Sydney University was well represented by current and former players at the recent Australian Masters Hockey Championships in Canberra. Our players enjoyed a high level of success on the field, with several players being selected in the Australian Teams that were announced at the conclusion of the championships.

The Masters tournament is one of Australia's largest annual sporting events. This year, there were 70 hockey teams from all states across the country that participated in the 12 different age divisions. These range from the Over 35's (who were participating for the first time this year) through to the Grand Masters in the Over 70 division.

The current or former SU players who participated in the various age divisons included:

Over 35s - NSW beaten 2 - 1 by Qld in the final
Phil Gray represented NSW
Paul Munro (former player) represented NSW and selected in Aust Over 35 team
Jeremy Flynn (former player) represented ACT and selected in Aust Over 40 team

Over 40 B Division - NSW No 2 defeated Qld 4-0 in the final
James Crabb represented NSW No 2
Mark Matheson (former player) represented NSW No 3

Over 45/1s - NSW beaten 2-1 by Qld in the final
Justin Friemann represented NSW and selected in Aust Over 45 team
Brian Fitzpatrick represented NSW and selected as shadow for Aust Over 45 team
Dale Aitken (SUHC Vets player) represented NSW and selected in Aust Over 45 team
Jeff Stibbard (SUHC Vets player) represented Qld and selected in Aust Over 45 team
Brett Tull (former player) represented Qld

Over 45 B Division - NSW No 2 defeated Qld 2-1 in the final
Ian Jessup (SUHC Vets player) represented NSW No 2
Robbie Mays (former player) represented NSW No 2
Wayne Beard (SUHC Vets player) represented NT

Over 50/1s - NSW defeated WA 2-0 in the final
Michael Irby represented NSW and selected in Aust Over 50 team
Philip Price represented NSW and selected as shadow for Aust Over 50 team

Over 55/1s - NSW beaten 3-2 by WA in final
Andrew Terrey (former player) represented NSW
Dave Prior (SUHC Vets player) represented NSW

Over 55 B Divison - NSW No 2 defeated Qld 1-0 in final
Warren Gale (former player) represent NSW No 2

We also had Mick Larkin (former player) umpiring throughout the tournament to keep up the representation.

During the championships, a dinner was arranged where some of the Sydney Uni players (past and present) got together to enjoy a meal and some beverages. It is hoped that we can make this an annual event at the national titles going forward.

Congratulations to Justin Friemann (O 45s),  Dale Aitken (O45s),  Jeff Stibbard (O45s), Brian Fitzpatrick (Shadow, O 45s), Mike Irby (O 50s) and Phil Price (Shadow, O 50s) who have been selected in the Australian Vets teams.

Justin, Fitzy, Bott and Phil are gallant souls play in our Mens 2nds, 3rds or 4ths sides every weekend during the season, as well as (in some cases) our Vets teams that play during the week. Dale and Jeff are staunch members of our Vets teams. It's a great effort from these players (and their families) to see them now playing for Australia! They will play at the Masters World Cup Tournament in England in September 2012.

The 2011 Gand-Final-winning Vets C team should be compared to the original SUHC Vets team. The Club thanks these very long-term and evidently solid supporters.

Our first vets team in 2001 was:

Players to look for here are Malcolm Newman, Bruce McCormick, Crichton Smith, Andrew Clarke, Tony Selmes, Bruce McKay and Martin Mills, who played in 2011 in vets C. Most were available for the Grand Final, and their less youthful faces appear agian in the photo from that game.  In addition, Mike Irby, Steve Garrett, Peter Pether and David Clarke are still playing, but not in Vets C.

Our 2011 Vets C team, pictured after their Grand Final win, were:

Back, Ken Kershaw, Malcolm Monteiro, Tony Selmes, Alberto Paludetto (injured), Bruce McKay, Paul Rattray, Malcolm Newman, Stuart Bragg

Front: Wayne Beard, Bruce McCormick, Mark Thwaite, Crichton Smith, Peter Flynn, Ian Dallen, Rowan O'Brien

Away for the game,  Andrew Clarke, Martin Mills, Paul Burns

Vets C completed their season with an awesome display of controlled hockey to take out the 2011 Sydney Veterans Hockey Association Division C Grand Final 4-0 against MacPanthers.

In the lead up to the finals, Sydney Uni beat the 1st & 5th placed teams.  During the finals they beat the 4th and 2nd placed teams, which gave Uni the opportunity for a show-down against the minor premiers, MacPanthers (who had lost only 2 games all season).   Both worthy grand finalists and both in-form teams!  It was billed as a must-see game, and supporters of both sides crowded the grandstand. Uni was missing three of its finest players: leading goalscorers Andrew Clarke and Martin Mills and defensive rock, Paul Burns.  There was no reason for complacency.

