17th May 2010
Howards win Ladies Veterans tournament
At the beginning of May on a grey, cold weekend nine ladies vets teams, six from the South and three from the North, travelled to Wrexham to compete in the Ladies Welsh Veterans Clubs Championships, all determined not to let the weather dampen their spirits
On the Saturday the teams played in three pools of three. Final placings after Saturday’s matches:
POOL A: 1) Howardian, 2) Bridgend, 3) Northop Hall
POOL B: 1) Whitchurch Sts, 2) Newtown, 3) Presteigne
POOL C: 1) Penarth, 2) Dysynni, 3) Dowlais
On Sunday the teams then went into three more pools:
POOL X: being the winners from Pools A, B and C.
POOL Y: being the 2nd placed teams from Pools A, B and C
POOL Z: being the 3rd placed teams from Pools A, B and C
After a long and arduous day on Saturday and an even longer and more arduous night, teams were slightly under par for Sunday but even so they managed to play attractive and competitive hockey.
Final placings after Sunday’s matches:
1st Howardian - Winners of the Championship
2nd: Penarth
3rd: Whitchurch Sts
4th: Bridgend
5th: Newtown
6th: Dysynni
7th: Dowlais
8th: Northop Hall
9th: Presteigne
Since the Championship in this format was introduced three years ago the standard of play has improved every year and this must bode well for the Veterans International teams.
This was also the highest number of teams to compete and it was obvious that all teams were taking the event seriously, but not to the detriment of the spirit in which the games were played. Few of us who saw it will forget an incident in the final match when after a foul by a Howardian player on a Penarth player, which left the Penarth player on the ground, the Howardian player helped her opponent up and they then started to dance together. Such was the spirit!!!
Howardian will be competing in the European Veterans Championships in Holland later this month and we wish them every success. If their dresses for the Carnival night are anything to go by they will be an outstanding success!!!!