Season's finale

Another season has come to a close and my first season as club captain has shot by. The aim at the outset of the season was to work on the cohesion of the club and in part this has been successful. However on the flip side it has not been totally successful in that the dinner tomorrow night is being well attended but 2 teams have not managed to raise any interest at all with more from the net ball team coming than from thoise 2 teams.

Next season dates for the socials will be published at the beginning of the season so there can be no excuses.

Similarly there will be a strict rule on the provision of subs as I have spent inordinate amounts of time in chasing down a few late payers.

The summer league is taking shape and details will follow from Christian in due course.

Enjoy the summer break and try and persuade anyone you can to join us for next season.

David

Only 3 weeks to go in a season that has not gone according to plan for most of our teams on the playing surface - the ladies being the notable exception..

However the aim of this season was to try and make us a club again rather than a set of teams and in part this has been achieved with a constant transfer of players between teams which has been admirable. Unfortunately the reasons for this are the root cause of our poor results - lack of availability.

Over the close season the committee will be looking at ways to avoid this being a problem. The main solution is to ensure we have an influx of players to enable each team to have a pool of 16 players and to cover the varying levels of commitment. I would add that compared with some clubs we are very strong from the angle of fielding sides without the need to merge.

One final reminder about the 5th April and to buy your tickets for the dinner at the club.

Enjoy your Easter break.

Roger Loveland

There are times when the bad umpiring decision or the goal that never was are put into perspective by something of far greater importance. Sadly this week there was such an event with the passing away of Roger Loveland one of the true stalwarts of the OC hockey club. We always seem to read how those who have passed away were the best and most popular of people but Roger truly was one of the world's really good guys.

Over the 35 years of my hockey career I am indebted to 4 people in particular for the enjoyment I have taken from hockey and Roger is one of those 4. As a teenager he heard that I was interested in playing hockey at Cranleigh and after one of the treasured School v OC matches ( 1975 and aged 15 )he took me to one side, gave me a beer and said he would like to see a few of us up at TD in March at the end of the school season to play the last games of the club season for the OCs. Knowing we had no transport he came and collected three of us from all points west and after the games dropped us all home. This he did at every opportunity that presented itself in the holidays and for the summer and Sunday matches that the OCs regularly played. By the time we reached our last year at school we were hardened hockey players, converted OCs and all went on to play a good standard of hockey. Indeed, 9 of the 1976 and 1977 school first XIs played regular hockey for the OCs. Similalry he ensured that we took part in the Worthing and Renaix (Belgium) festivals that were annual events in the late 70s and early 80s.

Roger could easily have played for the so called better clubs but pledged his whole career to the OCs and still managed to play for the county - a rare achievement from one who did not play in the London League. Nevertheless he fully supported those who went away to play for the likes of Guildford and other higher ranked clubs but was always keen to remind us that we were welcome back at the OCs at any time. He also had the unerring habit of knowing exactly how OCs were doing at their other clubs in the days when there was no world wide web.

Roger was liked by all who knew, played against and with him, players and umpires alike.

When I came back to the club after a 14 year break Roger was the first to shake my hand.

The OC club of today owes a huge debt of gratitude to Roger and would not be on such a secure footing as is currently the case without the effort and support put in by Roger over the last 50 years. Sadly the club never made Roger aware of their gratitude in a formal way but knowing Roger who did not crave for any recognition he would not have expected any such attention doing what he did out of the kindness of his heart.

This weekend will be a sad day for the club being the first time for 51 seasons that Roger will not be able to check our results so when running out on Saturday even if you did not know Roger please remember that you are wearing an OC shirt as a result of Roger's love for the game and the club.

On the field all the teams face a fully charged last few weeks. Unfortunately top and bottom of the table dog fights are on offer. The first X1 face a season defining 3 weeks but even 6 wins out of 6 may not be enough to reach the play offs let alone win the league.

The relegation issues are a disappointment and mainly caused by lack of availability. In the games I have watched or played in for the lower sides the potential has been there but wins have not been ground out week on week. The close season will be used to see how we can ensure that captains know the availability of the players who are likely to feature on a month to month basis rather than scratching around for a team at the last minute. You as players must respect the difficulty presented to captains by last minute cry offs.

I have also noticed that the number of match reports is dwindling. We have one of the best if not the best web site around from a hockey club's angle and so we must use this to our benefit. can skippers please ensure that reports are filed with Martin as early as possible. Martin takes pride ( or is sufficiently sad ) to load up the reports on a Saturday evening if they are with him early enough.

Finally, remember remebre the 5th April.

An intersting set of results in the last 5 games for our tenants UCL in the 1st XI league has seen the run away leaders drop down the table with promotion no longer in their hands. I remember seeing a match report of theirs castigating the OCs for loss of bottle in last year's play offs. Always best to wait until the fat lady sings.

Two topics this week, one positive and one negative. Negative first so we can end on a positive. Extraordinary as it may sound there are still a very small number of players who have not paid their subs. I will be chasing them again and then it may be time to name and shame them on the web site with a ban from playing and request that their shirts are returned to the club. This is extremely disappointing and remarkably selfish.

However the date for the dinner dance has been published - 5th April - with our hoping to have a number of the rugby club along and the net ball team. Please put the date in the diary now and book the baby sitter where necessary - tickets are the same price for baby sitters as for partners - and let us see how many we can squeeze into TD. You may be lucky and be squashed up against the net ball team.

Happy New Year everyone

We are now well into the second half of the league season with seemingly much better performances throughout. I was present at the 4th XI game on the 19th and they played some sparkling hockey but somehow managed to lose 2 - 1 very much against the run of play and the 2nd XI won a famous victory, 4 - 1, against the league leaders Woking. The 1st XI is now back in the promotion hunt with the top 5 split by 5 points so all to play for.

The next social is rushing upon us and please also put in the diary the 5th April dinner dance at the club.

At last, a weekend on which none of our 6 teams lost. A while coming but on the last league Saturday of the pre Christmas half of the season the best way to go into the break.

Saturday also saw the club heaving on a Saturday afternoon for the first time in some years with the involvement of the school in rugby and hockey matches and it was great to see the school at our superb facility. A number of players from various teams were also found heaving at 22.00 after the second social of the season and so once again well done Tux and her social committee for a good evening.

For those of you who I do not see before I wish you all a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year and let us continue the recent successes on the pitch and continue to increase and foster the club spirit off the pitch.