2009 BHF League Champions

Well done all 37 Upstarts squad members on a well deserved league title. Our dedictation to the sport and countless hours spent training and keeping fit seem to have paid off.

Upstarts vs Panthers Photos - 22 Feb 09

Never a good sign when you have your keeper chasing back to goal for a ball.... however no goal scored!

One vs. One - Miss........

Two vs. One - Miss....... Haven't we seen this before somewhere...?

At this stage Phil was looking for any help he could get.

Let's see if Ross can do any better......

One vs. One - Wait for it......... saved.....!!!

Not sure what Ward is looking at here but Hargadon has his number.

Kev still confused as to how he saved everything that came near the goals yet managed to concede a goal through his legs.

Upstarts 2 - Panthers 1

As I stood at the half way line as we were 2-1 up with 8 minutes to go, (with all the other Upstarts girls, who like me, are terrified of defending short corners), I was hastily rehearsing my apologies to the team for being involved in three of the worst goal scoring balls-ups of the entire season. We should have been 5-1 up (or maybe 6-1 up Bruce?) and cruising, but no, we were hanging on and defending like crazy to take all three points.

Thankfully, our defence held out magnificently and my pathetic speech remained undelivered.

We started the match on the back foot as Panthers gave us an exhibition of their quick passing and positional dominance. Yes, their nine training sessions a week were clearly reaping rewards in keeping possession, but they were not necessarily getting any closer to our goal.

As always, Kev was an absolute rock at the back. Whenever they got a rare shot away, he just knew where it was going and effortlessly palmed or kicked it away. The rareness of the shots was clearly down to the solidity of our defence. Davy, Kaniaru, Donny, Skiller, Alan and Rob didn't put a foot wrong all day, and calmly passed the ball out to our midfielders, or on occasion, Donny would tw@t it through the midfield at such a pace that if our forwards didn't pick it up, it caused immense damage to the wall and fence at their end of the pitch.

This went on for about 20 minutes or so. Then a moment of pure genius. Gary picked up the ball at around the half way line on the right and easily beat two Panthers, who were clearly tired from all the training, and passed it up to me in their twenty five. I somehow managed to control it, sort of, and pass it back to the still running Tavares. Gary picked the ball up cleanly and fired it into the net. It was definitely one of our goals of the season and it left the Panthers stunned. We had beaten their well orchestrated defence with a move of sheer brilliance. The Argentinian girls would have been proud of that one. Clearly, our training sessions were paying off too.

That took us to half time, where we sort of stood around a bit and modestly told each other how slightly above average we were.

In the second half, that man Bruce came on and quickly astounded us all with a mazy run past three Panthers on the left, before deftly passing it on to Ross on the edge of the D. I'm not sure what happened then, but two minutes later he did it again. This time though, I think it all ended up with a short corner and Gary blasted it in under their keeper. 2-0 up and we were in a strong position.

A few minutes later, Pete picked the ball up on the right, fired it over to Ross on the edge of the D who in turn, expertly played it onto Bruce who was waiting at the far post with the line to beat. 'Why don't I get chances like that?' I cried from the bench, as the ball continued towards the corner flag following Brucies' freshy.

I wish I'd have kept my mouth shut.

By this time, Panthers were pushing up and leaving big gaps at the back. Then the nightmares began.

Rather than dwell on the two unconverted two on ones Ross and I had, and the one unconverted one on one I had against their keeper, I'd like to reiterate how well our defence and midfield played on Saturday. You basically won the game for us. Donny's disciplined stint in the middle at the back gave us the structure for the other defenders to work around.

At the other end, I single handedly F***ed up all three opportunities with amazing ease. I would have happily left the stadium with three TW@T sticks instead of just one, but at the end of the day, as I just mentioned, the game was won by our defence and two great goals (again) by Gary.

In addition, JT, Kirk, Bruce, Pete, Ross and Keir ran tirelessly throughout the match and basically shut out their allegedly very strong midfield.

But my mind just keeps going back to standing on that halfway line as Panthers had got one back, and were on a roll with yet another short corner...............the ordinarily polite Kirk came over to me and said something along the lines of 'Trussell, you're supposed to put in the net you ********* ******* ******* ********* **cker. I didn't argue with him.

We mustn't forget Johnny, who also had an excellent game on the bench. Nursing a torn hamstring and an extremely dodgy pair of sunglasses, he valiantly let the rest of us take the victory. He'll be back next game for sure.

Anyway, we won, and we're top of the league with a four point lead.

So we're DLWWWWWWWWWWW

Assuming Panthers don't slip up, we need two more W's from these three remaining games.

