Wirral Quiz League

The 2025 competition was held on Monday 17 February with an excellent turn out meaning a preliminary round was needed. 

After some close heats, the final was contested by Neil Wright, Jim Eccleson, Pam Baker and Richard Speechley. Neil took the crown by one point, with Pam in second place.

The seven qualifiers from Wirral are the four finalists plus Steve Lomas, Sheila Mahoney and Jon Stitcher, the three highest scorers from the semi-finals.
 

The MQL Buzzer Quiz tournament took place on Saturday 15th Feb 2025 at Hoylake Community Centre.  After an excellent day's quizzing, the final was contested by The Jenever Convention and Organised Quite Late.

You can watch the final by clicking on the linke below:

Welcme to the Absent Friends Trophy 2025. This year it will run for the 5 weeks in March, culminating in Finals Night at the Lever Club on Monday 31st March.

However, we thought we'd sort out the groups and fixtures now, so that you can let your venues know - any problems please let me know.

As last year, we seeded the teams based on current league positions into 4 pots, then the groups were draw randomly one from each pot. I shall work out the handicaps

once the league season has finished, but here are the groups and fixtures:

Group A: Oxton, Soapsuds, Aardvarks, Shipwrecked

Group B: Heswall Aces, Holy Joes, Wallaseyans, Hoylake LTC

Group C: Extras, Plasterers Arms, Taxes, Lever Club

Group D: Zelma The Giant Hoe, Gladly Stoned, Legionnaires, McKie's Magpies

Monday, 3rd March

A: Soapsuds V Aardvarks

B: Wallaseyans v Heswall Aces

C: Taxes v Plasterers Arms

D: Gladly Stoned v McKie's Magpies

D: Zelma The Giant Hoe v Legionnaires

Tuesday, 4th March

A: Shipwrecked v Oxton

B: Hoylake LTC V Holy Joes

C: Extras v Lever Club

Monday, 10th March

A: Aardvarks v Shipwrecked

A: Oxton v Soapsuds

B: Heswall Aces v Holy Joes

B: Wallaseyans v Hoylake LTC

C: Lever Club v Taxes

Tuesday, 11th March

C: Plasterers Arms v Extras

D: Legionnaires v Gladly Stoned

D: McKie's Magpies v Zelma The Giant Hoe

Monday, 17th March

A: Oxton v Aardvarks

A: Soapsuds v Shipwrecked

D: Gladly Stoned v Zelma The Giant Hoe

Tuesday, 18th March

B: Hoylake LTC v Heswall Aces

B: Holy Joes v Wallaseyans

C: Plasterers Arms v Lever Club

C: Extras v Taxes

D: Legionnaires v McKie's Magpies

As last year the quiz will be the same for both Monday and Tuesday nights, so if you're playing on Tuesday, please don't attend a Monday match!

The top two in each group will go forward to the Quarter-Finals on Monday 24th March or Tuesday 25th March. Then the Semi-Finals and Final will be on Monday 31st March.

Points will be allocated as in the league with losing bonus points. If teams are tied (as happened last year) the first determining factor will be points difference, then points for scored. 

Questions will be posted about 10 days in advance according to the handbook, please let Kris and I know if there has been any changes. This year there will be no paired balancing questions, but there will be at least one themed round for each quiz.

As shown in the handbook, there are no League matches scheduled for Monday 17th and 18th February.  We have used this gap in fixtures to run the Wirral Mimir competition on Monday 17th Feb.

The event will take place at New Brighton Cricket Club at 8pm.  As you provbably know, the Mimir is an individual quiz and is open to all current Wirral QL players.

We aree hopeful that this change of match night will produce a better attendance than in previous years.  Please pass this information on to all of your squad.

OQL are offering a full day of quiz fun for just £1 per person. All players play the 240 question individual written quiz, a fun team quiz (with teams organised on the day) and an exciting buzzer quiz.
This forms part of OQL’s Live VIII events and is a fantastic opportunity to give these events a try for the bargain rate of just £1 per person.

These events are regularly supported by MQL players.  The local venue is the National Waterways Museum in Ellesmere Port, Wirral. The event will run on 25th January from 11am to 5pm and you can find out more details and register for the event at https://quizcentral.net/oqllive/

If you’ve any questions about this please contact OQL at Info@onlinequizleague.com

Mike played in the league for forty years.

