18 Apr 07

CHAIRMANS REPORT 2006-7 SEASON

It has been a good season for the EMAL with individual and team successes along with a continued improvement in the standard of angling in the league. Some 57 anglers attended the Summer League with 31 turning out at the first 3 matches and a minimum of 12 later on in the year resulting in an average of 22. A total of 13 teams competed with teams from Cranwell and Scampton joining the league after a long absence. Although the Cranwell and Scampton teams didn’t compete in the Winter league, attendance was good as was the fishing with a maximum attendance of 25, a minimum of 17 and an average of 20.

The first major event of the year was the Command Champs held at Maver Larford. Section wins for Sean Stockley and Gary Vongyer with a section 5th for Al Dyer resulted in a comfortable win for Waddington with 7 points some 9 points clear of 2nd placed Odiham. Cottesmore managed a creditable 4th and a section win for Pete Dawson backed up by a 6th for Mark Collinson meant the 2 man Coningsby team finished 6th out of 23 teams nearly all of them at full strength. Individually Sean finished in 1st place with 80lb 15oz and Gary came 3rd with 54lb 14oz followed by Pete in 5th place with 48lb 15oz. In the PTC Champs, a section win from John Summerson who finished 4th individually with 69lb 3oz, helped Digby A to 3rd place with Digby B in 4th place.

The RAF Inter-unit Champs were held on the Kennet & Avon canal with only Digby competing from this league finishing in 11th place.

The Interleague was fished on the Brigg section of the Ancholme. It was a hard match but section wins from Al Dyer and Stu Nesling helped the EMAL to a narrow win by 10 points to 12 over the EAWL. Pete Dawson finished 4th individually followed by Sean Corbett in 5th and Bill Woodcock, fishing as an individual, in 6th. This is the 3rd year in succession that we have won the Inter-league, which is an excellent achievement and credit must be given to all the anglers who have practiced and competed in these matches. The next Interleague is at Benick and it would be good to beat the EAWL on their home water.

After many years of domination in the Summer league, Waddington were finally knocked off their perch by Digby (Well done) who won the league on 15 points, 1 point ahead of Waddington who were level with Cottesmore but beat them on weight having both won 2 matches. The individual event was also close with Pete Dawson winning the league on 9 points ahead of Stu Nesling on 10 and Al Dyer on 12. Just 9 points separated the top 8 anglers. Steven Reid won the Summer League Clubman on 18 points.

The Winter League was closely fought with 3 teams going into the last match separated by 2 points, although Coningsby won the match on the day, a second place for Waddington was enough to win the league by 7 points to Coningsby’s 9 with Old lags on 12 points. Individually it was very close with just 6 points separating the top 8 anglers. Al Dyer, with 3 section wins and a 2nd, won the league with 5 points, with Phil Foster 2nd on 6 points and Gary Vongyer 3rd on 7 points. Who said the league wasn’t competitive? The Winter league Clubman winner was Neil Tedridge.

Congratulations to Paul Coombes, Pete Dawson, Sean Corbett, Gary Vongyer, Al Dyer and on being selected to the RAF squad. The league was once again entered in the Angling Times Supercup and once again drew against Spilsby and Kirkstead. Unfortunately after a very close match, where 1 bonus fish ultimately decided the outcome, EMAL finished a close 2nd behind Spilsby.

The outlook for the League is good, we are sound financially and attendances are good. The training session we had Makins was well attended and we are planning to run some more this coming season, probably at Moat/Moon and Hallcroft on matches 2 & 3. The EMAL website has now been incorporated into the RAFCAA website which can be found at www.raf-coarseangling.info .

Finally I would like to thank the committee members for all their work over the past season, with a special mention to Jacko who has just commenced his Airman Aircrew training, and hope that members of the League continued success in the forthcoming season.