As we recover from 2023’s final weekend of hockey, we reflect upon the fantastic first half of the M6 season. We have collected some key highlights, stats and quotes from the team, as well as some favourite photos.
We hope you enjoy; have a merry Christmas and see you in the new year!
This is the bottomhardest trainingmost stylishbestmens team in Wanderers Hockey Club
With the restructure of the lower mens teams over the summer, the secret recipe for an incredible 6s squad was deemed to be precisely: 26% heritage-M4, 31% heritage-M6 and 43% newbie. The new-look M6 were baptised in the fires of a 35 degree Barnes friendly, before being hardened in two tough early games, where subs were few due to extreme pitch locations, still outstanding red card suspensions and even some resurgent Covid.
With some secretive late-night poaching of players from the website, we bounced back with a 4-1 victory vs the league leaders at the time, the widely-feared Tulse Hill and Dulwich HC M5s. This enabled us to aim high and target further victories throughout the season, with a special weight placed upon the big scalps.
We followed this up with some gritty 1 goal victories and valiant efforts to throw away victories at the last minute, before we decided to place our sights even higher. Could we fight our way to become the highest team in our division with the smallest goal difference? Having landed in 6th place at Christmas with a -1GD, the game is well and truly afoot.
Our motivational hero Richard has kindly written in to provide an inspiring quote for us to reflect on other the winter break before attacking the second half of the season with this lofty target in our minds:
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act; the rest is merely tenacity”.
Richard, aged 27
Other on-field highlights so far have been a 1-1 draw at BP against leaders King’s and Alleyn’s M2 and a 1-0 win in the late afternoon rain away against East London M4. Off-field, we’ve managed a near-full match tea sweep, a successful curry and some great chocolate bar costumes last weekend.
Favourite Photos:
Key Statistics:
Golden Stick StandingsTipper’s Grundy Run Line-Up
Player
Goals Scored
Lee Moir
6
Gareth Brinn
3
Floris Dobber
3
Richard Shelly
2
Gabriel Barnett
2
Oscar Newlove
2
Max Lowther
1
Milo Walker
1
Mitchell Vieira
1
Jacob Harvey
1
Mattie Price
1
Max Stevensen
1
Players on track for Tipper’s Grundy Run (Apr-2024)*
Garth
Sam
James
Derek
Tony
Charlie
Ben
Sanjay
Alex
Henry
Chris
Jake
Duncan
Will
*Surnames redacted for privacy reasons
11 Games
5 wins, 3 draws, 3 losses. 11 rounds of names. Goal Difference of -1.
50 Short Corners Won
0 Goals Scored
5
Never-before-seen Richard socials that we’re still waiting for
Favourite Drop Out Messages:
Hey mate 50/50 if I can make the game at this stage. Will let you know sorry
Lee, Saturday, 04:53 hours
F*** have just woke up
Think I am going to be really poor form and bale
Don’t feel very fresh
Do you still have 15?
Chris, Saturday, 50mins before PB
Given the healthy subs bench was wondering if I could sit this out as it’s over 2 hours by bus at least each way. I don’t know how I missed that.
Sanjay, Saturday, 01:06 hours
Hey mate, I’ve been caught up in demonstrations today and am struggling to get out, so I’m going to miss the game sorry. Sorry for the late notice, I’ve only just been able to get any reception on my phone.
Henry, Saturday, 1 minute after pushback
If you have that spare player, please bring them along today. Wish I could say it was a hangover but literally can’t stop vomiting and shitting myself today (tmi)
On Sunday 19th November 2023, at 4:30pm, Wanderers HC’s Mixed Cup team will be playing its first knock-out round within England Hockey’s Mixed Championships, with the lofty ambition of kick-starting their campaign to become national mixed champions.
We will be facing up against Spencer HC, who have the unenviable pressure of having to defend their title from last year. Luckily, free from such mental baggage, Wanderers expect to be able to express themselves freely with some innovative passages of play on the day.
It should be a fun game to watch, and we’d welcome any and all support down at our home pitch in Battersea Park!
Squad details:
After extensive scouting across the 2022-23 mixed season and various mixed seasons over summer, these 16 stars have been selected to represent the best of the club on the national stage and offered a place on our breakthrough Future National Champions Pathway Programme.
There are many up-and-coming players here, who the club truly believe could be generational talents. And therefore, whilst the primary aim is to target silverware here, we also hope that the squad can take back useful experiences and skills back to their respective Saturday and Sunday teams across the club.
The club would love to see this ambitious and courageous squad supported on the big day, and what easier than a home match, so please pop down and see the big match under the lights. Probably one to wrap up for! Vuvuzelas welcome.Β
Post-game, we expect to visit a nearby pub for some food and drink; everyone very welcome!
Match-day details:
Date
Sunday 19th November
Time
16:30
Venue
Battersea Park
Opposition
Spencer HC Mixed
Competition
England Hockey Mixed Championship (knock-out*)
Format
5 female/5 male outfield players
*though unlikely, if knocked out in Round 1, we’ll be entered into the Plate, where we’ll have a second shot at re-stocking the trophy cabinet
Given summer mixed hockey has very sadly come to an end, we thought we’d quickly post an update about the upcoming season.
First of all, the training schedule for the first half of the season looks like the below. There’s a filterable table below too to see your team’s specific training sessions only.
