I was away enjoying the unreal world of Oxford receiving the hospitality of Brasenose College to “celebrate “50+ years since matriculation. The evening was very enjoyable, the company excellent and the drink plentiful –but not too plentiful. The night confirmed my view that Oxford is not a real place and detached from reality but a great place to spend 3 years.

You inevitably start looking back and the Gaudy (an Oxford name for a college reunion) set me back thinking, along with the death of Chuck Berry and the start of the demolition of the Odeon on Oxford Street.

Oxford Colleges staged fairly extravagant Balls in my day, and to sell the tickets you had to have star names. Brasenose Balls that I attended featured Manfred Mann, Marmalade and Brian Auger and the Trinity with Julie Driscoll (Wheels on Fire!!).
Another Oxford College, Magdalen, refused to release the Rolling Stones from a contract they had signed before they became famous.

People at Magdalen did not need the money-they preferred the notoriety.
The death of Chuck Berry reminded me that in my youth I had been to see Chuck Berry live at the M/c Univ Union, not to mention seeing a local Manchester group, The Hollies, at the Stamford Hall in Altrincham. They knocked it down for the Precinct but promised to replace it but never did. Politicians lied even then.

The Odeon Oxford Street was where I queued for an hour to see the first James Bond film, Dr No (1962). More importantly it was where I saw the fantastic Roy Orbison who had as his warm up band a group of scousers called the Beatles. No-one had really heard of them.

World Championship worries
The first Men’s World Championships were held in Toronto, Canada, in 1967.
I know because I was there and it was a wonderful and life changing experience.

The next Championships did not take place until 1974 in Melbourne, Australia. The nations taking part in these early World Championships were Australia, Canada, England and USA; lacrosse was a pretty small world! At these games the International Lacrosse Federation (ILF) was set up as the international governing body for lacrosse. The four nations were the founding members and took it in turns to host the World Championships every 4 years. In 1978 , (Stockport England),1982, (Baltimore USA),1986 (Toronto Canada), 1990,(Perth Australia),1994, (Manchester England ),1998 (Baltimore USA), 2002, (Perth Australia)2006 (London Canada), 2010,(Manchester England) 2014 (Denver USA).

The number of competing nations had increased to 6 by 1994 with Iroquois Nationals and Japan becoming full ILF members. However, by 1994 there were stirrings of growth, particularly in Europe, and the English Lacrosse Union decided to encourage this growth by running a developing Nations Tournament with teams from the Czech Republic, Germany, Scotland, Sweden and Wales.

In 1994 the main games were played at Gigg Lane, the home of Bury FC. The ground and its facilities were fine except that they were a 40 min coach drive from the teams’ accommodation at Owens Park .The Developing Nations Tournament and a participation festival were held at The Armitage Centre/Firs(Owen’s Park) and were a huge success . The weather was great and many people chose to stay at Owens Park and drink Boddingtons rather than make the journey to Bury every night. People told me how great it would have been to have everything at Owen’s Park. My weak defence was that when we decided on Bury we were assured that the M60, which was started in 1960, would be well complete by 1994 making Bury much more accessible. In the event the M60 was not completed until 2000!

The lessons were learned. Whenever possible things should be on one site and never believe completion dates given to you by builders or government.

In 1998 the 11 nations which had been present in Manchester competed in the World Championship in Baltimore USA. The Championship was held on 1 ATP field at JHU whilst the Festival was held some 20 mins away at Towson Univ. (which in 2003 hosted a joint men’s and women’s U19 World Championship with accommodation and games at one venue.)The split sites did not work. Timperley teams were visiting Fallston and played in the Festival with Alan Holdsworth master- minding an epic win over a Texas All Star team. Timperley, however, saw little of the World Championship which the visit had been planned to coincide with.

2002 in Perth saw 16 participating nations and there was a further growth to 21 nations in London, Ontario, in 2006. The London Championship illustrated the challenges which face organisers when they have little connection with Lacrosse and again where the event is run on separate sites. The accommodation and Blue Division (top 6 nations) was at one venue and the remainder of the Championship and the Festival a 30 min bus ride (if you could find a bus!). The Championship was just about completed but the Festival collapsed in chaos and ultimately the organising group ended in insolvency. A positive from London was that the ILF awarded the 2010 Championship to Manchester.

Manchester in 2010 is accepted as being one of the most successful of all the World Championships. There were 29 competing nations and the biggest participation Festival at any Championship. Over 25,000 spectators attended the games. English Lacrosse made the biggest financial contribution to the FIL (ILF men and IFWLA women amalgamated in 2008) from any event outside the USA. The event also made a significant contribution in money and resources to English Lacrosse.
The 2014 World Championship in Denver saw another growth in the number of participants with 38 nations taking part. Again the fly in the ointment was that the venue for the Championship and Festival was a 40 min bus ride from the team accommodation.

