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News > Newsletter 2007/08
Newsletter 2007/08
Since 2003/04 the club has produced weekly match reports. From the start of the 2005/06 season this became a weekly newsletter, distributed during the season, containing match reports from each of the games played that weekend as well as other key information and a selection of adverts and offers.
Fri 01-Feb-08Issue 15
As dreary January draws to a close, there is excitement in the air, amongst two teams in particular. The Women’s 2s are currently top of their league, unheard of in recent history, and a situation I take full personal credit for by electing not to play this season..! The new-look team under the tutelage of Mlles Muldoon and Tunnicliffe has stormed to the top of the table and look forward this week to a must-win game against close rivals Spencer – go forth and conquer. In the men’s side, the 1st team are joint second after a resounding victory after travelling half the way to Europe to reach the pitch. The women’s 5s also overcame their entire back line succumbing to injury to defeat the Wanderers whilst the Diamonds got their first points of 2008 with a good draw. The Dragons kept the club goal tally high with an enjoyable trouncing of the UCL students.
Exciting promotion possibilities aside, there is an unfortunate change of tone as I have to pass on an urgent message from the Chair of our management committee , Joanna. There are still people who have yet to pay their subs and the club is currently facing a significant deficit for this financial year. The club is a not-for-profit organisation which works to a very tight financial budget to cover our pitch-bookings, coaches, etc. Individual failure to pay is completely unacceptable, not to say unfair on your team-mates who have been efficient and paid up. The committee does not want to have to introduce any draconian measures but players will be excluded from teams if they do not make arrangements for payment by the end of this week. Should anybody ask why somebody is not playing, we will make clear why this has happened.
We do not want it to come to this - your club captain will speak to all non-payers individually about payment – you know who you are, so please get it sorted. We can then go back to concentrating on the hockey.
On a happier note, Race Night is just around the corner on 23 Feb, come along for a riotous evening in the clubhouse of cheering on the gee-gees – all welcome. Sarah Longair - Editor
The Ritual Rooms have been very generous in offering the club prizes for raffles over the last few events so please see the special offer from them below...
Thank you for supporting The Ritual Rooms in our first year.
Reports by: Gemma Baker , Lucy Muldoon, Charlotte Hawksley, Helen Loftus, Andy Balchin, Tim Sylvester, Billy Dowie, Mark Annear & Mark Jones.Women’s 1s vs. Surbiton 1s: Match postponed
It’s not often the opposition have a team mainly comprising England juniors and when they are called away on Regional / National duty their club is allowed to postpone their Saturday game. Shame really, coz we may have stood a more than good chance of winning the match without them playing. (GB)
Next matches (double header weekend): Sat 2nd Feb v Buckingham; 1.30pm at DC Sun 3rd Feb v Henley (trophy); 12.30pm at DC
Women’s 2s vs. Barnes: Won 4-0
Yep 4-0 again, we are just unstoppable!!!! We arrived late (again), Biba and I really need to work on our timing!!!!
Had a quick run round and a stretch. Kato and I reminisced about the time that Sarah L took a stick in the mouth and ended up looking like Dracula, and of course hoping that it would not happen again to one of us.
A good first goal from some good open play. Jo Walford now know as ‘BEEP, BEEP’ was fantastic up front, supported by a great half Sarah J.
Biba seemed to be enjoying every minute of the game which was great to watch from the back. Kato’s commitment and consistent ace play was very well noted, and made some great hits up to the front line.
More goals came from our number one goal scorer RACHEL T, all was looking good. We had a lucky escape at the end with Barnes winning a short corner, but Jo Walker managed to stop it on the line before I swept it away.
It became apparent that it was a better then we had first thought after the game as our main oppo for promotion did lost and drew their games!!!!!!!! Come on promotion. (LM)
Team: Lucy M, Biba, Kato, Jo Walker, Jo Walford, Sophie, Sarah B, Rachel T, Sarah J, Rachel W, Dulcie MOM: Beep, beep Scorers: Rachel Trafford
Next Game: Saturday 9th Feb Home against Spencer
Women’s 3s – No game
Next match 2nd Feb at Dulwich College at 3pm.
Women's 4s vs. Spencer 4s : Lost 0-1
Next game: Sat 2nd Feb vs. Wanderers 4s
Women's 5s vs. Wanderers 5s : Won 2-0
This week's game was a reminder that whatever you worry about before the game, once you are on the pitch none of it matters too much. Still reeling from a large defeat the week before, armed with the knowledge that our opposition have beaten the team at the top of the league, and knowing last time we played them it was tight we went out ready for the fight but a little trepidatious. Any worries were unfounded. The defence has been a little lost over recent weeks as Nicole who is key to the set-up had been away, so it was good she was back. Unfortunately not long into the first half she took a nasty fall and it looks like she will be away for a few more weeks, (Nicole, hope you are back soon). The defence seemed on a mission to get an injury - next was Martina's turn to have a scuffle with the ball and end up with a gigantic bruise. Only Rachael escaped uninjured; Charlie getting a whack from ball to foot, which enabled the hypochondriac doctor to convince herself she must have fractured a metatarsal! (others might call it a bruise). The forwards did some snazzy things up the other end, implementing some of the 2 on 1s from training but also having to put up with the opposition defence sticking to them like glue. Kate got us a goal in quite early in the first half which helped us settle down and we kept our nerve in the second half.