Second, the league fixtures are broadly out, and the first weekend of league games (23rd September) looks like this:
Third, if you’re very excited for hockey, you can even see the club’s (and your team’s) full fixture list for this upcoming 2023-24 season.
When the season begins, you can also use it to check out your team’s results and latest position in your league table. To make it easier, we’ve popped the relevant fixtures/results/league-table on each team’s tab within our ‘Teams’ page, so you can find everything automatically showing for you there.
The info is pulling from England Hockey via a very handy little tool, courtesy of Matthew Treherne at Old Kingstonian Hockey Club – so a big thank you to him, including for his help troubleshooting and adding some excellent features!
We had the final Sunday mixed session this past weekend, and have our final Wednesday night mixed session this week.
Please come along (Wed 26th July, 8-9pm on Battersea Park’ astro pitch) – whether you’re a veteran Wanderer, looking to join the club this year, or want to have a one-off hit of the hockey ball after some time out. Don’t miss out on this last chance to enjoy summer hockey! We hope to see you there.
A big thank you from everyone to Harry Wilson for organising a great few months of weekly Sunday hockey – it’s been a blast.
Despite requests, we’ve failed to acquire a single team photo across all 30 games. However, we have these special treats to remember these early summer days by:
If you are sad at the thought of mixed hockey ending for a while (back in late September), please consider the option of joining a men’s or ladies team. We have trials coming up on Saturday 5th August (11am-1pm) at Battersea Park. If you can’t make that date, don’t worry, you can instead come along to a training session in August (the captains will send you the details and timings etc). Please fill out this form if you’d like to join one of the Saturday teams.
We are running summer social hockey (both Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons) from May until early August), so please come along! On Wednesdays, we play at Battersea Park from 8pm to 9pm. On Sundays, we play in a combined social hockey group/league (across a few clubs, including us and Barnes), with games held at Battersea Park Astro, usually at 1:30pm and 3pm. If you’re interested in coming along, please drop us a message here and we’ll come back to you. Please also fill in the join-us form, if you want to trial for a Saturday team next season!
We should be having a club day/Cup of Nations (friendly mixed hockey intra-club tournament) this July/August, with details to follow!
Trials!
We will be running trials for another enthusiastic intake of players this August. It will be at Battersea Park Astro on Saturday the 5th August 2023, between 11am and 1pm. If you can sign up via the link here, that would really help us manage trials! We’ll come back in due course with further details about trials and exact timings for each part of the club.
Lockddown is over and our legendary events are kicking off again!
Our new social committee has a 2021/22 line up coming in hot π₯ We’re starting big with Club Day and the Start of Season Black Tie Dinner in September. Here’s all the details…
Club Day ππ»
Club Day is our annual celebration of the season starting and a chance to see your mates and meet some new ones! This is a must attend for any newbies who want to get to know the club and become part of the Wanderers family.
Club Day is an afternoon of social mixed hockey competition starting at 1pm at Battersea Park and followed by a few (or more than a few) bevvies at South West Eleven, the new club house!
We’ll continue the competitions with boat races and beer pong! β΅πΊπ
To get involved email [email protected] with your name and team you play for!
We’ll put you into a team on the day.
Start of Season Dinner π₯
Since lockdown put the brakes on our usual End of Season Prizegiving, we decided to have the best start of season ever and make it a black tie dinner!
The SoS Dinner is on Saturday 25th of September at the Clayton Hotel in Chiswick.
This is a snazzy black tie event with dinner, drinks and dancing so some dressed to the nines and ready to boogie π₯ππ½
The ticket cost is Β£50, the club will contribute the rest of the ticket price.
If you played last season, your fees refund is the same price as the ticket. You can use this refund to pay for your ticket – this will be arranged with your team treasurer and they’ll be in touch with you. If you didn’t pay last season, you can pay for your ticket with your team treasurer.
Your captain or social sec will make sure you’ve got all the details you need.
Hockey is back ππ½π₯³ and we’re in a fresh new London League!
The 2021/22 season is our first in the new London League! We’re in the London Area which means we play more South and North London teams and less in the far West.
You can check out the national area map here then clicking “Fixtures by Area Name” or the London Area league by clicking herethen clicking “Fixtures by Grade/Division”.
Trials
Trials were held on Saturday 7 August – read more here – Scroll down to the 2021/22 Trials post.
Training
Pre-season training started w/c 2 August and is held weekly at Battersea Park and Kennington Park.
To find out more about training times and locations click here
Season Dates – 2021/22
In the new league, the men and women follow the same calendar of games including breaks.
Sat 25 September: Games commence
Sat 23 October: Break – No games
Sat 11 December: Final game before break
— Holiday Break —
Sat 22 January: First game of 2022
Sat 19 February: Break – No games
Sat 9 April: Final game of the season
If you have any questions about the league or your game dates and times, just ask your captain.
Recently moved to London? Graduated from uni? Looking for the most fun and friendly club in SW London? Convenient training? π
Well look no further! All Wanderers teams are competitive yet social! ππ»ππ»
We offer:
βοΈ 7 ladies teams playing from South Div2 to Surrey Div7 // 6 mens teams playing from Hampshire/Surrey Regional 2 to Surrey Open Premier
βοΈ convenient training at either Battersea Park or Kennington Park
βοΈ awesome socials
βοΈ summer hockey (in normal times)
βοΈ 4 (3 social, 1 competitive) mixed teams playing on Sundays
Weβre recruiting across the club, including GKs.