Merseyside Quiz Leagues

It is with sadness that we report the death of George Lucy.  A long standing member of the Ormskirk and Merseyside Quiz Leagues, George served as President of the MQL from 1990 until 1993 and was a current Vice-President.  He was for many years responsible for Question Distribution throughout the Leagues and the organisation of the President's Trophy competition.

We send our sincere condolences to his family and friends.

Following regular monthly meetings of the MQL Council it has been agreed that conditions permitting, the Leagues will recommence in January 2021.  It is anticipated that this will be a shortened season and, as usual, individual Leagues will make their own arrangements and aim to finish in March / April.  The President's Shield and the Merseyside Challenge Cup will also take place in this period but the latter may revert to a straight KO tournament for this season.  
If the January start date is viable, then during the late autumn teams may be encouraged to play a friendly or two with each other in order to test out the arrangements in their venues.  The MQL would aim to play its two outstanding 19-20 Finals and perhaps the 2020 Mimir at that time too.  The teams involved in the President's Trophy have agreed to play online and so this competition will begin in September as usual.

The MQL Council will continue to meet regularly to review the situation and is confident that if and when it becomes possible to play, fixtures and distribution could be finalised and with the cooperation of teams, the Leagues' season could be underway within a month.

In the meantime after consulting with their teams about attitudes to the current situation, each Area has made the following provisions for quizzing this autumn. 
 
Ormskirk and S&F will each run their own online league starting in early September (S&F is already running theirs).  
Liverpool and Warrington will meet to agree on a possible joint online league which could also be open to Wirral teams. 
Plans for Wirral teams will be announced following their AGM on 20 August.

All of these plans are of course subject to change as the situation regarding the pandemic evolves. The MQL repeats that the health and well-being of its players (and their families) is paramount in any decisions that are made.

Other dates

Wed 3 February / Thu 4 February         Area heats of 2021 Mimir
Sat 13 February                                    MQL 3rd Buzzer Tournament 

Dates for President's Shield, President's Challenge and Presentation Evening are to be confirmed.

The rescheduled 2020 AGM of the MQL took place online on Sunday 26 July at 7.30pm.  Minutes can be accessed by clicking here.  Congratulations to Angela Doyle (Liverpool) who has been elected MQL President.

Over the next few weeks your Area Secretary will be enquiring if you might wish to take part in a temporary online competition while regular quizzing is unavailable.  Many will have played quizzes online using apps such as Zoom, Team and Meet, but some have no experience at all.  You can watch 5 minutes of a match from the Online Quiz League (OQL) below.  

It features four players that you may recognise from the MQL (Liverpool, Ormskirk and Warrington).  In this particular competition they are playing old MQL rules (ie only one attempt per side) and in this match one of the players is visually handicapped so there is some description allowed.  You are watching Round 7 and unfortunately one player has had to drop out.
[MQL wishes to thank the OQL and the players themselves for allowing us to use this extract]

Notice is given that the postponed AGM of the Merseyside Quiz Leagues will now take place on line on Sunday 26th July at 7.30pm using the Zoom video conferencing platform.  Papers and joining instructions to follow.

Any proposals should be submitted by your team through your Area Secretary and received by 7pm on Sunday 28 June 2020.