University of Warwick Mens Hockey Club

Frozen pitches and the resulting cancellations presented the UWMHC with a (nearly) full two days of fixtures for the weekend of Week 16, whilst they were still looking to find their feet again after a indulgent Christmas period. A couple of training sessions had also fallen to the weather, and the added strain of a lack of minibuses meant that the boys were in for a hectic week. As the cold finally abated, a hastily organised practice match between the 1s and 2s on Wednesday looked to be well justified, as the 1s in particular struggled to find their rhythm. However, the frustrating match seemed to serve as the shock that was required, and a very positive training session on the Friday night looked to set all teams up well for the big weekend.

The 1s made the long jouney to Newcastle-under-Lyme to play second in the league North Staffs. A high quality first half saw the teams very evenly matched, and after taking the lead through a Harry Wilson drag flick, the students were pulled back to parity shortly before half time through a scrappy North Staffs goal. The rest of the game, however, was characterised by some strange umpiring decisions resulting in Warwick being yellow carded no less than 3 times, and therefore effectively playing the remainder of the game with 10 men. A great defensive effort was finally broken, and with NS leading 2-1, the strain of playing with 10 finally told, and with the mag men dead on their feet yet pushing for an equaliser, NS hit back hard and slotted 3 quick goals in the final 5 minutes to give them a very flattering 5-1 scoreline. Positive signs for the boys though.

The 2s continued their fine form on the Saturday, banging in more goals, a dominant Matt Williams slotting his third hat-trick of the season, and by all accounts an outrageous goal from the ever mysterious Rich Smith. Flair player. The 3s, meanwhile, were presented with the tough task of entertaining 3rd-placed Birmingham Uni 3s at Westwood, and came away on the wrong end of a 6-2 scoreline, though a positive couple of goals from Robbie Newport and Dave Dougall.

The Sunday saw most of the magnificent men emerge slightly bleary-eyed after the previous evening’s fine festivities, which saw many an old boy return for one of the most successful School Dayz efforts in recent memory. Some freshers even turned up. Good work chaps. The 1s managed to blow off any lingering cobwebs, however, with a solid warm-up under the leadership of Peter Gow; club captain Mark Bridger cruelly struck out of the contest with a knee injury that had been exacerbated by his exertions the day before. Undeterred, the boys bounced back from Saturday’s defeat exceptionally well, with slick, calm passing and movement to display possibly their best hockey of the season. When things could have begun to fall apart as Wolves pulled level at 1-1, the 1s kept their calm and hit back with some liquide moves, eventually coming away 3-1 winners against the third ranked team in the league. Cue jubilation.

In a very tough weekend of fixtures, the 2s travelled away to top placed Loughborough Students, and despite an early start after the night before, turned in a very good performance against the runaway league-leaders, narrowly losing 5-3. The 3s welcomed Stourport to Fortress Westwood, and in a very tight game produced some excellent play. They left very unfortunate to lose 2-1, a JT smash providing the goal. Frustratingly the team had other chances, notably in the first half when Robbie Newport did everything right to skillfully round the keeper, but subsequently failed to provide the finish.

The 4s also kicked into action on the Sunday, and provided a great display against an unusually strong Worcester side; this was a team that had only mustered one point before Sunday’s encounter. Despite this sudden and substantial (and suspicious?) improvement in ability from their opposition, the 4s played very well to restrict them for most of the match, but eventually came away 5-0 losers in unfortunate circumstances.

Week 10 brought the familiar end-of-term absences and injuries, but our 4 captains nonetheless scrounged out 4 teams in preparation for the Saturday fixtures. Strains on numbers were alleviated somewhat, however, by the cancellation of both Warwick home games due to frozen pitches. As such, the 2s and 4s were left without games.

The 1s continued to journey up to Wolverhampton though, having drafted in Tim Young for the game which pitted the Mag Men against one of the league’s highest placed teams. A gritty performance saw the students manage to stay in the game and compete for the first half, defending well and looking to counter-attack whenever possible, without ever finding that clinical edge. The second half, however, saw Wolverhampton score with two fine strikes, after Jons Mottram had heroically kept them at bay until that point. Warwick did not give up however, and pulled one back through Harry Wilson, though they squandered another chance to take themselves level. A close result though, and one indicative of what the 1s can achieve this term if they can continue to compete with teams much higher than them. As such the Mag Men went into the winter break 3rd from bottom, but showing signs of resurgence and quality, as exemplified by their unbeaten form in BUCS, where they sit top of their league with 4 wins and a draw.

