General News

• Current

• 2005/06

• 2004/05

Newsletters

• Current

• 2005/06

• 2004/05

• 2003/04

• Summer 03

Team Statistics

• Current

• 2005/06

• 2004/05

• 2003/04

• 2002/03

Player Awards

• 2005/06

Committee News

Fri 20-Oct-06

Issue 04

With two particuarly loquacious report writers this week, I shall keep my written intrusion to a minimum. Not our most illustrious weekend in terms of hockey, but what we lacked in victories on the field, we certainly made up for in winning performances at the bar and on the dancefloor.

Those of you unfortunate enough to miss the Awards dinner can live the evening vicariously through Lucy’s detailed account highlighting the highs (not many of them) and lows (in abundance) of the hockey players turned party goers. Thanks to all for making it a cracking evening, in particular, Kate Vicary for selflessly doing all the preparation in the knowledge that she wasn’t going to be there to enjoy it on the night. Next up Quiz on 18 November and Christmas do on 9 December and February next year the first THD Race Night – the fun never ends…

Reports by: Lucy Partington, Gary Boucher, Chris Coleman, Wes Cole, Mark Jones, Chris Richman, Gemma Baker, Karen Dodds, Selina Leleu, Kate Straker

In spite of depleted numbers due to a certain Franco-Anglo-Austro THD wedding happening down under, the old hands and bright new faces of THD season 2006/7 turned up to celebrate the outstanding individual achievements of last season. For the Awards dinner the glamorous ladies of the club all scrubbed up rather well - not too many bruises yet this season, although the Currymeister took a bad twist to her ankle - and still made it to the bar on time. The men’s teams were viciously ambushed and almost didn't make it to the dinner in time for food - some claimed travelling time from deepest darkest Winchester but the marks of the Dog were all over them......

The usual excellent Mimosa fare was consumed at pace - and pudding well under way when MC Jones called the speeches. Our beautiful ladies 1s captain, Ms Baker awarded Best Junior to Rosie le Voir, Most Improved Women's Player to Shona Welch, and bringing the house down, Best Women's Player of the season to Kathryn Sowter, aka "the Rock" at the heart of the 1s defence. The Rock seemed to think there had been some mistake and took a while to be persuaded to her feet to accept her award - although that could have been the effects of the killer red stilettos... The stunning Aidan Brock then awarded Best Junior to Alex Pennington, Most Improved Men's Player (in two teams) to Alex Brown and Best Men's Player of the season to Lee Tearle. His current renaissance as a striker from a lifetime spent at sweeper shows us all that there's a new position for all of us with mature hockey careers... Keith Howick then awarded the Clubperson of the year award to Lucy Partington [although she hides it very well, Lucy has tirelessly organised hockey administration and social spectaculars for the last few years, so all were delighted to see her rewarded for these thankless tasks - Ed], before MJ moved smoothly on to the raffle prizes. Huge thanks to all those teams and committee members who generously contributed prizes. First (or booby, depending on whether you like cider) raffle prize from M2 was a can of Strongbow and John Nurse as a slave for the evening. Alex C was most keen on making a donation for "Fat Nursie" to get his kit off in the bar - and to collective club astonishment, he was equally keen on keeping his kit on...??? A first, perhaps? One suspects that moral standards may have slipped later in the evening when seen leaving a darkened kitchen with a certain beautiful brunette... The subsequent bidding battle resulted in an excellent £40 donation by Mr Nurse to the club raffle collection - well done sir.

And then... tables were cleared, drinks replenished (mainly from the raffle) and the club prepared to launch itself onto the dancefloor......... at this point in the evening everything gets a bit hazy - I seem to think that the respective sides of the club were more than usually good this year about "getting to know each other" - the South African contingent were making themselves known to certain of the lovely THD laydeez... Certainly several reports reached my ears (in addition to those that met my eyes) of much improved inter-club relations. Ships in the night or a safe harbour to anchor? Only time will tell.

