Kubb South West Fun Day 2007

There’s a joke amongst the Kubb playing fraternity that says it’s time to stop playing when the King starts to float. This being England meant we could never rely sufficiently on the weather and this being the 12th of  May at the Old Station Inn, Hallatrow meant that it was the Kubb South West Fun Day that would have to put up with whatever the skies brought us. It did rain, yes, but the good humour of all players and their keen sense of competition meant that, while we did retreat for cover a few times, at no stage did we ever feel the urge to stop. 

After months of hassling and bullying (resulting in me acquiring the nickname ‘Mister Kubb’ in some areas), and latterly pleading & begging, 14 teams of all abilities took part in the competition. This included a group celebrating a birthday and a team called ‘The Useless Tossers’ - whether this is a name chosen by themselves or their opponents, I cannot say. There were also many other hangers on and spectators in attendance to support, taunt & drink. Kicking off with a demonstration at 2:00, each team had to play 3 others, with the most successful taking part in a tense, soggy final. In between matches, players found themselves trying another garden game, the excellent Smite, demonstrated by the makers themselves, all the way up from Cornwall for the day. Also on hand were Viking Kubb, whose discrete whispers of “Psst, wanna buy some Kubb ?” to new addicts means that Temple Cloud must surely now have the highest number of sets per capita in the UK - these converts will undoubtedly help spread the word locally and it can only be a matter of time before the Parish Council twin-towns us with Gotland. 

Approximately 25 tournament matches took place (one lasting well over an hour) on several pistes, with many other ‘friendly’ games springing up in quieter moments. After 2 hours, the final took place between local boys Russell & Craig of ‘Moore Gentle’ and ‘Team Loakes’, a team based around a family with 3 generations of Kubb-playing heritage. The former seemed to have lost their Mojo by this stage (I’m guessing they dropped it on one of their trips to the bar) and appeared unable to even see the Kubbs, let alone actually hit one. Their chances were helped by neither the supportive presence of their wives (also competing as ‘Sweaty Betty’) nor the proud cries of “That’s my Daddy” from their children. Some solid play from the Loakes kept the pressure up, everything seeming to go their way, with one casually thrown baton even glancing the King before toppling a poorly placed Kubb. At this stage, drink fuelled spectators were hoping for ungentlemanly tactics from ‘Moore Gentle’, even suggesting a ‘misthrown’ baton to the opposition’s groin – they were disappointed. In the end ‘Team Loakes’ won it, receiving a Kubb set from TST Toys and a shoddy home-made wooden trophy that is rapidly becoming a trademark of the KubbUK organisation. ‘Moore Gentle’ also received a set, this time from Viking Kubb, and an equally poor trophy. Said Russell “I’ll keep it above my fireplace – I just hope it doesn’t get mistaken for kindling’. The afternoon ended at around 5:30 with a raffle. Firstly another Kubb set, again donated by TST Toys, a Smite set, a Riverford organic vegetable box and a Blacks voucher. My thanks to those companies for their generosity.

I had to return to the venue the next day to look for a lost Kubb piece and it was quite a sad moment - seeing an empty field where just the previous day 60 of us had enjoyed such a good time. Trampled down grass and marks left by the natty green KubbUK gazebo being the only remnants of what had been a great afternoon. So much effort was made by so many people that it seems a tragedy for it to be over so quickly – I am completely indebted to everyone for coming, whether to play, help or spectate. We made some great friends that day and I hope we can all do it again next year.  

Did I ever find my missing Kubb piece ? Sadly not, but hidden in the stinging nettles, precariously close to evidence of the toilet habits of local dogs & foxes, I did find the ‘Moore Gentle’ Mojo, twinkling softly in the morning light.

Hertford Open 2006

21 October, The Bell Benington, Sponsored by Crown Darts

The morning of the first Hertfordshire Open Kubb tournament dawned grey and drizzly, despite a weather report promising cloud with occasional sunshine. The organisers arrived at the venue at 9.30, tasked with the mission of erecting the hospitality gazebo, provided by Coleby’s Catering, mowing the grass and laying out a number of pistes, or pitches to International Kubb standard dimensions.

