Newcastle Win Grand Final, Gold Coast-Tweed in Tatters

Newcastle are the 2010 ARTTSL Premiers, defeating Gold Coast-Tweed in the Grand Final in Newcastle.

The win caps off a metioric rise for Newcastle, having won Second Division in their first season last year, progressing to First Division and again winning on their first attempt.

By contrast, the Gold Coast-Tweed syndicate is in tatters, with the Tweed Heads Rebound Table Tennis Federation sensationally withdrawing from the joint venture with Gold Coast United hours after the match. No further meaning has been given to the withdrawal but there is strong speculation Tweed Heads may be considering entering its own team in Hyperball this year, a move that would likely result in legal action from ARTTSL as the club was contractually bound to only play in ARTTSL this year.

No formal announcement has been made, however a popular theory among analysts is that the fall-out in the joint venture began as early as the Quarter Final loss to Newcastle, with Tweed Heads management dissatisfied with tactics and team selections, after a number of their former junior players were left out of the squad.

It has been suggested that Hyperball have remained quiet in recent week, awaiting the completion of the ARTTSL season, after which they will announce their championship roster which would include a team based in Tweed Heads, and possibly covering a significant portion of the NSW North Coast. This may gain them more support in NSW where many people refused to follow a team which, despite playing half their games in Tweed Heads, were formally a Queensland team based on the Gold Coast.

Some have further suggested Tweed Heads were having an each-way bet, waiting to see if the joint venture team won the Grand Final before deciding whether to remain with the ARTTSL venture or defect to Hyperball. However these sensational claims have not been substantiated and all of the above is speculation at this stage.

Back to the match itself, it was a freezing winter night in Newcastle which many Newcastle fans believed would prove difficult for the northern visitors. However it was Newcastle who started unsteadily with some weak serving and at time bizarre serving options, however the scoreline remained close to half time, with Gold Coast-Tweed leading 6-4 at the break.

In the second half Gold Coast-Tweed turned up the power, seemingly deciding the match was there to be taken, and at first this seemed to be putting pressure on Newcastle, however Newcastle steadied and managed to lead 8-7 as they took their last service set.

A crucial turning point occurred when resident dog Ralph got hold of the ball. It was retrieved but was covered in slobber, and, as per garage table tennis rules, which fully apply in ARTTSL, dog slobber is part of the game. The resultant change in trajectory may have been the final undoing of Gold Coast-Tweed, who finally slipped to an 11-8 loss, handing the 2010 Premiership to Newcastle.

So ends the 2010 ARTTSL Season. The Second Division season is scheduled to be played later this year, if there are sufficient Second-Division teams for it to take place. All eyes now turn to the sleeping giant of Hyperball and if and when any teams will defect.

One thing is for certain, the war for control of Rebound Table Tennis in the Australasian region has only just begun.

Asked for his thoughts on the looming war, ARTTSL President Bernard Elksteine replied, "Hey, we're in Newcastle. Don't hey have a Sizzler here?.... Great let's go!"

Confident words indeed from the President, but many think he will be choking on his $20 rump when Hyperball announce their full intentions for 2010.

GRAND FINAL RESULT:
Newcastle 11 d Gold Coast-Tweed 8 (at Newcastle)

Gold Coast-Tweed Book Grand Final Showdown with Newcastle

Minor Premiers Gold Coast-Tweed have redeemed their Quarter Final loss and booked a Grand Final showdown with Newcastle, breaking Sydney's 6-game winning streak in the Semi Final on the Gold Coast.

Both sides in fact came into the match having only lost once since Round 7. Both sides looked nervous as Gold Coast-Tweed served first and Sydney sent the ball skyward and out of the stadium. The game was scrappy early on as they battled to 5-5 at half time. It was unusual to watch as both these sides are normally very composed.

The second half saw the scrappiness continue as both sides made unforced errors as they progressed to 7-all. At this point Gold Coast-Tweed seemed to regain focus while Sydney continued to make errors. Gold Coast-Tweed moved to a 10-7 lead and finally won the match 11-8.

So after 71 matches and 1,324 points it comes down to arguably the two form sides who have traded the top two spots throughout the season. They have met twice on the Gold Coast and have won once each. It's a difficult one to pick, but Newcastle do tend to perform well at home, but Gold Coast-Tweed are a class side and will be hard to beat, however they will need to shake off the scrappy play they showed in overcoming Sydney.

ARTTSL President Bernard Elksteine has congratulated both teams on making the Grand Final, calling them the "cream of the crop" and stating these are the sorts of sides that deserve to be in ARTTSL's First Division, an apparent side-swipe at the Second-Divisions sides rumoured to be about to defect to the rival Hyperball League.

