SURREY EN BREF ...
 |
A NEW MRC : CLAIRE BAKER
 Claire,
I know her from my years at Wimbledon Racquet Club where she’s been the
Assistant manager for quite a while. And I was quite happy to see that
England Squash had appointed her MRC (Match Referee Coordinator, don’t
worry, I didn’t know what it meant either before today…).
"I was a bit nervous when I arrived today”, Claire confessed, “and so was
Rebecca Colthup, who was also making her first appearance in the
Premier League.
"But Tim Garner came up to us, and really put us totally at
our ease… And everything went pretty smoothly.”
"Today, we had, on top of Rebecca and myself John Barry and Mary
Scott Miller. As for the other referees that we may work with this
season, I’ve asked Keith Griffin and Jason Foster to join the team…
"Tonight was a pretty good start to the season I would say, great matches,
no problems between the players and the refs… I really enjoyed the
evening…"
 |
OUPS…
 Do
you have those days where no matter what you say, the sounds that are
coming out of your mouth are definitely not what you would like them to
be???
Well, I had one of those with Phil Barker beforehand. First I was
trying to say how happy I was to see him and Alex Stait, as I don’t
get to see them much, and I mumbled something like “it’s nice to come and
watch the Premier League, or the qualifier rounds of the majors, it allows
me to see players that otherwise I wouldn’t see”.
And I could see Phil’s face closing up. Didn’t know how to get out of that
one. So I kept on digging. “… Because they don’t get to play the majors…”
I was sooooo deep in it, a crane wouldn’t have got me out of there…
“Well, you know, Fram, we are trying very hard to get in the main draw”…
OK, that was the first one…
Then as I’m still trying to get rid of the red carnation that is now
colouring my face, I insist, “So Phil, how are you doing at the moment,
are you playing ok, are you happy with your beginning of the season”.
 The response. “I’m fine”. And nothing. “Oh cheers, Phil”, I laugh, “That’s
a great answer”. And the definitive line: “I didn’t realise we were on the
clock here, Framboise”…
One of those mini interviews you really really want to make a second take
of… |
  BUT….
I
was catching up with Daryl Selby, who I hadn’t seen for a while,
and as usual, I was about to take a picture of him when he said, “you can
now because I had a rather heavy beard, but I had a shave this morning…”
Well,
I know I’m not up to the new hairdressing style and all, but surely, in my
days, shaving meant getting rid of the facial hair…
Sorry, I must have missed an episode there… |
OH
NO…
I really wonder sometimes what the poor players must be thinking when they
see the Frog entering the room, bombarding them with flashlights and
questions… And especially on the League night, where there is so little
time to catch up with everybody… And that night, poor Boss had to deal
with my questions as he was having his pre-match snack, and then right
after his meal…
Talk about cutting your appetite…
 |
THE REAL QUESTION…
The food was excellent as usual in the Surrey Club, but the best moment
was when Pete came round the table with pen and paper with the most
important I had to answer all week :
“The apple pie, custard or ice-cream?”
So many foods, so little time… |
|
