SOUTHGATE MASTERS ON THE WORLD STAGE

SOUTHGATE MASTERS ON THE WORLD STAGE 🌍🏑

It’s been a busy summer of international hockey for Southgate’s Masters, with club members representing Wales and England at World Masters level – and bringing home a few medals along the way!

Jo Price returned from Belgium this week after representing Wales O70s at the World Cup, in what was the squad’s first outing together. Despite travelling with something of a scratch side, Wales produced a fantastic tournament and played their way into the Bronze Medal match. There they came up against a strong New Zealand side who proved too good on the day, but it was another brilliant international experience for Jo and plenty for the new Wales squad to build on over the next couple of years.

Meanwhile, Southgate was very well represented at O80s level at the World Masters Hockey World Cup in Breda, which, remarkably, was the first time an O80s section had been included at a WMH World Cup.

Playing for England O80s A, Jim Mason came home with a Silver medal after victories over Germany (9–0) and Australia (3–0). A strong Netherlands side won their meeting 3–0 and ultimately topped the pool to take Gold.

There was Gold medal success for Southgate’s Nigel Spencer-Knott and Brian Walcott with the England O80s B side in the International Masters Cup. Captained by Nigel, the team beat Alliance 2–0 and Celts 1–0, with their only defeat coming 3–1 against Netherlands B, to finish as overall winners.

We don’t have quite as detailed an account of the B team’s adventures – according to Nigel, they were simply too busy enjoying themselves to write reports or take pictures!

And the international adventures might not be over yet. The O80s are currently being persuaded to head to Rome in October, with potential matches against an Italian XI and a Rest of Europe side.

A fantastic summer for Southgate Masters: World Cups, international honours, Gold and Silver medals, a Bronze Medal match – and plenty of hockey still to come.

Huge congratulations to Jo, Jim, Nigel and Brian. ❤️🖤🏑