There is no further word of developments in Hyperball. There are fears however that they are preparing for a big announcement of team defections to take attention away from ARTTSL's Grand Final.

SEMI FINAL RESULT:
Gold Coast-Tweed 11 d Sydney 8 (at Gold Coast)

GRAND FINAL:
Newcastle vs Gold Coast-Tweed (at Newcastle)

Newcastle Claim First Grand Final Spot, South New Zealand Out

Newcastle have turned the tables on Minor Premiers Gold Coast-Tweed in their Quarter Final on the Gold Coast, earning another week off and the Grand Final at home in Newcastle.

Both signs were showing nerves as it took 6 attempts to get the mandatory shots over the net to decide who would serve first. Finally Gold Coast-Tweed won first serve but slipped to 4-6 by half-way through the match. From there Gold Coast-Tweed looked shaky and uncertain as Newcastle settled and moved to a 9-6 lead. From 10-7 Gold Coast-Tweed managed to fight back to 10-9, but the matched ended with what was arguable the point of the season as both sides traded base-line smashes before Newcastle prevailing with an amazing shot to the edge of the table that Gold Coast-Tweed couldn't possibly reac, securing an 11-9 win.

Meanwhile in Christchurch, South New Zealand started the match on fire against a sloppy-looking Sydney hoping to continue their 5-match winning streak. South New Zealand appeared to have a tactic to smash Sydney off the table, howeve despite poor early form Sydney managed to hold on at 4-6 at half time. The match then turned in terms of style and Sydney went into power mode, at times missing the mark and sending the ball over the backboard and out of the stadium. The tactic eventually paid off though as South New Zealand lost focus, despite the urgings of their Mascot The Big Peter Jackson, and slipped to 7-10. Sydney secured the 11-7 win with a fortunate bounce off the net that left South New Zealand short-footed.

The result ends South New Zealand's season, a result they were disappointed with after keeping touch with the top teams for most of the season. Sydney will travel to the Gold Coast to play Gold Coast-Tweed for the second Grand Final spot against Newcastle.

Sydney continue a remarkable run, having won 6 matches in a row since Round 8, before which they were down on 9th and looking at risk of ending up in the relegation zone.

QUARTER FINAL RESULTS:
Newcastle 11 d Gold Coast-Tweed 9 (at Gold Coast)
Sydney 11 d South New Zealand 7 (at Christchurch)

SEMI FINAL:
Week off: Newcastle
Gold Coast-Tweed v Sydney (at Gold Coast)

South New Zealand and Sydney Through to Week 2

South New Zealand and Sydney have won their sudden death ARTTSL Preliminary Finals, beating Sunshine Coast and Singapore respectively, whose seasons are now over.

It was a case of deja-vu in Christchurch where South New Zealand and Sunshine Coast met for the second week in a row, having coincidentally played in round 11, with the Kiwi side prevailing there.

Sunshine Coast were keen to turn the tables this week. The match was played fast and bitter and South New Zealand gained an early 5-3 lead, before Sunshine Coast won 6 of the next seven points to take a seamingly match-winning 9-6 lead. However South New Zealand regained focus to win 5 straight points and the match 11-9.

South New Zealand mascot the Big Peter Jackson was ecstatic and surprised the crowd and players alike by doing some celebratory cartwheels.

"Mate, I've lost all this weight, I might as well make the most of it", Jackson said in the post-match press-conference. "I smell a Premiership again". The last time Jackson uttered those words on camera South New Zealand hit a slump for several weeks, so clearly Jackson is feeling very confident with their chances now.

Meanwhile across the pond, Sydney hosted Singapore in a match that demonstrated how ARTTSL has taken rebound table tennis to a new level. The match featured many long and fast points. Although both sides were on form, Singapore suffered a mix of bad luck and loose shots after long rallies to go down 11-2 in a disapointing end to their season.

Sydney will now travel to Christchurch to play South New Zealand in next week's second Quarter Final. The loser will be out, while the winner will progress to the Semi Final to face the loser of the first Quarter Final between Gold Coast-Tweed and Newcastle. The winner of the first Quarter Final will secure the first Grand Final spot and earn another week off.

PRELIMINARY FINAL RESULTS:
South New Zealand 11 d Sunshine Coast 9 (at Christchurch)
Sydney 11 d Singapore 2 (at Sydney)

QUARTER FINALS
Gold Coast-Tweed vs Newcastle (at Gold Coast)
South New Zealand vs Sydney (at Christchurch)

Round 11: Sydney, Singapore Claim Last 2 Finals Spots

Sydney and Singapore have claimed the last two spots in the ARTTSL Finals series after winning must-win final matches in Round 11.

