30th April 2011
JAMMY DODGERS ARE THE PREMIER TEAM
Jammy Dodgers returned to Hinckley with the UK Dodgeball Premier League Trophy at the end of the final week’s play. They went into Week Six with a narrow five point lead over Warwick University Warriors (League points are awarded as follows: 10 pts for a match win, 5 pts for a match draw and 1 bonus pt for each game won in a match). JD started by beating Balls of Steel (University of Nottingham) 4-2 in their opening match but on the other court Warwick were held to a 3-3 draw by Vipers (Halifax), the home team and bottom of the table at the start of the final week. This gave JD an 11 point lead over Warriors after the first round of matches.

All positions were in the balance as the afternoon proceeded. Jammy Dodgers recorded a maximum 7-0 victory Derby Seahawks, to extend their lead at the top of the table. Vipers continued to make home court advantage count by recording their fourth win of the season, by five games to nil over Leicester City Ligers, to move up two places into fourth. Warwick also defeated the Seahawks, by a 6-1 margin, to close the gap on JD to 12 points; at the same time Balls of Steel got the better of the Ligers, to retake fourth place in the league and get closer to Ligers in third.

The table top clash followed, with Warriors needing a big win to overtake Jammy Dodgers. The teams swapped game wins at the start but then Warwick Uni won three in a row, games three and five by just three players too two. JD recovered to win games six & seven, to give a final score of 4-3 to Warwick; this result left Jammy Dodgers on top by one point but with one match in hand, as Warwick had completed their fixture schedule. On the other court Balls of Steel recorded a 6-1 win over Vipers, which meant they moved into 3rd place in the league, in front of Leicester by one point.

On Court One, Vipers and Seahawks were facing off to see who would could keep off the bottom place in the Premier League. It was Vipers who started quickest and they maintained their momentum to lead their Derby opponents by a winning 4-0 before Seahawks could trouble the scoreboard; result Vipers 6 – Derby Seahawks 1. This moved Vipers into 5th place in the final league table after their best week of the season. On Court Two, Leicester City Ligers were facing their Leicestershire neighbours Jammy Dodgers, Ligers needing to get something out if the match to finish third. JD won the first but Ligers replied by winning games 2 & 4, game 3 finished level, but JD then turned up the heat and won the last three games to record a 4-2 victory. However, that was enough for Ligers to finish one point above Balls of Steel to snatch third place from the Nottingham team.

Jammy Dodgers finished 15 points ahead of Warwick University Warriors and win the trophy at the end of the first season of the UK Dodgeball Premier League.

Two teams will be promoted from the National League into the DPL for Season Two, which will start in October.