MONTHLY ROUND-UP: MAY 1869
The Old Westminsters lost two of their five games in May, including one to reigning champions the Royal Artillery Barracks, but still lead the way by the smallest of margins. The Artillery are close behind them in second place, having won four out of five themselves. Greenwich are still very much in contention as well, having responded to their defeat to the Artillery with victory over the Westminsters a week later.
Angel and Clapham also have winning records, the latter having won their last three games to move into contention, but there is a gap opening up between them and the final three teams. Kensington and The Regent’s Park both lost four of their five games in the month, with the Regents sitting last of all with just two wins from ten games, a real fall from a team who won the championship two years ago.
Brasenose look to be in a good position to defend their championship at Oxford University, as rivals Merton and Christ Church have begun to fall away. Merton have actually lost their last five games and now trail by four, while Christ Church are two off the pace having fallen to a narrow defeat at the hands of Brasenose late in the month. New College seem sure to finish last after a very poor year.
At Cambridge, Gonville and Caius lost three times in May and seem to be falling out of the running, leaving a battle between Queens’ and Jesus College. The latter lead by a single game having won seven of eight in May, although their one defeat was against Queens’. With just three wins from eighteen games, Trinity College are a long way back at the bottom of the standings.
Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that the best players from the two universities will meet in a best-of-three game series following the conclusion of both championships, to be known as the Varsity Series. That series is planned to begin on the first Saturday in July, with a Wednesday game to follow and if necessary, a deciding match-up on the following Saturday. Any postponements or a tie-breaking game in either league could force a delay, however, so both universities are keen to ensure the league games are finished in June.
There was some disagreement about which team should host which game, with Oxford of the opinion that as the more established league they should have home advantage first, for the Saturday game, with Cambridge playing at home on Wednesday. Cambridge would only agree to that if they could have a guarantee of home advantage for the possible deciding game the following Saturday, which was not acceptable to Oxford, who wanted a coin toss in such a situation. A compromise was reached whereby for this year only, Oxford would call a coin toss for home advantage in the first game, while there would be another coin toss should a third game be needed, with Cambridge calling. In future years, home advantage for games one and two would alternate, with a coin toss only for a third game.
In the event, Oxford called incorrectly so the first game will be at Cambridge, with Oxford at home for the second game. As a consequence, we already know that next year, game one will be at Oxford, and game two at Cambridge.