The Warwickshire Vets League - 16,000 years of experience

Written by Bob Harris: league secretary

A report on the 2024-25 WMVL season

How does one determine whether a tennis league has had a successful season? There will obviously be divisional winners and league champions to report upon (see below) – but what are the objectives of the league itself? The Warwickshire Men’s Vets League (WMVL) is open to players aged 45 and over and runs through the autumn and winter. It is a channel for friendly, competitive competition for those who want to continue playing into their later decades. Here are a few statistics that show how we are doing against these objectives.

Number of teams and clubs

From a single division in 2002 we progressed to four divisions in 2015. The 24-25 season commenced with 32 teams from 20 clubs – although a couple of teams withdrew in the first week of the season. But there is scope for growth: several of the larger Warwickshire tennis clubs do not currently have a single team in the WMVL, and only two clubs entered a C-team in 24-25.

Number of players

Over 320 players participated during the 24-25 season in 780 matches. That represents an estimated 16,000 years of experience! The average squad sizes are shown in the table opposite.

It is interesting to note that two of the three teams who used just eight players across the season finished as the champions and runners-up in Division 1. Indeed, just four players from league champions Leamington A played 82% of their matches.

Age range of players

While no data was collected on player ages, it was evident from observation and anecdotal evidence that player ages ranged from 45 to 80+ years old. The youngest player (Ben Watkins of Solihull TC) had his 45th birthday on 20th January and played a postponed league match six days later. The status of the oldest pair to play in the WMVL this season is claimed by Berkswell C-team pair Bob Harris and Peter Brough with a combined age of 158 years.

Berkswell C: Bob Harris & Peter Brough

Matches played

A good indicator of the health and competitiveness of a league is the proportion of scheduled matches actually played. Despite the need to rearrange many matches due to bad weather, over the entire WMVL season there was just one match conceded via a walkover, and only six instances where a single pair arrived from one of the teams.

Competitiveness of matches

Few people enjoy losing a one-sided match, and not many really enjoy winning 6-0, 6-0. The table below shows that 20% of matches involved a Championship Tie Break set, and that in only 21 out of 780 matches did the losing team win fewer than 16 games.

It should also be noted that there were no runaway winners this year – with the key divisional positions being decided in the last month of the season.

Friendly competition

This is probably impossible to measure and everyone will have a different interpretation. But from a league administration perspective there were no incidents that required “official intervention”. From a personal player perspective, matches were played in good spirit and the post-match hospitality remains a feature which distinguishes WMVL from other leagues. It remains my mission to encourage more cheese and biscuits after matches – as even the most delicious cake doesn’t go quite as well with a pint of lager!

So what about the league results?

These have been available on MyDivision throughout the season and were as follows:

• Division 1 winners: Leamington A regaining the title

• Division 2 winners: Little Aston completing their climb to the top division

• Division 3 winners: Walmley securing two promotions in two years

• Division 4 winners: Streetly returning after relegation last year

Images

Top left- Division 4 winners: Streetly Mark Cowley (capt. centre) plus colleagues

Top right- Division 3 winners: Walmley Paul Bayliss, Andy Pickin, Julian Fisher, Simon Tong

Bottom left- Division 2 winners: Little Aston Pete Sutton, Rob King, Paul Jessop, Steve King

Bottom right- Division 1 winners: Leamington A Andy Cowden, Jonathan Hofstetter, Martyn Todd, Miguel Espada Rogas

And finally … the 100% club Several players were undefeated in their WMVL matches during the season. Amongst those who had played at least 10 matches, the best divisional performances were by:

• Division 1: Tim Ferwerda of Edgbaston Priory

• Division 2: Paul Jessop of Little Aston

• Division 3: Julian Fisher of Walmley

• Division 4: John Nuttall of Streetly

In conclusion

It’s a friendly, competitive league – open to all those 45 years and older. So let’s get some more clubs and more teams involved and start Division 5.