Faced with relentless driving rain, a malfunctioning mover and a complex gazebo made up of 48 pieces of varying sizes, complete with hand-drawn instructions, organizer Ian and his not terribly keen assistant, Oliver, managed, without much delay, to measure out four pistes – the tent was another matter. It was horribly complicated; we initially built it entirely back to front. In the end it was completed, and managed to stay up for the whole day, despite developing a worrying amount of sagging and leaning towards the centre. The pitches remained unmown, which in retrospect was not ideal.

Poor weather in the days leading up to the tournament prompted a flurry of late cancellations – the official Kubb UK team were unable to attend, along with others from London, Essex, Cambridgeshire and other locations closer to home. In a way, this improved the tournament, as it allowed the organisers to hold longer games and gave beginners longer to get used to the game. 
We laid out four pistes, rather than the original eight we had planned, one of which was used as a shooting gallery, for newcomers to get used to aiming at the Kubbs. A number of locals took the opportunity to use the demonstration sets that had been laid out before the tournament started. An epic women versus men match resulted in a sound trouncing for the embarrassed, red-faced males.

All the teams registered on time, and Neil Wilson of KubbUK.org and the British Kubb Players Association, gave a demonstration match where he explained the finer points of the game. A couple of teams had experience of international play, from their time playing in Finland, so an unusual “Finnish” stacking rule was adopted for the day, whereby returned Field Kubbs that touch each other during the throwing-back process were stacked in doubles, triples or occasionally quadruple towers. There was keen debate about this rule.

The competition used a simple knock out format, with teams eliminated from the first round entering a “plate” competition with a separate prize.

Some of the teams were well prepared for their day – Somerset-based Team Kubbuteo were the best equipped, their matching Burberry/Kath Kidson collapsable seats and Team Kubbuteo hats were widely admired. Teenage boyfriend/girlfriend team Kubb Lunatics from Hertfordshire had a well-thought out Viking helmet theme, and spent much of their time canoodling in the gazebo. A news photographer from the Hertfordshire Mercury was on hand to capture the spirit of the day.

The more experienced players were very helpful in guiding beginners through the intricacies of this complex game. From the beginning, competition was fierce, as teams battled to stay in the main competition. Most of these games took 30 minutes or so, “Wonderkubb’s” epic first round encounter with eventual Open trophy winners “Aarhuus” went on for more than an hour.

The weather held up well and was sunny and warm and our kind hosts at the Bell, Benington, kept the bar open throughout the day, keeping us well fed and watered. As the competition progressed the teams developed their own gamesmanship strategies to unsettle their opponents - most focused on internal bickering, usually between husband and wife, or father and child, although humorous sideline barracking became more of a feature as the tournament progressed.

Both of the semi finals were keenly fought, and the highlight of the day was the match between the Danish-themed “Kaard” team and the Hertford-Welwyn team known as “Kubb”. In a good-natured, but competitive game that could have gone either way, Kaard were eventual winners by a whisker – losing novices Rachel and Ian put on a fine display of accurate tossing. After this, the final was an anticlimax, as the two teams from Royston shared the spoils of the day.

The Plate Competition featured some strong games, and was eventually won by beginners: “WonderKubb” with an aggressive display of stickmanship. 

Our thanks go to everyone who turned up, to play, or watch, to our hosts at the Bell and to Crown Darts who supplied competition sets and our First Prize of a complete “KubbSpel” game. 

We plan a larger competition in April/May 2007. For more details, contact the British Kubb Players Association at www.KubbUK.org. 

Results: 
Hertford Open Champions: Team Aarhus 
Runners up: Team Kaard 
Semi Finalists: Team Kubbuteo, Team Kubb. 

Hertford Open Plate competition 
Winners: Team Kubb 
Runners up: Team Kubb Krap 

Ian Middleton, Tournament Organiser