Over the weekend, Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th September, Beeston Hockey Club hosted the third National League Preseason Tournament, sponsored by Russell Scanlan. Twelve women’s and twelve men’s sides took part, each split into two divisions of six teams, playing across four pitches at Nottingham Hockey Centre.
Each team played each other once in their division, with the top two teams meeting in the final on Sunday afternoon. Matches began as 17:30 halves, with a 2 minute half time, mirroring half a National League fixture. Due to the extreme hot weather that the teams and umpires were experiencing this was changed to 11:30 thirds with 4 minute breaks for player safety.
Thanks to the tournament sponsor, Russell Scanlan, prize money was able to be offered to the winners of each division, with £250 going to the Division 1 winners, and £150 to the Division 2 winners. Development Director at Russell Scanlan, Mike Dickinson, was on hand to award the winners a trophy after their victories.
With the NPUA providing all the umpires, the standard of the event was high throughout. Thanks must also go to Andy Barnes for gathering interest from the umpires and coordinating the umpire appointments across the weekend, along with Andy Day for collecting the results and keeping everyone up to date with results and league tables.
Good luck to all the teams who begin their league campaigns in the next two weeks!
The final results and league standings are below:
Women’s Division 1
Winners – Clifton Robinsons
Women’s Division 2
Winners – Beeston 2s
Men’s Division 1
Winners – Beeston 1s
Men’s Division 2
Winners – Khalsa Leamington
