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Money Talks
by Martin Bronstein in Rennes © 2001
EUROPEAN CLUB CHAMPIONSHIPS 2001
SUNDAY 23 SEPTEMBER. (updated!)
SEMIFINALS AND FINALS.
MONEY TALKS - COMPETITION WALKS
Jacques Fontaine, the man who makes watches for Givenchy in France, demonstrated
that big money stifles opposition when his Capitol St Cloud Club took both
the Men's and Women's European club championship titles in Rennes. Indeed
they took the women's final without a shot being played when Gutersloher,
the defending champions, withdrew from the final . It got complicated. Jane
Martin, the Gotersloher number one, had lost surprisingly to the enigmatic
and charismatic Senga Macfie of the Edinburgh Sports Club in the semi-final
match.
THE ONE WOMAN CABARET
Mcfie has bruises on her face and leg from whacking herself with her racket
after losing a point, or playing a silly shot or, well anything you care to
name. She has animated conversations with the walls, God, the floor - or anything
you care to name. In short, Senga Mcfie is a joy to watch because on top of
these idiosyncrasies, she's a good squash player.
After losing to Mcfie, Martin said she had injured her groin. And then the Gotersloher team wanted to bring to final forward to 1pm because Martin had a plane to catch. When St. Cloud, the other finalists, said no, Martin discovered her groin ached again and before consulting a doctor, dashed off to the airport. The adjucators felt this was all very fishy, refused to allow Gutersloher to change their team and said they had to play with their two and three promoted to one and two. Gutersloher threw a fit and withdrew leaving Sarah Fitz-Gerald to entertain the crowed by playing teammate Corinne Castets.
THE FINGER OF FATE …OR HATE
Easily the best match of the tournament was Colets of England and Zwolle of
the Netherlands, well matched in strength and fighting for a place in the
final. Thierry Lincou, the French heart-throb - he must have done twenty five
television interviews in three days - faced the highly likeable Australian
Joe Kneipp. The referee gave some strange decisions and Kneipp was getting
a bit hot under his jockstrap.
He came out of the court to make a point and on the way back in slammed the door on his finger. Honest. He says he did not notice it until someone pointed to his blood dripping on the floor of the pristine court with its salmon coloured walls. He had to leave the court for a blood injury and played the rest of the match in a golf glove.
When I questioned about the incident he said he was showing the referee graphically the pain he was feeling from the bad decisions. And he said it with a straight face too. He took the first two games from the new world number eight, but with the all the French crowd behind him, Lincou, could not afford to lose. And anyway he's on a big winning roll (WATCH SQUASHTALK NEXT WEEK FOR LINCOU AS PLAYER OF THE MONTH).
IT'S ALL IN THE COUNT BACK (AS PRESIDENT
BUSH ONCE SAID)
Well Lincou won the next three games and Scott Handley whupped Lucas Buit,
former Dutch champion 3/0 and by the time Tommy Berden (also on a big roll)
got to play his match against Mark Cairns, the mathematicians were at work.
Once Cairns had won a game, the runes said that as soon as Cairns won three
more points Zwolle would be yesterday's people. And so it came to pass; Cairns
won three points, Berden said 'why carry on' and the game was abandoned, which
accounts for the funny scoreline.
THE FINAL THAT FIZZLED
Same sort of thing happened in the final, but unfortunately it affected the
best rubber of them all, Lincou again playing a fresh David Evans, the world
number five. Surprisingly Scott Handley, the Colets number three, ranked about
80, beat the world number 14 Paul Johnson and beat him well 3/1. With Lincou
having every good chance of beating Evans, the score would be 2-2 and the
ST Cloud foregone conclusion could come very unstuck. Sadly before Lincou
could get at Evans, the other two rubbers had been played, Mark Chaloner beat
Mark Cairns 3/1 and Lee Beachill beat Danny Meddings 3/0. So in game countback
St Cloud had seven and Colets had four. Lincou had to win 3/0 to give Colets
a chance with a countback on points. He started well coming back from 2-7
down to win 9-7 in 20 minutes, but Evans, who had celebrated too well the
night before, won the second game 9-6 despite looking ghostly and ghastly.
It was all over and the final fizzled out as the two played a lacklustre third
game.
YOU JUST HAD TO LAUGH
Before the final they had a sort of presentation ceremony. St Cloud, the French
team walked on, Brits, every one of them, with an Englishman holding the tricolour
flag of Frances. And then Colets, the England team, came on with the Union
Jack being carried by Thierry Lincou, the only Frenchman in the final. That
farce said it all and maybe next year, when the championships will again be
held in France, the rules will be changed to force clubs of each country to
have native sons in their team, or limit the number of top twenty players
allowed to one or two per club.
As it now stands, the ST Cloud, all-money, buy- the-best approach is making a mockery of what was meant to be a competition for club players. ( St Cloud paid Jonathon Power £5,000 - $7,500 - to play against Rouen in the French national championships. That's more than he gets for winning many tournaments.)
WOMEN
Semi-Finals: GUTERSOLHER (Germany) 2 EDINBURGH SPORTS CLUB(Scotland) 1
Jane Martin lost to Senga Mcfie 1-9, 9-5, 5-9, 5-10. Daniela Grzenia bt
Lisa McKenna 3/0 Simone Korell bt Helen Mcfie 9-1, 9-0, 9-7.
ST CLOUD (France) 2 INDOOR SPORTSCENTER (Belgium) 1 Sarah Fitz-Gerald bt Katline Cauwels 9-0, 9-1, 9-1. Corinne Castets bt Micha Cauwels 9-3, 6-9, 9-2, 9-3. Benedicte Fourier lost to Ankie Nedee 4-9, 1-9, 2-9.
FINAL; St CLOUD DECLARED CHAMPIONS WHEN GUTERSLOHER WITHDREW ON PROTEST.
MEN Semi- Finals. COLETS (England) 3 ZWOLLE (Netherlands ) 1 Thierry Lincou bt Joe Kneipp 5-9, 4-9, 9-2, 9-2, 9-1. Mark Cairns bt Tommy Berden 8-10, 9-7, 3-2. Abandonned Scott Handley bt Lucas Buit 9-7, 9-2, 9-3. Danny Meddings lost to Janne Kytannen 6-9, 6-9, 9-5, 0-9. (Second string match abandoned because Colets were too far ahead on points for Zwolle to win on countback).
ST. CLOUD (France) 3 Roynal Cham (Switzerland) 1 Alex Gough lost to Lars Harms 4-9, 9-6, 6-9, 5-9. Paul Johnson bt Paul Steel 9-2, 9-4, 9-5. Del Harris bt Dany Oeschger 9-1, 9-0 9-6. Lee Beachill bt Kevin Villiger 9-1, 9-1, 9-1.
FINAL ST CLOUD 2 COLETS 2 St Cloud wins on countback. David Evans lost to Thierry Lincou 7-9, 9-6, 6-9. (Best of three) Mark Chaloner bt Mark Cairns 9-5, 8-10, 9-0, 9-4. Paul Johnson lost to Scott Handley 4-9, 9-7, 1-9, 9-10. Lee Beachill bt Danny Meddings 9-0, 9-3, 9-0.
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