New Premier Squash League Backed By THB Clowes
England's principal squash league, regarded as the premier league in the world, will be renamed the Premier Squash League for the forthcoming season.
Furthermore, in a lucrative new three-year deal, the PSL will be sponsored by leading Midlands-based insurance company THB Clowes.
Details of the new league were announced at the RAC Club in Pall Mall, London, today (Tuesday 6 September) by England Squash, at a press conference hosted by the English governing body's Director of Development & Competitions Adrian Christy, and attended by England's former world No1 Peter Nicol MBE and world No11 Jenny Tranfield.
The Premier Squash League gets underway on Tuesday 27 September, leading to the Final play-off at the National Squash Centre in Manchester on 27 May 2006.
National League title-holders Wolverhampton head the list of ten teams which will compete in the 2005/06 PSL season, together with 2004 champions Manchester/Pontefract; 2003 champions Edgbaston Priory; 1999 champions Nottingham; and Derbyshire's Duffield, the 1998 champions; plus Team Chichester, UniSport Guildford, Oberthur Strings Tewkesbury, and event newcomers Surrey Health & Racquets Club (Esporta Croydon) and University Sport Birmingham UNITE (USB).
Originally founded in 1983, the PSL has brought Britain's and the world's top squash players to clubs all over the country. Over half of the world's top ten men and women will be competing in the new season, including English stars Peter Nicol and Jenny Tranfield, and compatriots Lee Beachill, the world No2; James Willstrop, 8; Nick Matthew, 9; Linda Elriani, 6; Vicky Botwright, 7; and Tania Bailey, 10.
Star overseas players competing in the PSL will include Australians David Palmer and Anthony Ricketts, ranked 3 and 6, respectively, in the world; New Zealander Shelley Kitchen, the No13; and Malaysians Nicol David and Ong Beng Hee, third and nineteenth in the world, respectively.
"The decision to rename the league was quite an obvious one," said Adrian Christy at the launch. "The PSL is the pinnacle of club squash in this country - a place in the league is what every club in this country, regardless of size, should aspire to, and the new structure for club squash in this country that is currently being developed will make that aspiration become an ever closer reality.
"Competition is one of the great strengths in squash and this competitive structure has played a major part in developing some of the finest players the world has ever seen. And, crucially, the new PSL will play a critical role in the next generation of English players," added Christy.
THB Clowes Ltd is a specialist niche broker, based in Leamington Spa and part of the expanding THB Group plc. The company has been involved in sports insurance for over 25 years and acts as advisors to sports including Formula One, Rugby, Cricket and Speedway, and offers advice to individuals and associations within the sports industry.
Andy Smallwood, Group Marketing Manager for THB said: "We are delighted that THB Clowes will be the main sponsor of the Premier Squash League (PSL) for this new and exciting season. We look forward to becoming more involved in the squash world and seeing the top players compete around the country."
A unique aspect of the PSL is that England Squash has appointed each club as one of its Academy venues. Under the overall direction of National Coach David Pearson, and linked closely to the County training programmes, each Academy will operate four squads per year and run competitions – with the aim of future Academy players coming through to represent PSL teams and, ultimately, England.
A further PSL innovation is the introduction of web streaming for selected key fixtures throughout the season. As a result of an agreement with the Professional Squash Association and Horizon Software, squash fans around the world will have the chance to watch live and replayed PSL fixtures via the internet.
A brand new website www.premiersquashleague.com will show all the team information, fixtures, results, league tables and reports - along with all the latest PSL news and developments.
It was also announced that leading online sports equipment retailer www.sportdiscount.com has been appointed as the league's Official kit supplier.