Week 13 of the Edinburgh League saw three of our teams in action to bring their first half of the season to an end.
In the Premier Division Team 1 faced a rearranged match against Edinburgh University 1 looking to finish on a high. Colin Green, Peter Aird, and Ryan Docherty took to the table for Penicuik against the students. Colin was in top form, winning all three singles and he also combined with Ryan for a doubles win. Peter and Ryan both picked up two singles wins, their defeats coming at the hands of Manas Arun, who won both matches for the University side. A terrific end to 2025 for Team 1 though, their 8-2 victory lifting them into 5th place in the Division.
In Division 2, Team 3 have had a difficult run of late, and they were hoping for a good finish as they hosted Edinburgh University IV. Craig Linton, Bob Porteous and Charlie Brindley turned out for the home side. Craig was the best performer on the night, winning all three singles matches in straight sets. Charlie added two singles wins, including a tight four-setter and a dominant straight sets victory. The important sixth win came from Bob, and it was a good job he managed that win as the doubles pairing of Craig and Bob lost a five-setter. The singles wins were enough to secure a tight 6-4 victory for the home side which lifted them away from relegation trouble in the Division.
In Division 3 Team 4 hosted Edinburgh Sports Club 3 in the knowledge that a win would mean they would end the first half of the season leading the race for promotion from the Division. Their opponents were struggling at the wrong end of the table, and it was no surprise when Team 4 produced a dominant display defeating Edinburgh Sports Club 9–1. Ian Hislop and Chamika Diyunugalge were both unbeaten in singles, each winning all three of their matches whilst Patrick Shanks added two singles wins, including a five-set battle. The doubles pairing of Ian and Chamika won in four sets as Team 4 finished their first half of the season with their 10th win out of 11 matches played – a terrific 2025 for Team 4.
Player of the Week
This week’s award is a difficult one with 4 players unbeaten in singles play. There were terrific nights for Craig Linton, Colin Green, Ian Hislop, and Chamika Diyunugalge, all winning their three singles matches. Three of the players won 9 ends and lost 2 (Colin, Ian & Chamika) but this week’s winner had an unblemished night of singles play – 9 ends played with no losses and his victory was crucial in a 6-4 win for his team – well done to Craig.
Controversy of the Week
A bit of a shocker this week comes from a source from another club. In the Premier Division, Murrayfield 1 have had another terrific run of results, sweeping all aside as they went undefeated in the first half of the season with good wins over their closest challengers West Lothian and Heriot Watt. But hold on a minute. On 26th November Murrayfield defeated Heriot Watt 6-4 in a rearranged match from September. After the event, for some reason, HW wanted to check that the players registered for Murrayfield had been registered at the time of the initial scheduling of their match. The rule of course is that if a player was not registered when the original match was scheduled, they are ineligible to play in any rearranged fixture.
Lo and behold, upon checking the registration of players (technology is amazing), the player in question, Zihao Li, was registered in the early hours of the 30th of September. Murrayfield v HW was scheduled to take place on 15th September. The result – Zihao was ineligible to play in the rearranged fixture which he did! The rule is straightforward. In that scenario the ineligible players games are forfeited – a little fortunate for Murrayfield we suppose that Zihao only won 1 match against HW so a 6-4 defeat becomes a 5-5 draw.
That’s not too bad a result for Murrayfield, but wait, on 29th September Murrayfield played Edinburgh University and secured a comfortable 7-3 win – Zihao played in that one as well. Worse news for Murrayfield though is that he won his 3 and so that 7-3 victory becomes a 6-4 loss. 3 points gone from Murryfield’s total.
It gets worse! The “punishment” for playing an ineligible player is a 1-point deduction and a £20 fine. Whilst Murrayfield won’t be bothered by their £40 financial penalty, that’s another two points deducted from their total! Wow, from a position where they sat undefeated on 18 points, two points clear of West Lothian and four points clear of Heriot Watt, they lose FIVE points and find themselves now three points behind the new leaders and in third place.
Is the punishment too harsh? Will it be fair if Murrayfield end up losing the title because of it? Or is it a case of the rules are the rules. Regular readers can probably guess our view on this. We have said repeatedly that there is no point having rules if they're not enforced. Maybe a lesson to us all that we need to check, certainly in rearranged games, that our team and our opponents were definitely available to play in the original fixture. What is more culpable, however, is not having a player registered at all when he / she has played a match – it may only have been several hours after the match was played that Zihao was registered, but that doesn’t excuse it. What you do have to say in this situation, though, is well done to Heriot-Watt for being on the ball enough to raise it with the league and well done to the technology for giving such an accurate timeline. No doubt Murrayfield will be even more determined to storm the second half of the season but the real winners here are obviously the young guns of West Lothian. They can now afford to lose to Murrayfield again and still win the league if they don’t slip up anywhere else – certainly makes for an interesting 2nd half!
PTTC wishes all our TT friends festive greetings and looks forward to battling with you on the table again in 2026.
