The National Schools' Fives Championships, so generously supported by Marsh, continue to go from strength to strength. This year’s entry is a over a thousand up from just over 900 last year. All of us at the EFA would like to thank the Masters in Charge and all the coaches who have devoted so much of their time to Fives during the last year. We would also like to extend a special thank you to Mark Williams, Peter Knowles, Ken Hughes and Paul Bowden for the huge job they do running the Championships.  When Richard Barber, and  what a hard act to follow, asked me to become Chairman he was quick to tell me of his first initiative – It is all down to the Headmasters, he said, if they support Fives then it thrives, if not, well it is an uphill struggle. We have eight headmasters present tonight which is a huge testimony to Richard but also reflects very much what he was saying. We live in a competitive world and it is only right that Fives should pit itself against all other sports but it does need a helping hand. Why should Headmasters support Fives? Well, firstly I believe it is the finest court game in the world, it is the only game played with both hands, it requires rapid hand-eye coordination, it is a team game with no referee requiring fair play and courtesy and finally it has that element of luck which is part and parcel of the sport. Those who play Fives improve at other sports merely by playing Fives. Fives is cool at many schools but there are still a number of schools where Fives is thought of as rather eccentric and certainly not mainstream. If anyone is in any doubt come to Eton on Sunday to watch the final of the Kinnaird Cup featuring four of, arguably, the best players ever to play the sport. They have dominated Fives over the last 10 years and all were past winners of the Nationals, some more than once. However, having seen a few of this year’s young players I have no doubt they will be challenging for top honours pretty soon.

You might think all is rosy in the garden of Fives – sadly not. We are losing far too many players once they leave school. There are few courts at universities and by the time they have graduated, players are into their careers with little time to rediscover Fives. With the very generous support of The Jesters we are beginning to address this but what is really needed is more courts strategically placed allowing both existing players to continue playing and new players to take up the sport. This all requires significant funds and we are endeavouring to source government and lottery funding to supplement the funds we have already earmarked for such developments. We are close to finalising a fully sanctioned and accredited coaching scheme, a prerequisite to any government support, and colleagues are actively exploring ways of reducing the cost of building new courts. This is very much work in progress, along with our move to align ourselves even more closely to the other Fives codes with the creation of the Fives Federation. The building of four Eton Fives courts at Westway some years ago and the introduction of one wall Fives shows what can be achieved. The total number of attendees has increased from 4000 in 2009 to just less than 7000 in 2010 - a remarkable jump thanks to financial support from the John Lyons Trust and the hard work of Pete Cohen and his team at Westway. Pete sadly leaves us at the end of the month and we can’t thank him enough for all his hard work. He has shown us what is possible to achieve although we are some way off finding a financial model that really works.

There are many who contribute tirelessly to further the cause of Fives and I would like to pay tribute to my EFA colleagues for all they do. I would also like to thank Anthony Wagg for arranging this dinner

To conclude, a huge thanks to Peter Newnham and Marsh for their continued support. You have been very generous and your help has been hugely instrumental in the growth of the National Schools' Championships over the last four years. And so I would ask you, please, to be upstanding to drink to Eton Fives coupled with Eton College and our supporters, Marsh."