Glasgow League: Missed it by THAT much

Its difficult to write anything about the Glasgow League finale and make it suspenseful or exciting or witty because this hurts .. quite a bit .. and we're not at home to Mr Stoic or Madame Acceptation de l'échec** currently. GA didn't deliver the win in stage 6 and as a direct result, in the trophy overall either. We came second in both. To quote Father Jack ... "Arse!" (plus a few other choice words that would get us spoken to .. again!)

Its been a wild ride since the first round way back on the 20th October and the start of our campaign to win the inaugural year of the league. We came close but it wasn't quite enough. Could we have done better? Yup, but there was significant effort put into this league by Team GA. To give you some context ... 16 archers having represented GA over the last five months. 2820 arrows over 47 rounds were shot by us, one or two of them quite well, a significant number not quite so well otherwise we would be cuddling that trophy right now. (shoot better GA!) For the 4 contributing archers to our team score (potential 2400): we averaged 2162 per competition with a high of 2204 and a low 2127. We took medals in every round winning 24 - (4 gold, 20 silver - Geo and Euan both have five).

Highest scoring archer was Euan with the pretty impressive 563. Highest average score (3 legs minimum) was Euan with 549 with Geo close behind on 543. Most consistent contributing archer was Geo whose six scores had a range of just 12 points (537 to 549) and no, he's still not happy. Did you expect him to be? Oh, you sweet summer child!

.. if you see these archers in your area, call AGB police on ...

With such a high buy in from Glasgow Archers, we have cemented ourselves in the league as a team that needs to be accounted for when thinking about the scoreboard. Also for being a club that brought new blood and a significant team to each competition. We are very definitely a driving force in this league on top of our attendance and performance since we paid for the running of two of the six legs. This league is fundamental to progressing archery in Glasgow and GA is right in the heart of things. With our inaugural season in the books, there may possibly be funds available next year from Glasgow Life if we ask. Soccer can't suck up every penny in sports funding even though it seems to be trying! Something for the league organizers to pursue perchance.

In closing, many thanks to Mr Stuck-on-the-Clicker* himself, John Strang for being GA's rep on the league organisers forum and for being the man with a plan when it came to us "hosting" two legs of the league. Congrats to all who collected a medal, shot a PB, came to a competition for the first time or turned up and gave it their all. We hope you had fun .. or as much "fun" as you can have in competitive archery!

Summing up the League 2024/25, we had the chances to win it all but couldn't quite get all our ducks in a row .. so we could (metaphorically) shoot them all in the head Deadpool style. We need to develop that "go for the throat mentality/no let up ever" you see from the Koreans. So no champagne this year or even fizzy grape juice ... but there is always next season. See Rocky training montage for some ideas of what needs done before next year's League kicks off and GA goes looking for its rewenge. Some of our archers do be savage and vindictive.

Team GA: Glasgow League 2024-25 was ... Faisal, Furas, Fahd, Chris, Ashley, Catherine, George, Mark, Scott, Henri, Duncan, Jonah, Euan, Oksana, John, and Laura

League medal winners were ... Geo (1gold 4silver), Euan (5silver), Oksana (1gold 3silver), Catherine (1gold 2silver), John (1gold, 1silver), Duncan (2silver), Ashley (1silver), Scott (1silver) and Henri (1silver)

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* This problem/meme may now actually be resolved/retired after a spiritual retreat in the woods and liberal use of a spare long rod. (its ok, the only bruising visible is around the eyes and that was self inflicted).
** The Five Stages of Archery Grief are being experienced right now but at a competition level.
Glasgow League website can be found here