Championship Diary

The event that is capturing the attention of all Europe starts today. That support for the teams is fantastic is evidenced by the fact that in England hundreds of thousands of fans have attached Cross of St George flags to their cars. They intend to sound their horns every time England scores an IMP.

Readers with a good memory may recall that a few Championships ago we discussed the best collective noun that might be applied to a group of tournament directors. Our recollection is that we decided on a ‘ Bavin ‘ of Directors. You might like to consider the best collective noun in a number of other categories, for example VuGraph Commentators or Bulletin Editors.

Talking of VuGraph commentators, a visitor to the Bulletin office suggested that readers should be invited to award them marks out of ten for performance. They could then be given a rating to carry forward to subsequent events. Operating on a scale of 0-10 we had just awarded Guido Ferraro 11 when Jan Van Cleef popped into the room. When we told him he was starting on zero he pointed out he hadn’t said anything yet!

We normally make a forecast as to who will qualify for the Bermuda Bowl and Venice Cup. If we rely on the ones made by a certain Internet site, then Italy will win the Open by a wide margin, followed by Norway, Poland, Sweden, Bulgaria & France, while the Women’s event will be a desperate struggle between France, Netherlands, Germany & England.

If you are a Senior, we suggest you take a look at page 20 of the program and revise your hotel bookings and flight reservations accordingly. By our calculations your event starts in 2009!