Veterans start 2025/26 season in winning style

The Guernsey Table Tennis Association’s first foray into the Veterans British Club Leagues last season was extremely fruitful and the second season has started positively too.

During last season, the GTTA saw promotion gained after an excellent debut campaign where the Sarnian outfit was unbeaten.

As a result, the same squad of players as last year have moved up the ladder and are competing in Division 4, within Group 2.

The squad of Phil Ogier, Jez Powell, Jamie Ferbrache, Steve Ozanne, and Nye Matthew rotate across the 2 weekends of action, with Ogier, Ferbrache, Ozanne and Matthew having travelled to the Derby Arena this weekend to commence action in the 2025/26 season.

Despite the increased competition, it was a successful weekend which sees the Guernsey side in 2^nd place of the 6-strong Division.

The weekend saw an exceptionally strong start as the Sarnians put Albert TTC to the sword and romped to a 6-0 whitewash in little time. Such was the dominance that only 1 single end went the way of the Albert side out of the 19 contested. Ogier, Ferbrache and Ozanne made no mistake in their clashes with Brett Haslam, Nadeem Ahmed, and David Freeston.

This was followed by a tough clash with a Bristol Associates 2 side that sits level on points with Guernsey upon conclusion of the weekends action. Just like the league standings, nothing could separate the sides, and a 3-3 stalemate was the outcome of the clash. Ogier showed his quality in this encounter and remained unbeaten. He defeated English Veteran number 100 Robert Chandler in 4 sets, in addition to beating the Bristol number 1 Hugh Dalton comfortably in straight sets. Ozanne contributed with an important straight sets win over Jose Perpetua. Matthew made his debut showing for the weekend came the closest to getting the all-important 4^th rubber on the board during his clash with Perpetua but was ousted 11-7 in the deciding 5^th set of their clash.

The toughest match of the weekend came in the final fixture on Saturday and saw the only defeat of the weekend incurred. This was however a narrow 4-2 loss and came at the hands of the league leaders, Lancashire Hotpots, who won all 5 of their fixtures over the opening weekend of action.

It was ultimately Phil Crankshaw and Rick Beattie that were equally responsible for the victory as they each won twice. These players are the strongest in the Division as Crankshaw tops the averages on 10 wins out of 10, whilst Beattie won 9 out of 10 and occupies second spot. Crankshaw defeated Ferbrache in straight sets, but was tested by Ogier, who won the first set 11-8. Crankshaw managed to edge a tight 2^nd 16-14 before coming through in 4 sets. Beattie on the other hand defeated Ferbrache in straight sets and Matthew in 4 sets. Despite his first loss of the weekend, Ogier kept in his winning ways by comfortably dispatching Brian Oldfield in straight sets, the same player that Matthew overcame in 4 sets, despite having lost the opener.

Sunday’s action started with an encounter against a Dyflin side that are bottom of the table. Despite this fact, they competed well during the weekend, and Guernsey had to fight to a tight 4-2 victory. Ozanne proved to be the key player in this fixture as he was unbeaten. He defeated David Pender in 4 sets and secured the 2 points by defeating David Gibbons in straight sets in the final match. Ferbrache defeated Pender in straight sets, whilst Matthew beat Gibbons in straight sets. Neither Ferbrache or Matthew were able to navigate past Thomas Fitzgerald, who beat the Guernsey players in 4 and 5 sets, respectively.

The curtain closer for the weekend was yet another tough tussle against 4^th placed side De Vere N.E.T.T.S and another 3-3 draw was recorded. The result was a combined effort which saw a win apiece recorded for Ogier, Ferbrache and Ozanne. Ferbrache and Ozanne each defeated James Hicks in 4 sets, whilst Ogier earned an impressive straight sets win over the number 1 player and English Veterans number 77 Paul Davison. Ogier came close to securing the win during his clash with John Poysden in a clash which saw him restore parity at 2-2 having lost the opening 2 tight ends. Unfortunately, Poysden raised his level and motored through the final set 11-3.

There is now a long wait with the remaining 5 fixtures scheduled to be contested on 14 and 15 February 2026.

