The Results

This week's Cup & Plate Final results from the 'Wembley of the North' - The Albert Club:

Val Draper Cup:

SPW managed to overcome that well known 'Cup Hoodoo' that goes with playing the Electric Pigs.  SPW ran out winners by a comfortable margin - in no small way due to a magnificent set of 7 '2s' from the league's ace marksman, Martin.

WithQuiz Plate:

Opsimaths fought a nerve-jangler with the X-Pats which could have gone either way right up to the penultimate question of the evening.  In the end the Opsimaths managed to cling onto the Plate for the second season running thus crowning their best season for over 2 decades.

Question Paper - The Verdict

This week the questions were set by 'Knocked Out United' - a consortium of teams that didn't make it to either of our 2 finals - ably marshalled by the Charabancs of Fire.

On balance I think all 4 teams felt this experiment in co-operative paper-setting had succeeded adding an extra dimension of interest to the finals.

All 7 setters had opted for themed rounds - some with a theme running through the questions and some with a hidden theme running through each answer (interestingly nobody had gone for themed answers where the theme is declared up front - my own personal preference).  The Pigs (well Gary, actually) reiterated their usual complaint about rounds with themed questions ('What's the bloody point?').

Favourites (amongst the all-male finalists) seemed to be Rounds 2 and 7 where unravelling the theme required some knowledge of league football (good job Ethel didn't get to the finals then, Roz).  Of the two I personally preferred Round 7 (set by TMTCH) but the consensus veered slightly towards Round 2 (set by the Charabancs).  So next week the Charas will crown their 'almost season' with a bottle awarded on behalf of 4 grateful finalist teams.

The Historymen's efforts on Marquisates also featured in dispatches with Opsimath and Trekkie, Nick, getting in a lather about the 2222 birthplace of Montgomery Scott.

Ethel's Round 3 all about torture got a favourable mention too.  The Pigs, in particular, were keen to know more about the Shankill Butchers' Romper Room.  Gerry?  Ivor?  We need to know.

And now I tread where angels fear.....

Opsimath Nick pointed out that in my rush to pan Snoopy's paper last week (see the Message Board for Tony's robust response)  I had missed the subtle connection in the answers to Round 8.  Each answer made reference to that apogee of 1960s musical taste, My Fair Lady - in turn answers referring to Hertford, Hereford, Hampshire, Hurricane, Rain, Spain, Plain and Dolittle.

What's more Snoopy's contribution to this week's 'consortium paper' raised the best laughs of the evening - and produced  the QotW.  Thanks, Tony,  though I have a sneaking suspicion that the construction of this round owed more to your grandchildren (ably educated, of course, by my wife) than to yourself.

Chatterbox

End of Season Presentation Evening

Next week (May 6th) we will hold the End of Season Presentation evening at the Albert Club.  As has become the custom I have prepared a special quiz paper for the evening (full of pictures, music, etc).  Will those who won trophies last year please polish them up and bring them along (even if they're just getting them back again, SPW)?

Megson's Pulpit

Another blast from the past.  This piece was published on the website the day after the famous 2006 Val Draper Cup win by the Electric Pigs over FCEK (May 24th 2006):

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Jumping off the battlements into glory

With a blood-curdling cry of "Tosca" a Pig called Dave hurls himself and his trusty steed off the battlements..........Will he soar Pegasus-like into the welcoming arms of winged Nike, goddess of victory and naff sportswear or simply go splat onto the rocks below?  Tune into WithQuiz next week for another exciting adventure of Pigs in Space with special guest star Gary Heartthrob.

Only kidding.  Relax, Dave and fellow Piggies, it's all over and you really have won probably the most exciting Cup Final of all time.  I remember watching Kieran's lot being narrowly defeated on the last question by St. Caths in (I think) 2003.  That one certainly was up there with the classics but I think the gut-wrenching drama of Wednesday night just pipped it to the post.

Not much to say really since I think the match spoke for itself and most of you were there in person to witness either our match or the Plate Final (well done, Dogs - hard luck, Albert Park).  A big thank you for the splendid turnout which added greatly to the atmosphere of the Finals......let's make sure we all take note and continue to pack all future Cup Finals to the rafters.

Thanks also to Ethel for setting their second paper of the Cup Season - fill in your overtime docket, Roz and send it to Mike.  Should be worth about 3 casks of finest Bishop's Finger (myself and Mr Dennison Snr. still wince at our blurt to this question!). The questions were fine.  Some people felt they were a bit uneven.  Maybe so.  Certainly the scoring graph indicated many peaks and troughs for both teams and I suppose it was inevitable that the Piggies handled the troughs better than us since they have had their snouts in them for more years than Gerry H. would care to admit.  But, as always in a drawn game, you have to conclude that the balance was just right.  Well done Ethel for upping the ante and making the questions a bit harder than usual.  This is exactly as it should be in a final.  Your motto was obviously MAKE THE BUGGERS SUFFER IF THEY WANT TO WIN A CUP and it worked admirably.

I will however quibble with the means used to decide the outcome after our drawn Final.  Both teams worked really hard to achieve a draw and I thought the overall level of G.K. and inspired guesswork was very high.  A shame then that we had instantly to resort to penalties instead of giving us a little bit of extra time or possibly even a golden goal outcome.  What I mean is that some genuine G.K. could have been used in a fairly brief format - e.g. one rep from each team in a life or death face off or something similar using a question (or questions) similar to the standard of the spares.  Then if still unresolved, you could resort to the dreaded Eskimos........just a personal point of view, maybe it could be discussed at greater length before the next drawn Final (quite possibly not until May 2076, but you never know....).

A big thank you to our very own Theo Walcott aka Charles Dennison who stood in at very short notice to replace Roisin who had to cry off due to a family illness.  It was only his third quiz ever and was by his own admission a bit of a baptism of fire but he can be proud of the part he played in such a good game.

Well done Pigs.  Enjoy your lap of honour next week.

Gerry

Fr. Megson adds:

Not so fast there - we will of course be appealing against last night's result. Apart from the fact that all of the Pig's answers were clearly offside and that Gerry H. spent all evening passing love notes (and quite possibly fivers) to the QM, what about that last answer?  I spent all last night looking at the video replays and it is now quite obvious to me that what Dave actually shouts out is "Tusker".  And, as you know, a tusker was a type of primordial warthog common in the swampy area now known as Didsbury.  So Dave's cry wasn't an answer - merely an atavistic cri-de-coeur to an early ancestor of his team.  Replay next Wednesday, White Swan, 8pm sharp.  FCEK to set.