Roller Hockey Photos

It was a pleasure and a privilege to be present at the Eastern Counties Cup Finals on Sunday 1st July.
It commenced at 9.00am, finished at 8.00pm, but what a day!

Apart from the Cup Finals for all the age groups, we had the Ivan Cook Under 9,s Championship running through the day, in which 6 teams competed for the coveted trophy.
All games throughout the day were highly competitive with several going to a golden goal and/or penalty shoot out to decide the winning team.

The crowd were amazing.
From the very start of the day there were loads of spectators cheering on their teams which made the atmosphere fantastic.
Although it was a long day and people were coming and going throughout, the number of spectators never diminished and by the start of the presentations Bushfields Sports Centre was packed.

As we had a lot of people together and no National Training Weekend this month, we took the opportunity to carry out the second 600 Club draw.
This was won by number 89, purchased by Mrs P. Hillard from Kings Lynn, whose daughter was able to take her home a cheque for £150.00.

I would like to congratulate all the teams on their performances and in particular the winners of the various Leagues and Cups, not forgetting Steve Taylor, who won the Referee of the Year Award, which was voted by the Clubs.

I would like to thank Billy Wells, who we got out of retirement, to come and help out on the day by selling raffle tickets, 600 Club memberships and by presenting most of the awards for us.

I would like to publicly thank, on your behalf, all those on the E.C.R.H.A. Executive who have all worked very hard all season to maintain the position of our Region as the largest and strongest in the Country and to make this Cup Finals day so memorable.

But most of all we have to thank all the players, from the youngest right up to Ivan Cook for providing great entertainment and lasting memories of a superb day.

Keith Allen
President

Meet our senior team representing England at the Senior World Championships in Montreux, Switzerland from 16 – 23 June.

Top:-Michael Ableson, Marc Waddingham, Karl Smith, Joe Wheatley, James Taylor
Bottom:- Brendan Barker (Captain), Kristan Oaten, Neil Austin, Matt Conroy and Danny Barton.

The team will travel out to Switzerland on the Friday and will play their first match on Sunday 7th against Andorra. See the live scoreboard on www.montreux2007.ch

The June 600 club draw will be made. Due to there being no national training in June the draw will take place on 1^st July during the Eastern Counties Cup Final day at the Bushfields sports centre, Orton, Peterborough. There is still time to enter this competition and win £150, just email me Gordon Morrison on gordon@ukrollerhockey.com or Keith Allen President of the NRHA on president@nrha.co.uk for your registration form.

England seniors played Riba de Ave from Portugal on Saturday evening to a crowd of around 200 spectators. The Portuguese pushed our boys hard and were a good match for England to play in this friendly which was in preparation for the World Championships in Switzerland this June. Riba de Ave stepped in at the last minute after the Angola team failed to obtain their visas in time.

Fotos:-
ENGLAND v RIBA DE AVE
ENGLAND v HBU

Results from last weekend’s matches are listed below.

Saturday 19^th May
England 2 – 3 Riba de Ave
England 9 – 7 HBU

Sunday 20^th May
HBU 6 – 6 Riba de Ave

National Cup Semi final
HBU 11 – 3 Halifax

Today saw the first 600 Club draw. Two cash prizes were today picked out of the new purpose build drum at the monthly National training session in the Bushfields Sports Centre in Peterborough. Keith Allen NRHA’s President over saw the procedure and rolled the drum for the first time in front of players and parents. One lucky player picked the two numbers from the drum and it was announced that Aileen Barker (NRHA’s General Secretary) won the monthly £150 cash prize and Ray Stewart (players parent) won the quarterly £250 cash prize. Owen Stewart has son (pictured above) gratefully accepted the prize on behalf of his father. When Owen received the prize he quietly said “I can have my new skates now” but time will tell as to whether dad had other plans for the cash. When Aileen Barker was contacted later she said she would be putting the cash towards the HBU European fund.

This weekend was to see England seniors play the Angola senior team in preparation for the senior World Championships in Montreux, Switzerland. Due to the Angola team failing to register for their Visas in time they will not be playing England Seniors on Saturday evening and Sunday Morning. Carlos Amaral NRHA’s Head Coach has arranged for a Portuguese team Riba de Ave to come over to England to take the place of team Angola. Riba de Ave have their home venue approx. 40km north of Porto.
See their website

The schedule for Saturday evening will remain the same apart for the team substitution. We are expecting a re-arrangement of times on the Sunday. The National Cup semi-final HBU v Halifax will start at 9am.