2024: Sixth title & fascinating twists
A very enjoyable tournament with many twists, tactical moves and referees battling for a trophy.
Yorkshire Meds won the main British & World title for the sixth time this year and also won two individual competitions (Gardner’s Golden Oldies and SMcF award for highest break). Halim was runner-up in the individual match and coronation challenge and Leila was runner-up in the best lady player match.
The big day (Good Friday) fell much earlier in the year, on 29/03/24. The clock hadn’t changed yet to Summer time. The weather forecast (across the UK) was bleak with heavy rain over the week leading to the tournament. As the days approached, the forecast also showed some gale force winds the day before near Tinsley Green, so we were hoping for an improvement in the weather (as sometimes gale force winds alter the forecast). As it happened, it rained (heavily through the night before) and in the morning up to 10:30am and then it improved to a bright (and sometimes sunny) day, which made quite a difference to the proceedings of the tournament.
We arrived around 9:45 am, got the team registered and started to meet fellow marbles enthusiasts (players, spectators, organisers and alike). The usual annual catch-up followed. The organisers control room (gazebo) was near the main ring for the first time and this seemed to facilitate the running of the various events and tracks.
As with previous years, we managed the Golden Oldies competition. So Bob, Djamel and Mourad with help from others got into preparing the side ring (clearing, sanding and levelling off); laying the marbles in a cross fashion for each game. Then followed by refereeing the games, one by one from the qualifying round to QF, SF and final.
Tactical move & Roller Coaster: The team main games were really interesting for Yorkshire Meds. As a summary; the results and trophy were a tribute to a true team and collective effort; where every player played his part.
The QF was against the 49ers with a score of 25-14. We are always cautious with the 49ers, because Daren and his sister Alison can have high breaks. Then complemented by other really good team players too, the 49ers can be a real threat. The SF was against the German team (1st MCE 2). It was a roller coaster of a game, as Halim got knocked out in the first round and the team started to feel the pressure. The German team had Alex (this year’s winner of the individual trophy). Mourad got a break of 11 marbles and it all changed from there on. We won by a score of 25 to 9 marbles in 3 rounds.
The second SF was a repeat of last year’s final with the same outcome (Black Dog winning it). It was a nail biting game with a final score of 25 to 20 marbles (the scores kept swinging from one team to the other). The Black Dog Boozers featured in the last four finals. The 2024 final was a repeat of the 2022 final too.
It was also another roller coaster of a final for Yorkshire Meds (against the Black Dog Boozers). Halim managed to put himself in a very vulnerable position after the first shot (his marble stopped near the ring edge). One the Black Dog player tried to knock him out and fortunately missed. It was Karim's turn and a team's tactical decision was agreed for Karim to push or rather nudge Halim’s marble inside the ring (at the expense of Karim then being vulnerable). That calculated (risky) decision paid off; although Karim’s marble got killed, Halim repaid by getting a good break complemented by the other team members getting between 3 and 5 marbles per break. We won by 25-20. The third round was still at 24-20; so the margins were thin.
Halim featured in the individual event. His contribution was very close to winning, coming second (runner up) to Alex (1st MCE 2). Leila played in the Best Lady’s track and almost as a dress rehearsal of the last two years, she came second (runner up) to Alison who won it for the second consecutive time.
Battles of the referees: The final of the Gardner’s Golden oldies came to a climax when two members of Yorkshire Meds ended up in the final, Bob and Mourad (and also two main referees of this event). Bob had a more challenging path to the final, beating the previous year winner and multiple winner of this event (Paul Smith). Mourad won the trophy by 2 games to nil (in best of 3 games).
The Greyhound coronation challenge (aka KC3 trophy) was running for its second year. It is always entertaining because it is a game against the clock (so we are getting closer to a sport here); with players running, jumping around to knock as many marbles as possible in 90 seconds. Chris won it this year (20 marbles/90 seconds), followed by Halim (18 marbles/90 sec), Mourad, Alex and Monny respectively 15, 10 and 9 marbles/90 sec). Mourad also won the highest break of the day (SMcF trophy); jointly with Alex (1st MC 2).
For the Yorkshire Meds team, it is interesting to note that till 2023, all 10 individual trophies were won by (brother/sister) Halim and Leila, split equally 5 each; then in 2024 Mourad (Leila's husband) won 2 individual trophies. So more diversity in winning individual trophies within Yorkshire Meds, hoping for other members to win more individual ones too in the future.
Usual links: to the British & World Marbles Championship for a comprehensive 2024 report, plenty of commentaries and photos from the Crawley Marbles Appreciation group with over 300 photos from Barry Holder; and of course the historical perspective from the tournament wikipedia
