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Battle of the Giants
Well it's been one of those Championships which has been tight to call... even with just a few minutes left on the clock. What has been surprising is the closeness of the contest between two of the finest teams in the world, and that's not taking anything away from those behind them, they are... simply the best. In fact, what proved incredible was France's ability to successfully weigh up their chances of competing with a method alien to their pole culture, but instead sticking to their mastery of small fish, something few others cottoned onto, especially the Italians, in oppressive temperature and the lifeless wind of Hazewinkel.
The 'Full Monty'
England on the other hand had just about the 'full monty' ready to ship off to the engravers! If one takes away the glaring disqualification of a San Marino anglers fish for trespassing then you probably need to look more closely at, and dispassionately, at the conditions. Bloso lake is a massive body of water which is very open a susceptible to the elements. From the first day of practice it was always recognised that the lake would give up its hordes of bream as the feed levels rose, and for a time it looked like that could happen with one Finnish anglers chalking up 10 beauties for well over 10 kilos on Thursday's practice bout. However, like most things in angling things are never what they seem. Saturday arrived and with the calmest and most humid day of the whole week, here it seemed, was Frances opportunity to outscore the bream hunters lining the bank, and they didn't waste the moment. Tying with England on 36 points, but lying in second spot on weight, they'd set their stall out and were undoubtedly up for the fight.
It'll take someone special
England had shown throughout the week that it would take someone special to snatch the spoils from their grasp. They'd worked out the slider to a tee and Mark Downes had commented to me on Friday saying, "give me 60 points now for the championship and I won't turn up at the weekend". As it happened that would that would have been a gift from the gods, but he was more than aware that the weekend was rapidly turning into a bit of a lottery due to the heat and clear water conditions which would certainly affect the bream... the fish that which would decide the outcome in more ways than one!
Belgium's disappointment
As for the other contenders, home side Belgium, were disbelieving at the weather conditions currently covering the region, this was one factor, I understand, was not in their game plan when I talked to their team coach Roland Marcq who was at a loss to see what more he could do with his side, which incidentally was packed with some of northern Belgium's finest. That said, they still managed a creditable top five at the end of day one. What happened on day two was a draw factor creeping into the equation which eventually pushed them back a place into 6th, behind the German team, which must have hurt. The Italians seemed to be somewhere else and maintained a consistent 9th place throughout the weekend, which looked to be par for their course based on the previous practice week. The Hungarians went quietly about their business having proved themselves at this level. David Ewing will be reviewing their approach later in his full depth analysis. The Poles, like Hungary, were within striking distance on day one but lost the plot slightly and let neighbours Hungary and Germany overtake them on the final lap.
It's a matter of opinion
Well what about that San Marino bream... did it really cost England that higher podium position? What it boils down to is your point of view when all the dust has settled, take away national patriotism and look at the nature of the beast. Angling has always been dominated by weather, skill and 'lady luck'. This was one Championship were all three seemingly proved a major factor. For the winners, France, their skill with the pole to winkle out those roach and perch was paramount in maintaining a grip on the weekend, they had the weather to assist them in their game plan and lady luck certainly gave them a draw advantage over England on day two. For a disappointed English camp there can be few words which will comfort them, but once more they have shown that they have the capability, capacity and determination to succeed at every 'put-in'. Again all three factors played a part in their defeat. The weather undoubtedly put the bream down in water which was almost 'crystal', it also brought out the crowds in there thousands. Their skill with the slider and pole gave them an edge over their rivals France but 'lady luck' threw them a double wobbly when a San Marino anglers' bream wandered out of his zone!
'Straight from the horses mouth'
Now for those of you who don't know the full facts here they are as told by England Events Director, Dick Clegg OBE, and jury member. I contacted Dick on my return on Monday afternoon to find out exactly what happened. When asked whether any other objections were lodged Dick replied, "No, all that happened was a handful of English supporters saw the San Marino angler, next door to Steve Gardener in D section, hook and play a bream towards the bank. The bream went out of the anglers zone by approximately 1 to 1.5 metres and in the clear water these supporters called out to the section stewards, who incidentally are junior Belgian Internationals, in order to alert them. The fish was placed in the net by the San Marino angler and shortly after the Chief Steward arrived and noted the objection of the stewards. It was then decided that the jury committee, of which I was a member, would be called on to decide the official outcome. I was not happy at being placed in this position because it created a conflict of interest but when I noted that there were also two Frenchmen on the jury who would also be placed in a conflict of interest situation I decided to state that if the stewards were positive that this bream was illegal then as far as I was concerned the bream could not stand... a clear cut decision as I'd already been early involved in the disqualification of another bream which had wandered." Dick further commented that "those English lads who called out to the stewards should have no regrets whatsoever as that fish was illegal... they could never have known the current positions and what the final outcome would be, ANYONE else would have done the same".
One of our other reporters on the bank will highlight another area which you could say cost England, but were do you stop with the excuses.
Well, if your still in any doubt as to why England lost the Champs then don't be... it's called fishing... it happens all the time!
What is certain is that two of the greatest teams in the world had one of the finest contests ever, so if you are either French, or English, you have a perfect right to feel justifiably proud of your respective teams, they both gave 110% in Belgium... roll on the re-match!
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