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SIAS table football competition
Here's how Barnett Waddingham fared at the SIAS table football competition.
7pm, 25 April, Cafe Kick, Shoreditch High Street, London. Three (well, two and two halves) hopeful pairings from Barnett Waddingham were preparing to do battle with the finest table-footy teams the actuarial profession had to offer - up for grabs, a selection of small footballs.
The tournament was made up of three groups of four to five teams, each team playing their group members in a best of three. Points were awarded for victories and for games won, with qualification from each group being decided with a minimum of transparency. Indeed, there was some confusion when London's John Carter and his playing partner Gary failed to reach the next stage, a major upset for the duo who had trained for this tournament in the seedy "Baby-foot" bars of Bordeaux.
The tie of the qualifiers came from Group A, where London's Mark Paxton and Adam Walker came face to face with Amersham's Paul Hamilton and his partner Richard Smith, fresh from their victory in the SIAS pool competition months earlier. The opener went to the Londoners, with some fine blocking from Mark and some wild attacking from Adam. However, their luck ran out in the last two and Paul and Richard secured their place in the quarters, eliminating Adam and Mark in the process.
Meanwhile, after a shaky start, Londoners Jug Parmar and Chris Bowring were making steady progress through their group to finish second and reach the quarters. They were up against the winners of their own group (a bit strange) and promptly lost 2-0. Never mind, we still had Paul and Richard to cheer on.
Not for long, though. They lost their quarter-final straight afterwards. So with all the Barnett Waddingham players eliminated, we were left with no choice but to drown our sorrows and wait for the French barman to show us how the game should be played, which he did, comprehensively.
Chris Bowring, May 2002.