Sun 8 March vs Rebels 12.30pm
Sun 15 March vs Police 12.30pm
Sun 22 March vs Chameleons 12.30pm

NONE of the above games will be easy. We'll take each one as it comes, and let's get some fitness training in during our week off. We want to finish this campaign in style.

I'll email out for availability a week today for the Rebels game. Ross and Bruce - do you think the three of us need to practice in front of goal just a little bit before then?

Phil

Upstarts Golf Day

Pete on the par 3 7th....



Rob on the par 3 7th....



Phil on the par 3 7th shortly after chipping in for eagle...

Upstarts 6 - Chameleons 0

A decent result against a lacklustre Chameleons team who were lucky to be 0 - 0 at half time. The final score of 6-0 could have been much more had the Upstarts woken up before the start of the game instead of at half time.

Goals Scorers:
Donald Moniz
Gareth Tavares x 3
Peter Douglas
Phil Trussell

T.W.A.T. awarded to Moniz for the meal he made of his short corner strike.

Next game against the ladies Bermuda Pan Am Cup squad on Friday at 6:30pm.

Upstarts 4 - Panthers 3

Another great win for the Upstarts against the defending champions Panthers.

Check out the post game interview at:
http://www.bermudasportsnetwork.com/content/view/187/66/

Goal scorers:
Gareth Tavares 3
Phil Trussell 1

T.W.A.T. award goes to Phil Trussell for his superb match winning goal in the dying minutes of the game. We were lucky enough to have the Honorable JP MP PCP ANC DP Jon Brunson hand over the award in a touching 1 hour ceremony that had many of the players and supporters on the verge of tears.

Upstarts 7 - Rebels 0

Message from el capitno

As I sit here writing this on Sunday morning, my right hamstring hurts, my knees hurt, my back hurts, even my bloody eyelashes hurt. I think I’m just getting too old to play hockey. But then I say to myself, how does the rest of the team cope?

Not wishing to upset anyone of course, but I’m certain we must be the oldest hockey team in the Western Hemisphere. I mean, looking at our squad purely from an age perspective:
We have two in their fifties, five in their forties, two of which are nearly in their fifties, six in their thirties, three of which are nearly in their forties, three in their twenties, all of which are about to enter their thirties, and Donny tells me Kirk is 87.

The youngest member of the squad is the cooler, and that must be at least 23 years old.
So what does all this mean? Well, clearly Kirk has been lying about his age for the last thirty years for immigration purposes. Based on yesterday’s performance he surely must be the fittest octogenarian out there. And what about Mr Brunson, the man is 47 and he looks 19……….what’s going on there? His hockey seems to get better with every match. Please Jon, give me a large dose of whatever it is you’ve been taking.

As old people say, age is just a number, that’s what it all means. Apart from the many ailments in my first paragraph, I feel the same as when I was 26. (25 was when I really slowed down). I’m sure all the older gentlemen amongst us are the same, or we wouldn’t be doing this would we?
But enough of this philosophical nonsense…………….hey, we won and we kept a clean sheet.
Well done Kev, and well done the back four. Davy was magnificent at right back, nothing fancy, just first class defending. Kaniaru, the most laid back of laid back people was just that, laid back. I don’t think he ran further than five metres at any one time and just took the ball off anyone that came near him, including Keir twice.

Keir’s performance was exemplary. He was all over the pitch, showing incredible levels of stamina, positional awareness and superb flair and technique. (Have I missed anything Keir?). Then we have our new recruit Johnnie, who not only played well at left back, also had a go in midfield, where he looked very comfortable indeed.

That just leaves Johnnie’s replacement at the back, Alan. A very solid first game for this season from the founder of Upstarts, a man who loves nothing more than to run around naked on stage in front of lecherous old ladies. I hate to think what his other hobbies are………………….
We had a couple of debutants as well. Harpal, who hasn’t played for several years, but will soon get back into it, and Bruce, who when I first met him, went right up in my estimations as he was carrying two cases of Heineken. He went right down in my estimations just as quickly though, when he gave the Heineken to Panthers…………………please don’t do that again Bruce. Well done on the pitch though.

Our midfield was dominant against Rebels. Donny tackled and distributed the ball brilliantly, and Kirk just ran and ran and ran and banged in two goals. He and Brunson were tireless throughout the match.

Gary had yet another excellent game with a hat trick, although he was definitely distracted at times. I’m sure I heard him on the phone at half time trying to sell the Argentine hockey side several sets of Christine’s shin pads.