In the other game that survived the freezing conditions, the 3s travelled to Stourport, and were bitterly disappointed to come away on the wrong side of a 4-1 scoreline against a team who had been only 1 place above them in the league. The 3 points allowed Stourport to climb out of the relegation places, and compounded the 3s position within them. However, in a very tough league and with a very stretched squad for this game in particular – a number of key players not available including the dominant Charlie Baker – the boys should not be disheartened, with half a season to turn things around in a league where 4 teams will be relegated. What is more, strong performances in BUCS competition sees them sitting level on points in second place with Stoke.

Whilst the 2s and 4s did not play in Week 10, they both emerge from their Christmas slumber in healthy league positions (although possibly not healthy fitness condition). The 2s have had a successful first-half of the season in Midlands 1, and currently sit in 5th place, but are only 2 points behind 2nd with a game in hand. Strong. They have the skill to overcome the external barriers that saw the Chirpsters squander their equally strong start last season. They also join the 1s in being unbeaten in BUCS so far, winning 5 and drawing 1, and helped the 1s send the two Brookes teams that paid us a visit on one particular Wednesday back to Oxford on the wrong end of a 13-0 aggregate scoreline.

The 4s meanwhile continue to post strong results under the leadership of Justin Bieber, with some freshers stepping up to give great performances. They too are 5th in MRHA with a game in hand, in another league where 4 will go down this season. They are also currently 5th in their BUCS league, but will be certainly looking to improve upon that in the second half of the year.

With lots to look forward to on the field; relegation battles, promotion campaigns, not to mention cup glory to be sought, there are also plenty of “extra-curricular” activities to be enjoyed. Circle Week 1 promises to be a big one, with School Dayz and the annual Hockey Ball also being lined up this term, to name only a few. Bon Chance to all teams this term, Happy New Year, eat it or wear it. We also gather that Ian Tutssel has finally managed to get in some UWMHC gilets. Ling mate.

Wednesday this week saw a day of cup action for the teams of the UWMHC. The first game of the day gave us one of the tastiest draws of the round, with the 3s pitted against the 4s at Fortress Westwood. An initially tight game saw the 3s eventually run away with it, but only after the 4s had made life very difficult for them. Meanwhile, the 2s made the trip to Leicester to play their second string. Banging in an unanswered 10 goals (don’t worry about it Leicester) they returned to campus just in time to witness the end of the final fixture of the day at Westwood, where the 1s destroyed Notts 4s 11-0. All-round Ling day for the Mag Men.

Saturday also returned some strong results, with the 1s finally getting back on track with their performance of the season to win 2-0 against a strong Worcester team. There were compliments for all players during MoM voting, but Gaz just sneaked it for his display in midfield, lining up against the illusive ‘Craggy’. The 2s moved into the promotion places with another win, this time 5-1 away to Telford, as Lichfield slipped-up elsewhere. The 3s were unlucky against top of the league Loughborough students, eventually falling to a 6-1 defeat, whilst a 1-1 draw with Olton and West Warwick seemed to epitomise the classic mid-table battle in the West Midlands Premier division for the 4th team.

Off-pitch activities really made week 9 a Christmas cracker for the Magnificent Men. These included standard Wednesday night circle, and the annual Christmas meal held in conjunction with the ladies club, which was thoroughly enjoyed by over 100 hockey club members. On Friday the UWMHC dance crew returned to the stage to defend their crown in the CMD ‘dance for Sport relief’ competition. A fantastic performance from the lads, who were just beaten to first place by a fine performance from Tennis, but came away with a very respectable 2nd place, against much tougher opposition than last year. And finally, the week was rounded off with a cracking Saturday night of entertainment at Koko’s with the traditional charity talent show. Some fantastic efforts from those who performed and bags of talent on show. A sneaky little trip to Smack afterwards only added value to the evening.

One more fixture before a hard-earned Christmas break. Good luck to all teams this weekend.

