The 32nd Edinburgh Festiball, on the Bank Holiday weekend of 26-27 August, was played for the most part in warm sunshine, though mornings were cloudy, and after a late withdrawal, 31 teams took part.
“It’s the Costa del Ed,” one player remarked, “the nicest weather of any tournament I’ve been to so far this year!”
The tournament was played in three divisions --Competitive with seven teams, Intermediate with 12 teams, and Recreational with 12 teams – and the prizes were more sought after than ever before.
This was because the organisers decided to move away from the usual glass trophies in favour of something very different -- the Festiball’s very own Heilan Coo Trophies.
These were Hamish (awarded to winners)...
... and Harris (awarded to runners-up).
Hamish and Harris turned out to be incredibly popular:
"I am going to be so sad when I don't win one of these! It's going to break me!”
“Can we backdate them to last year?”
Comp Division
Competitive Cup
Travelling Dodgers (Manchester) 29, Skywalkers (Belgium) 9
Last year, the Skywalkers from Belgium entered the Festiball and didn’t win a single game, losing nine on the trot. So it was a great achievement to get to this year’s Comp final.
“Our goal this year was just to win one game,” a Skywalkers player said, “and once we’d done that, the weekend already was a success! But we just kept on winning. On Saturday night we tried a culinary Scottish deep-fried Mars Bar and raided a local take-out with some amazing pizza, and the following morning we lost two games. But we kept our spirits high and battled all the way to the final, where we lost to a superior Travelling Dodgers Softball Club with great spirit and sportsmanship from all sides. It was amazing – and Harris has got to be one of the best trophies ever!”
Competitive Plate
Greensox (Manchester) 22, Souls (Edinburgh) 9
Intermediate Division
Intermediate Cup
Thundercats (Jersey) 11, Meerkats (Manchester) 9
Intermediate Trophy
Sharks (Liverpool) 13, Misfits (Manchester) 12
Intermediate Plate
Dazzlers (London) 12, Fockers (Edinburgh) 3
Recreational Division
Burns Cup
Slim Chance (Manchester) 9, Haar Hitters (Edinburgh) 5
Burns Trophy
Breaking Bats (London) 11, Diamonds Dogs (London) 8
The Breaking Bats team have renamed Hamish – they call him Angus!
Burns Plate
Swindon Bombers 16, Badgers (London) 15