Pete had his best game yet by far in an Upstarts shirt. He was everywhere, clearly demonstrating he really knows how to play the game and he walked away with several game winning assists. He, and the other new guys have been great additions to our club this season.
I managed a couple of goals, but should perhaps have had three more, with good chances being bollocksed up basically. I would have nailed them when I was 43.

So overall, a great result and a great performance. It will be much tougher against the Police next week, but we can beat them, as we can anyone in this league.
Finally, we have one item of administration to take care of.

An addition has been made to the Club’s Bye Laws.

Starting this week, an award will be made to the player who, in the sole opinion of the incumbent award holder, ‘Displays on one or more occasion, during the course of a match day, behavior that may not be in keeping with the ‘spirit’ of Upstarts Hockey Club. Examples of such behavior may include instances of, (but not limited to), taking himself too seriously, not passing the ball when appropriate, refusing to join in with post match festivities, making complimentary comments about Chameleons or expressing a desire to train ’.

The award consists of one week’s possession of an extremely girly bright pink hockey stick, which must be used by the recipient in the match following the presentation of the award.
The incumbent award winner must then present the award to another player of his choosing immediately following that week’s match and so on.

As team Captain, and as I have the award in my possession, I shall get the ball rolling by making the first presentation.

This goes to one of my team mates, who, on Saturday:
1. Displayed excessive levels of showing off by scoring a hat trick
2. Unashamedly tried to sell everyone he met one of his girlfriend’s hockey accessories
3. Refused to pass to me on at least two separate occasions when I was free in front of goal
4. Orchestrated three successful short corner routines resulting in one goal and two near misses, come on, it’s just not an Upstarts thing to do

Yes, the honorary first recipient of the Upstarts Hockey Club ‘Twat Stick’ is none other than our resident superstar, Mr Gary Tavares. May you go forth and score another hat trick with it at the weekend, nothing less will do Gary, nothing less will do.

So, well done guys, was a great laugh on Saturday………………………….club night out and golf day planned in the next few weeks.

And finally, finally, to those of the squad who couldn’t make it. Really try your best to be there next week, let’s have sixteen of us up for it against the Police, we really need to step it up a bit against those guys. Adrian in Mauritius, we’ll see you soon, Mark N – would be great to see you Sunday, Jules, Rob H, JT, Neil - hurry back, and Skiller, best of luck with the back injury mate, and never, ever, try to lift one weeks’ supply of pies into the car in one go again.
Kick off is at 2.15pm on Sunday October 19th, email me a Y or N asap.

Phil

Upstarts 3 - Panthers 4

Upstarts 2 - Chameleons 2

"No fancy report on our match from yesterday I'm afraid, as I still feel as rough as hell.

In the end we we lucky to get a point with the 2-2, but hey, we didn't lose and the season has a long way to go. We all clearly need to improve our fitness and finishing.

Our new boys, Pete, Johnny and Jules all passed the test with flying colours, so Keir, you can give them the rest of their kit next week................." Captain Phil

See you all at training tonight 7:30 to 8:30. Hopefully you are feeling better than I am....

Upstarts vs Chameleons - Sunday 28 Sept 2:15pm

First game on Sunday against Chameleons. Lets get a good start to the season with a win. Only had a couple of reponses so far. Here is the team list as it stands. Please get there at 1:30 pm for a warm up and a meet and greet. Don't forget your BHF forms if you haven't already sent them to Phil.

Available
1. Kirk Edmunds
2. Kevin Hill
3. David Kaniaru
4. Keir Savage
5. Gareth Tavares
6. Phil Trussell
7. Jon Sutcliffe
8. John Uprichard
9. John Thompson
10. Peter Douglas

11. Donny Moniz

12. Rob Hargadon (if the weather is bad)

13. Gavin Thomason

14. Jules Wheddon

Unavailable
1. Adrian Beasley
2. Alan Gilbertson
3. Neil Ruperelia
4. David Scholtz

5. Simon Parker

Missing
1. Jon Brunson

If you have already responded, apologies. Just send Phil a reminder.

Upstarts Playing Schedule for September / October

Schedule is out. See our games below. Please contact Phil to let him know about availablility.

Sun 28 September 2:15pm - Upstarts vs Chameleons
Sun 5 October 10:45am - Upstarts vs Panthers
Sat 11 October 4:00pm - Upstarts vs Rebels
Sun 19 October 2:15pm - Upstarts vs Polecats

If any of you need any hockey equipment, go to www.justbhockey.blogspot.com. Christine is bringing some nice hockey equipment to the island so please support her.