England has hosted more major tournaments than any other country and has been singularly successful in staging great events. As well as the Men’s World Championship it has hosted the 1982 and 2001 Women’s World Cups and the 1999 European Championships. This record of successful hosting created a very strong and experienced group of people, including Ron Balls who was a leading figure in Men’s Lacrosse, domestically and internationally , for more than 50 years; Sue Redfern who led the 1982 and 2001 World Cups and chaired the ELA Executive and was a leading figure in women’s international lacrosse; David Marsden, a leading figure in North West Lacrosse and member of the 2010 organising group and ELA President ; Jenny Haynes, a leading figure in women’s lacrosse domestically and internationally the IFWLA officer responsible for the Annapolis, Prague, and Oshawa World Cup.

The 2010 World Championship organised by an Event Director, Sarah Oglesby, formerly with US Lacrosse and who was extremely capable was overseen by a very strong management group including people with a connection to Lacrosse and extensive business experience. Ian Ashcroft (long time Lacrosse player at Sheffield Uni, Hampstead, Timperley and Buckhurst Hill. Retired CEO MEN and Chair of Guardian Regional Newspapers); Neil Roe CEO Pyramid PLC ;David Gordon Lacrosse player , former England manager and driving force behind the National Speedway Stadium at Belle Vue who could certainly tell you how to deal and not deal with Manchester City Council ; Alan Holdsworth, the ultimate Mr Lacrosse who has chaired the Men’s Playing Committee, sat on EL Board, was an EL Regional Development Officer, the driver behind the growth of TLC into the largest Lacrosse Club in Europe, and is currently Executive Chair of Timperley Sports Club and leader of what could be a £1M facility development programme at Timperley; and lastly myself who had been CEO of English Lacrosse since 1985 and had been involved in all the major events except the 1982 Women’s World Cup.

In 2012 the English Lacrosse Board decided that, building on the success of 2010 and with the knowledge that there was a strong team of capable and committed people and perfect venues available they would bid to host the 2017 Women’s World Cup (at Surrey Sports Park Guildford –a venue which had the advantage of being able to support the whole event on one site) and the 2018 Men’s World Championship with an entry of at least 45 nations, although the proposed facilities of the University , MGS and in theory MMU sports ground could host many more than that. The men’s bid had the written committed support of Manchester University and of Manchester City Council, and the verbal backing of Manchester GS whose facilities had been used in 2010. The submitted bid was supported by a detailed budget which indicated a significant surplus for English Lacrosse.

In 2013 the FIL informed English Lacrosse that their bids for the two events had been accepted. FIL were clear that the size of the Championship could not grow indefinitely but a successful 2018 would give them the breathing space required to manage an appropriate reorganisation by 2022.

With 5 years’ lead in time the prospects for a successful 2018 could not have been better. Initial steps involved obtaining the services of Jim Quigley, a former M/c CC officer who had extensive event experience, including being one of the leaders of the 2002 Commonwealth Games. Positive initial meetings had been held with the Manchester office of a leading management consultancy with a view to building relationships with Manchester business.

Equally importantly a strategic plan had been developed to create a National Centre for Lacrosse. A detailed paper was prepared and submitted to M/c CC and was received positively by Sir Howard Bernstein, the CEO. A sign that the project would be delivered.

In late 2014 Mark Coups, the new English Lacrosse CEO, decided that as he would carry ultimate responsibility for the events, then he understandably wanted closer control of the organisation and management of them. Effectively the organisation that was being put in place for 2018 was dismantled with English Lacrosse staff taking on full responsibility forthwith.

Since then it has been disappointingly difficult to obtain any information regarding 2018. (Arrangements for the 2017 Women’s World Cup appear to be progressing well.) Last week Mark Coups attended a meeting of the North West Lacrosse Association to discuss the Men’s Competitive Review and report on other matters including 2018. The news was not positive. He confirmed that the University would not be the 2018 venue and it would be held at Hough End .He briefly outlined the problems that were being encountered in developing a suitable venue on the site and confirmed that the negotiations with both M/c CC and the FIL were faltering.

It was clear that there remain, at this late stage, many obstacles and unknowns regarding 2018, including, most worryingly, the lack of a confirmed venue. It is understandable that EL staff, in a time of funding and number reductions could easily be overwhelmed by the challenge of 2017 and 2018. Additionally there have been seismic changes on the ELA Board. In response to the requirements of good governance we now have a Board which fundamentally comprises people who have little or no knowledge of Lacrosse and certainly no commitment to the sport. It may satisfy governance requirements but it would seem less than helpful in terms of management and strategical drive.

