All eyes will be on the London Progress Club to see if they can retain their British League Premier division title by winning the division for the eighth time on the trot. Premier division action kicks off on Saturday/Sunday 17/18 September 2005 at 11.00 hours at the London Progress Club, Southall College, Beaconsfield Road, Southall. Last season saw an unprecedented number of England top twenty ranked players taking part and this year's action looks like being every bit as competitive.

The Champions have added European Cadet Singles Silver Medallist Darius Knight to their ranks whilst the legendary long-time former Irish no. one player Colum Slevin is ranked at number two. They are again led by England number seven Terry Young and with support from the ever-reliable Irish number one player Jason Sugrue and England number eighteen Marco Essomba they have an unprecedented strength in depth this year, as can be evidenced by the fact that Darren Blake has dropped down to number six on their Ranking List with Leeroy Pye at number seven. On that basis it will be doing them a major injustice if you label them as anything other than favourites.

However, the teams that finished second and third last season - Harvey Barnets I and Ormesby I will undoubtedly be out to upstage them. Barnets have added Adam Bleakley and Lorestas Trumpauskas to their ranks and with the very tricky defender Szabolcs Szenkiralyvolgyu at number three and with the likelihood of Niall Cameron, Costas Papantoniou or Alex Green playing at number four they too have a real strength in depth about them.

Ormesby have not added to their team this season but with European Cadet Singles Champion Paul Drinkhall moving into the number one position they will start the season in optimistic mood. Craig Bryant will be a formidable number two and with Bryn Drinkhall (last year's British League Premier Division Player of the Season) again at number three they too will take some beating. Add new signing Dale Barham and the lightning quick Danny Reed (last year's Overall British League Player of the Season) to their team and the cover provided by the ever dependable Steve Bailey and there will be a lot of speculation that they could well be the team to dethrone London Progress.

Division One South Champions Horsham I have added Nigel Eckersley to their squad but their team of Eckersley, Adrian Moore, Terry Haley and Peter Bartram will have to be right at the top of their game if they are going to be competitive at this level. This side may also create a rather dubious record, and unless I am mistaken, they will become the first all Veteran line-up to take part in the Senior British League Premier division. Last year's runaway Division One North Champions - ELGRE Nottingham will also find it much tougher this year. Their team of George Pittas, Chris Rogers, Lee Neil, Dave Gannon and Mark Green were far too strong for their opponents last season (amassing an all-conquering 27 points out of 28) but if they avoid relegation this time around they will have done incredibly well.

Steve Kerns/Press & Publicity Officer
British Table Tennis League