Horsham Spinners and Bribar Deighton go from hunters to hunted when the Veterans’ British Clubs League returns at the weekend.

The respective Men’s Open and Women’s champions from 2025/26 both return to defend their titles at Derby Arena this season.

In Horsham Spinners’ case, they will attempt to continue a five-year streak of unbridled success which has seen them gain promotion in each of those years, culminating in lifting the Premier Division title last year.

They have the same squad to call on, led by Jacek Koziarski, who won 16 of his 19 matches last season. He is backed up by Mircea Neagu, Oleh Biletskyi and Roman Doryn and new arrival Andrew Wilkinson, who has moved from Ormesby, the Middlesbrough club having dropped out of the division.

2024/25 champions Topspin Fusion were runners-up last year, four points behind the unbeaten Horsham, and return with the strong line-up of Lorestas Trumpauskas, Victor Guang Shi, Thomas Guignat and Neil Pickard.

Guignat topped the averages last season, albeit having played only eight matches – winning seven – while Shi won silver at the World Masters in June and combined with Guignat to take doubles bronze at the same event.

Bribar Knighton Park are spearheaded by Adam Fuzes and Jason Ramage, while Ormeau are also back from last year.

The two new teams in the division are Draycott, led by No 4 veteran John Taylor, and Kingsway, who won Division 1 (Group 2) under the name of Hurricane last season and boast Michael O’Driscoll at the top of their list.

The women’s Premier Division could not have been much closer last season, champions Bribar Deighton leapfrogging both defending champions Ellenborough and Foresters in the final match and winning by countback from runners-up Foresters.

Joanne Keighley and Xiaoman Ji were the lynchpins of the title victory and both return to supervise the defence, as do Kimmy Pui Lin Lai-Brown and Alice Flatman, with Janet Adams joining the squad.

Defeat in the final match to Deighton ended Ellenborough’s quest for a fourth successive title, and they once again call on Hurey Ahmetoglu, Sara Williams – respectively the No 1 and No 2 on the rating list – as well as Sanja Clements and Tumay Ekrem.

Foresters are also unchanged as they bid to go one better and will be represented by Gabriela Tankel, Laris Titievskaja, Jurate Brazaityte and Kinga Oryl.

Bribar Knighton Park are the other team returning from last year, having finished fourth, and they are joined by newcomers Topspin Fusion Ladies and Waterside Fusion of Ladies, the top two in Division One last season.

Results, tables and averages will be updated on TT Leagues throughout the weekend.

Click below to download the event programme to see the full team line-ups and fixture lists for each division.

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