And talking of whiff-whaff ...
When Boris Johnson declared that it was a common misconception table tennis had been invented in China and was, in fact, “invented on the dining tables of England in the 19th century, and was called whiff-whaff ” he caused quite a stir. Joe Jaques, the commercial director of Jaques of London, suppliers of table tennis equipment, said that Mr Johnson has his facts “completely wrong”. The Jaques family claim they were first to codify the game and John Jaques, Joe’s great-grandfather had invented ping- pong years before whiff-whaff was even thought of.
Jaques commercialised the game, originally called gossima, and provided nets, cork balls and bats coated with pigskin, back in 1891.
Joe Jaques said: “I was quite outraged that he could get it so wrong and not give
Quote me happy
“I thought these guys gave up on sport back in the 80s. Didn’t Margaret Thatcher sell off all their school ovals to some Euro-Arab investment house to build gas processing plants and car parks or something? Frankly I don’t care where we sit on the tally as long as it’s somewhere in front of those gappy- toothed sock and sandal wearing ********.” Sydney Morning Herald’s John Birmingham seems to be taking it well as Great Britain beat Australia in the Olympic medal table.
“I touched many balls, I was very happy because when you touch many balls you enjoy, I enjoy.” Antoine Sibierski enjoys his Norwich debut rather a lot.
“Teemu Tainio limps off with a shoulder injury.” Paul Fletcher on the BBC Sport website.
“I was watching Carol Vorderman on
Countdown and I got aroused… seven letters wasn’t a bad score I thought.” Peter Alliss shows off his wordplay skills on the BBC’s coverage of the British Masters.
“You can’t miss them, you can’t miss them! Except you can and we’ve just seen it! Who knows? I don’t know.” Graham Taylor’s take on Nicolas Anelka’s sitter against Manchester United.
“I must thank God for this success. Credit also goes to Steve Bruce.” Wigan striker Zaki pays homage to the big man, plus the good Lord.
“When you don’t score goals it is not easy to win.” Spurs manager Juande Ramos.
“If Newcastle go down I’ll have to give up being an atheist.” Unknown Sunderland fan regarding the crisis at Newcastle.
“Any children watching - try not to lip-read Joe Kinnear too carefully.” Adrian Chiles on MOTD2 as the Newcastle boss takes his seat.
More at
www.bbc.co.uk
us the appropriate credit for it. You would think that, if he is going to be so proud of the sport, and tell the world that ping-pong is coming home, he could get his facts straight.”
“It was not until we patented gossima that the game was properly invented, because it actually had rules. It’s very clear that we invented the game. It’s absolute rubbish to say that whiff-whaff came first. It was basically the same thing, but we were definitely first.” The origins of ping-pong are disputed, with some historians believing the game was derived from outdoor tennis. Gerald Gurney, a sports historian and author of Table Tennis: the Early Years, said Mr Jaques was correct. Boris Johnson stood by his claim, however. “I stand by my assertion that the ‘whiffs’ predate the ‘pongs’.
Diary date ...
Our Loz reckons there’s something fishy going on at the Amenity Forum and finds a window of opportunity sometime in the winter!
“
There is going to be a talk by John Halibut of the Amenity Forum
Between October and November...
It’s not a Rolly Royce facility He needs to be a bit more frontal
Phil and his staff only have one pair of hands
The former Portuguese international Figaro
... bunkers have been re-sighted
On the way into the ground I ironically bumped into Eddie Seward
They know Jack bugger all ...
It was a case of cut brush, verticut, cut, brush, verticut until the surface was clean.
The only disease Les has had is Red Thread
... to identify what species of fauna and flora and wildlife existed
”
Forward THINKING
Dates for your diary NOVEMBER
5th to 6th - ‘Understanding the science and management of your grounds and parklands’, STRI, Bingley (
www.stri.co.uk)
5th to 6th - IOG Scotsturf, Royal Highland Hall, Edinburgh (
www.iogscotsturf.co.uk)
8th - Rugby Union, England v Pacific Islands, Twickenham Stadium (
www.rfu.com)
10th to 13th - ‘Understanding the science and management of your golf course’, STRI, Bingley (
www.stri.co.uk)
14th - First of seven ODI’s, India v England, Series culminates on 2nd December (
www.bbc.co.uk/sport)
17th to 20th - ‘Understanding the science and management of your sports grounds’, STRI, Bingley (
www.stri.co.uk)
19th - Football, Germany v England (International Friendly), Berlin (
www.thefa.com)
27th to 29th - Hennessy Gold Cup, Newbury Racecourse (
www.newbury-
racecourse.co.uk)
DECEMBER
3rd - Rugby Union, Barbarians v Australia, Wembley Stadium (
www.wembleystadium.com)
11th - First Test, India v England, Ahmedabad (
www.bbc.co.uk/sport)
19th - Second Test, India v England, Mumbai (
www.bbc.co.uk/sport)
25th - MERRY CHRISTMAS JANUARY 2009
20th to 22nd - BTME (Harrogate Week), Harrogate International Centre (
www.harrogateweek.co.uk)
FEBRUARY
4th - First Test, West Indies v England, Jamaica (
www.bbc.co.uk/sport)
5th - Pitchcare Essential Management Skills (Day 2 of 2), St Albans School (
www.pitchcare.com/training)
5th to 7th - GCSAA Golf Industry Show, New Orleans, USA (
www.golfindustryshow.com)
7th, Rugby Union, RBS Six Nations begins (
www.rbs6nations.com)
13th - Second Test, West Indies v England, Antigua (
www.bbc.co.uk/sport)
26th - Third Test, West Indies v England, Barbados (
www.bbc.co.uk/sport)
To add your event to Forward Thinking please email details to
ellie@pitchcare.com and don’t forget that you can add it to Pitchcare’s online calendar yourself! Simply log on to
www.pitchcare.com, select ‘Calendar’ in the Home drop down button on the top banner and click on “Add event’ at the top of the page.
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