Another sunny sunday at the Croydon Tournament

What a tournament!

Despite the best efforts of the weather forecasters to put people off, the sun shone on the Croydon tournament, all day!

Teams started eagerly arriving from before 9 am, as the Croydonites put out the posts and put the finishing touches to the pitches.

The first matches were set to start at 10.00 and when the control desk hooter sounded, close to 140 people started playing some korf. Refs reffed, players played, spectators cheered. There was lots of Korfball, lots of noise, and lots of people enjoying themselves.

At the end of the morning games, there was a surge towards the BBQ area where the famous Croydon burgers and sausages were on sale again. As the players ate their lunch, the afternoon pools were drawn up and distributed.

With the sun still shining, players again took to the pitches to play some more korf. Teams had travelled from far and wide, including Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Kent, Manchester, West London, and the local Croydon area, as well as 3 teams from the birth place of Korfball - Holland. The teams came to take part, to make friends and to have a great day out; and they weren't disappointed.

After some hard fought, close matches, the grand final of the day was between The Gunthers (from Dutch club Velocitas) and local side Bec. Bec took an early lead, surprising some of the 100s of spectators, but The Gunthers weren't about to give up and fought their way back into the match. From 0-3 down, The Gunthers first drew level and then drew ahead. Bec were making them work for every shot and goal, and it was a tense yet exciting match. In the last few minutes, the score was 6-4 to The Gunthers but Bec scored again, to make the crowd go wild, and to make it go right down to the wire.

Bec didn't score again though, and The Gunthers finished the match 6-5 winners, to retain their title of Croydon Tournament Winners, for the 2nd year running.

In the Under 11 division, the young players in the teams worked hard all day. They played a round robin event, and it was the experienced Kent side Bearsted, who ran out winners.

Overall Winner: The Gunthers
Runners Up: Bec 1

2nd Division Winner: Bec 2
Runners Up: Pure Magic

3rd Division Winner: Croydon Time
Runners Up: Velocitas Mental Ward

4th Division Winner: Reading
Runners Up: Manchester University

Under 11 Winner: Bearsted
Runners Up: Scorpions 1

Next year we hope to return to our home ground of Lloyd Park, for another great tournament, on our usual date of the last Sunday of June.

Anna

1 of 24

Report by: Sarah | Updated by: Andy

Attendees & responses (39)

Player	Response	Last Updated
Becky	Accepted	15 Feb 09 23:55
SarahH	Accepted	01 May 09 14:23
CharlotteF	Accepted	10 May 09 22:39
Kathy	Accepted	26 May 09 17:53
Grace	Accepted	01 Jun 09 20:30
Jules	Accepted	02 Jun 09 14:35
Sarah	Accepted	10 Jun 09 16:11
Anna	Accepted	14 Jun 09 22:37
Jane	Accepted	15 Jun 09 18:14
Beccy	Accepted	16 Jun 09 20:03
KarenJ	Accepted	17 Jun 09 09:07
Lorna	Accepted	17 Jun 09 22:48
Hayley	Accepted	22 Jun 09 19:25
Steph	Accepted	28 Jun 09 21:50
Tom	Accepted	08 Mar 09 12:03
MikeL	Accepted	12 Mar 09 22:53
Smiffy	Accepted	17 Mar 09 21:21
Ad	Accepted	15 Apr 09 16:59
Zuton	Accepted	18 Apr 09 20:20
Dirk	Accepted	05 May 09 16:17
JonD	Accepted	09 May 09 18:31
Paul	Accepted	20 May 09 18:05
Sicknote	Accepted	31 May 09 21:53
Vernon	Accepted	06 Jun 09 22:48
Pete	Accepted	08 Jun 09 10:39
Ed	Accepted	16 Jun 09 15:14
JohnN	Accepted	20 Jun 09 18:15
Phil	Accepted	20 Jun 09 20:35
SteveC	Accepted	22 Jun 09 21:53
Mark	Accepted	22 Jun 09 23:28
NeilT	Accepted	28 Jun 09 18:32
Andy	Accepted	28 Jun 09 22:40
Dawn	Tentative	06 May 09 13:58
Lynda	Tentative	24 Jun 09 14:31
Sean	Tentative	17 Aug 08 22:30
AndyB	Tentative	18 Feb 09 22:32
Ingmar	Tentative	12 Mar 09 10:26
BenH	Tentative	12 May 09 14:26
Zoe	Declined	11 Jun 09 15:40