Hats off to NCB stockbrokers, who dazzled the business community this week with their intimate grasp of trivia. It was all in a good cause, of course, at the Business Journalists of Ireland Corporate Challenge in Jury's hotel, but the crack NCB squad displayed a breadth of mostly useless knowledge that left the room agog.
Not that they had an unfair advantage or anything - a top business journalist was assigned to every table, to drag each one down equally. It was just that they could do things the others couldn't. Like name the Irish boat sunk by the French trawler last week (the Oilean Cleire), or recognise Alliance Party leader Sean Neeson by sight.
By the halfway mark, some of the teams realising they had no hope adopted fall-back strategies. These included whooping for joy and punching the air while crying "Yesssss!" when each answer was announced, even though they had got most wrong, and ostentatiously preparing bulging brown paper bags instead of answer sheets to submit to the adjudicator - one Mr P.J. Mara.
None of these tactics, however, succeeded in thwarting the NCB squad. Having initially positioned itself suspiciously close to the table with the prizes - a bottle of wine per player - it closed in on its quarry. The team nearly fainted with joy when it came away with not only the five bottles of fancy Italian wine, but also the priceless Business Journalists Association of Ireland Corporate Challenge Perpetual Shield.
The event, sponsored by Telecom Eireann, raised more than £20,000 for Dublin Simon.
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