Exit of the night award goes to the lovely Longair - tobogganing down the steps to the waiting Aidan Brock Car Service for Most Inebriated Person of the night ( I assure you this was a calculated decision regarding the most efficient method of descending the notoriously precarious stairs - Ed). And the last man standing award - whoever the mysterious blonde bloke who remained behind after all had left, in the vain hope that he would be allowed to escort one of the barladies home... persistence may not have paid of this time but there's always next time... which is in fact on 9th December, Christmas disco, tickets coming out soon...

Honourable mentions go to the heavy lifting lads - Chris R, Chris C and the seriously part-time Nick J. Thanks to the lovely Sarah Longair and Sabrina Tunnicliffe who were fantastic at helping me to clear everything away, Lou and Kath for being suitably intimidating doorladies, MC MJ for doing us proud and to Kate Vicary, whose organisation before the night made it all happen - from whom I seem to have claimed much of the credit. Thanks to you all - the dinner would not have happened without you.

AND FINALLY a special mention for those who have moved to take "the next step" in their lives - to JT, the men's social sec for so many years. Announcing his retirement without even coming back for an emotional final Awards dinner night - we will miss the squawking enormously, but we wish him all the best in Somerset. Thanks for so many years of your involvement in the club - we will miss you. (LP)

More photos available in the Gallery.

Men’s 1s vs. Winchester away: lost 7-3

Imagine this: A bunch of guys going on a trip to the beach to catch a few waves and play with the dolphins. Sounds nice and the Men's 1s were the bunch of guys travelling to the sandy shores. But the picture wasn't as rosy as it sounds. The local gang, Winchester Hockey Club, weren't that accommodating and we determine to not let their turf go without a fight. The Dolphins turned out to be hungry yellow finned sharks and the waves weren't the perfect, glassy tubes that the THD lads were searching for, but rather waves of attacks from the sharks that resulted in a feeding frenzy.

Looks turned out to be deceiving as the sharks that looked like they didn't require any feeding turned out to be the hungriest and deadliest of the lot. THD had no answer to the savagery as they still had their sunglasses on and were still applying the suntan lotion, especially Banners asking his ex-rated gromit to apply Factor 50 while he flexed his muscles and posed for the girls on the side, and we found ourselves 3 down very quickly. The Shark Net in goals was not made by the Kwa-Zulu Natal Sharks Board as instead of keeping them out, he let them in. This bloodbath had its effect on the more aggressive THD boys as words were said and punches thrown in a blind panic as we hit out just trying to hit anything, rather than just the Winchester Sharks. The officiators of the game appear to be members of the Green Peace movement and Free Love to any species of living things on this earth as all the rub of the sea went for the attackers from the deep.

In-between the melee, we found ourselves slowly making forays into their territory out at backline and one of the smaller surferdans of the team, Gaz Weir, pulled one back to give the THD lads some hope in their battle for survival. Unfortunately, this only increased the thirst for more blood of the Winchester Sharks and THD allowed them to double their total and by half time, the game was all but lost. THD had no answer to the savagery dished out to them and the score line of 6-1 reflected how one sided the contest had been. The players hobbled and limped to their patch of turf, nursing their cuts and more importantly, their pride.

With the sun cream gone, and the perfect picture planned for the day in ruins, the surfers from TH&D decided to rally for one another and hit back at their attackers in the second half. The change in attitude to not get step down from the fight had an immediate effect, and we were awarded a Stroke within the first 5 minutes of the second half. The leader of the pack, Andy Balchin, stepped up and reduced the deficit in goals to 4. Within another 5 minutes, some good moves down the right hand side of the patch allowed Jimmy 'The Good Life' Ireson to have a backhand re-entry into the circle of the Sharks and slot another one into passed their Shark Net. As you can imagine, this enraged the Sharks even more and they came out with their teeth showing and ready to bite anyone's heads off that came within their reach. Man Down number 1, Man Down number 2 and Man Down number 3 - the Sharks didn't like it and had three of their kind sent to the Sin Bin for their indiscretions. Unfortunately, the Surfers couldn't impose their advantage of their numbers to better effect as they were unable to break down the ferocity of the remaining Sharks, and our Shark Net had to get the ball out the net one last time. And just to cap off what was to be a dream day, James Vickary saw red and like a Bull to Matador, rammed into a wounded tired Shark and was adjudged to have done it unfairly by one of the Green Peace group.

