18th Merseyside International Canoe Polo Tournament - Report

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What a fantastic weekend! The sky was blue, the sun was hot and bright, the polo was fast, furious, skilful and subtle in equal measures, and overall a lot of fun for all the players and spectators alike.

This year only Kamikaze represented Ireland which probably had more to do with the current downturn in the Celtic Tiger economy rather than any lack of interest from their National and/or Club Teams that usually grace our Tournament. However, Wales and Scotland were well represented and between them eventually carried off three of the eleven trophies that were up for grabs. England provided the bulk of the other Teams taking part, together with current World Champions Great Britain Ladies and the Royal Navy representing the nation as a whole.

Class 3

Class 3, made up of 14 very diverse Teams, initially played in two Mini-Leagues of 7 Teams each followed by crossovers to determine final placing. First game up on Saturday morning was Dragon 'B' (Clan Morris) which included 9 years old Hana and 11 years old Tomos, versus Friends of Allonby Youth 'B' whose players were all under 14.

This game finished as a 3-3 draw and set the competitive standard for the games which were to follow. Hamble Sea Scouts U16 had an interesting, but very valuable, learning experience in their first major competition, and kept cheerful throughout their games with the constant support of the two other Hamble Teams in this Class.

As the games progressed, and their results were fed into the computer, the emerging Mini-League tables began to predict the way Class 3 was shaping up. Scotland Ladies 'A' only dropped one point as a result of their 1-1 draw with Lancaster University in their first game, while in the other Mini-League Friends of Allonby Ladies bagged maximum points without conceding a single goal in their games. Hot on their heels were Green Star 'B' and Tees Tigers 'C' in Mini-League 1, and Kingston Youth, Hamble Seas Scouts 'B' and Pembroke in Mini-League 2. Pembroke were somewhat unfortunate

in that they had arrived with only four players so, from time to time, had to resort to borrowing a player from another team which meant that they had to forfeit those games even when they had actually scored more goals during the match.

The Class 3 crossover games quickly started to sort out the eventual finishing places with Green Star 'B' beating Kingston Youth 6-2 in the 3^rd/4^th Play Off, and after an amazingly even Final between Scotland Ladies 'A' and Friends of Allonby Ladies which went to a tense penalty shoot out, the Scots held their nerve rather better to triumph 3-2.

It has been our tradition for many years to award special trophies in Class 3 to the highest placed Youth and Ladies Teams who hadn't already won a trophy for finishing in the top three places. This year Kingston Youth and Scotland Ladies 'B' subsequently collected these trophies for their very good performances.

Class 2

Fifteen Teams made up Class 2 with initial games being played in two Mini-Leagues of 8 and 7 Teams, followed by crossovers. Pick 'n Mix which included wily "old-timers" Dave Brown, Curly Barker and Dave Packham was the only Team to gain maximum points in their Mini-League games, whilst Liverpool Canoe Club only dropped one point in their 2-2 draw with Royal Navy. Bere Forest Mixed finished in second place in League 1 with Mongrels sniffing around just behind them. In League 2, Nomad 'C' lost just one game against Liverpool Canoe Club to set them up for a testing Semi-Final against Pick 'n Mix.

Further down the pecking order a number of Teams struggled to score too many goals but all their games were played with great enthusiasm and obvious enjoyment.

In the first Semi-Final, Nomad 'C' put up a great fight but eventually went down 2-5 to the experienced Pick 'n Mix players, whilst a very mobile Bere Forest Mixed beat Liverpool Canoe Club 4-1 in the other Semi Final. Subsequent crossovers were played to determine the Class 2 final positions before the 3^rd/4^th Play Off resulted in a 3-0 win for Nomad 'C' against Liverpool Canoe Club to avenge their earlier 1-0 defeat during their earlier Mini-League match.

The Class 2 Final saw the Teams that had finished in 1^st and 2^nd place in Mini-League 1 up against each other – Pick 'n Mix and Bere Forest Mixed. In their earlier League game Bere Forest had gone down 1-2 so they were very fired up to reverse their fortune in the Final. However, at the end of normal time honours were even with neither Team able to break through their opponents defences, so the game progressed into 'golden goal' extra time. Tension mounted as the teams battled for the ball, but in what seemed no time at all Bere Forest seized the initiative and stuffed the ball into their opponents net to wild shouts of joy from their players and very vocal supporters.

