1st October first games of the season


The Lemmings have no game this week so I am pleased to publish this article from the Rainow Village magazine:

The Robin Hood Quiz Team - Question: What Happened? By Jim Kennelly

When we last wrote about the Robin Hood Quiz team back in 2015 things were looking extremely good; after only 4 seasons in the competition, we had ascended to Mount Olympus, colloquially known as the A league of the Macclesfield Quiz League.
Here be Heavyweight Quizzers, Saloon Bar Sages and Titans of Trivia, some with a presence on national broadcast media. The established A league teams have a former winner of Mastermind, contestants from TV’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Fifteen to One and people on Phone a Friend terms with panellists off Eggheads. A matter of a few weeks ago, two A league stars appeared on BBC Radio 4 as competitors in the Brain of Britain contest.

What does the Robin Hood Quiz team have in common with 1960s Northampton Town FC? Is it that both are called Cobblers?

So how could us minnows survive swimming with the A league sharks? Well, the A league has similarities with Football’s Premier League. The four teams at the top are clearly stronger than the rest of the league - for the last 15 years this quartet have provided all the league champions, indeed in 12 out of the last 15 years the winners were one or other of the two Ox-fford pub teams. The remaining teams oscillate between A league relegation and promotion from the B league. So we were not completely overawed when we joined the A league – half the teams there we had played and beaten before.
We became bottom-dwelling scavengers, concentrating on games against other recent ex-B league teams. It worked; we amassed sufficient wins to flit away from the relegation zone. We had risen to the A league and survived!
Meanwhile in the engine rooms of the B league, there were ominous stirrings - teams were remodelling, reforming and strengthening with big hitters. The two B league teams promoted to the A league for the 2016-2017 season were a fearsome prospect and we had never played them before in their new configuration. They did to us what we tried to do to them – and so we were relegated at the end of the season.
We accepted that we would probably be another Yo-Yo team shuttling between the A and B leagues. However, smug complacency comes before a fall. During the following B league season we couldn’t win an argument, couldn’t call the toss right, even if we were to bring our own double-headed coin. We played the same as always, amassing good scores, but now almost always coming in a few tantalising points short of the opposition. Far from pushing for promotion, we were in freefall and plummeting towards the bottom of the B league table. A late rally brought a couple of wins, but too little too late, we were relegated and by October 2018 the Robin Hood Quiz Team had returned back where we started 7 years ago - the C league.
How did that happen? The team comprised all the same individuals that performed well in the A league. The only change was that Phil Moss, the initiator of the Robin Hood Quiz team, relinquished the captaincy due to scheduling conflicts (or as some might put it, having a life). Another member of the team filled in as captain. This player, although capable of strong individual performances, sometimes had eccentric decision-making processes when adjudicating on conferred team answers. Maybe this was sufficient to shave a few critical points off?
The team generously decided to give the captain the benefit of the doubt and we started our latest C league campaign unchanged. At least we had the consolation that we could not be demoted for a third successive year – there is no D league. In some ways, our Odyssey in the Quiz League resembled that of one particular football club, itself the occasional subject of a pub quiz question: “During the 1960s, which club rose from the 4^th Division of the Football League to the First then back down to the 4^th in almost successive seasons?” Answer: Northampton Town 1960 to 1969. Unfortunately, Northampton Town are nicknamed “the Cobblers” – best not to extend the analogy too far.
Back in the C league, however, the Robin Hood blasted off like a rocket, with 11 straight match wins. Just when we feeling we might end the season with a clean sweep (smug complacency – see above) we received a timely reality check, dropping a match to the second placed team. Nonetheless we still ran out as 2019 champions with 13 wins out of 14, with the real competition in the league being the scramble for the second place promotion slot. The quiz league website complimented the Robin Hood on an excellent season and hinted that we might be expected to challenge for the B league title again next season. Possibly, but we need to beware smug complacency (see above).
After our experiences, our team motto should change from Nil Desperandum (loosely translated: It’ll be alright on the night) to Delapsus Resurgum (when we fall, we rise again)
So congratulations to the Robin Hood Quiz team: Phil Moss, Lorraine Hilton, Tony Wilkinson, Andrew Clark, Tim Grimes, Jenny Edwards and Jim Kennelly. Prospects for next season: given our recent history – Who Knows?




Tonight the Robin Hood plays the Harrington Academicals who thrashed the Lemmings in the Plate final – we wish both teams the best of luck.
The original article contained a picture but for some reason cannot include (did read W10 latest update has picture problems) - sorry Jim