After some quick refreshments to keep us going and some helpful words from Gemma we got going well after the wee rest, Faith scoring our second goal early on to give us that extra little safety net. It was a good team effort, the defence keeping a clean sheet and the forwards working well together to bag the goals, hurrah! (CH)
Team: Helen B, Kate , Sally, Nicole, Helen F, Rachael, Faith , Hayley, Del , Martina, Andrea, Charlie Umpire: Richard & Mark Scorers: Kate & Faith
Next match: Saturday 2nd February vs Epsom, 11:30am away
Women’s 6s vs. Leatherhead 2s: Lost 2–1
The early start and freezing side wind didn’t stop the fighting spirit of the 6s this week. After a tentative warm up we eventually took all the layers off and went out attacking leatherhead from the very beginning.
The eventual score line doesn’t truly reflect the match as possession was frustratingly 50:50 throughout the whole game. In fact the game maybe looked a bit more like tennis as the ball went from one end of the pitch to the other! We kept up our fight throughout the first half possibly only to keep the constant shouting and screaming from our injured captain to a reasonable level! Leatherhead left the pitch in the lead with one goal eventually passing through our trusty defence.
Our half time team talk from Kate was a simple one “carry on what you’re doing!”. This seemed to act as a boost to everyone as we stepped up a gear and took the ball into the attacking half and gained 5 short corners in a row. Our goal of the match came from a cracking hit off a short from Sinead, she fired it off into the back of the net leaving the goalie standing helpless!
(if you add that to our goals in our last two matches which came from short corners you might start to think we’ve got them nailed!)
Leatherhead managed to slip one more past us in the second half but that didn’t dampen our spirits as we kept pushing that ball back into their half and giving their defence a run for their money. Things got so close at one point Claire decided the Leatherhead goalie was clearly getting in the way so attempted to take her out! Nice work Claire!
We didn’t stop for a minute in this match so thanks to lots of encouragement and some fantastic passing play between all the team we can walk away with our heads held high and ready for our next challenge….
A big thank you to Katie for umpiring and Sioned (apologies for people pronouncing your name everyway apart from the right way!) for coming to help us in defence and making a debut in the midfield! (HL)
Team: Charlotte, Sinead, Sioned, Shona, Clare, Len, Andrea, Lex, Helen, Mags, Bridget, Claire, Gigi. Scorer: Sinead Umpire: Katie
Next match: Away v Richmond 12:00pm
Men’s 1s vs. Gore Court: Won 3-0
If Friday night is date night, what do Saturdays hold in store for the TH&D Men’s 1s?
Unusually, the sun was shining for our trip to Westlands School, Sittingbourne, near Calais. After a bit of touch rugby and some stretching, TH&D started brightly and took the lead early on through Rob Heath. As the first half progressed, it became more apparent that the game was going to be a tight affair with a missed flick by Nurse, but it was Bubs who seemed to be taking the match by the horns in his new “libero” role!?! After a period of hard work, and feeling the ill effects of being back in his homeland, Luigi along with his opposite number requested that the umpire give them a short break to regain their breath. However, Luigi was slightly disappointed when he learned that his opposite number was able to negotiate an extended 10 minute break. The second half started with both teams back to 11 and TH&D duly extended their lead through a deft touch by the Hyphen, following a sublime pass from Smudger. Shortly after, Will Nurse provided another incisive pass to release the ageing centre forward (Andy) who rolled back the years and rounded the keeper to extend the lead. Next it was the turn of another one of the older members of the squad (Gary) who asked the umpire for a short personal break. Gore Court started to apply pressure, but TH&D held firm with great team work in the defence and some notable individual performances from Alex Speculand, Chris Smith and Gary Boucher. As the game approached the 70 minutes, Rob requested that the umpire allow him to finish early. The final few minutes passed with a couple of Gore Court attacks and the sound of the final whistle.