This week saw what was possibly the most players available for the Magnificent Men in living memory, especially this weekend, with each side taking 14, and Justin Bieber having 22 Mag Men to select from. BUCS matches on Wednesday 23rd got the club off to a great hockey-playing start to the week, with all sides winning apart from the 4s who were unfortunate to lose narrowly to Lincoln 2s by a single goal (2-1). The other teams, however, all put in very convincing performances. A great away day was enjoyed by the 1s and 3s who travelled over to Leicester and both beat their opponents well. The 3s kicked off the day in style with a fantastic performance to win 4-0, and in truth should have scored more to reflect their dominance. Those 4 goals included a fine hat trick from our very own Fernando Torres, Rob Clark, and rumours are that he will never wear a head band again. The 1s picked up where they left off, and despite strong resistance from Leicester who were confident after their 6-0 demolition of Cov Poly last week, ground out a determined performance to take 3 points back to Westwood with a 4-1 win. Mark Bridger and Harry Wilson grabbed 2 each. Warwick 8, Leicester 1. Chin up lads. The 2s also continued their excellent BUCS season with a 4-2 win at home to Nottingham Trent, and like the 1s, sit at the top of their table.

Whilst this Saturday’s MRHA results were not quite so resounding, there were a lot of positives to take from the weekend. It was a day of mixed emotions for the 1s, who were thrilled to rediscover their form and put in a dominant performance away at Stratford, but disappointed to come home with only a share of the spoils at 1-1. The day was made all the more bitter-sweet as the Mag Men had a number of chances to take all 3, an un-named Erasmus student missing a gilt-edged opportunity/open goal, and Jonathan Absolon having his fine finish chalked off to take the play back to a free hit FOR WARWICK. The umpire later admitted that on another day he may have let the goal stand. Fantastic stuff umps. The 2nds scored another 4 goals to convincingly beat a Stouport side who were only 1 place behind them in the table. The three points kept the Mag Men sniffing at the heels of Lichfield, only 2 points behind them in the race for second place. The 3s and 4s both lost out unfortunately, but the 3s can be extremely proud of their performance, particularly defensively, in a 1-0 loss to a very strong Beeston 3s on their water-based pitch. A strong result for the boys, who by all accounts could have snuck something from the game on another day.

We charge towards the end of term, with 2 weeks of hockey left before a well earned break.

Five wins, three losses and two draws were the product of a tough week’s hockey for the magnificent men, with two of the club’s sides also playing in double headers over Saturday and Sunday this weekend.

The 1s got off to a great start to the week with a fantastic and comprehensive victory over Oxford Brookes 2s, and thus maintaining their momentum in the BUCS league. Mark Bridger was on the score sheet again with his second hat-trick of the season. The weekend also looked positive, with the side claiming their first MRHA against Chesterfield with a 3-0 win. Unfortunately they came unstuck against Stone and lost 3-1 the following day on a surface that could never be described as a hockey pitch, and despite having the upper hand for the majority of the game.

The 2s meanwhile continued Warwick’s Wednesday demolition of Brookes, banging an unanswered 9 past their third string at Fortress Westwood. Matt Williams, determined to outdo captain Bridger in the hunt for the golden stick, scored 5. The side then capped off an excellent week for Team Chirps with a 4-2 win against Chesterfield 2s, captain Tim Young continuing his good form from the penalty flick spot.

It was a tough week for the 3rd XI, as they encountered tough opposition in the form of a UC Birmingham 1s side who have 9 points from 3 games. Warwick ended up 6-2 losers but are still well placed to compete for the top 2 spots. They were also disappointed to only come away with a point against Warwick Town on Saturday.

A win a draw and a loss for the 4s was met with some disappointment by members of the team, a sign of the expectation that the 4s have of themselves this season. A draw with Derby (Buxton) in the BUCS league, and a defeat by a solitary goal to Warwick Town on Saturday got the team off to a bad start, but a great comeback and win against Bridgford on the Sunday by 3 unanswered goals meant that the team ended the week on a high.

As the dust has now settled after what is always a manic few weeks at the start of term, we can reflect on what has so far happened in the UWMHC for 2011/12, and look forward to what is to come.

In hockey terms, the start of the season has been a mixed one, though this is typical of student hockey and is only to be expected as our coaches, captains and players try to mould 4 teams out of a group of players who are moving up and down teams or have just joined the club. As the Winter nights draw in our training will begin to pay dividends now that we are in the routine. As such it is vital that everyone make every effort to train every Monday and Friday. To not do so is to let down more committed team members.

First of all the 1s got off to a solid start in MRHA, drawing their opening 2 matches and looking to find some good form early on. A 0-1 loss to King’s Heat Pickwick this weekend was therefore understandably disappointing, particularly when the team was left feeling that victory really was there for the taking. On the other side of the coin, this disappointment is tempered to a great degree by a fantastic bashing of Coventry Polytechnic in the first BUCS game of the season last Wednesday.

