• Competitions & Events

Masters Area Competitions May 2022

Women’s O40s – Wakefield

The over 40s Women’s Area Tournament at Wakefield was a 7 team event with South Central and UKAF unable to field teams but everyone who attended enjoyed the event.

the 3 team pool was won by East with West runners up; the 4 team pool won by London who had equal points with Y & NE, drawing their game with each other, but a much better goal difference.

The hockey was closely fought and competitive throughout. South East sadly didn’t score a goal but brightened up the event with more than just their orange kit and reported that they " had an absolute blast, despite our score lines!! We very much look forward to next year already." North West finished 6th but the games they lost were all by a one goal margin. It was that tight! Midlands were unfortunate to be in a 3 team pool with the strongest two teams on the weekend and won both second day playoff games.

East Played West in the final and London played Y & NE in the 3rd/4th place match - repeats in each case of the final pool games. West created a lot of promising circle penetrations but East converted their chances better. Y & NE tired after day one's efforts and London took advantage…..

East beat West 3-1 and London beat Y & NE 4-0

The overall results were

  • 1st - East
  • 2nd - West
  • 3rd - London
  • 4th - Y & NE
  • 5th - Midlands
  • 6th - North West
  • 7th - South East

WO55's Area Tournament  - Timperley

Timperley welcomed seven teams with South Central / South East combining for the inaugural WO55's Tournament hosted by North West Hockey and Timperley Hockey Club. A major highlight of the weekend was the number of players new to Masters representative hockey taking part and enjoying the spirit of master hockey on and off the pitch. With 113 players attended from 85 different clubs plus managers, coaches and supporters all enjoying both some highly competitive matches, helped along by the on-site physio's and a highly entertaining and enjoyable Saturday Night Social that was very popular with all teams attending.

 Congratulations to our worth winning the Midlands who found energy from who knows where on Sunday to claim the trophy with a 4 - 0 win against Runners Up the East. West clinched 3rd place and Yorkshire and North East 4th.

 The tournament was also the ideal environment for NW Officiating Committee to run an umpire coaching and development event for female umpires to support their progression. Annette Badger, Chair NWOC, was delighted with the weekend and the opportunity to also use it to coach the next generation of Level 2 Umpire Developers too.

Women’s O65s - Sheffield

All teams managed to put out a good team and the matches were very close. 

The weather was good throughout.  The tournament was well organised and managed on the day.

The officials were very professional and this enabled the tournament to flow smoothly without any hitches.  The Club made everyone feel very welcome.

The final results were

  • 1st - East/London
  • 2nd - North
  • 3rd - Midlands
  • 4th - South Central/East
  • 5th - West

This is the first season that the O65s have played an 11 aside tournament over a full weekend.

It was very successful, and the teams had only good comments at the end and looked forward to doing the same next season.

Men’s O35s

Played at Nottingham Hockey Centre, with six areas competing in a round robin as SC and SE unable to raise a team.

Final standings

  • 1st - NW finished unbeaten
  • 2nd -  E
  • 3rd -  L
  • 4th -  Y&NE
  • 5th - M
  • 6th - W

It was clear that the two best sides were NW and East and all players were keen to watch the two unbeaten teams play off for the Gold Medal with NW coming from a goal down to win 2-1. 

The tournament was played in good spirits and all enjoyed the weekend with renewed friendships in evidence. 

Mens O55s – Old Loughtonians

The inaugural men’s over 55 Area tournament took place on Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd May 2022 hosted by Old Loughtonians Hockey Club at Luxborough Lane in Chigwell.

All 8 new Areas were represented although South Central and South East fielded two combined squads (Oranges and Pinks) having struggled to find sufficient numbers for separate full squads from the individual Areas.

Pool 1 matches started on Saturday with Midlands winning 1-0 against London with the first goal of the tournament from Kevin Stanyon on pitch 2.  In the match on pitch 1 Stuart Aldrich scored with the last touch of the game to give Oranges a 1-0 win over North West.

Pool 2 followed with a 2-0 win for East against Pinks with goals from Tony Cashman and Paul Whitney and a 0-0 draw between West and Yorkshire & North East. East’s good form continued with a 3-2 win against Yorkshire & North East with a hatTrick from Shayne Andrews followed by a 2-1 win against West (goals from Ian Konrath and Paul Carver).  At close of play on Saturday East were top of Pool 2 with 9 points and West were second with 4 points having won 3-1 against Pinks. Pinks were third having won 3-2 against Yorkshire & North East who were placed fourth.

In Pool 1 Oranges had 9 points having won 3 -0 against Midlands and 3-0 against London, North West were 2nd on 3 points (on goal difference) having lost 2-1 to London but beaten Midlands 1-0, London were 3rd also on 3 points (on goals scored) and Midlands 4th also on 3 points.

After a tournament meal in Chingford on Saturday night, and with the sun shining brightly, the teams  reassembled on Sunday morning for the classification games.

In the first matches Pinks won 2-1 against Midlands and London won 4-1 against Yorkshire & North West including a hattrick from former Old Lought Phill Montgomery back on home turf.

In the subsequent matches Midlands finished 7th overall after winning 4-1 against Yorkshire & North East (8th) and Pinks finished 5th after a 2-0 win against London (6th).

In the semifinals Oranges won 2-0 against West on pitch 1.   On pitch 2 East had a slow start and fell behind to two early Albert Marcano goals for North West and despite a strong second half and another goal from Shayne Andrews (who finished as joint tournament top goal scorer with Phill Montgomery and Albert Marcano) East could not find the net for an equaliser and North West progressed to the final.

East did however end the weekend with a win.  Goals from Howie Wilson and Mike Crowson were enough to win 2-0 against West to secure third place with West fourth.

The final was a hard fought match in the early afternoon heat.  In the end penalty corner goals from Mahmoud Bhatti, Richard Barrett and Richard Adam’s and a penalty stroke from captain Paddy Osborn gave the South Central & South East Oranges team a 4-0 win and the tournament victory. Congratulations to them.

The medals were presented by tournament organiser Jane Blake from Old Loughts and East Masters chairman Kim Hansen who thanked the umpires and the match officials and the many other club volunteers who contributed to making the tournament such a success. Thanks in particular to Jon Kiely who took photographs of the tournament.