Following the match, the team went their separate ways;
Alex Spec returned for some entertaining duties TH&D resident socialite Gaz went off to a black tie party Dr Luigi Jekyll continued his double life Jimmy sculpted his Magnum-like facial hair Will Nurse discovered the world Gary disappeared into thin air Andy joined the reflex Rob snuggled up on the sofa with a DVD and Palmela Handerson Bubs went back to his cage at Battersea Dogs Home Will Pigden donned his gloves and went to Vauxhall Chris Smith apologised and tidied the house Hyphen found that life as a punctuation mark had its limits Fez was detained by HM Customs & Excise for 3 weeks
Team: Gary Boucher, Will Pigden, Gareth Weir, James Huntley. Dave Casement, Rob Heath, Will Nurse, Alex Speculand, James Ireson, Andy Balchin, Andrew Eames, Chris Smith, Laurent Ferron MOM: Chris Smith TFC: Andy Balchin Scorers: Hyphen, Andy, Rob
Next Match: Sat 2nd Feb, Henley (at JAGS)
Men’s 2s vs. Teddington 2s: Lost 4-1
Important events in history: January 26th
1788: The first European settlers landed in Sydney, Australia 1802: Congress passed an act calling for establishment of a library within the US Capitol. 1837: Michigan became the 26th state in the United States 1950: India, three years after gaining its independence from the United Kingdom, formally became a republic. 1979: Former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller died in New York at age 70. 1988: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera opened on Broadway. It would go on to become the longest running Broadway show. 1993: Vaclav Havel was elected president of the new Czech Republic. 2001:A magnitude 7.7 earthquake rocked the Indian state of Gujurat killing more than 20,000 people. 2008:Tulse Hill and East Dulwich HC Men’s 2s lost to Teddington at Dulwich College.
Team: Nath, Dan, Ferg, Chris C, Tom M, Bungle, Mike K, Nick J, Banners, Paul, James V, John N. Scorer: Mike K Umpires: Alex Brown and Gordon Nurse
Next Game: February 2nd - Spencer away
Men’s 3s - No game
Next game: Sat 2nd Feb, vs. Maidenhead JAGS 12.30
Tornados vs. Hampstead and Westminster: Lost 5-1
Next game: Sat 2nd Feb vs. Reading 4s, CPB
Diamonds vs. Spencer 6s: Drew 2-2
Spencer are riding high second in the Division, and haven’t dropped a point since the end of October. When we met them before Xmas, we were at the top of our game and earned a hard-fought 1-1 draw on their new astro. But we’ve had a fruitless time finding that form recently, having lost our last three games.
So, we agreed to start again from first base. The plan today was to play deep and stay close & tight (but still wide) – defend first, attack if the opportunities opened up. It worked a treat. We matched them in every department in the first half except goals – they took their chances and went in 2-0 up. But in the third minute of the second half, Stephen took a pass just outside the top of the D, wrong-footed his defender with the sweetest body swerve, whilst managing to nudge the ball into the circle, and cracked a beauty just inside the post at head height. Not something we're used to seeing, although Stephen looked more surprised than anyone else. That focussed us on the task in hand, and with five minutes to go we looked like coming out unlucky losers.......... until Adam blasted a free hit at the mass of players in front of goal, and it was Bob's stick that got the deflection past the keeper. 2-2. That got Spencer sweating; if anyone was going to score in the last five minutes it was us.
The close formation allowed us to match them – and sometimes dominate – in midfield, giving us time to build into the attack, rather than lose the ball with hopeful long passes. This is what we have to carry into the next game.
Something else that provides food for thought is substitutions; they had four subs, and we had none. I am absolutely convinced that we are a leaner, more committed outfit when we don’t use a sub. OK, there were two instances on Saturday when injury/exhaustion would have demanded a substitution had we had a spare player on the sideline, but the guys carried on and recovered. Of course, it’s only courting disaster to have no sub at all (forcing JD to play a whole half in October after a ball in the face was bordering on the reckless), but when 12, 13 or god forbid 14 fee-paying members are available on the same day, at this level we all have to get a fair crack on the pitch. So how to ensure it’s more useful than disruptive? (BD)
Team: Simon Bailey, Stuart Craig, Graeme Evans, Simon Canter, Olly Walton, Laurie Shotton, Stephen Ireton, Adam Smith, Bob Morris, Tim Harris, JD Scorers: Stephen & Bob Umpire: Billy Dowie
Next game: Saturday 2nd February, away to Surbiton 5ths, 11.00
Royals vs. Indian Gymkhana Men’s 6s: Lost 5-4
Playing Indian Gymkhana away in Osterley was destined to be the perfect antidote to our victories of last week. Having rolled over St Albans the previous weekend, both in terms of sheer volume of words and (eventually) on the pitch, coming up against the division’s most competitive opponents on their home turf - with two of their own umpires - was never going to be easy.
And it wasn’t, but it proved an excellent chance to test our new-found mettle.