Hopefully, this will be a lesson well studied and THD can become the Sharks, not the Surfers. (GB)

Team: Duncan Holmes, Chris Smith, Gareth Weir, Andrew Eames, Gary Boucher, Richard Banwell, Simon Glasson, Andrew Balchin, James Vicary, Graeme Fotheringham, Dave Casement, Rob Heath, James Ireson, Andrew Potapa

Scorers: Gareth Weir, Andrew Balchin, James Ireson

Next Game: vs. Wimbledon - Dulwich College, 12.30pm

Men's 2s vs. Reading 3s: Won 7-2

I’ve been asked for a short sharp smug match report so key moments in bullet point fashion here we come………

• They were 2nd we were top. We are still top (by 5 points) they are not second anymore.

• Their keeper loves Paul Robinson. Well that or was he was just sh*t?!

• The nurse brothers like scoring goals almost as much as the blues brothers like hats.

• Army manoeuvres are the only way to get to the dinner.

• As for the dinner that is a report for someone else!

As Lovejoy would say………EASY! EASY! EASY! Enjoy the week off lads. (CC)

Team: Will Pigden (GK), Chris Coleman, Dan Ellis (2 minutes!), Ed Stevenson, Aidan Brock, Tom Cross, Alex Brown, John Nurse, Will Nurse, Matt Groom, Nick Jacob, Paul Harvey, Ed Marland, Potts, Sam Hiley

Umpire: Appointed

Scorers: Nick Jacob (finally), John Nurse (2), Aidan Brock (always), Will Nurse (3)

Next match: Saturday 28th October vs. Bromley and Beckenham 3s

Men's 3s vs. Reading 3A: Drew 2-2

Frustrating day all round. Now we're a few weeks in we can see the competition in our league and we know who we have to beat. This was one of them. A few new faces in the team and some great spells with well taken goals from Ben Wordsworth and Mile Killen again!!! He's not top scorer is he?? Some interesting umpiring decisions at the end cost us a possible last minute clincher and it finished 2-2, not the result either team were looking for. But a welcome one off return from JT and thanks to those who filled in umpiring. Points are definitely needed next week against Southgate to stay in the top 4. (WC)

Team: Irish Greg , Robbie Layton, Alex McDonald, Ed Gardiner, Mike Killen, Adam Taylor, Jo Griffiths, John Holmes, Tim Sylvester, Steeve Reeves, Nick Harris, Ben Wordsworth, Tom Motteram, James Huntley

Umpire: Mike Killen and JT

Scorer: Ben Wordsworth, Mike Killen

Next match: Home vs Southgate 3's.

Tornados vs Reading 4s: Drew 2-2

A game that saw the best and worst of us this season all the goals (for both sides) came from Tornados passing. Our hockey is all about passes... whether that be to our own players or theirs, perhaps passing out the night before from alcohol or even passing over breakfast as the sight makes you want to puke. Reading for their part were arrogant without the ability to back it up on the pitch. They suffer from big club mentality... so while they focus on telling themselves how good they are and having intimidating huddles (Really does that make anyway quake before pushback?), the Tornados focus on winning, fun and not getting fined in the bar afterwards. There are many different ways to approach hockey... it’s just that theirs is crap. (MJ)

Team: Lee Tearle (GK), MJ, Roly Ferneaux, Thomas Hulbert, James Perrott, Wilsh, Nick Jones, Mark Pulford, Dougal Davis, Will Lucas, Loz Mockery, Tom Alexander, Alex Fishwck & Bob Morris.

