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From: "Andy Cotgreave" <acotgreave@rmplc.net>
To: "Britdisc" <britdisc@csv.warwick.ac.uk>
Subject: The nationals aftermath
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 1996 13:24:13 -0000
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Hi All,

Hopefully everyone who was at the Nationals this weekend had a great time,
and are all recovering well.

It was a great weekend, although the weather was an uncontrollable
disaster.

However, there were a couple of things that I really thought were out of
order, and I feel should be addressed - what do people think about the
following:

Most teams yesterday (Sunday) had to play three consecutive games. Now, I
know that long games are better than short, but expecting players to play
over 4 hours of games without a real break is not only gruelling, but
potentially dangerous. This was made worse by the fact that the 'breakfast'
provided at the campsite wasn't served until 30 minutes before games begun
- not enough time to get anything eaten and digested. Also, the breakfast
was a rip off. Ten pounds per team for the cheapest bread and jam that can
be bought does not get appreciated.

Secondly, the end of tournament cermony was a real anti-climax. Why Chris
could not organise a proper spirit vote is beyond me (for those who weren't
there, none of the organisers thought to collect spirit votes, and the
trophy was given to Stan by default, it seems). I'm not trying to deny Stan
the spirit trophy; my point is that this is one of the most important
aspects of the game, especially for the teams who don't get into the top 5
or 6; it angered me that this aspect of the tournament was ignored. This
*was* the National Finals after all, so every aspect of our sport should be
afforded the utmost respect - including the women's tournament, which Chris
also didn't seem to care about, either.

These were my gripes about an otherwise okay tournament, and asking around
briefly, I know that there were a good number of people who agreed with me
- anyone have any opinions on this?

Looking forward to indoors,
Andy C
Chevron