24.09.2014
Camraderie and Friendship (with a little healthy rivalery) at Diocesan Inter–Parish Hockey Tournament
The sun shone brightly on the Diocesan Inter–Parish Hockey Tournament in St Andrew’s College on the afternoon of Sunday September 21. Six teams from Dublin and Glendalough took part in the new look seven–a–side contest which, in a dramatic turn around, was won by Bray this year. Bray have won the Archbishop’s Chamber Pot (or the losers’ trophy) more times than any other team in the tournament’s 20 year history. This year that honour was taken by Stillorgan and Blackrock.
The new seven–a–side format was introduced this year in order to assist parishes in fielding genuine teams. In the past parishes have struggled to field a full 11 players, so by changing it to a seven–a–side tournament, it is hoped to have more parishes taking part.
This was the 20th Diocesan Inter–Parish Hockey Tournament. When it was started in 1995 by the Revd Anne Taylor and the Revd Gillian Wharton, the aim was to encourage camaraderie, friendship and fellowship in and between parishes, and bring parishes together to have a bit of fun. That is still its motive today, although in the parlance of 2014, it is a fresh expression of church!
Malahide Parish and Greystones Parish participated for the first time this year. The other teams were Booterstown and Mount Merrion; Stillorgan and Blackrock; Bray; and Newcastle, Newtownmountkennedy and Calary. Each team played five matches as they all played each other.
Bray got off to a winning start and continued that winning trend until they were beaten by Greystones. Bray finished with a total of 12 points to secure the Archbishop’s Cup. The rest of the matches were very hard to predict with results very mixed and often going against the trend or expectation. Greystones finished second with 10 points. Malahide came third on eight points and with eight goals scored, pipping Booterstown and Mount Merrion into fourth place with eight points and six goals scored. Newcastle, Newtownmountkennedy and Calary (last year’s winners) came fifth, and Stillorgan and Blackrock won the Archbishop’s Chamber Pot.
Bray captains Hilary and Paul Collins were delighted with the win and Christ Church Bray will be looking forward to displaying the Archbishop’s Cup rather than the Archbishop’s Chamber Pot. Stillorgan and Blackrock captain, Avril Montgomery, was thrilled to receive the Archbishop’s Chamber Pot. In presenting the Chamber Pot to Avril, the Revd Gillian Wharton commented on the remarkable consistency shown by Stillorgan and Blackrock all afternoon and also declared them to be the smartest turned out team in the tournament.
The organisers thanked Steven Hiles who set up the pitches for the seven–a–side tournament and who did a lot umpiring, and paid tribute to Emma Rockter, Ben Bradley and Jayson Kenney who also umpired throughout the afternoon. They are indebted to St Andrew’s College for their hospitality to the tournament each year and in particular to the Bursar, Jonathan Taylor.
Sincere thanks also to the Revd Anne Taylor, who was one of the organisers of the tournament since its beginning in 1995. Anne was the
Queen of the Charts as she made charts for scoring grids, schedule of matches, etc. Thank you Anne for all your work, and every good wish in your new position in St Peter’s Formby.
Photo captions:
Top – Representatives of the winning Bray team. (Photo: Keith Holt)
Bottom – Stillorgan and Blackrock sporting their Archbishop’s Chamber Pot.(Photo: Keith Holt)