcock, Steve; Allen, Craig; Allen, Richard; Archibald, Gaz; Bailey, Mick; Bates, Andy; Bates, Peter; Beckett, Des; Beckingham, Shane; Beightone, Andy; Beresford, Paul; Bertram, Alan; Bestall, Steve; Bishop, Neil; Bowes, Mark; Bowler, Richard; Brady, Dan; Briggs, Mick; Brotherton, Andy; Brown, Barry; Brown, Derek; Brown, Russ; Brumpton, Mick; Buckler, Mick; Burgin, Rob

Burkinshaw, Matt; Burkinshaw, Mick; Caton, Dave; Chapman, Phil; Cheshire, John; Chisholm, John; Chorlton, Ray; Clark, Tim; Clay, Graham; Clayton, Lee; Colley, Rob; Collins, Steve; Collinson, Shane; Cooke, John; Cooke, Neil; Copnell, Tony; Corbett, Bill; Coward, Mick; Creighton, Andy; Crooks, Paul; Deakin, Pete; Dearman, Shane; Derrett, Russ; Devine, Dave; Donnelly, Paul; Driver, Dave; Driver ; Fred; Easton, Shane; Eckersley, Alan; Edwards, Darren; Elliott, Dave; Eves, Chris; Eves, John; Farrer, Brian; Fern, Ronnie; Fielding, Steve; Fletcher, Tony; Flynn, Keran; Foottit, Nigel; Francis, Nev; Francis, Steve; Frith, Wayne; Furniss, Andy; Garlick, Chris; Gavan, Daniel; Golland, Tom; Gray, Pete; Grayson; Simon; Gregory, Brian; Hadfield, Ricky; Hancock, Paul; Harding, John; Harrison, Alan; Harrison, Mick; Hayhurst, Dennis; Heath, Phil; Higginbottom, Keith; Hill, Andy; Hill, Roger; Hogan, Keiran; Holberry, Dave; Holberry, Steve; Holmes, Mark; Howe, Matt; Hurt, Geoff; Hurt, Pauline; Ingram, Andy; Jackson, Kev; Jardine, Andy; Johnson, Andy; Johnson, Danny; Johnson, Neil; Jones, Les; Kelk, Liam; Kirton, Mel; Lake, Marlon; Lakin, Phil; Lambley, Mike; Lambley, Steve; Lavendar, Graham; Law, Shane; Lazenby, Ernest; Leary, Lee; Lindley, Gareth; Lockton, Steve; Lockwood, Ron; Lomas, John; Marsden, Clive; Marshall, Matt; Martin, Graham; Massey, Paul; Mawby, Geoff; May, David; McGary, Colin

Millward, Neil; Mitchell, Ron; Molyneux, Vic; Moore, Andy; Moore, John; Morgan, Shane; Morley ; Andrew; Morley, Pete; Morris, Gary; Morris, Mel; Mullett, Dave; Mycock, Chris; Myers, Danny; Neall, John; Newsome, Steve; Newsome, Tom; O’Connor, Bernard; Oldfield, Terry; Palmer, Matt; Parkes, Kev; Parsisson, Craig; Patrickson, Dave; Perkins, Brod; Pinder, Kev; Pogson, Mick; Proffitt, Greg; Quick, Alan; Richardson, Billy; Roberts, Carl; Robinson, dean; Robinson, Trevor; Ross, George; Sargeson, Alan; Saxton, Malcolm; Sayles, Frank; Sayles, Mick; Searles, Brian; Sedgewick, Pete; Shaw, Tony; Sheldon, Lee; Simpson, Mick; Sixsmith, Mark; Skelton, Dave; Smith, Liam; Smith, Mark; Smith, Stu; Smith, Terry; Smith, Wayne; Spooner, Pete; Stacey, Andy; Stanniland, Dave; Stanton, Paul; Stocks, John; Sullivan, Josh; Tate, Mel; Thompson Matt; Todd, Mick; Tomkinson, Dave; Topham, Alan; Turner, Ann; Turner, Gary; Turner, Paul; Turner, Reg; Walsh, Jim; Walters, Keith; Ward, Ian; Ward, Tom; Wardle, Richard; Webster, Graham; Wheeler, Dave; Wilburn, Andy; Wilkinson, Graham; Wood, Fred; Wragg, Mark; Young, John.

Daiwa Sponsored Star/ Green Un Club Match Angler Championship

2019/2020 Semi Final Postponed

Please note that the ‘Green Un’ has had to be postponed indefinitely. I have read this morning that Lindholme Lakes, venue for our planned semi final is closing its doors to matches with immediate effect. I have also been advised that my Angling Notes column in the various Star Newspapers and the Doncaster Free Press is suspended forthwith.

We are in unprecedented times but I sincerely hope this event will resume at some point in the future. Who knows where, who knows when. Or even how. Safety of life comes first.

May I take this opportunity to thank the hard working match organisers, club secretaries, the thousands of participants, various sponsors (Jack Purchase, Tony Flint, Daiwa Sports) who have supported us during the 23 years I’ve been involved with running the event. Same goes out to countless fisheries and the under-pressure tackle shops without whom it couldn’t happen.

Let’s hope this is a brief postponement and not the end of a fantastic era. Thanks everyone, from the heart, for your past support. Meanwhile stay safe and don’t be an idiot. Distance, Isolate or whatever it takes. Time for some to stop being selfish and ask, what can we all do for others?

Take care everyone and hopefully this will soon be a bad memory.

Bob Roberts

A Little Background…

Were it not for a man called Colin Dyson you would not be reading this as I would not be tasked with running the Club Match Angler Championship. Without Colin I would most likely still be fishing club matches and going ‘pleasure fishing’, assuming I was still interested in fishing at all.