The 2s meanwhile got off to a flyer under the new Captain Chirps Tim Young, winning their opening 2 MRHA games comfortably, and earning another point this weekend to leave them two points off the top of the table with a game in hand. A victory in BUCS confirmed an excellent start to a promising campaign.

Under JT’s leadership the 3s have had one of the oddest starts to a season in living memory. With many freshers breaking straight into the team, JT has had a real task getting a team to gel in a very tough league, with some very difficult games, but also some great wins, including a 6-2 BUCS win against Aston University, and a 5-0 MRHA win against Bournville this Sunday. Super striker Dave Dougall on target twice in each of those games.

Finally, the 4s are the form team of the UWMHC. With a team packed full of fresh, an injured Justin Beiber is doing an admiral job leading this youthful side. He still somehow manages to look younger than most of them. A great 1-0 victory over Edgbaston this weekend, confirmed the potential that exists within the squad, and took them to second place in the MRHA league with 3 wins and a draw from their opening 4 games.

Off the pitch, on the other hand, has been an unquestionable success. After getting off to a smashing start with the Liverpool pre-season tour organised by our very own Vladimir Putin (which went down a storm), we have been treated to 3 weeks of our favourite group activity on Wednesday nights by Dougall and Gump. Whilst it took a while to get many fresh involved, this week saw them arrive in their hoards and enjoy the full delights of circle and score. We look forward to more of these and to club adoptions this week!

Also well done to everyone who ran in our joint venture with the Athletics Club to run continuously for 2012 minutes to celebrate the arrival of the Olympic Torch at Warwick and the coming of the 2012 games to London. It was a great achievement and involved some fairly unsociable running hours, but was undoubtedly a success.

Hi all,

Congratulations to those of you who have found the website and especially to those who have managed to get on the forum.  It is really important that when you apply for access, your username is something that is instantly recognisable for us to add you- full name is best or a nickname if one has stuck already- don’t worry there will be the opportunity to change usernames later in the term.  For now bare with us or apply again with full names so that we can add you as soon as possible.  See you all Wednesday

With pre season now finished and 3 fine wins under our belts from a successful pre season mini-tour to Liverpool, the buzz is back in the UWMHC. Freshers started to arrive today, and hopefuly with them a new batch of talented hockey players to join the club.

Trials / Fresher session are on Wednesday, followed by the first circle of the year. Tickets for this have now sold out, though season passes are still available which will get you in to every circle of the term at a discounted rate. Details of this are on the forum. Everyone should obviously do their best to be there, to welcome the freshers and have a smashing Wednesday night to start the year as we mean to go on.

With success on and off the pitch already, the year promises to be a good one.

Dear friends,

It seems unbelievable that there are now only just over 2 weeks until pre-season training commences, and a month until UWMHC teams first take to the field to compete in MRHA 2011/12. It’s time to get excited.

We’ve got the return of training, matches, charity fund-raising and circle (which itself obviously comes with clean chinos and purple lips), and lots more.

So if you’re a current member, get off your laptop and do some running, and if you’re an interested fresher, check out the Freshers 11 link on the left hand menu.

I will be here to guide you through the coming months, with information, entertainment, and style advice for Wednesday nights.

Start the car.

Love Joffy

UWMHC had an action packed final week of the 2010-11 season that culminated in an emotional farewell to a fine group of leavers who will all be missed next year.

However, before this, there was plenty to celebrate as the year came to a close.  Monday saw the annual Charity Hockey Tournament take place with great success, whilst there was an opportunity for members to meet and interact with some of the recipients of our charitable donations from Kenilworth Helping Hands.  It was a fantastically well supported event and a great start from our new charity secretaries that bodes well for their ambitous plans next year.

Tuesday witnessed the inaugural UWMHC Golf Day and it brought a huge amount of entertainment as members of the club tested themselves against one of sports most frustrating yet enjoyable games.  Again the event was well supported and provided an excellent prelude to Warwick Sport’s main event of the year, Sports Ball.  Dressed to the nines, UWMHC was well represented at the event and, in conjunction with the ladies club, was recognised as a close second for the amount of money raised for charity this year!

With the end of these events there was one last opportunity for the club to acknowledge its leavers with an emotional farewell on Wednesday.  Nobody there will forget the event and the send off was a fitting testiment to the broad array of fantastic characters leaving the club this summer.  They will obviously be missed and their return to club events next year is already eagerly anticpated. However, their departure offers the chance for current members to step up and make this club their own!  Likewise, incoming members have a lot to live up to but their arrival, as always, will provide an exciting, new chapter in the clubs history.