Class 1

Sixteen Teams made up Class 1 with initial games being played in four Mini-Leagues of 4 Teams each. Only Viking 'A' and Dragon scored maximum points in their respective Mini-Leagues, whilst Friends of Allonby 'A' dropped one point and Viking 'B' dropped two points to head their respective tables. Highest score of the initial games was the 13-1 win by Dragon over Friends of Allonby 'B' with most of the other results being fairly close across all four Leagues.

Having four Mini-Leagues meant that crossover games kicked in during the first day of play and, as a consequence, quick entry of their results into the computer was essential in order to see which Teams would play each other in their next round. One of the closest crossover games was that of Great Britain Ladies against Viking 'A' towards the end of play on Saturday in which the pace was fast and furious, with lots of tactical pressure from both Teams and instant switching to, and from, five out at critical moments. Despite the eventual 4-2 win to Viking this game was very evenly matched and GB Ladies did themselves proud clearly demonstrating why they are the current World Champions.

The last game of Saturday was scheduled to start at 6.30 p.m. but it didn't actually start until about 8.00 p.m. as so much time had been lost during the day for reasons that were not abundantly clear. However, as the weather was so nice with the sun still shining strongly, nobody seemed to mind the late finish despite the scheduled 8.00 a.m. start the following day.

TSPG (Nottingham University) versus Dragon was the first Class 1 game on Sunday, bang on time, which the pride of Wales won 7-2. Next up was the very evenly matched game between Selkirk Toon (possibly playing their last tournament under that name) and Friends of Allonby 'B' which the hybrid Scots/Northumbrians stole 5-4. Subsequent crossover games proceeded throughout the morning to set up the subsequent Semi-Finals and matches for the final placings for the remaining 12 Teams.

The first Semi-Final somewhat cruelly pitched Viking 'A' against Viking 'B'. Although fairly evenly matched, Viking 'A' eventually secured their place in the Final with a 3-1 win over their fellow Vikings. In the second Semi-Final Derby Rammers met Dragon again after losing 1-5 to them in their initial Mini-League contest. Unfortunately for the Rammers, history was to repeat itself as they went down 0-4 in their Semi-Final.

In the last match of the day in front of a very healthy crowd of spectators, with Andy Dancer and Curly Barker refereeing, the Class 1 Final got underway. Viking played in their favourite mode with robust defending and amazingly fast breaks as soon as they won the ball. By contrast, Dragon played more of a waiting game with long periods of possession whilst they tested the Viking defence and manoeuvred into favourable shooting positions. Dragon's tactics on the day paid off handsomely as they slowly but surely took hold of the game to rack up a very fine 5-1 win to top off an excellent Team performance throughout the entire weekend.

As well as being worthy winners of Class 1, Dragon also won my personal thanks for their excellent "gate fitting skills" which they ably demonstrated at the Camp Site around noon on Sunday!!

A full set of Results from the Tournament, including Mini-League positions for all three Classes, can be found by clicking the results link at the top of the page.

"Top Friends of Allonby Team"

Finally, can I just take this opportunity to pay tribute to the "Top Friends of Allonby Team" taking part during the Tournament. None of its members touched a ball, or got wet, during the weekend as I refer to our fantastic "Butty Bar Team" who tirelessly provided our hungry and/or thirsty competitors with sustenance. In addition, I would like to thank all those other Friends of Allonby members who put in so much of their personal time helping to prepare for, and/or run, our Tournament.

On behalf of Friends of Allonby let me thank you all for supporting our Merseyside International and we look forward to seeing you all again next year (dates to be advised).

Report by Gerry McCusker

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Comments/Feedback:

An excellent weekend and thank you for all your hard work. Our Youth Team really enjoyed themselves. See you in Hull in a couple of weeks time - bring the sun!

Comment from: Julian
Date: 20th June 2009