- Messenger Premier League
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Messenger Premier League Current season or competition:
2010Sport Table tennis Founded 1951 Motto Where Amazing Happens No. of teams 16 Country(ies) Australia Most recent champion(s) Hawks The Messenger Premier League (MPL) is a professional table tennis competition in Australia.
The league comprises 16 teams which play against each other in 22 rounds between late March and late August. This is followed by a four-week finals series in September which culminates in two teams playing off for the Premiership in the MPL Grand Final. [1]
Minor round matches consist of one set, first to 21 points. In the finals and MPL Grand Final, matches consist of three sets, first to 21 points. All matches are played at Messenger Park.
MPL Grand Final week, traditionally the last week in September, kicks-off with the presentation of the Walls Medal for the best and fairest player on the Monday night. MPL Grand Final Day traditionally starts with the Farmers Grand Final Breakfast. The MPL Grand Final is then played at noon on the last Friday in September.
Contents
History
The MPL was established in 1951 by four founding clubs - the Hawks, Speed, Hornets and Pelicans.[2] From humble beginnings, the league grew to eight clubs by the 1960s and 12 by 1970. The 1970s and 1980s were dominated by two clubs, the Frost and the Jazz. The fierce rivalry culminated in the 1986 MPL Grand Final, commonly referred to as The Bloodbath of '86. [3] The league hit financial difficulties in the late 1980s, with several clubs declaring bankruptcy. But after extensive financial restructuring, the league started to recover and expand during the 1990s. The 2000s has become a golden era for the MPL, with 16 clubs and crowds regularly topping 30,000 and public interest and media coverage at record levels.[4]
2008
At the end of the 2008 minor round, the Hawks topped the ladder after going through the entire season undefeated. The Speed, Field Mice and Swans rounded out the top four. The Falcons narrowly missed a top-four spot in fifth, followed by the Power, Demons and Hornets. The Pelicans finished last to claim the wooden spoon. The Hornets and Demons were eliminated in the first week of the finals. In the semi-finals, the Field Mice defeated the Power and the Falcons upset the highly-fancied Swans. In the Preliminary Finals, the Speed beat the Falcons in a classic contest 25-23, 17-21, 21-18. The Hawks easily accounted for the Field Mice in straight sets in the other Preliminary Final. This set up a Grand Final showdown between the Hawks and the Speed on September 26. The Hawks defeated the Speed, two sets to one, in front of 160,000 people to complete the first undefeated season in MPL History.
Premiers
2008 - Hawks
2009 - Hawks
2010 - Hawks
Clubs
Present clubs
- Bombers
- Bunnies
- Demons
- Dockers
- Falcons
- Farmers
- Field Mice
- Frost
- Hornets
- Hawks
- Jazz
- Klowns
- Pelicans
- Power
- Speed
- Swans
Defunct clubs
- Canaries
- Penguins
Possible future clubs
- Gorillas
- Warriors
See also
References
- ^ Bennett, John. For the Love of the Game: The History of the MPL. Australia: MPL Publications. pp. 8.
- ^ Smith, Charles. Fifty Years of the MPL: 1951-2001. Australia: MPL Publications. pp. 22.
- ^ Smith, Charles. Fifty Years of the MPL: 1951-2001. Australia: MPL Publications. pp. 78.
- ^ Bennett, John. The Rise and Rise of the MPL. Australia: MPL Publications. pp. 34.
Categories:- 1951 establishments in Australia
- Professional sports leagues
- Sports leagues in Australia
- Table tennis
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