There would be no Bob Roberts the author, columnist or DVD maker. No Goldthorpe years or being crowned the UK Masters Champion. Nor would I have become, as Any Kaczmarczyk posted in what was clearly intended to be a derisory slur on Facebook recently, an ‘angling celebrity’.

It’s unlikely that I would have adventured in the Himalayas, Uganda, Zambia, the Nubian desert, the Americas, Europe, Sri Lanka, remote islands and more. I wouldn’t be on first name terms with some of the greatest anglers on the planet nor appeared before TV cameras on 3 continents, for sure.

All this, thanks to one man, Colin Dyson. So how come?

I grew up in South Yorkshire where Colin’s contributions to angling were inescapable. He, along with Colin Graham, was the man behind The Angling Telegraph, Coarse Angler magazine, every local newspaper column going, so may important books including works by the likes of Kevin Ashurst, Tom Pickering, Billy Lane, Fred Foster, Archie Braddock and many more. He was an accomplished angler, too.

It’s fair to say a lot of my early inspiration came from Colin and, as you do, I wrote to him asking for advice. We swapped letters on an infrequent basis until at some point he suggested I write a series for him in Coarse Angler magazine.

I was gobsmacked! Me, a writer? Give over! And I turned him down flat.

A year later, he was back. Same suggestion, same response. Then he tempted my vanity. “Do me a favour, Bob, will you write me 3 articles as if you were writing them for the magazine. I won’t publish them, I just want to see what they would be like.”

Of course I fell for this and a while later he called to say how much he’d enjoyed them and… the first one will be in the next issue. What!!! I could have killed him. I wasn’t a writer. I left school at 15. This was just supposed to be a bit of flattery. For his eyes only. But the die was cast and my very first article was published in the hallowed pages of Coarse Angler Magazine in May 1987. I had begun a writing career by default.

The articles were well received and he asked for 3 more. I thought that would be that. What on earth could I possibly have to say. Anyone can write one article. Three, perhaps. Six becomes a tall order without repetition. Beyond that is impossible, or so I thought. But with his help and encouragement I soldiered on until I realised a fire had been lit. I could do this. Not only do it, but do it well.

That was 33 years ago. Some of you reading this will not even have been born. A lot of water has flowed under many bridges since then, yet somehow I’ve managed to publish at least one article in some magazine or another in every single month since, plus regular columns for the Angling Times for a while.

Colin’s health deteriorated in 1997. By now I was not only a columnist, I was an author, having published the Complete Book Of Legering, dare I say it to critical acclaim. It sold 6,000 copies on the first print run. Unbelievable, but I digress. Colin wasn’t well and I went over to see him at his home in Sheffield. I had previously asked if there was anything I could do to help. It turned out there was. Would I be good enough to take over his weekly column in the Sheffield sports newspaper for a while, ‘just till he felt a little better’.

OMG, this was a fearful task. I was to ghost write the column in his name. Something I had no experience of whatsoever. Talk about a demanding challenge. But he knew I could do it, I just had to convince myself I was up to it.

The first one appeared on April 19^th 1997. Colin was happy. I carried on. I carried on, and on and on. Colin passed away and the paper’s editor passed on the batton to me, with my name on the masthead. I’m sure that was Colin’s vision all along. It wasn’t a bad decision and I’ve continued to write that column for 23 consecutive years, week-in, week-out, as near as damn it 1,200 columns, a million and a half words, possibly more.

And now I’m going to take you back further, 43 years to be precise. That was when Colin Dyson and Colin Graham launched the Club Match Angler Championship. A competition to find who was the champion angler in the UK’s hotbed of club match angling. Clubs in the Sheffield, Rotherham, Barnsley, Doncaster and Chesterfield area were invited to submit match results to the paper. The match winners would compete to become the Club Match Champion. So many entered there was a limit on qualifying, the top 100 winning weights from summer matches, 100 more from the winter.

Back in those days the breweries were allowed to sponsor sporting events so the prizes were massive. I competed on several occasions in these 200 peg finals, never winning but did manage to make the top ten. It was an incredible competition.

When I took on the column in 1997 I took on responsibility for the match. It was in disarray to be honest. The miners’ strike had decimated the club match scene. Breweries could no longer sponsor sporting events but dear old Jack Purchase was still happy to pump in two grand. Hard to believe but there were only 40 finalists that year.

A lot of hard work has gone into promoting the event since and we are now back to around 200 anglers qualifying for the finals. It has become eagerly anticipated event for many. Alas the progress we’ve made has been undone by the Corvid-19 virus.

This past week I had been working on a plan for how the 2020 event could be staged in spite of the virus issues, including all pools to be paid a week in advance, a virtual draw over Facebook using the Angling Direct Store media platform on the evening before the match, anglers driving straight to their allocated pegs, weigh-in by fishery staff only maintaining social distancing of 2 metres, disqualification for leaving pegs or gathering, no presentation on the day and payment of winnings by bank transfer.

The fear was, who would still turn out and were the measures practical? Then on Saturday I received an email from the newspaper headquarters saying that in the light of the demise of competitive sports in the UK my column would no longer be required.

That presented a huge headache because you cannot expect sponsors to support an event if you can no longer deliver the promised publicity which is your end of the bargain.

I was facing some difficult phone calls this morning but then I read on Facebook that the venue for our finals venue is no longer hosting matches for the foreseeable, so that’s it. The finals can no longer go ahead as planned.

And frankly, it’s the responsible thing to do.

I pray this is merely a postponement and not a cancellation. If not, then this country and the rest of the world is in deep trouble. I’ll update everyone on here and through social media if things change but for now, please note, the 2019/2020 Daiwa/Star/Green Un Club Match Angler Championship is officially postponed until further notice.