 First half rundown

It was an extremely tense and tight first half, with some ferocious tackling from both sides to deny each other attacking opportunities in the circle.  The teams traded penalty corners early on, but the score remained 0-0 due to some excellent defence from both sides. The mid field was no place for the timid, with Uni's centre half (Wayne Beard) and the Uni inside forwards (Rowan O'Brien, Mr Bean (Stuart Bragg) & Malcolm Montiero) involved in some dramatic duels with the MacPanthers' key playmakers. 

Uni stuck to Camel's (Malcolm Newman) game plan to keep the ball wide as much as possible. There was some excellent play linking the Uni outside halves (Camel, Bruce McCormick and Bruce MacKay), Beardie at centre half and the Uni high forwards (Ken Kershaw, Ian Dallen, Peter Flynn & Mark Thwaite). The plan worked like a treat, resulting in a number of penetrating sorties into the MacPanthers' defensive zone.

The first goal came at around the 20 minute mark.  After some excellent build up starting with Tony Selmes at the back, Beardie put a lovely ball into the circle that was pounced on by Ian Dallen coming in from left wing. Ian scored a sweet field goal by guiding the ball around the keeper's pads, past a fullback on the line and into the goal. MacPanthers pushed hard in the last 15 minutes of the first half in search of an equaliser, but the Uni defence was like "Fort Knox" (Bruce McCormick, Tony Selmes, & Paul Ratray pulling off some superb tackles) and the MacPanthers in-roads into the Uni circle were repeatedly repelled. Uni kept their 1-0 lead at the break.

 The second half and glory

The halftime tactics were to increase pressure on the MacPanther midfield and continue the effort to win the game.

MacPanthers came out strongly in the second half with a flurry of attacking raids that resulted in a number of penalty corners against Uni. However, the Uni penalty corner defence (which had been outstanding throughout the finals) was simply impenetrable. Nothing was getting past Crichton Smith in goals.   The tackling from both sides continued to be ferocious and Mark Thwaite took a nasty knock to the head from a rugby-like tackle.  A second goal came at around the 15 minute mark of the second half.   Malcolm Montiero sent a hard ball into the circle to Ian Dallen, who reverse-sticked back to Mark Thwaite, who fired the ball through the MacPanthers defenders into the back of the net.  

MacPanthers tried to up the pressure and get back into the game. The game was on a knife edge with both teams fighting for possession and control.  Uni  gradually gained the upper hand as some key MacPanther attackers were subbed. Uni had a number of opportunities, and was unlucky that two Uni shots just missed.

With 15 mins to go scoring the next goal was crucial to both sides.  Keith Millar (the tech officer) was in a sweat with the number of interchanges occurring as tired legs were replaced by less tired but arguably older ones.  A goal line scramble saw Uni's third goal bobble over the line with 12 minutes to play. The minor Premiers were out on their feet, scoreless and 3 down. They got off the canvas for one more foray, though, but once again the Uni defence held firm under a sustained attack.

With 20 seconds left on the clock a Uni raid into the circle resulted in a penalty corner.  A change of tactics saw the number 2 pusher (Thwaitey) push a ball to the top to the circle to Ken Kershaw, who smashed the ball past the keeper into the left corner of the goal after time.  The crowd was delirious with excitement.  Uni had not only won, but had humbled the minor premiers (MacPanthers) with a 4-0 score line. 

The MacPanthers captain summed it up at the presentation following the game:  "We were given a hockey lesson by Uni tonight - well done Sydney Uni."

Goals:  Ian Dallen, Mark Thwaite, Ken Kershaw (2)  

Back, Ken Kershaw, Malcolm Monteiro, Tony Selmes, Alberto Paludetto (injured), Bruce McKay, Paul Rattray, Malcolm Newman, Stuart Bragg

Front: Wayne Beard, Bruce McCormick, Mark Thwaite, Crichton Smith, Peter Flynn, Ian Dallen, Rowan O'Brien

Away for the game,  Andrew Clarke (state of Origin?), Martin Mills, Paul Burns

Vets C beat Northside 3-1 on 13 Sept

Vets C put in another impressive display to win their preliminary final 3-1 against Northside.  It was tense start with a string of penalty corners being awarded to Northside in the first 5 minutes, but excellent defence and goal keeping kept the score 0-0.  The next 20 minutes was all Uni, with superb team play across the pitch resulting in the Vets C taking a 2-0 lead.  Northside came back with a goal near half time to bring the score to 2-1 at the break. 

