Men's Team

2009/10 Season

This has been an outstanding season for the Senior Men’s Squad and the most successful since I have been involved with RAF Hockey. The season got off to a flying start in November with victory in the Inter-Services Indoor tournament held at Aldershot. Despite injuries to some of our more experienced indoor players, we started strongly, beating the Navy 6-4; with the Army only managing to beat the Navy 6-5, all we had to do was draw against the Army to win by virtue of a superior goal difference. Not wanting to do things the easy way, we fell behind to some early Army pressure and found ourselves trailing 6-2 at half time. It looked as if we had let our chance of victory slip away, but thanks to some excellent team play and individual brilliance, we clawed our way back into the match, levelling the scores at 6-6 and winning the tournament by the narrowest of margins.

We had hoped that this early success would help us build up momentum for the rest of the season but our build-up to the outdoors was made less than ideal, with a number of players unable to attend training due to operational commitments and the snow forcing us to cancel several of our warm-up fixtures. However, under the watchful eye of our coach Ian Jennings, we worked hard and built up a solid cohesive team unit.

The outdoor Inter Services took place in March and was another close affair. The Army and the Navy kicked off the tournament, with the Navy emerging easy 4-1 winners. This meant we would have to face the Army first. The match was tough, seeing the RAF create the better of the chances in the first half; however, an uncharacteristic defensive error allowed the Army to take a 1-0 lead into the half-time break. The RAF started strongly in the second half and through continued pressure, levelled the score with a well-worked short corner. The Army response was swift, and with one of their only attacks of the second half, restored their advantage. Not perturbed, the RAF stepped up the pressure and were rewarded with a string of penalty corners which resulted in a well worked goal. Pushing on for the win, the RAF came close to stealing the victory in the dying seconds but cruelly put the ball wide of an empty net. With the game drawn 2-2, we had to beat the Navy.

The Navy match was a fiercely-contested affair, with the RAF converting sustained pressure to lead 4-1 with only 15 minutes to go. The Navy fought back hard and, with some help from the umpires, levelled the game at 4-4. With only minutes to go, it looked like they would be taking the silverware but the RAF kept plugging away and with the ball ricocheting off the post to the centre forward, a simple tap-in proved to be the decider in a thrilling match. The tournament capped an excellent season, with the RAF lifting the Inter-Services trophy for the first time in 8 years.

Next season, we have a training camp in Gibraltar and fixtures against the Civil Service, Police and Guildford in our build up to the defence of our Inter-Services title.