The four sides still facing uncertainty were forced to wait intil the end of the round though. First up was confirmed wooden spooners Illawarra at home to Brisbane. Keen to avoid the bottom-three relegation zone, Brisbane thrashed Illawarra who tried bravely to put up a fight. Illawarra's final point summed up their season by leaving the last ball to go through, having thought it was going out, to lose by a dismal 11-2. The win lifted Brisbane to 8th and out of the relegation zone.

Next up Newcastle wanted a big win over Melbourne in Newcastle to have some hope of catching Gold Coast-Tweed for the Minor Premiership, and started well, racing to a 9-1 lead, only to lose focus and let Melbourne pull it back to finish going down 11-6.

Ultimately Newcastle's score was irrelevant as Gold Coast-Tweed thrashed Perth 11-6. The result clinched the Minor Premiership for Gold Coast-Tweed, and left Perth 10th and hence the bottom-three relegation zone with Melbourne and Illawarra. As to whether any sides are relegated depends on whether there is a second division as ARTTSL still awaits an further announcements from the mysterious Hyperball League.

South New Zealand and Sunshine Coast were both assured of making the finals, but the match in Christchurch was still crucial as the winner would secure 3rd spot and hence home finals in the first two weeks of the finals, contingent on winning each week. South New Zealand took a comforatble 7-3 lead and held it to the end to win 11-6. The result left Sushine Coast 6th on the ladder and hence now needing to win four away finals to win the Premiership, the first ironically being against South New Zealand again in week 1.

With Singapore, Canberra, North New Zealand and Sydney all on 10 points in equal 5th, both became sudden death with only the winners moving into the top 6 on 12 points.

Canberra appeared to have lost their mojo in the trip to Singapore, never troubling them and going down 11-2. The loss ended a disastrous end to the season which saw Canberra lose their last four games after looking in contention for the Minor Premiership earlier.

Sydney travelled to Auckland to challenge North New Zealand for the final spot. Despite being gee'd up their mascot the Big Pippie and a big home crowd, Auckland were sloppy and slipped to 7-3 early and finally went down weakly 11-7. The win moved Sydney up to 4th on for and against and secured a home final in week 1 against Singapore.

Round 11 Results:
Brisbane 11 d Illawarra 1 (at Wollongong)
South New Zealand 11 d Sunshine Coast 6 (at Christchurch)
Newcastle 11 d Melbourne 6 (at Newcastle)
Gold Coast-Tweed 11 d Perth 6 (at Perth)
Singapore 11 d Canberra 2 (at Singapore)
Sydney 11 d North New Zealand 7 (at Auckland)

Preliminary Finals:
Week off: Gold Coast-Tweed, Newcastle
P1: South New Zealand vs Sunshine Coast (at Christchurch)
P2: Sydney vs Singapore (at Sydney)

ARTTSL Team Staff Resign, First Hyperball Team Announced

Staff from a number of ARTTSL Second-Division clubs have formally resigned from their positions, presumably to take up positions in the same clubs when they formally defect to the National Hyperball League.

This being the reason for the resignations has not been confirmed, however the National Hyperball League website has announced the establishment of a new team in Goulburn, which presumably will be additional to any clubs defecting from ARTTSL.

The resignation and re-employment of staff is possibly one way to avoid any ramifications for individual staff over a defection as they would not have formally been an employee of the club at the time of the defection being enacted.

Currently most Second-Division sides are techincally only staffed by a CEO and a few cleaners. It is possible in most cases that CEO's will administer the defections entirely by their own hand.

Director Bernard Elksteine again reaffirmed that any ARTTSL club defecting to Hyperball will be permanently eliminated from all ARTTSL competitions.

"We will also look into serious, expensive and long-running legal action if necessary", Elksteine added.

More as it comes to hand.

Meanwhile First Division clubs continue with preparations from round 11 with most taking little notice of the storm which has engulfed the Second-Division clubs.

ARTTSL Top 6 Finals System

A reminder of the ARTTSL Top 6 Finals System.

Note: All matches are played on the primary home table of the top-ranked team.

PRELIMINARY FINALS (week 1) - The top two positions are rewarded with the first week off. Meanwhile 3rd plays 6th and 4th plays 5th, with the losers of both matches out of the finals.

