SEASON
2014-2015
- THE GLADIATORS (2 teams) |
Players |
Rob Willmoth,
Chino Atako, Dominic Gibbs, Mark Brougham, Victor Odunaiya, David Bryant (Capt), Alan Heavens,
Martin Rosenbach, Darshan Kumaresan, Lewis Lou, Sholpan Namazbayeva. |
Position |
1st Team: Premiership:
5th out of 6 Cup: Lost in Final
2nd Team: Championship: 3rd out of 8 Cup:
Lost in Plate Q-F |
Comments |
It was a
tremendous start to the season for th 1st team with 2 wins out of 2 in the
league and victory in the early stages of the cup. The cup final was
reached but lost, but meantime the league form dipped and the 2 starting
wins were followed by 3 defeats and a 5th placed finish. There was a
similar pattern to the 2nd team's fortunes with 2 wins at the start of the
league season; the only difference to the 1st team was a win in round 4,
which took them to 3rd, just 1 point behind the 2 teams above them.
A more successful finish would surely have followed had more players been
available for key matches. The team are now looking for a new
captains after David Bryant stepped down after a successful 9 year tenure. |
SEASON
2013-2014
- THE GLADIATORS (2 teams) |
Players |
Mark Brougham,
Francis William Sagyaman, James McKie, Hugh Fenwick, Alan Heavens, James
Schenck, David Bryant (Capt), Martin Faulkner, Lewis Lou, James Patterson. |
Position |
1st Team: Premiership -
2nd out of 6 Cup - Cup Winners
2nd Team: League One - 1st out of 8 Cup:
Lost in Cup Play-Off Round |
Comments |
Am excellent
season for this squad with the 1st team retaining 2nd place in the
Premiership but winning the cup with a crushing victory over the league
winners. In addition, the 2nd team won the bottom division, albeit
they were firm favourites due to the depth of strength they had in their
squad. |
SEASON
2012-2013
- THE GLADIATORS |
Players |
James McKie,
Dominic Gibbs, Hugh Fenwick, Mark Brougham, David Bryant (Capt), Howard
Curtis, Lewis Lou. |
Position |
Premiership -
2nd out of 6 Cup - Lost in quarter-final of
Cup |
Comments |
The Gladiators
had a real chance of regaining the title they had lost to Pawn Crackers 3
years earlier, but seemed to blow that chance in the penultimate round
when they lost to Pawn Crackers, a result which ultimately kept the
winners of the last 2 years up. Despite victory in the final round,
they did not quite have enough to pip an RSJ team who had lost to them in
round 3. Defeat in the quarter-final of the cup to Barcelona was a
disappointment having drawn with them in the league the previous month. |
SEASON
2011-2012
- THE GLADIATORS |
Players |
Mark Brougham, David Bryant (Capt),
Martin Cath, Chris Constable, Howard
Curtis, Lewis Lou, David Wallis |
Position |
Premiership -
3rd out of 8 |
Comments |
The had a good
start with 2 wins but were knocked back by the Champions' in round
3. After that they failed to win again until the final round,
although with 2 draws in those 3 winless games, they managed to hold onto
the bronze medal position. |
SEASON
2010-2011
- THE GLADIATORS |
Players |
Keith Barker, Mark Brougham, Chris Constable, David Bryant (Capt), Howard
Curtis, Lewis Lou, Francis William Sagyaman. |
Position |
Premiership -
5th out of 8 |
Comments |
A poor start
with defeat in the opening 2 rounds saw the defending champions bottom of
the table and in danger of the drop, but 3 wins from 4 mid season did just
enough to keep them up despite being beaten in the final
round. |
SEASON
2009-2010
- THE GLADIATORS |
Players |
Keith Barker, Mark Brougham, David Bryant (Capt), Howard
Curtis, Francis William Sagyaman, David Wallis. |
Position |
Premiership -
1st out of 8 |
Comments |
Finally they did
it. After being so close several times, The Gladiators have won
