The South Wales Premier League, one of the best leagues in Wales is back tonight, Thursday 15th September. Rhiwbina are the defending Champions after their playoff win against Strings last season, both teams are back looking for success this year as well as other teams including Newport, St Mellons, Caldicot, Cardiff and Abergavenny.
Tonights fixtures are Newport ‘A’ v Sttrings (LIVE ONLINE) Abergavenny v Caldicot in the all Gwent clash, defending Champions travel to newly promoted Strings ‘B’ and Cardiff play host to St Mellons. The captains and players have been looking forward to tonight and getting the league underway, for the next 14 weeks every Thursday the Premier League teams will be battling it out to be Champions.
Ian Fenner Evans, Captain of Caldicot said “it’s going to be a challenging season once again, but a great opportunity for our younger players to gain experience” With the loss of two players in the summer Caldicot have brought in one new player Sam Ellis and are blooding a junior at number 5 string in Louis Randle. Caldicot are playing Abergavenny tonight in the all Gwent clash, Abergavenny who achieved double promotion last season are looking forward to the new challenge of maintaining their Premier League status.
In the LIVE match tonight Newport play host to last years pre Christmas Champions and overall season runner up Strings ‘A’. Dave Howe the Strings captain said “Were looking forward to another great season. Starting at Newport is a good and hard fixture to blow out the cobwebs! Hopefully we can get off to a good start and have another successful season”. A great fixture in prospect tonight with two of the top teams in the league, the LIVE coverage starts at 6.30pm tonight online via the Squash Wales website and the SWPL website.
Another great fixture will be Cardiff ‘A’ v St Mellons at Cardiff Squash Club, former pro’s as well as upcoming juniors all in the mix with current Masters Internationals. Nic Birt the Cardiff captain said “a great way to start a new season, a very close match, our pre season training at altitude in Columbia will hopefully pay off” St Mellons who have won the SWPL more than any other team, their captain and Masters International Paul Barrell said “Following a full summer of strenuous match preparation (mostly at the pub and on the beach) the St Mellons squad of David Evans, Alexis Cole, Joel Preece, Paul Barrell, Macario Chung and Paul Aubrey are looking forward to some great matches this season and a top three finishing position in the league. Well, perhaps the matches won't be so great and we won't finish in the top three but there will be plenty of sweat and pointless running around and that's the way we like it. Look out everyone!”
In the other fixture of the night Rhiwbina the defending Champions take on newly promoted Strings ‘B’, a tough start for the team from West Wales but with home advantage they will look to pick up some valuable points. Rhiwbina are basically unchanged from last season with the addition of Jason Burgon at 5 who played in the team last season while playing for the second team.
Good luck to all the teams and players, if you’re a fan of top quality squash in Wales then come down to a club near you to watch the action. If you cant make it then watch online LIVE tonight or catch the replay tomorrow.
Also if you can’t get enough of the squash then join our FREE FANTASY SQUASH LEAGUE, a great way to be a squash team manager and pick your best team, rules are available online.