The Guernsey Table Tennis Association’s first foray into the Veterans British Club Leagues last season was extremely fruitful as it saw promotion gained after an excellent debut campaign where the Sarnian outfit was unbeaten.

As a result, the same squad of players as last year have moved up the ladder and are competing in Division 4, within Group 2.

The squad of Phil Ogier, Jez Powell, Jamie Ferbrache, Steve Ozanne, and Nye Matthew rotate across the 2 weekends of action, with Ogier, Ferbrache, Ozanne and Matthew having travelled to the Derby Arena this weekend to commence action in the 2025/26 season.

Despite the increased competition, it was a successful weekend which sees the Guernsey side in 2^nd place of the 6-strong Division.

The weekend saw an exceptionally strong start as the Sarnians put Albert TTC to the sword and romped to a 6-0 whitewash in little time. Such was the dominance that only 1 single end went the way of the Albert side out of the 19 contested. Ogier, Ferbrache and Ozanne made no mistake in their clashes with Brett Haslam, Nadeem Ahmed, and David Freeston.

This was followed by a tough clash with a Bristol Associates 2 side that sits level on points with Guernsey upon conclusion of the weekends action. Just like the league standings, nothing could separate the sides, and a 3-3 stalemate was the outcome of the clash. Ogier showed his quality in this encounter and remained unbeaten. He defeated English Veteran number 100 Robert Chandler in 4 sets, in addition to beating the Bristol number 1 Hugh Dalton comfortably in straight sets. Ozanne contributed with an important straight sets win over Jose Perpetua. Matthew made his debut showing for the weekend came the closest to getting the all-important 4^th rubber on the board during his clash with Perpetua but was ousted 11-7 in the deciding 5^th set of their clash.

The toughest match of the weekend came in the final fixture on Saturday and saw the only defeat of the weekend incurred. This was however a narrow 4-2 loss and came at the hands of the league leaders, Lancashire Hotpots, who won all 5 of their fixtures over the opening weekend of action.

It was ultimately Phil Crankshaw and Rick Beattie that were equally responsible for the victory as they each won twice. These players are the strongest in the Division as Crankshaw tops the averages on 10 wins out of 10, whilst Beattie won 9 out of 10 and occupies second spot. Crankshaw defeated Ferbrache in straight sets, but was tested by Ogier, who won the first set 11-8. Crankshaw managed to edge a tight 2^nd 16-14 before coming through in 4 sets. Beattie on the other hand defeated Ferbrache in straight sets and Matthew in 4 sets. Despite his first loss of the weekend, Ogier kept in his winning ways by comfortably dispatching Brian Oldfield in straight sets, the same player that Matthew overcame in 4 sets, despite having lost the opener.

Sunday’s action started with an encounter against a Dyflin side that are bottom of the table. Despite this fact, they competed well during the weekend, and Guernsey had to fight to a tight 4-2 victory. Ozanne proved to be the key player in this fixture as he was unbeaten. He defeated David Pender in 4 sets and secured the 2 points by defeating David Gibbons in straight sets in the final match. Ferbrache defeated Pender in straight sets, whilst Matthew beat Gibbons in straight sets. Neither Ferbrache or Matthew were able to navigate past Thomas Fitzgerald, who beat the Guernsey players in 4 and 5 sets, respectively.

The curtain closer for the weekend was yet another tough tussle against 4^th placed side De Vere N.E.T.T.S and another 3-3 draw was recorded. The result was a combined effort which saw a win apiece recorded for Ogier, Ferbrache and Ozanne. Ferbrache and Ozanne each defeated James Hicks in 4 sets, whilst Ogier earned an impressive straight sets win over the number 1 player and English Veterans number 77 Paul Davison. Ogier came close to securing the win during his clash with John Poysden in a clash which saw him restore parity at 2-2 having lost the opening 2 tight ends. Unfortunately, Poysden raised his level and motored through the final set 11-3.

There is now a long wait with the remaining 5 fixtures scheduled to be contested on 14 and 15 February 2026.