Ken Kershaw's half time talk inspired the team not to give up its lead.  Another string of penalty corners was awarded to Northside in the second half and, again, excellent defence and goal keeping kept Northside scoreless.  Northside's best shot (a high flick) was beautifully saved on the line by Bruce McCormick.  Uni's third goal followed the string of penalty corners to give the team a comfortable 3-1 lead that could have stretched out further, but a 4th goal was disallowed.  Northside, trying to play catch-up, just couldn't penetrate the Uni defence in the final 10 minutes.

Goals:  Tony Selmes, Malcolm Monteiro, Rowan O'Brien  

Vets C play their grand final next Wednesday, 21 September at 7pm on Pitch 2 at Homebush.

Vets C trailed Northern Districts 0-1 after five minutes in their semi on Teusday 6 September, but their energy and resolve saw them come back to be up 4-1 by half time. The team really clicked for about 20 minutes.

In the second half the pace of the first 35 minutes (and perhaps the sins of the previous 35 years) began to take a toll and both teams slowed down ever so little. SU however battled through for a resounding 5-1 win over ND.

Goals: Malcolm Monteiro (2), Ken Kershaw, Ian Dallen, Wayne Beard.

Vets C now play in the final next Tuesday 13 Sept on P2 at 6:15 pm against Northside. SU to wear WHITE SHIRTS

Last Friday 26 August saw the start of the Sydney 2011 Oxfam Trailwalker event. Two of the club's oldest and fittest - Phil Price and Paul John - put together an SUHC Old Boys team for this high profile event. Some 550 teams of 4 started the 100km trail walk/run - from Brooklyn on the Hawksbury River, through to Mosman above Sydney Harbour. PJ reports:

"Our goal was to complete the event in 20 hours (non stop) by walking, running, crawling (if we had to) the 100kms.

Starting at 8am on a mild Friday morning, our team of 4 intrepid 50 somethings headed out strongly getting in and out the first checkpoint 15 minutes ahead of plan. However, after that the hills began to take their toll on one of the team to the point where they retired from the event at the 3rd checkpoint (44km into the event). Our remaining 3 Amigos continued on to checkpoint 4 then 5. Along the way however, our marathon running team mate from Taree began to succumb to a very nasty multi-layer blister and retired at the 59km mark.

This left the dynamic Sydney Uni Hockey vets duo to complete the final 41kms alone. Event rules then required us to buddy up with another team (as a safety matter) in order to continue, so we latched onto the first available team heading off to checkpoint 6. As we had to check in with our buddy team, we were prevented from any running which meant our 20 hour target soon became a distant memory. We made the next checkpoint, and found a faster team (of twenty something guys) to buddy up with.

These young guys were also only walking the trail, but set a crackingwalking pace which saw us burn past quite a few other teams along the way to checkpoints 7 and the final checkpoint 8. After thanking our young 'padwans', we made the dash over the final 11kms alone, crossing the finishing line after 22 hours, 35 minutes.

Our wonderful support team were there to cheer us on as we crossed the finish line, and insisted we down a couple of early morning beverages to replace fluids and carbs.

And just to show how resilient SUHC old guys are, Phil backed up at 12:30 to help 4ths secure a valuable point against the Minor Premiers, and lock in 3rd spot for the semis!

Along the way, the guys have raised over $2,000 for Oxfam so far, with numerous contributions from fellow SUHC players.

To see how they finished up, click on this link.

You can still make a donation to Oxfam to support Phil & PJ's efforts by clicking on this link:

The photo is PJ & Phil at the finish at 6:30 replacing spent fluids".

SUHC Vets completed their final round on Wednesday 24 August and had 3 wins:

• A's beat Sutherland 5-1
• B's beat Penrith 2-0
• C's beat Sutherland 2-1. 

C grade have qualified 3rd for a 6 team playoff after the close match with Sutho. Both teams knew a win would mean finishing in 3rd place, while a loss meant finishing 5th. SUHC came back from 1-0 down at half time to score twice in the last 15 mins. Coming 3rd means the team may get a second bite if they lose the first semi.

Vets A and B grade have not qualified for the semis this year. The team has had a very consistent make-up over the years and the players have been great performers for SUHC. The pressure is likely to be on the older players in SUHC's men's teams to play Vets as well now so that some of these guys can finally be freed from the pressure of keeping up the club's standards and get more opportunities to have an amble in some less frenetic matches.