Hopefully there is still time for these matters to be resolved, as to fail to fulfil undertakings would be the ultimate embarrassment for English Lacrosse. The 2018 competition should have been a world-beater – one can only hope that this can still be achieved.

Wanted –Players. No experience required
To run a full age respectable Boy’s Junior lacrosse programme requires a lot of effort and a production line of players . If you have a team in every age group then to sustain these teams with, say 16 man squads, then you need at least 8 player of each age to move forward.

Only a few years ago we ran U12, U14 and U16 A and B teams. This season we have struggled particularly to run our U14 and next year could also be tough.
The answer is to try and recruit some new players particularly from years 7, 8, and 9.
During Summer Training we are going to make time available for complete newcomers who fancy trying the world’s greatest sport.

If you know anyone who would like to try Lacrosse , be they brothers, sisters , cousins, friends or just people you want to humiliate then get them to contact TLC (my number is 07831 639778)

You read it first here!!
If you had enough patience to read my views on Rugby then you will know it is a sport I follow but fear for. Two of the sports major problems that I raised were highlighted by the media over the weekend. On Saturday the France v Wales match was a fiasco.
The match had 20 mins of overtime with the French camped on the Wales line. Referee Wayne Barnes struggled to keep order as the French won penalty after penalty. You could not help feel that Barnes was reluctant to award a penalty try which would decide a competitive and entertaining game. In my view he should have to put us out of our misery. With an early award of a penalty try. There was added spice with the suspicion that the French had abused the concussion protocols to get their top prop back on the field for the prolonged minutes of scrummaging.

The French showed what they thought of the situation by accusing the ref of being a part of an Anglo-Saxon conspiracy to defraud the Europeans. What chance Brexit?
The second matter was, if you got up early on Monday morning, finding the issue of drug abuse in amateur and junior sport a major news story on Breakfast TV following a BBC survey saying it was an exploding problem. The extent of drugs abuse in amateur sport is shocking and although there was a reluctance identify particular sports you can rely on one of the major culprits being Rugby! Don’t let your son on a rugby pitch Mrs Worthington!

Grady Update
Timperley’s England U19 international Grady Jackson-Fayle is well into his Lacrosse season at Lake Erie College in Ohio.

He has recovered from his foot injury which saw him red shirted last season.

His team are currently 2-4 and have recently returned from a trip to Florida and Carolina.

Grady keeps up to date with TLC fortunes and enjoys the Lee Warburton Photo gallery, as we all do.

Grady will be back in UK at the end of April and is hoping to play in the British Nationals at Wilmslow.

US College Lacrosse
It has been a real topsy turvy season on the US college scene.

Everybody is beating everyone else which is great for the fans but a nightmare for the coaches.

After the latest games Rutgers with an 8-0 record are ranked 1! Have they ever been 1 before?

At 2 are Notre Dame (4-1), 3 Penn State (8-0) 4 Ohio State (9-0) 5 Hofstra (6-0), 6 Syracuse (5-1).

Reigning Champions North Carolina(5-3) is down at 14 whilst losing Finalist Maryland are 10 (4-2).

Johns Hopkins started the season like a train going 4-0 but they are now 4-3 and down at 17 in the rankings.

In last week’s games there were OT wins for Syracuse 8-7 at JHU, Villanova 13-12 at Maryland and Notre Dame 11-10 at Virginia.

It is a truly explosive season with, I am sure, and many more twists and turns.

Blasts from the past
It is always good to bump into people who played Lacrosse at Timperely. Sometimes a shock to find they are married with children when I still think of them as U16 players.

Robin Sadler (Moser)
It was good to see Robin Sadler bringing his daughter down to Saturday morning POP .
Robin used to be on the medical staff (Physio) at Man City and was last seen by me on an open top bus holding the FA Cup.

He has now left City and is with Derby. I suspect that he felt the opportunities at the Etihad were limited as he did not speak fluent Spanish and have Catalan as a second language!

Sam Roden
Sam is now living in Hale and working for HSBC . It seems only yesterday he was steaming up and down in the Timperley midfield with James Shuttleworth (and Lee Warburton ?) watching admiringly from Attack.

A few years ago Sam had a very serious health scare but is now fully recovered .
Sam’s son is playing lacrosse at Bowdon Church School so maybe we can lure him down to TLC.

Final thought on Brexit
Quote of the week
“Only Fools and Horses can think that Brexit will succeed.”
The New European
Theresa May has decided to jump off the cliff. The idea that she expects people who voted to remain- the disenfranchised 48% -to join her is absolutely ludicrous. The fight will go on but the damage will be done.