Bath Street Marine Table Tennis Club
A Table Tennis England PremierClub
News Release - BSMTTC News 194
Dateline: 15 September 2025
Season Preview
The Liverpool & District Table Tennis League has announced the start date of the 2025/26 table tennis season for league match play as Monday 15 September 2025.
Following a difficult 2024/25 season the club will be hoping for better this year and there has already been much activity going on to put together the club's entry to the League for the new season and to formulate teams, including activity in the transfer market! The only disappointment so far is that, despite the new league now including 11 junior teams, this season the club will not field any junior team for the first time since this concept was introduced! The club has however entered 7 teams to the League for the 2025/26 season, and juniors will be included in them. This will be the lowest entry by the club for some time.
Here is a brief look at each team and what we might expect to see from them.
Division 1
The club will have just 1 team in the top division for the first time for a while. Colin Turner will lead the side this season and he will be joined by regulars Keith Williams and Clare Peers. Barry Elliott who made some important contributions last season will provide support and there is a possible new recruit in the wings, which if it comes to fruition would provide a very strong addition. If a regular and consistent line-up can be achieved the team should stay in the top half of the division. But it is looking like a very strong division this year. Hopefully the team can aim for a 5th place finish.
Once again, Colin Turner & Julian Quirk are likely to be key to teams in Div 1 & 2 and their organisational skills as well as their playing ability may well be tested to the limit. Similarly Barry Davis will also again be key to the B Team.
Division 2
Division 2 will contain both the A & B Team's. Both of which look like decent teams in what is always a highly competitive division. Julian Quirk will lead the A Team, and the main issue here will once again be whether the team can field a regular and consistent side. Julian will be joined by his Southport colleague Monica Cougan, and Dave Aimson also gets an opportunity at this higher level, it will be a real challenge for him. The team also has surround support form several division 1 and 2 regulars, but the issue is the extent of their availability. If they can partake in key matches then this team could well feature in the top four of the division.
Barry Davis will once again lead the B Team and will be joined this year by his fellow division 2 captain Dave Stoddern who deservedly keeps his second division place. In addition regular B team players Mal Kent & Colin Mitchell are in the squad and they will have support from Tereza Kopfova. All in all a decent squad. A sixth or seventh place finish might be a reasonable achievement, anything more would be a bonus.
Division 3
The club's teams in Div 3 had a hard time last year! But the club has nevertheless held on to 1 place in this division for 2025/26. It is great to see that Marcin Bytnar will again lead a team at this level. And he looks to have a stronger squad this time round. How often he can obtain the services of Mehdi Eskoroochi, who proved to be the one ray of light last year, may be key to the teams performance. 16 year old Kai Morgan will also be looking to prove himself at this new level and with some positive encouragement could make an important contribution. Seasoned campaigner Dave McMahon makes up the squad and his reliability at this level should make a big difference. Whilst this doesn't look like a division winning squad, it would be good to see them in the top half of the division this year, looking for a 5th or 6th place finish.
Division 4
last season the club had 2 junior teams in this division, sadly this year there are none! But there will be two adult teams whereas last season there was just 1! The D Team will be led by Danny Every who led the successful junior H team last time round. He will have at his disposal some very handy players including, Andy Armstrong, Amir Norouzi, Keith Dudley, Brian Crolley & junior, Charlie King. Every one of the players here is capable of winning games at this level so, with strength in depth, the team should prove a threat to any other team in the division. It still doesn't feel quite like a division winning team, but they should certainly be aiming for a top four finish.
Also in this division will be a completely new look E Team. The majority of the team formerly played at Harold House but this year have brought their team to Marine. Led by Gwyn Powell-Wilde they have some tasty and capable players in the form of Martin Vines, Tony McDonald, and Sauren Ghosh. Mark Benson is also likely to support the squad making this a very decent team with sufficient depth to compete well. With no history at this level it is difficult to know what to expect, but there is a strong likelihood of a mid-table position. Keep an eye on them. We will try to get pictures as the season progresses!
Division 5
One of the toughest captaining roles in the club often seems to fall to the captain of the bottom team as he has to select from a large squad of players, all of whom may want some matches but not necessarily wanting to play every week! At least this year Captain Keith, who takes on this responsibility, will not have to worry about demand for players from other club team captains in this division! Last season the club had 2 teams in Div 5, including 1 junior team. This year there is just the 1 senior team! The question though is whether, without the benefit of stronger additional players, the team can somehow improve their potential and move up the table a little? The capability is there if they can get the right players out consistently, but we will have to wait and see. At the moment we think the best they can hope for is to move above the bottom two places in the division! Let's see if they can prove us wrong!
Key to the performance of the teams in Div 2 will be the consistency of the teams and the performances of the 2 team captains. And below, a new look team takes on the challenge of Div 3.
Danny Every (bottom left) will lead the new look D Team and Mark Benson (bottom right) will be the only player from last season's regulars to feature for a new E Team. Making two very decent teams for this level of play. And below, Captain Keith with some of his squad.
In conclusion.......
All that remains is to wish all of our teams well for the 2025/26 season. May they enjoy the season, upholding the highest traditions of sportsmanship in table tennis and be shining representatives of the very best in that sport on behalf of Bath Street Marine TTC.
You can find all of the fixtures of the Club's teams in one document from the club website. Just go to the 'League' tab and look up 'Fixtures'. All being well, results will be on the website too!
Let the play begin!