Searing runs, carving balls, accurate passes and well-timed positioning were the order of the day, followed by pulled hamstrings, dodgy knees, blood-soaked shirts and a heart-felt sense that perhaps we deserved a little more. With just five of the same side from our fixture at Crystal Palace - and giving debuts to two more - our penalty corner routine began to click remarkably early. Eventually, three out of seven hit the target, compared with three out of fifteen for the opposition. For this side, now, the game isn’t over until the final whistle - we were 3-2 down with fifteen minutes to go, and at 4-4 with sixty seconds left.
Alas, so close. But we put in a performance that we can be proud of, against an opposition that gave no quarter until we hit their bar post-match. Against any other side, those on-tap Kingfishers would have been sweetly won. Here, they were in celebration of just a well-fought game.
With thanks to the team: Matheu Chambers; Tim Smith, Chris da Souza, Trem Parvin, Mark Annear; Aidan Brock, Colin Wilkie-Jones, Tom Cooper, Kunal Dave, Phil Holton, Chris Coleman, Ram, Ben Slater Scorers: Chris Coleman, Ben Slater, Ram, Trem Parvin Umpires: IG provided both Supporter: Akash Bharadia (although also supporting his potential father-in-law on the other side...)
Next game: 9th Feb vs. HAC Sutlers
Dragons vs. UCL Academicals: Won 9-1
It is a common misconception that the words orange, purple, and silver are the only English words which rhyme with no other words. This is misleading for two main reasons. First, there are many English words with no rhymes. Second, rhymes do exist for all three (though the only perfect rhyme for orange, sporange, is disputed). The following words have been cited as possible rhymes orange: "door hinge" (even though it consists of two words), sporange (an alternate form of the word sporangium). Numerous slant rhymes exist, storage, porridge, cringe. For purple, curple (another name for the buttocks; in Scots, the word for the hindquarters of a horse), hurple (meaning to walk lamely or to hobble), and hurtle. For silver: chilver (which the Oxford English Dictionary lists as an Old English noun meaning a ewe lamb, often referred to as a "chilver lamb", and cites uses as recent as 1883).
Below is an alphabetical list of English words which may have no rhymes.
almond (Though 'diamond' forms a Masculine rhyme with it, almost rhymes with "summoned"), angry, angst, anxious, aspirin, bachelor (almost rhymes with "spatula"), breadth (almost rhymes with depth?), bulb (although the OED lists "culb"), bulbous, calumny, cannabis (almost rhymes with "succubus"), caveat, chaos, chimney (almost rhymes with "calumny"), chocolate, circus, citrus, citizen (rhymes with "denizen"), condom, denizen (rhymes with "citizen"), depth (rhymes with "breadth"), diamond, different (whether pronounced as two- or three-syllable word; almost rhymes with "referent"), elbow, else, empty, engine, film, foible (Loosely rhymed with "enjoyable"), fugue, galaxy, glimpsed, gulf (although in some dialects this is pronounced to rhyme with "wolf"), (gulf rhymes with engulf, as in: "The fire engulfed the room"), golf, hostage(rhymes with "postage" in some pronunciations), iron (rhymes with "lion" in non-rhotic accents), justice (only rhymes with proper nouns), laundry (rhymes with "quandary" in certain pronunciations), luggage, monster, month, mulcts, ninth (rhymes with "twenty-ninth" etc.), neutron, office (nearly rhymes with "novice"), olive, orange ("Door hinge" half-rhymes, "Blorenge" and "sporange" rhyme), pint (rhymes with obscure northern dialect word rynt, which means 'to stand aside'), pedant (rhymes with "dead ant"), penguin (almost rhymes with "sanguine"), pizza, plankton, plinth, promise (only rhymes with proper nouns, like "Thomas"), purple, reptile (very close to rhyming with "erectile), sanction, sandwich (almost rhymes with "brandish"), shadow (almost rhymes with "bravado", "meadow", does rhyme with French "cadeau" which is sometimes used in English), silver (almost rhymes with river, liver, sliver, giver, pilfer, actually rhymes with "chilver" an obscure term for a lamb.), sixth, transfer, twelfth (Can be loosely rhymed with "stealth" or "elf"), vacuum (Can loosely be rhymed with "consume"), width, wolf.
Team: Piggy (M1s GK - let in 6), MJ (P/t GK - let in 4), Ratty, Will Nurse, Simon Riley, Harrow, Beano, Gemma, Lou Curry, Ce-Celia, Sarah B & Vicky Wright. Scorer(s): Beano (3), Ratty (3), Gemma (2) & Sarah.
Social Events 2007/08
Regardless of what happens on the pitch this season we have a massive amount of social stuff already planned to help you celebrate/commiserate away from the pitch.
Race Night Saturday 23 Februrary End of Season Dinner April
see www.thehockeyclub.co.uk/social/events.shtml for more details... |
