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Lambs to the Slaughter ... A Lamb's Club Remiscence
by Jack Halford © 2005 Jack Halford & SquashTalk LLC, all rights reserved.

In January 1987(?) I was strolling through London after completing a day of recreational management at the North London Polytechnic School.

I came across that famous landmark, Lambs Squash Club, and entered without any fuss from the reception area !

Jahangir in Control © 2005 SquashTalk archives.

I was convinced that I had just seen the great Jahangir Khan very smartly dressed as usual outside this famous club.

I was interested in looking at the club and mostly to see the Squash Courts. Arriving at the championship glass backed court, I noticed TV cameras and press setting up for a squash match. Nobody asked me who or what I was doing there !

I found out very quickly that Jahangir and Chris Dittmar (At that time,world numbers one and two) were about to play a Challenge Match.

The interest of the BBC and the Press was at its highest state, due to Jahangir having lost recently in the World Championships to Ross Norman. For squash historians, that was the first time Jahangir had lost in nearly six years.

So this match was to see if Jahangir had really lost his appetite for winning, and mostly his crown, as all believed him to be the king of the squash world.

I just sat in the front row right behind the glass back court where both players put their squash equipment. The crowd was mostly from the Press, and of course myself seemed to be the only non press agent attending this huge event !

Jahangir in 1987 © 2005 SquashTalk archives

The Match after a brief introduction of the players got under way with a single referee/marker announcing the score with a microphone in hand.

For approximately one hour and a half, I was enthralled, amazed, flabbergasted, excited, thrilled, to see Squash played at the highest level of intensity by the two best players in the world.

I do not think Jahangir asked for one single let throughout this great match. The first game lasted 50 minutes with Jahangir relentlessly driving the ball at a fierce pace to the back corners of the court, and Dittmar was just as relentless in his retrieving. Considering that Dittmar is very big for a squash player, it was astonishing to see the accuracy of Jahangir's drives, and Dittmar could hardly ever cut the ball off before it got to the back corners.

First game to Jahangir 9 - 7 and the only points Dittmar got were dead nicks. As they walked off the court from the most intense first game I had ever seen, Dittmar's legs buckled !

Jahangir never looked any different than when the game started !

Dittmar in 1987 © 2005 SquashTalk archives

The second game lasted only 30 minutes, 9 - 2 to Jahangir, with Dittmar being forced into submission by yet again a barrage of drives from Jahangir forcing Dittmar to make unforced errors, due to exhaustion !

The third game only lasted 10 minutes, 9 - 0 to Jahangir with Dittmar reduced to a large exhausted sweat drained man !

For those squash enthusiasts, who thought that Jahangir could only play Length, are totally wrong, because he hit 9 dead nicks in the third game !. He just waited for the opportunity to play those clever shots, and it was usually when his opponent was dead on his feet !

The record and history books show that nearly all of Jahangirs matches were similar in the final outcome, with the first game always lasting close to one hour !

He sometimes lost that first game, but won the war !

I have had the opportunity to see all of the world's best players close at hand, other than the Great Hashim and his generation.

Not one of the modern day players would have got close to Jahangir. All the rubbish that has been written about squash and the modern players changing the game.

In the end, players still need to hit good length for an opening to occur. They still need to work on their fitness and skills, and i personally think that the modern generation are not willing to work as hard as the great players before them !

As good as Peter Nicol and Jonathon Power are, they have never committed themselves to excellence, and their results show this. Both of these players are quite capable of dominating the world and yet have failed to do so !

World Championships and British Open results determine how great you are and Hashim, Jonah Barrington, Geoff Hunt, Jahangir and Jansher are truly head and shoulders above this modern day squash generation. One can be sympathetic toward Rodney Martin, Chris Dittmar, Brett Martin, and a string of Egyptian, Pakistani, players for having to compete against those great players already mentioned.

I was truly blessed to witness the BEST game of SQUASH in my LIFETIME ! with two of the Best Players fighting like tigers for the prestige of being world number 1.

This game to 11 is now a joke compared to what I witnessed at the SLAUGHTER of the LAMBS !!

Jack Halford (Squash/Soccer Coach, Currently in Connecticut)

Ed Note: Lambs Squash Club is Scheduled to be Demolished Next Year.