QUARTER FINALS (week 2) - Teams 1 and 2 play each other, with the winner going through to the Grand Final and hence another week off. Meanwhile the survivors from the matches in round 1 play each other, with the loser of that match also out.

SEMI FINALS (week 3) - The loser of the 1 v 2 match plays the last survivor from 3rd to 6th, with the winner securing the second Grand Final spot.

GRAND FINAL (week 4) - between the last two surviving teams.

Now, for the egg-heads, here it is in a more mathematical form:

PRELIMINARY FINALS
(1st and 2nd have week off)
Game P1: 3rd v 6th
Game P2: 4th v 5th

QUARTER FINALS
Game Q1: 1st v 2nd
Game Q2: Winner of P1 v Winnner of P2

SEMI FINALS
(Winner of Q1 has week off)
Game S1: Loser of Q1 v Winner of Q2

GRAND FINAL
Winner of Q1 v Winner of S1

Gold Coast-Tweed Secure Minor Premiership

Gold Coast-Tweed have all but secured the Minor Premiership after defeating Newcastle on the Gold Coast.

The Novocastrians arrived all revved up for an upset, but Gold Coast-Tweed were clinical as ever in an intense match that saw the sides close up to 5-5 before Newcastle appeared to come undone in their focus and slipped to 9-6, and finally an 11-8 loss.

The win puts Gold Coast-Tweed two points clear of Newcastle on top and with a 10-point for-and-against differential it is unlikely Newcastle can catch them in the final round. Newcastle is also almost assured of second spot, meaning the sides will meat again on the Gold Coast in the second week of the finals in the play-off for the home Grand Final.

Perth and Brisbane's finals hopes both came to a premature end. With varying fortunes (Brisbane surprisingly thrashing South New Zealand 11-3 and Perth narrowly losing to Melbourne 11-9), neither side can make the final six. Although only two points out of the top six on 8 with one round to go, the four sides in equal fifth on 10 points each play one another in the final round (Singapore v Canberra and North New Zealand v Sydney), hence two of those sides will advance to 12 points, locking Perth and Brisbane out of the top 6 regardless of their own results.

Melbourne's win over Perth assures them of avoiding the wooden spoon, being two points clear and a massive 23 for-and-against points differential ahead of last-placed Illawarra. South New Zealand were shocked to lose so heavily to Brisbane and their mascot the Big Peter Jackson was saying no more of his "I smell a premiership" comments of last round. The side must now focus on their round 11 match against Sunshine Coast which will decide third spot in the finals.

Sydney continued their excellent run, thrashing visitors Singapore 11-3 in Sydney and pushing their way into the top 6. Singapore appeared to be suffering from travel weariness against a focussed Sydney side.

Illawarra were determined to end their losing streak and avoid the wooden spoon, but it wasn't to be as they went down 11-9 to Sunshine Coast in Maroochydore. The match ended unfortunately with many Sushine Coast fans ridiculing the Illawarra players, prompting Sunshine Coast captain Tom Wilson to apologise on their behalf. "This is not the spirit we try to engender up here and we're sorry. We're sure Illawarra will come back to better things in the future after a tough first season in First Division.

Canberra continued their late-season slide, landing in 6th spot on the ladder after losing to North New Zealand 11-6. North New Zealand held on to a 2-point lead for most of the match. The turning point was a double fault from Canberra towards the end which seemed to break their focus for the rest of the match. It seems so little time since Canberra played their top-of-the-table clash with Newcastle in round 8.

The stage is set for the final round. Although positions one and two are all but wrapped up, and the bottom four are locked out, the four-way battle for the last two spots - Singapore v Canberra and North New Zealand v Sydney - promises to be exciting. Also third and fourth-placed South New Zealand and Sunshine Coast have much to play for as the winner will secure third spot and hence home finals for the first two weeks of the finals in the battle to take on the top two sides in the final 2 weeks of the finals.

ROUND 10 RESULTS
Sydney 11 d Singapore 3 (at Sydney)
Brisbane 11 d South New Zealand 2 (at Brisbane)
Sunshine Coast 11 d Illawarra 9 (at Maroochydore)
Melbourne 11 d Perth 9 (at Melbourne)
Gold Coast-Tweed 11 d Newcastle 8 (at Gold Coast)
North New Zealand 11 d Canberra 6 (at Canberra)

ROUND 11 DRAW
Illawarra v Brisbane (in Wollongong)
South New Zealand v Sunshine Coast (in Christchurch)
Newcastle v Melbourne (in Newcastle)
Perth v Gold Coast-Tweed (in Perth)
Singapore v Canberra (in Singapore)
North New Zealand v Sydney (in Auckland)