their first title after a nail-biting final day that could have seen 5
different teams out of the 8 take the title. Having lost the 1st
round and drawn the 2nd round, things were not looking so good, but 3 wins
on the bounce and a draw left them top and needing a draw to confirm the
title. They duly delivered it. |
SEASON
2008-2009
- THE GLADIATORS |
Players |
Keith Barker, David Bryant (Capt), Howard
Curtis, Jamie Isaacs, David Wallis, Brian Williamson. |
Position |
Premiership -
2nd out of 8 |
Comments |
Poor David
Bryant must have been tearing his hair out. Early on in the season,
one player announces he isn't coming back. Then another has a break
from chess at the same time as another goes on holiday at the time of what
turned out to be the decisive game. Then finally on the last week,
another player forgets to turn up. The Gladiators possible should
have won the league this season for the first time, but they must have got
that feeling that it wasn't meant to be. |
SEASON
2007-2008
- THE GLADIATORS |
Players |
Keith Barker, David Bryant (Capt), Howard
Curtis, David Wallis, Brian Williamson. |
Position |
Premiership -
2nd out of 8 |
Comments |
It was a good
season for The Gladiators but another where they were so close and yet so
far. Victory over Chess Brainiacs in round 5 was the highlight as it
put them top with 2 games to go, but defeat in round 6 allowed their
rivals back ahead of them again and a 2nd place finish had to suffice. |
SEASON
2006-2007
- THE GLADIATORS |
Players |
Toni Aspinall,
Keith Barker, Delroy Bennett, David Bryant (Capt), Michael Chang, Howard
Curtis, Michael Rogan, Brian Williamson. |
Position |
9 out of 12 |
Comments |
The season was
certainly not as good as it could have been for this team and they
finished at the top of the relegation zone. However, they were
reprieved when Pawn Curry opted not to take the place in the higher
division, allowing The Gladiators to retain their top flight status. |
SEASON
2005-2006
- THE GLADIATORS |
Players |
Fiona Bigg,
Howard Curtis (Capt), David Green, Simon Hugkulstone,
John Speechley, Brian
Williamson, Yang-Fan Zhou A143 |
Position |
12 out of 14 |
Comments |
This was a poor
result bearing in mind the players available but a string of no shows left
the team weak on certain evenings at it never really reached its
potential. |
SEASON
2004-2005
- THE GLADIATORS |
Players |
Fiona
Bigg, Howard
Curtis (Capt), David Green, Richard Lobo. |
Position |
17 out of 20 |
Comments |
A
reliable team with just 4 players playing all 4 rounds with no defaults,
but the team team never had the depth to make it near the top. |
SEASON
2003-2004
- THE GLADIATORS |
Players |
Carolyn
Barker, Fiona Bigg, Howard
Curtis (Capt), David Green, Stuart Hamilton, Richard Lobo, Bill McDonald. |
Position |
7 out of 20 |
Comments |
A
yo-yo season for the Gladiators never saw them put a run together and
finish outside of the prize zone for the first time. |
SEASON
2002-2003
- THE GLADIATORS |
Players |
Howard
Curtis (Capt). |
Position |
3 out of 12 |
Comments |
A
mass of mid-season draws put pay to title chances but prize money and a
3rd place finish ended a reasonable season. |
SEASON
2001-2002
- THE GLADIATORS |
Players |
Dave
Cork, Howard Curtis (Capt), Daniel Gliddon, Chris Harris, Sean
Kennedy. |
Position |
2 out of 6 |
Comments |
This
was the first ever season of competition and there had been an attempt to get the
teams as equal as possible. However, The Gladiators were the only
team to get themselves together and with a much higher average grade than
the rest, they really ought to have won. Having started with 4
straight wins, they slipped up to the eventual champions and then lost the
last 2 rounds to allow themselves to be pipped at the post. |