C grade will play their first semi on 6 Sep and their second on13 Sep. The Grand Final is on 21 September. All games at Homebush 2.

Sydney vets has a new website. Click on  http://www.sydneyveteranshockey.com.au/competition/points-table

The Classic range of genuine SUHC jerseys hit the world on Saturday 4 June and is selling fast. Just $70 secures you a fashion item and a piece of club history all in one.

Remember: these are genuine Australian-made jerseys made the genuine old fashion way and they will genuinely shrink when you wash them!

The material will shrink about 10% - that's 1 or 2 sizes - horizontally when it's washed based on the first genuine shrink test. Because of the weave the length will stay much the same, but the sleeves will still be shorter because they shrink across the shoulders.

When you try the genuine "factory fresh" jerseys on, find the size you like and get the jersey 1 or 2 sizes larger. If the factory-fresh S fits, you'll need an M or an L if you ever intend to wash the jersey or wear it in the rain. If XL fits, you will probably need an XXXL if you don't want to crack a few ribs the first time you wear it after it's cleaned. Or you can go the Sheldon way and work out that pi*H*(factory radius² - washed radius²) means you can get the right one by trying them on with 7 or 8 litres of drink bottles strapped to your torso.

Contact your genuine VP if you haven't already pre-ordered your 2011 SUHC club jersey. Contact Moylo if you want to know about the maths or borrow the bottles.

SUHC is entering three teams (1st, 2nds and 3rds in Divion s A, B and C respectively) in the Sydney Veterans competition in 2011. Camel is again our Veterans Vice President for 2011.

In 2008, 2009 and 2010 we made the Grand Finals in 1st grade, only to come up short gainst the UNSW Vets/ETS 2nd grade team. This year we will beat UNSW in 1st grade, win the others and still have as much fun as ever.

We need approximately 18 players to support each team. This is becasue the rules do not allow us to move players between teams easily. We also need to allow for the niggling injuries and work commitments that come with being 40+. Currently we are probably going to be pretty much right wuith numbers, which is a great result. If you are interested in playing with us, though,  please email Camel as soon as you can. We have a range of playing skills from State level down, so there is a place for everyone who is interested.

The Vets comp usually runs from March to September with the rounds finishing in August. We play 4 weeks straight through March and then have another 10 games spread over 4.5 months (total 14 round games + 3-4 pre-season). It means games are scheduled about every second week, although there is no real pattern. 

Most games are played at Homebush with B and C Division teams usually having two games at Moorebank. Games at Moorebank never start before 7.00pm. Games for A Division are played mostly on Wednesday nights, and a few on Tuesday nights. The earliest start is 6.15 pm and the latest 9.05 pm. Games for B and C Divisions will be on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with B Division being more often on Tuesdays and C Division more often on Wednesdays.

To qualify for Vets for next year you must turn 40 by the end of 2011.  There is also a provision for up to 3 first grade players who can turn  37-39 next year. This does not apply to grades 2-3.  As a guide, if you are playing 5th grade or higher on Saturdays you could be considered for first grade.  The cut-off is usually somewhere in 5th grade.

Uniforms (including shirts, socks and shorts in sizes below XXXL) can be obtained at Just Hockey at Homebush at any time during the year.

Congratulations to the following Vets, who have been selected to play for NSW at the upcoming Australian Masters Championships.

35/1 Phil Gray
40/2 James Crabb
45/1 Dale Aitken, Brian Fitzpatrick and Justin Friemann
45/2 Ian Jessup
50/1 Mike Irby and Phil Price

The remarkable thing about these guys is that they almost all play Vets and very high level Men's hockey. Phil was part of the SU Mens 1st grade team that beat Briars 3-1 just last Saturday 28 August. Brian, Justin, Mike and Phil play in 2nds, 3rds or 4ths. Ian Jessup lines up with a different "university" in Mens, but he is still out there too.

Congratulations to Phil Price on his recent election as a director of SHA for the next year.

Phil is part of a new team at SHA that includes a new President (Greg Kaye, from UNSW Vets) and a new Admin Director (Paul Kelly, UTS) as well as an updated constitution. The team looks set to make a number of changes that could help raise the sport's status in Sydney. It is noteworthy how many of the team represent the universities, which seem to have the youngest players on average.

The Junior club will certainly have access to Phil: his wife Katie is our Juniors VP for 2012.

Many thanks to Rob Verdon for his work as an SHA director in 2011. It is always good to see SUHC making a meaningful contribution to the sport, and he has blazed a trail for Phil. We hope you enjoyed the steep learning curve on real corporate activity, Rob, but wonder how much might appear in your MBA thesis?