ROVER OXFORD YOUTH HOCKEY FESTIVAL REPORT

A feast of youth hockey took place at Tilsley Park over the weekend with 101 games played on Saturday and 67 on Sunday by a total of 67 teams to complete what has become the largest youth hockey festival in the country.

This year in memory of Rover’s founder of youth hockey, three games were played on the Friday night. In the first game, Banbridge Academy U16 from Northern Ireland beat Rover Oxford Invitational U16 5-3 with the visitors looking hot favourites for the main event on Sunday. In the Steve Vermeulen memorial game, past and present Oxfordshire players played past and present Rover Oxford players all of whom had been coached by Steve in the past. The game ended in a 3-3 draw and Steve’s wife Anne presented medals to all who took part. In the final game, two mixed sides from Rover’s adult section battled it out in a 5-4 thriller. Pictures

On Saturday the Under 8, 10 and 12’s competed for the trophies donated by the Royal Mail Sports Foundation, which were presented by the Royal Mail’s Gareth Evans. In the youngest age group, Teddington overcame the Mini-Panthers 4-0 in the final whose first trip to the festival from the Wirral gave them the runners up trophy. The U10’s saw an all Oxford final with Hawks beating Rover 2-0 in the final. In the last competition of the day, Cheltenham took the U12 trophy for the third year running winning the final 4-1 against Aylesbury.

On Sunday despite the dreadful conditions, hockey of the highest quality continued to be played with all three finals having to be decided with a penalty shoot out after all the games ended in 0-0 draws. In the morning, Cheltenham U14’s lost to Teddington 3-2 whilst the Cheltenham U16 girls squeezed past Teddington 2-0. In an enthralling U16 boys final, Banbridge Academy U16 boys continued their great form beating Cheltenham 5-4 in the penalty shoot out to take the trophy for the blue riband back to Northern Ireland.

FINALS RESULTS SUMMARY
Under 8 Teddington 4, Mini Panthers 0
Under 10 Oxford Hawks 2, Rover Oxford 0
Under 12 Cheltenham 4, Aylesbury 1
Under 14 boys Teddington 3, Cheltenham 2 (pens)
Under 16 girls Cheltenham 2, Teddington 0 (pens)
Under 16 boys Banbridge Academy 5, Cheltenham 4