Nottingham World Cup

World Beaters

The International Masters’ squads return from the WMH World Cup in Cape Town, South Africa as the most successful country in the world, with 5 Gold, 2 Silver and 2 Bronze medals to add the 4 Golds won in Nottingham in August.

Masters’ hockey is based on 5 year age groups and having won all 4 golds in the Women’s and Men’s 035/040 sections in Nottingham, the Women’s 050/055/060/065 and Men’s 055 B squad came back with Gold from Cape Town.  In addition, the Women’s 045s and the Men’s 055s won silver the men’s 045/050s claimed bronze.

In the finals, the Women’s 060s led the way with a 5-0 victory over Scotland. All the damage was done in the first half with five different scorers, Helen Royan took her tally to 7 for the tournament and the highest goal scorer award.

 The Women’s 065s beat Scotland 2-0; with Mary Pawson and Margaret Bottomley; scoring the all-important goals in the first period. Mary ending up the highest goal scorer with 7 goals.

The same score line won gold for the Women’s 050s against Argentina, with goals either side of half time for Julia Butterworth and Diane Bellin.  Captain Sarah Bamfield claiming the highest goal scorers award.

Finally, the Women’s 055 beat Scotland 1-0 in a close encounter with Liz Cleverley scoring the winning goal in the 16^th minute.  Again, England had the highest goal scorer in Linda Webb with 10 goals.

The Men’s 055 ‘B’ squad in the Spirit of Masters’ brought home the 5^th gold beating South Africa in a 10 goal thriller 6-4.  After 58 minutes England appeared to be cruising to victory when Ian Konrath scored his second following another brace from Richard Candy, however, South Africa hit back scoring three late goals, but England held out to claim Gold.

Silver medals were won by the Women’s 045s losing in their final 1-3 to Argentina and the men’s 055s losing to The Netherland 0-2.  The Bronze medals came from victory in the 3/4^th play offs; the Men’s 45s and 50s beating South Africa, 4-2 and 4-1 respectively.

Since the Cape Town World Cup, the men’s 060s have returned from Tokyo with a silver medal.  Having topped their group with an unbeaten run, winning 4 and drawing 1 game and then beating Malaysia 2-1 in the semi-final, they missed out on Gold losing 2 -1 to Australia in the final.

Having won all four golds in Nottingham for our 035 women’s and men’s teams. The Masters’ International Teams ended the season with an incredible haul of 8 golds, 3 silvers and 2 bronze medals and a gold for the 055 Spirit of Masters’ squad.

A tremendous return for the England Squads, we are without doubt, the strongest country in World Masters’ Hockey.