Gold, Bronze and Fair Play

Gold for the men with Bronze and the Fair Play award for the ladies was a superb return for the England teams from the recent European Championships in Amsterdam. And if I may say so a reward at last for the considerable number of times some of us England supporters have cheered on the teams around Europe in various events over the past 20 years! The men thoroughly deserved their triumph with some excellent performances and it was good to see ex-Magpie Richard (Ratty) Alexander, who played his full and committed part in the success, wearing a gold medal around his neck.

Both teams qualified for next year’s World Cups by reaching the semis where the ladies were pipped by a German ‘golden goal’ and where the men stunned the sporting Dutch crowd and team by their late ‘golden’ effort by Ashley Jackson – later nominated as the player of the tournament. The majority of the capacity crowd of 9000 were cheering for England as they came from behind to beat World and Olympic Champions Germany 5-3 in the final to give England men European Gold for the very first time.

The two events gave the spectators plenty of opportunity to see the self-pass rule in operation and in case you are interested here are my brief observations. On the plus side it will undoubtedly speed up the game and especially if a fouled player runs with the ball very quickly at the resulting free hit. This advantage relies on the umpires not being too fussy over the spot from where the self-pass in played. On the downside not being able to play the ball direct into the ‘D’ from within the ’23’ gives an unfair advantage to a skilful defending team. This ’23’ restriction is an undoubted anomaly. It has been introduced to avoid dangerous play whereas a player may still run into the ’23’ and smash the ball at high speed into the circle. I have already made my views known to the FIH on this aspect!

Ladies’ Club Day – Saturday 5 September

Members are reminded to be ready to play at 10.30am when all teams from 2nds down will be in action with a view to selection for the forthcoming season. Please bring a change of shirt. Afterwards there will be a BBQ and a selection meeting of the team captains. If you are unable to play on Saturday but would like to be considered for selection please contact Julie Podd (01379 855041) or Irene Bicker (01379 853475) as soon as possible. If you are able to help with the umpiring please contact Irene.

Many thanks to the following members for their invaluable recent help

Further clubhouse decorating – Sue Williams, Tony Williams, John Pestell, Charlotte Catalano, Lucy Chubbock, Louisa Greenacre, Melissa Hunter, Hannah Linger, Flora Marfleet, Debbie McAllen, Lauren Mickleburgh, Sophie Moore and Cherry Seaborn. We all had a bit of fun!

Pitch preparation etc. – David Cobbald, Philip Cobbald, Harry Flatt and Harriet Flatt. Due to the heat it was not much fun!!

With kind regards and best wishes

Mike Denham 01603 506925 [email protected] 1/9/09