Kent and Highlanders reclaim league titles in 2019
Kent Target and Highlanders surged back to the top of the two UKPA and Polocrosse Extreme Leagues after neither of them won a league title in 2018. Kent and Highlanders have been the two most successful clubs in the two leagues in the UK since their creation, with Kent winning nine league titles and Highlanders winning the Points per Player League three times. However, it’s been two years since Highlanders won that league last in 2016 and Kent Target finished second in the main league to Arden in 2018, after a run of five years of league wins, including winning both leagues in 2013.
However, in 2019 Kent Target returned to the top spot in the main league with a total of 475 points, pushing Arden into second place with 448. Both Kent and Arden won points in every grade but across the eight grades Kent emerged victorious. Celyn were in third place with 322 points and then fourth place went to relative newcomers Yorkshire Warriors, who scored 246 points and climbed from sixth place in 2018 to overtake Cotswold for fourth place. Cotswold got 195 points and only just beat the other relative newcomers Bethersden Bulls, who finished sixth with 184 points.
In the Points per Players League Highlanders were winners after their two year absence, finishing with 16.25 points per playing member. They won all their 98 points in the A grade and with only 6 players to their name that gave them the win. It was another small, specialist club in second place with Chiltern getting 15.38 points per player, all won in the D grade. Third place went to Yorkshire Warriors, who picked up points in six grades and finished the season with 11.20 points per players. Next came Arden in fourth on 9.53 points, narrowly ahead of Kent Target in fifth with 8.96 points per player. Then sixth place went to Beaudesert on 8.31 points.
Looking at the leagues grade by grade, it is Kent who did the best in the A grade. The Nationals A grade title might have evaded them but they scored 105 points during the season, beating the two A grade specialist clubs in Highlanders and Warwick, who scored 98 and 90 points respectively.
In the B grade it was Arden who reigned supreme, they amassed 123 points, mainly from the start of the season as they pushed their top team up into a grade for the latter half of the season . If they hadn’t done that they could have potentially been on course for a very large score in this grade but as it was they still comfortably won it, with Kent a distant second on 64 points and Beaudesert in third on 53 points.
The C grade saw a good win for the Bethersden Bulls, as their mix of UK and European talent proved a thorn in the side of a number of the older clubs throughout the season. They scored 85 points, beating Kent into second place on 79 and Beaudesert in third once again on 72 points.
The D grade was another convincing win for Arden. Few clubs can run out two D grade sides week in and week out but Arden could and they reaped the rewards for it, thanks to their mixture of proven D grade veterans and up and coming younger talent meaning they picked up a lot placings throughout the season. Bethersden Bulls were in second spot on 69 points and Chiltern were in third on 62 points.
The E grade is often a tight and low scoring grade as teams and players will often play a couple of tournaments and then get moved up to a D grade. It was the case again in 2019 with Yorkshire Warriors just coming out on top with 39 points, beating second placed Celyn with 34 and Kent Target in third on 29.
The Open Juniors saw a fight between Celyn and Kent target for most of the whole season. Celyn claimed the grade win at the Nationals but actually during the season Kent just outscored them on points, by 108 points to 104. Yorkshire Warriors came in in third place with a strong 70 points.
The Intermediate Juniors saw a good win for Limemere on 52 points and then three clubs, Arden, Celyn and Yorkshire Warriors, all tied level on 19 points behind them.
The Primary Juniors saw another good win for Arden. They amassed 88 points with Kent in second on 47 points and then Limemere in third on 36 points.
For the full leagues for 2019 see the tables below or download the PDF version here
Main League 2019
| Club | A | B | C | D | E | OJ | IJ | PJ | Total |
| Kent Target | 105 | 64 | 79 | 29 | 29 | 108 | 14 | 47 | 475 |
| Arden | 20 | 123 | 39 | 137 | 8 | 14 | 19 | 88 | 448 |
| Celyn | 58 | 23 | 35 | 50 | 34 | 104 | 19 | – | 322 |
| Yorkshire Warriors | – | 36 | 46 | 38 | 38 | 70 | 19 | – | 246 |
| Cotswold | 55 | 41 | 48 | 31 | 21 | – | – | – | 195 |
| Bethersden Bulls | – | 30 | 85 | 69 | – | – | – | – | 184 |
| Limemere | – | 18 | – | 18 | 12 | – | 52 | 36 | 137 |
| Beaudesert | – | 53 | 72 | – | 9 | – | – | – | 133 |
| Highlanders | 98 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 98 |
| Warwick | 90 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 90 |
| Chiltern | – | – | – | 62 | – | – | – | – | 62 |
| Eastern Pennine | – | – | – | 12 | 12 | – | – | – | 24 |
| Cotswold Uni | – | 23 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 23 |
| Nottingham Trent Uni | – | – | – | – | 12 | – | – | – | 12 |
Points per Player League 2019
| Club | A | B | C | D | E | OJ | IJ | PJ | Total |
| Highlanders | 16.25 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 16.25 |
| Chiltern | – | – | – | 15.38 | – | – | – | – | 15.38 |
| Yorkshire Warriors | – | 1.64 | 2.07 | 1.73 | 1.70 | 3.20 | 0.86 | – | 11.20 |
| Arden | 0.43 | 2.62 | 0.83 | 2.92 | 0.17 | 0.30 | 0.40 | 1.87 | 9.53 |
| Kent Target | 1.98 | 1.21 | 1.49 | 0.55 | 0.55 | 2.04 | 0.26 | 0.89 | 8.96 |
| Beaudesert | – | 3.28 | 4.50 | – | 0.53 | – | – | – | 8.31 |
| Warwick | 8.18 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 8.18 |
| Eastern Pennine | – | – | – | 4.00 | 4.00 | – | – | – | 8.00 |
| Cotswold Uni | – | 7.67 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7.67 |
| Bethersden Bulls | – | 1.18 | 3.40 | 2.76 | – | – | – | – | 7.34 |
| Celyn | 1.31 | 0.52 | 0.80 | 1.14 | 0.77 | 2.35 | 0.43 | – | 7.32 |
| Limemere | – | 0.86 | – | 0.87 | 0.57 | – | 2.48 | 1.73 | 6.50 |
| Cotswold | 1.72 | 1.28 | 1.48 | 0.97 | 0.66 | – | – | – | 6.11 |
| Nottingham Trent Uni | – | – | – | – | 4.00 | – | – | – | 4.00 |
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