In the Premier Division Team 1 faced a rearranged match against Edinburgh University 1 looking to finish on a high. Colin Green, Peter Aird, and Ryan Docherty took to the table for Penicuik against the students. Colin was in top form, winning all three singles and he also combined with Ryan for a doubles win. Peter and Ryan both picked up two singles wins, their defeats coming at the hands of Manas Arun, who won both matches for the University side. A terrific end to 2025 for Team 1 though, their 8-2 victory lifting them into 5th place in the Division.
In Division 2, Team 3 have had a difficult run of late, and they were hoping for a good finish as they hosted Edinburgh University IV. Craig Linton, Bob Porteous and Charlie Brindley turned out for the home side. Craig was the best performer on the night, winning all three singles matches in straight sets. Charlie added two singles wins, including a tight four-setter and a dominant straight sets victory. The important sixth win came from Bob, and it was a good job he managed that win as the doubles pairing of Craig and Bob lost a five-setter. The singles wins were enough to secure a tight 6-4 victory for the home side which lifted them away from relegation trouble in the Division.
In Division 3 Team 4 hosted Edinburgh Sports Club 3 in the knowledge that a win would mean they would end the first half of the season leading the race for promotion from the Division. Their opponents were struggling at the wrong end of the table, and it was no surprise when Team 4 produced a dominant display defeating Edinburgh Sports Club 9–1. Ian Hislop and Chamika Diyunugalge were both unbeaten in singles, each winning all three of their matches whilst Patrick Shanks added two singles wins, including a five-set battle. The doubles pairing of Ian and Chamika won in four sets as Team 4 finished their first half of the season with their 10th win out of 11 matches played – a terrific 2025 for Team 4.
Player of the Week
This week’s award is a difficult one with 4 players unbeaten in singles play. There were terrific nights for Craig Linton, Colin Green, Ian Hislop, and Chamika Diyunugalge, all winning their three singles matches. Three of the players won 9 ends and lost 2 (Colin, Ian & Chamika) but this week’s winner had an unblemished night of singles play – 9 ends played with no losses and his victory was crucial in a 6-4 win for his team – well done to Craig.
Controversy of the Week
A bit of a shocker this week comes from a source from another club. In the Premier Division, Murrayfield 1 have had another terrific run of results, sweeping all aside as they went undefeated in the first half of the season with good wins over their closest challengers West Lothian and Heriot Watt. But hold on a minute. On 26th November Murrayfield defeated Heriot Watt 6-4 in a rearranged match from September. After the event, for some reason, HW wanted to check that the players registered for Murrayfield had been registered at the time of the initial scheduling of their match. The rule of course is that if a player was not registered when the original match was scheduled, they are ineligible to play in any rearranged fixture.
Lo and behold, upon checking the registration of players (technology is amazing), the player in question, Zihao Li, was registered in the early hours of the 30th of September. Murrayfield v HW was scheduled to take place on 15th September. The result – Zihao was ineligible to play in the rearranged fixture which he did! The rule is straightforward. In that scenario the ineligible players games are forfeited – a little fortunate for Murrayfield we suppose that Zihao only won 1 match against HW so a 6-4 defeat becomes a 5-5 draw.
That’s not too bad a result for Murrayfield, but wait, on 29th September Murrayfield played Edinburgh University and secured a comfortable 7-3 win – Zihao played in that one as well. Worse news for Murrayfield though is that he won his 3 and so that 7-3 victory becomes a 6-4 loss. 3 points gone from Murryfield’s total.
It gets worse! The “punishment” for playing an ineligible player is a 1-point deduction and a £20 fine. Whilst Murrayfield won’t be bothered by their £40 financial penalty, that’s another two points deducted from their total! Wow, from a position where they sat undefeated on 18 points, two points clear of West Lothian and four points clear of Heriot Watt, they lose FIVE points and find themselves now three points behind the new leaders and in third place.
Is the punishment too harsh? Will it be fair if Murrayfield end up losing the title because of it? Or is it a case of the rules are the rules. Regular readers can probably guess our view on this. We have said repeatedly that there is no point having rules if they're not enforced. Maybe a lesson to us all that we need to check, certainly in rearranged games, that our team and our opponents were definitely available to play in the original fixture. What is more culpable, however, is not having a player registered at all when he / she has played a match – it may only have been several hours after the match was played that Zihao was registered, but that doesn’t excuse it. What you do have to say in this situation, though, is well done to Heriot-Watt for being on the ball enough to raise it with the league and well done to the technology for giving such an accurate timeline. No doubt Murrayfield will be even more determined to storm the second half of the season but the real winners here are obviously the young guns of West Lothian. They can now afford to lose to Murrayfield again and still win the league if they don’t slip up anywhere else – certainly makes for an interesting 2nd half!
PTTC wishes all our TT friends festive greetings and looks forward to battling with you on the table again in 2026.
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