Dragons Festival - Swansea 20th - 21st July 2024
Fears that the hot sunny weather earlier in the week would mean we struggled with too much heat did not materialise. Not long before we started our first game it started to drizzle, undeterred Ernie took us through his warmup routine and for most of the rest of the day it rained, heat was not a problem and at no time was there a need to water the astroturf.
As for the hockey, the tournament had 6 teams Thistles, LX, Red Dragons, Yellow Dragons, Gatfers and Aboriginals. Thanks to Tim, our coordinator and captain, we had a squad of 16 some old and some not so old and assembled from across the Kingdom. A welcome to Jon Ratcliffe and Mike (Doc) Savage to their first Thistles tour.
We started the festival with a win against the Red Dragons, 5-3. Games were2x 25min halfs and immediately after playing the Red Dragons we were up against the Yellow Dragons, otherwise known as the young ones. The Yellow Dragons had someone sin binned and conceded a penalty stroke but we still came second, losing 4-1.
After a sandwich lunch and watching rain rather than hockey we played the Gatfers in the last round of the day. The Gatfers are a team from Devon and Cornwall, a good team and used to winning so it was very satisfying to hold them to a 3-3 draw. For much of this game Thistles played the ball quickly out of defence to the wings, rather than relying on the traditional thump from the 16 yard line, this paid off leading to some of our best hockey and directly to an elegant passing move down the right-hand side and a goal.
Day 1 was a good day for Thistles who played 3 won 1, lost 1 and drew 1 conceding 10 goals but scoring 9. With Donald and Dobbin in our squad we did of course celebrate the day, with a well-earned Port.
Day 2 was much better hockey playing weather with no rain, some sun but not too much heat. Our first game was against the old enemy, LX, and a 2-0 win was a very pleasing result, it could have been more. The festival finished with our match against the Aboriginals, a team made up of players with any connection to Aberystwyth Uni. Having played 5 games in 2 days both teams were tired and there was less flowing hockey than before, but Thistles created most of the goal scoring opportunities and managed to take 3 of them. The third goal came from a run by Tim, having rounded the keeper he pushed the ball over the line and the final whistle went. A 3-1 win.
A festival where Thistles won 4, drew 1 and lost 1 scoring 14 goals in the process was the best return most of us could remember for a while. While Carlos Michelsen figured highly in the goal scoring stakes (8), as well as in running circles round himself and everyone else, Steve Bilham with 2 Brian de Mattos (1) and Tim Lorimer(3) also got onto the score sheet.
The happy Thistles at the festival were, Tim Lorimer, Brian de Mattos, Donald Dunbar, Ian (Dobbin) Dunbar, Jon Ratcliffe, John Sudale, Neil Ward, Mike Savage, Ernie Brittain-Dodds, Steve Bilham , Graham (Weemilky) Marshall, Peter Haines, Mike Roberts, Carlos Michelsen, Graham Dick, Martin Petty. Thanks to Tim for organising and leading us, to Ernie for warming us up and down and to all the team for a positive, enjoyable and successful weekend.
Martin Petty 22nd July 2024