Scorer(s): Loz & Pully

Man of the Match: Roly Ferneaux

Umpire: Simon Newell

Next Game: Saturday 4 November vs Wimbledon Men's 6s: 10:30 away

Diamonds - No game.

Next game: Saturday 21 October vs. Surbiton 5s - Dulwich College, 2pm

Royals vs. HAC Sutlers: Lost 1 – 3

Second league game and the early League leaders found their way to JAGS for 10:30am for our 11am start, shame the majority of my side who live within about 2 miles couldn’t do the same. Eventually, when the stragglers arrived, we got underway.

After competitive opening exchanges we fell behind to two goals inside a minute. Here we go, I thought, we are going to be in a bit of trouble here but no, my worries were unfounded as we battled back and out-fought and out-played HAC pulling one back from a short corner after about 15 minutes. Now the one consistent thing about the Royals is that for periods of games we can play anyone in our league and possibly the league above off the park so the only question here was was this going to be one of those occasions when we dominate and then inexplicably stop playing.

It wasn’t and we continued to play the game in their territory for the rest of the half without creating any real chances. The only relief for the opposition coming from massive booming sixteens that would not have looked out of place in a grass game. This persisted into the second half with the pattern of play remaining unchanged with us passing the ball well and HAC hitting the ball harder and further Tiger Woods on Nandrolone.

Unfortunately again we created very few clear chances and were punished when a penalty stroke was given against us, harshly as some would say after the game as the ball appeared to be going wide. After this the game drifted to the finish with fatigue catching up on us and rightly so after a very committed and tenacious performance which I was very proud of.

If we continue to play the way we did this week then wins are easily within our grasp, with the wins breeding confidence and hopefully the Royals climbing the table to a position we can be proud of. (CR)

Team: Alex, Keith Howick, Tim Smith, Tom Shaw, Mark Annear, Andy Bond, Rich Batty, Mehraab Nazir, Ed Allen, Stephen Ireton, Mike Wright, Kim Keats, Chris Richman

Scorer: Kim Keats

Umpire: Bill Dowie (Thanks)

Next Match: Bloody miles away (St Albans) at stupid o’clock

Women's 1s v Hampstead & Westminster 1s: Lost 1-0

Both teams came into this clash having played 3; won 3, so it was going to be a tough, top of the table match so early on in the season. All talk of the dinner had been denied until after the game, knowing how our minds easily wander to dresses/make up/where we're meeting for drinks etc etc. H&W's new look Southern Hemisphere side had most of the chances in the first half - in fact, I think it took us quite a while to get into their circle (trying too hard to look for that 'spectacular' last pass) and we were well aware that the oppo had scored most of their goals, to date, through short corners. The ploy of not giving away shorts = no goals didn't work too well, so we relied on not letting them go in the goal instead. However, the oppo thought they had taken the lead through one such corner, but the umpires ruled that the ball had hit the foot/leg of the player first. So, with a big sigh of relief we got the ball out of defence, but two minutes later it was back in our D and in the back of the net after a bit a goal mouth scramble. 1-0 down.

The second half was a much better display from the home side, everyone worked hard and we had our chances to level - Sharon, Lou and B getting into some good scoring positions. But it wasn't to be - our short corners weren't going to plan, but at least we proved Hampstead could be stopped from scoring theirs too. The defence worked tirelessly and though it all broke down a bit towards the end (H&W hit the post after one counter attack), Pipes did a great job at keeping us in with a chance of levelling the score. Game ended 1-0....disappointed, but by no means overwhelmed. (GB)

Team: Pipes, Alex Crawford, Kath Sowter, Clare Byrne, Hilary Collins, Nicky Prior, Bettina Wolff, Faye Billing, Gemma Baker, Lisa Cox, Sharon Smith, Lou Morgan, EJ Barry & Martha Harvey-Jones

Scorer: Them

MotM: Pipes

Next Match: 21st October - no game. 28th October v Basingstoke (away)

Women’s 2s – No game

Next game: Saturday 28 October vs. Old Cranleighans – Dulwich College, 11am

Women's 3s v Raynes Park: Lost 7-4

Much doom and gloom when we realized that Raynes Park are the team with the exceptionally good South Africans in their midst and no they haven’t returned to South Africa yet.

