Report by Will Hargrove
What an occasion – the first playing of the June Cup this Millennium. With MC for the day Neil Prior with music support from Wayne Garner and a rather muggy day – the scene was set.
Team Hollett managed by Todd Lomas were led by Lewis Hollet with other team members being Veysel Demir, Alastair Whatley, Ravi Chana, Brian Cade, Lucca Bilyard, Chris Rouse, Neil Murphy, Ruben Straat, Cameron Clayon Smith, Julie Rodriguez, Fergus Comrie, Mill B-C & Robin Tullo.
Team Collier managed by Will “Gout sufferer” Hargrove was led by Barney Collier with the rest of the line up being; Akshay Palaniappan, Ben Millson, Noah Lavy, Guy Garner, Dave “ST” Richardson, Caitlin Creeley, David James, Haimish Patel, Mitch Reed, Alex Hyer, Simon Holmes, Vivek Dongha & Olive James.
The game was well umpired (in testing circumstances at times) by: Nigel Dixon & Paul Creeley – thank you!
The format was that of four quarters and Shuttles (which were a mixed bag) at the end regardless of the score line. The first quarter saw Team Collier start by far the more coherently and as a result take the lead with first an open play goal by Mitch Reed with Barney the provider and then a Noah Lavy flick from a “short” – perfectly positioned top left. This could have been three if Haimish “backswing” Patel had made any contact with a cross, he went for the most lavish of strikes when any contact would have done, the stadium groaned in disappointment. The first water break was taken with Team Hollet in need of a rally.
The second quarter was far less eventful with a consolidation from Team Collier. Lucca (brother of Lucas) Bilyard got frustrated and saw a green card that reminded us more of the farming community of the Southwest tour than the sophistication of the London metropolis – may be he just wanted a rest. Halftime saw the 2-0 lead intact.
The third quarter saw Dave Richardson finish off a lovely move by team Collier. Guy Garner bringing the ball down the right from up near halfway before feeding Haimish who passed well to ST who put the ball past Veysel’s feet as he dived. A thing of beauty. Brian Cade and Haimish both saw green cards as a little weariness set in and as Team Hollet tried to respond.
Time for the fourth, and final, quarter (that’s how quarters work) – as Team Hollet pushed the action actually came the other end with Haimish scoring to make it 4-0. Not long after, a cross from team Hollet couldn’t quite be dealt with and Alastair “June Cup” Whatley shuddered the back board – 7 or 8 mins to go and now 4-1 – was a fight back on? Not really as team Collier scored their 5th through a tidy finish from Olive James.
5-1 suggests more comfort that was really there – it felt more like a 2 goal game. Great performances and commitment all round – good competitive hockey played in a good spirit. There were many performances of note – too many to go through but the official awards quite rightly went to:
Young Player of the Match: David James
Player of the Match: Noah Lavy
With that, and with medals awarded to all players and managers by Chairman Murphy, Barney stepped up the mighty ‘gate stairs and lifted the “June Cup” aloft, the crowd cheered – hockey was the winner…
With many thanks to Alastair Whatley for his tireless organising – there were murmurings of a July Cup…we will have to wait and see…
