Pitbulls return to Coventry
Whilst Sven Goram Eriksson was preparing for the World Cup in Korea, the Bristol Pitbulls journeyed to Coventry for the Division 4 Playoffs. This year has been our most successful year for a long time, as we finally won the Div 4 South West Title. As you can see from the League results we dominated the league, with a little bit of luck, and suspect refereeing (why should football be different!!). Therefore, having been placed in the top 2, we qualified for the play-offs, which are held annually in Coventry to decide which two teams from Div 4 leagues in the South West, the South East, and Central should be promoted into Division 3 South.
Fortunately, this year we had no excuses – no aeroplanes that failed to start in the North of Scotland, or partners with other activities and no babysitters. Yea the Pitbulls were in full strength and ready for our second successive visit to the Playoffs. Well full strength was not quite true, I was recovering form Flu, Darren and Tony had massive hang-overs, and the whole team had not played for over 4 weeks due to Bristol South Pool being closed!
The Tournament itself started with the clash of the Div4 SW titans – the Pitbulls against the Dragons. Somewhat like England in Korea, our first game was dreadful, and we ended up losing to the team we had performed the double over during the League games. However, our opposition from Crawley, Luton and Clapham all lost a game apiece, it was therefore important to win the next game and look for the advantage on the goal difference. To summarize a thrilling afternoon/evening of tension and “pre-match/post match Motivation Sessions, we then continued with 2 wins against Crawley and Clapham. Last up was Luton, who turned up with new boats matching (Avon like) buoyancy aids and helmets – they looked good, but the Pitbulls won the day.
With this win, the Pitbulls won the tournament, leaving second place to be decided on goal difference. After much confusion (i.e. Rob telling Crawley they had been promoted) our archenemies the Celtic Dragons were also promoted, so the feud between the Bristol Pitbulls and Wales’ Dragons will continue into Division 3 next week.
Watch this space for next years thrilling encounters.
Well done to the whole Pitbulls Team including Darren, Lee, Dylan, Rob, Simon, Tony, and oh yes me! Finally, big thanks to Rob Hignell, who again organized the League.
Bulldogs – More Silverware…!
Performance Kayaks sponsor a Polo Tournament for all Polo Teams in the South West. This tournament in held at the superb Pool at Millfield School in Street, and is open to all teams of any standing in the National Leagues.
This year, we decided to enter a new team called Bulldogs which combined the “talents” of the Pitbulls and the Pussycats – in other words if their was not enough players – my Mother could have played!!
The other major distinction is that the Millfield Pool is 50 meters, and considerably larger than Bristol Couth or Kingswood. For the aging paddler this presents superb opportunity to improve fitness, or simply ache for a week afterwards.
The table below shows the final standing with the Bulldogs finishing in second place, and eligible for the Silver Medals. Well done to all the players who included: Dylan Tomlinson, Lee Nichols, Darren Courtnage, Simon Reid, Tony Barrass, Rob Hignell, Harvey Lyons, Kevin Davies, Mark Gillett
NATIONAL Div 4 SOUTH WEST
| Team Name | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Points | For | Against | Difference |
| Pitbulls | 16 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 47 | 73 | 9 | 64 |
| Dragon | 16 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 40 | 54 | 14 | 40 |
| Aberfan B | 16 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 38 | 41 | 15 | 26 |
| Avon C | 16 | 8 | 3 | 5 | 35 | 33 | 21 | 12 |
| So’ton Uni | 16 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 33 | 29 | 30 | -1 |
| Panthers | 16 | 4 | 0 | 12 | 24 | 22 | 52 | -30 |
| RAFCA | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 24 | 17 | 39 | -22 |
| PussyCats | 16 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 23 | 16 | 58 | -42 |
| Oxford Uni | 16 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 21 | 16 | 63 | -47 |
PERFORMANCE KAYAKS INVITATION LEAGUE 2001/2
| Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points | |
| Dragon | 18 | 16 | 1 | 1 | 76 | 31 | 45 | 51 |
| Bristol B | 18 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 50 | 39 | 11 | 44 |
| W Dragon | 18 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 67 | 33 | 34 | 43 |
| C Wreckers | 18 | 9 | 4 | 5 | 53 | 45 | 8 | 40 |
| AvonB | 18 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 50 | 38 | 12 | 39 |
| Avon A | 18 | 8 | 0 | 10 | 45 | 60 | -15 | 34 |
| Avon C | 18 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 45 | 40 | 5 | 33 |
| Celtic Dragon | 18 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 31 | 49 | -18 | 28 |
| Taunton | 18 | 4 | 0 | 14 | 40 | 69 | -29 | 26 |
| Panthers | 18 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 16 | 69 | -53 | 18 |
And some more polo news from Dylan…
BRISTOL HARBOUR CANOE POLO FACILITY
*** I’d like to let everyone know what has been going on down at the Cottage on Baltic Wharf but was told that it wasn’t that sort of magazine. Instead, this is an update on the BCU SW Region’s proposal for a canoe polo facility in Bristol Harbour.
Several years ago a ramp was put in outside the Cottage pub to aid wheel-chair access to the ferry boats. This required the removal of some slalom gates and the loss of the capability to rig up a polo pitch. Geoff Lane, the Harbour Master, agreed at the time with Bristol Canoe Club that he would try to provide an alternative facility but nothing was done to follow this up – until now. After the success of Bristol Pitbulls polo team in avoiding getting promoted to Div3 (South) and the loss of the Caen Hill outdoor pitch, we were left with a problem. What to do with 45m pontoon moored at the Devizes Locks and how to avoid going back to square one after each summer with no practice?
The solution was simple, tow the pontoon down to Bristol Docks; moor it along-side the harbour wall to provide low-level canoe access away from the dinghy sailors; and add the ability to move the whole thing out 10m to create an instant polo pitch. And this is exactly what was proposed by the BCU SW Region, in the person of John Cochram, to the last Bristol Harbour Recreational User Group. Both Avon & Bristol canoe polo supported this and Geoff Lane was more than happy to try to make good on his promise of a replacement pitch.
So all that is left to do is get the pontoon moved; lower its height; rig up a couple of heavy chain loops to allow the whole thing to be moved out; and allow the rigging of a couple of goals and Bob’s your mother’s brother. We might even be able to put up some slalom poles, if there any such paddlers left in BCC.
There is obviously a lot of work to be done before this is completed, not to mention quite a few technical challenges. But there are enough good reasons for this to happen as well as a few bad ones: Avon canoe polo are very keen to have a decent facility, as are some of the BCC lot who don’t mind non-chlorinated water. The Harbour Master owes us a favour and is offering time, materials and potential funding. As well as wanting to separate canoes and dinghies, it would provide him with another ‘tick in the box’ on City Council sport policy. BCU SW would like to keep a regional polo facility, have agreed to pay for additional docks licenses and would otherwise have a definite problem with a 150 foot pontoon. So with enthusiastic support from all parties, this may well be a reality by Summer 2002.
Here’s hoping, Dylan Tomlinson
[ Editor’s note: I am told that the pontoons have indeed been moved down to the docks in June 2002. ]