LONDON, UK – With the rest of the UK enjoying the festive season the English National League South erupted with joy, anger and more drama than an episode of Eastenders on Christmas day.
The big news midweek took place in Romford as Raiders’ team manager Mick Cahill was sensationally suspended by the EIHA in relation to his outburst in the local press criticising referee Jurijs Solovjovs.
Last ever speech in old barn from jubilant Spours
The well respected Cahill appeared to have a lapse in judgement following the Raiders defeat in Chelmsford and his public comments broke a code of conduct he had signed at the beginning of the year with the governing body.
The initial announcement that he had been banned for a whopping nine months was soon watered down to a lesser punishment, as detailed on the EIHA website.
The manager will be suspended for the next 4 games from the bench and the manager will make a statement to the press and to be placed on the club website apologising for the comments made in the heat of the moment and to the official, that was named, the association. If this is undertaken then the 8 months and 3 weeks of the suspension will be suspended till the 1st of June 2012.
Cahill duly obliged and a full apology was printed in the Romford Recorder and on the Romford Raiders official website.
In the same paper Raiders Coach Danny Marshall gave his thoughts on his side’s disciplinary issues.
“We do take quite a few penalties and need to be more disciplined” said the Raiders all time point scorer whose side have amassed 577 minutes in penalties in just 21 league games so far this season.
“I think the fans were trying to lynch him (Solovjovs) after the game. You do wonder is it personal, you feel like that”
“I don’t want referees to cost us silverware and we need to bite our lip and keep our mouths shut”
With the Christmas party scene in full swing, a number of team’s allowed their players out for a few drinks to celebrate the festive period.
Streatham Redskins headed out to the Maple Leaf pub in London’s fashionable Covent Garden for ‘Wings night’ (chicken not the band) on Monday and finished the whole stock of wings within a couple of hours. It was a rather sedate affair befitting a team struggling at the foot of the table but nonetheless good for everyone to get together away from the rink.
Redskins Head Coach Barry Spours spoke of his emotions ahead of a massive weekend of Streatham hockey.
“It’s going to be an emotional game and we really want to sign off with a win against Milton Keynes to say goodbye to the place” explained Spours.
“I started skating on the ice rink back in the late 1970s, so for me – personally – I have a lot of memories playing at Streatham after playing all the way through the junior club here and making my first appearance for the Redskins at 16-years-old”
“It will be difficult for me to say goodbye to the place, but you’ve got to move with the times and the new facilities look really exciting”
Long weekend (Tim Bowers)
Worrying rumours emerged from Slough after team owner Zoran Kozic gave his players an ultimatum at training that they would need to contribute financially to ensure the team continued to operate. A number of players reportedly walked out and held an impromptu Christmas party of their own, and others decided to quit the game altogether.
Luckily for Slough, they have a few weeks to resolve any issues before their next fixture so it will be interesting to see if Kozic pulls the plug or reaches a compromise with his squad. In any case, you can be sure that his better players will be receiving phone calls and emails from interested teams in ENL South Division 1.
So after an eventful build up, anyone hoping the weekend action would be less controversial or newsworthy would be left speechless by what was to come.
Saturday
Starting with the good news. The fairytale ending that everyone in Streatham hoped for became a reality, as the rock bottom Redskins used the power and emotion of their rink closure (or was it the red hot wing sauce from Monday night’s party) to thump the Milton Keynes Thunder 10-3 in front of a big crowd at the 81 year old Streatham Ice Arena.
The normally lacklustre Redskins cruised to a 7-0 lead with a barnstorming display that left regular fans wondering what the players had been hiding for the last three months. Milton Keynes hit back with a few goals but that historical last ever competitive goal at the old rink went to Redskins’ Irish international Stevie Balmer.
Last scoreline in Streatham Ice Arena
The goal was one of four that Balmer scored on the night with an excellent performance and Streatham’s other goals came from Liam Rasmussen and Gennadi Yufit with a brace each and solo goals from Jerry Pavlus and Peter Molnar.
Milton Keynes goals came from Connor Goode, Steve Maile and Martyn Snape. Streatham’s Russ Stevens was ejected for spearing during the second half and the Streatham shorthanded unit had another busy evening killing 25 minutes in total.
Modesty stops me naming Streatham’s man of the match, however after three years (only three? –Ed.) of sub standard performances I will confess it was yours truly. As I said to four goal hero Balmer after the game – ‘Don’t worry about scoring goals, just make a diving slide tackle and set up a goal or two and the beers will be yours next time’. Seriously though, it was a great game to be part of.
There were emotional scenes at the end as the Redskins celebrated on the ice with fans and officials and the locker room was a happy place afterwards.
If the scenes at Streatham were ones of joy, the same could not be said of what was going on down the A2 at the Invicta v Cardiff game.
With the Dynamos 3-1 up, Cardiff refused to finish the game after incidents of crowd trouble, mass brawls and a stick to the face of one of their players. All in all a bit of a mess and one that the EIHA will have to resolve over the festive period.
Old friends at it again (Grant Woolway)
It is perhaps best not to speculate on what exactly happened as opinions (as usual) will vary, however I do feel the governing body are now faced with a big test. The Jack Robinson suspension was a line in the sand and now a series of events involving better known players, officials and clubs has left them with an unenviable task to sort out.
Just when you thought there could be no more drama in one night, Wightlink Raiders and Chelmsford Chieftains served up a real cracker of a game at the Ryde Arena with Dom Hopkins scoring a last gasp winner to win the game 5-4 for the home side.
Wightlink’s other scorers were Connor Pollard, Arran Strawson, Damon Larter and Alex Murray. Tom Long got two goals for Chelmsford with Alan Green and Ross Brears getting one each.
Sunday
In what should have turned out to be a close encounter at Rom Valley Way, the resident Raiders outmuscled and beat local rivals Invicta with a 9-3 scoreline.
The Dynamos, who were missing Ali Band and Ryan Giles courtesy of the previous night’s events, struggled to combat the Raiders mix of skill and brawn and were 6-2 down at one point.
Leone on target (John Scott)
Danny Marshall and Matt Turner both hit a brace each for the Raiders with further goals coming from Anthony Leone, Julian Smith, Sean Wallis, Juraj Huska and Shaun Yardley getting the others. Invicta goals came from Adam Copland, Justin Noble and Harrison Lillis with his first ever goal in senior hockey.
Oxford City Stars faced another tough test as Chelmsford Chieftains came to town. Gary Clarke’s side had stayed in a hotel following the game in Wightlink the previous night, and with no reports of fire extinguisher battles or royal rumbles, the team repaid their management with a convincing 10-3 win.
A hat trick from Jakub Klima and a brace each for Tom Long and Clarke himself set the Chieftains on their way and there were further goals from Alan Green, Ross Brears and James Ayling. Oxford scorers were the returning Cameron Birrell (who opened the scoring), Josh Oliver and Mr Oxford himself, Darren Elliott.
So with all that drama, all there is left to say is have a great Christmas and a Happy New Year and thanks for reading.
Results
Saturday 17 December 2011
Streatham Redskins 10 – 3 Milton Keynes Thunder
Invicta Dynamos P-P Cardiff Devils
Bracknell Hornets 2 – 5 Romford Raiders
Wightlink Raiders 5 – 4 Chelmsford Chieftains
Sunday 18 December 2011
Romford Raiders 9 – 3 Invicta Dynamos
Oxford City Stars 3 – 10 Chelmsford Chieftains
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com
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