Bebington Hockey Club joined when a 2nd Division was formed in 1979. Mike was a very active hockey player and one of the original members of the quiz team. He immediately made his mark in the first game played, a 14-11 win against Inglewood “C”. Those were the days of named rounds and one round was Jazz, another of Mike’s passions. He scored 8 points in that round and almost single‑handedly won the match.

In the early days the club rotated captain every year, but after Mike’s turn he was persuaded to continue and remained as captain for over twenty years.

He often played for Wirral Divisional teams and continued playing until 2019 when health issues affected his ability to get to matches and he reluctantly had to retire from the league.

Mike was knowledgeable, easy going and never had a harsh word to say about anybody, he will be missed.

Our condolences go out to his sons and families.  His funeral will take place at Landican Cemetery on 20th December at 12.30pm

The Wittal Quiz League Presentation Night took place on Sunday 29^th September 2024 at Oxton Conservative Club. The event was well attended and we were happy to welcome friends from Liverpool as well as Danny Grimes and Brian Thompson, Chairman and Secretary of the MQL.

Following the presentations, a Pairs competition was held which was won by Neil Wright of Soapsuds and Joe Davis of Zelma the Giant Hoe.

WINNERS

Martin Prendergast Cup awarded to the player answering most of their own questions over the season in Division One – Jim Eccleson

Andrea Jones Shield awarded to the player answering most of their own questions over the season in Division Two – Steve Lomas

Wirral Mimir Trophy – Jim Eccleson

Absent Friends runners up – Nelson’s Fifth Column

Absent Friends Trophy winners – Plasterer’s Arms

Oxton Trophy for Division Two winners – Aardvarks

Gordon Ledger Shield for runners up in Division One – Oxton Conservatives

Ted Walton Cup for Division One winners – Tia the Hazel Gnome

You can watch the final of this year's MQL Pairs competition at the link below

The fourth Diamond Jubilee Pairs competition will be held on Wednesday 25th September starting at 8 pm at Prescot Cables FC club, courtesy of the Ormskirk QL.  The address is Eaton Street, Prescot, L34 6HB.

Format

All entrants will be placed into either a higher or lower pool and on the night a draw will be made to create pairs made from a player from each pool.  The First Round is a 40/50-question written quiz that will find the top 6 pairs.  In the Semi-finals these six pairs will be asked questions in turn in a 15 to 1 type format.  A pair has three lives and loses a life each time they answer incorrectly or fail to answer.  There are 10 seconds to answer and there are no bonuses.  The questioning continues until only three teams remain.  Those three teams then contest the Final played in the same way until a winning pair is found.  If there are sufficient numbers then the Pairs finishing seventh, eighth and ninth in the First Round will contest a Plate Final on the same lines as the Final.

Entry

If you would like to take part, then please send an email entitled Merseyside Pairs to either me (briathom59@gmail.com) and perhaps copy it to your League Secretary.  Entries will be confirmed on the Sunday before the competition.  The competition is open to MQL players and there is no charge for entering.

Reports on previous competitions can be seen on the webpage and a recording of the 2023 Final can be viewed here.

I hope that you will be able to join us and look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards

Brian Thompson

MQL General Secretary

Merseyside Quiz League (MQL) are delighted to announce that the MQL Buzzer quiz for 2025 will take place on Saturday 15th February at Hoylake Parade (the same venue the previous two events have been held).

Full details will be announced closer to the time but it is anticipated that teams will need to arrive for 10am and will be finishing around 7pm with a 90 minute break for lunch.

Entry will once again open to MQL teams first, this will happen on Monday 26th August at 7pm. For all other teams who’ve previously participated, registration will open on Monday 2nd September at 2pm. Should we still have spaces remaining after 9th September we will offer them out to anyone else.

Due to increased costs at our end, the entry fee will now be £100 per team with a 25% discount for any team whose squad includes 3 or more players who regularly play in MQL. All teams will play a guaranteed 8 matches and most will play 9.

To register please go to https://merseysidequizleagues.org.uk/buzzer-quiz.aspx and fill in your team details and we’ll be in touch with all teams as soon as registration has closed. Please do not register prior to the above dates or your entry will not be received.

If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to ask.