Jesters vs. The Fitzwilliam Club (Dublin) matches – Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd February, 2025.
Report by Laura Neill.
Dublin saw strong winds this past weekend, which caused some travel disruptions for the outgoing Jesters. However, they showed their resilience through overcoming flight delays and even rough seas. One of the team, Josh Brownlow, upon seeing his original ferry was cancelled decided to take the last ferry across on Thursday night. This resulted in him arriving at 3am, which helped in adjusting quickly to the local time zone. The rest of the team – Tom Trott, David Simpson (hereby referred to as “Bitcoin”), and Laura Neill – persevered through flight delays and some turbulence.
The weekend started off with our first match against The Fitzwilliam Club, which has been extensively refurbished since the last Jesters trip to Dublin. Laura was up first on the show court against Gerry Callanan, a veteran of squash in Ireland. Laura managed to sneak an early win for the Jesters side, which was quickly equalised by Niall Brennan defeating Bitcoin. Josh battled it out with Shane Broadberry, meanwhile Tom struggled to overcome the jet lag and lost to Alex Smith. Put together, this meant we had managed to orchestrate a very Jesterly draw.
Front row (l-r) Dara O’Flynn, Gerry Callanan
Afterwards, we headed up to the bar for food and drinks. The Jesters were introduced to the “Fitz Special”, which was good for breaking up all the Guinness. Tom somehow managed not to order any food (?) which resulted in the Fitz captain and fellow Jester, Dara O’Flynn, sacrificing his burger and waiting for the late order to arrive. This clearly set him apart as the host with the most, because we would certainly not have been doing that in London! Fitz then took us to some iconic Dublin pubs, with dark wood panelling and warm atmospheres. It was at this point where some of the Jesters realised the Fitz players were actually on the Guinness 0.0, so the playing field would not be entirely equal the next day.
Around 11am the next day, the second Jesters versus Fitz match commenced. As expected, some of the Jesters were feeling a little worse for wear. Shane was able to get his own back with a win over Josh. Tom managed to get an extra game off his opponent, meanwhile Bitcoin benefited from his opponent suffering from a migraine. Laura also won, although largely on account of being a non-drinker. Once again, despite slightly different individual results, we had secured another draw between the two teams. It was at this point that Dara tactically decided it was time to step on court. In the interests of sustaining the existing result, these scores have been mysteriously lost.
Lunch was the trusty Fitz soup and a sandwich combo. Then came the real event – watching the Six Nations matches (Ireland v. Wales, England v. Scotland). Somehow, Gerry managed to get us a table in the beer garden at Humphrey’s pub ten minutes before kickoff. The rugby was nearly as nail biting as our squash. At one point, Ireland were down to 14 men in the first half with a yellow card review. Luckily for the Fitz players and Laura, it became a 20-minute red card – meaning Ringrose would not be back on the pitch but could be replaced by another player. It was not totally over for the Irish side, who went on to win 27-18 against a determined Welsh team. Following this, England were up against Scotland for the Calcutta Cup. Showing the lack of local interest in this particular match, the Jesters players had to ask the pub to put the game on! That being said, there were plenty of cheers from the other patrons after early tries from Scotland. In the end, Finn Russell missed a crucial conversion that meant England held onto a narrow 16-15 win against the Scottish side.
After a quick power nap and change into smarter clothes, the Jesters side resurfaced for dinner and drinks, with some special guests including Joe and Linda Hegarty of the Fitzwilliam Club. As it had been throughout the weekend, the food was exceptional. The Jesters would like to extend their thanks to the catering team at Fitz for their warm hospitality. They certainly set the bar very high, especially for those from the Jesters who had never been to Ireland before. The Fitz players also very kindly gave everyone on the Jesters side a Fitzwilliam LTC top, showcasing how generously they had hosted us over the weekend. In response, the Jesters were able to return a long lost heirloom of these fixtures. After having been AWOL for many years, this priceless treasure had been found in an unexpected and far-flung location… Robert Dolman’s house. This is where we relocated the original Jesters vs Fitzwilliam hip flask, which we presented to the Irish side as a token of our thanks for putting on such a great weekend.
The gifts did not end there though, with Shane handing out a round of Sambuca at the alarmingly early hour of 7pm. He also provided some plastic gloves, the purpose of which continues to be unclear. Days later, Tom still cannot get past this and comments that he remains ‘absolutely baffled’ by the gloves, with the rest of the Jesters side also none the wiser. Shane then used his technological know-how to create something unforgettable. It was noted that, in Robert’s absence, there was no poem or jingle to commemorate the weekend. After entering some strongly biased prompts, and with any errors being attributed to hallucinations in the model, Shane made an AI-generated poem and transformed it into a hip hop song. This became the anthem for the rest of the evening as we moved onto other venues, with Gerry’s contacts in the entertainment industry coming in very handy.
On behalf of the Jesters, we would like to extend our deep gratitude to The Fitzwilliam Club and players for their hospitality. A special thank you goes to Dara O’Flynn for organising everything so well. As captain of the Jesters side, I would like to thank Josh, Tom, and Bitcoin for their commitment and enthusiasm over the weekend. We look forward to welcoming Fitz back to London next year.