There is a real positive about the result – we scored 4 (four) goals – all from player of the match, Mo, although there was a mutter from Beth about her deflection on the last one, but you have to be in the clubhouse for the post match analysis to claim that sort of thing.

Captain Lou returned from holiday to take charge but a run-in with a polish builder and then a hard ball onto the ankle, resulting in a trip to Kings A&E (which I can’t recommend) made it a bit of a miserable morning for her. She did have company in A&E from one of the Raynes Park players who took a nasty blow on the nose from the ball. Dangerous game hockey.

Other notable events: Wardy playing; Catherine’s return and her spending all of 5 minutes on the pitch before slumping back into tonsillitis misery; improving fitness (although there is still a way to go); improving ball control and movement off the ball (ditto); fighting spirit – marked difference from our 7 – 0 defeat from this team last season; and possibly other stuff which I have forgotten – sorry. (KD)

Team: Dulcie; Emma M; Karen; Stacey; Jen; Catherine; Beth; Georgie; Lou; Emma W; Sophie; Mo; Lucy.

Umpire: Lucy

Scorer: Mo (4)

PotM: Mo

Next game: 28 October v Guildford Away

Women’s 4s vs. London Edwardians: Lost 3-1

After 2 successful weeks we were second in the league with a game in hand.

Obviously quite excited by this we entered the game eager to keep up the winning streak. With a choice of 15 players available (as Lucy decided to take on the keeper at training and surprisingly lost so became number one cheer leader/manager) we were all set!

The game started well, the opposition were very keen to show their dominance, and had obviously played together for a long time. Our defence worked well together and we seemed to be keeping tabs on their forwards until one shot eluded us all and found the backboard. Fantastic determination and aggression from Susie, Anna and Lindsay meant we were kept in the game. After a couple of scary moments some well executed hockey occurred (even Peter would have been proud). Emma B's cross was channelled in by Penny which enabled us to get one back. Unfortunately they managed to keep us marked very close throughout; keeping our forwards frustrated meaning that we weren't able to score again. In the end we were beaten by a more aggressive (aka manly) side, maybe something we should take note of! (SL)

Team: Sally Shepard, Nikki Smithies, Anna Stuttard, Lindsey McLaren, Sarah Anderson, Suzy Medcalf, Mary Cook, Selina Leleu, Jena Kitley, Kate Lievesley, Penny Ganser, Marie Smith, Claire Whitehead, Ash McDonald, Emma Billsdon.

Scorer: Penny

Umpire: Steve Powell

Next Match: Saturday 28th at JAGS vs Purley Walcountians

Women’s 5s vs. Epsom 5s: Drew 1-1

Women’s 6s vs. Camberley and Farnborough 3s: Lost 4-1

Our expectations weren’t high: in previous seasons we have lost by a cricket score to Camberley and this time we were predicting annihilation. Only it never really came. The first and last goals against us were crackers; the middle two shouldn’t really have happened and at times our positioning was all over the shop. But in between their goals we had some good attacking play led by Pippa, some good opportunities to score and a fantastic goal by Katie, normally a defender. Our defence worked really hard and Charlotte our junior goalie made some great saves. We gave them a run for their money and had a good share of the game, and surprised ourselves too. (KS)

Team: Charlotte (GK), Kate Straker, Jo Hillyer, Katie Stone, Lucy Gilchrist, Shona Chambers, Clare Montagu, Alanna Macintosh, Michelle Morgan, Pippa Haworth, Mags Aylward

Scorer: Katie Stone

Next Match: Saturday 28 October vs. Purley Walcountians 4s – 12.30, JAGS

| ©[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Registered Charity No. 1102993