Listed below are each regions result and congratulations to all the winning teams.
Northern Counties
U11’s: Spen 3 – 2 Plymouth
U13’s: Spen 3 – 1 Manchester
U15’s: Middlesbrough 5 – 2 Manchester
U17’s: Middlesbrough 10 – 1 Manchester
Seniors: Middlesbrough 10 – 1 Manchester

Eastern Counties
U17’s: Bury 4 – 3 Peterborough
U9’s: Cambridge 3 – 1 King’s Lynn
U9’s: Cottenham 0 – 1 Peterborough
U11’s: Ely 2 – 8 King’s Lynn
U9’s: Cambridge 4 – 0 Gt. Yarmouth
U9’s: King’s Lynn 1 – 0 Cottenham
U12’s: Bury 4 – 5 King’s Lynn A
U9’s: Peterborough 0 – 1 Gt. Yarmouth
U9’s: Cambridge 4 – 0 Cottenham
U15’s: King’s Lynn 4 – 1 Peterborough
U9’s: King’s Lynn 2 – 0 Peterborough
U9’s: Cottenham 2 – 2 Gt. Yarmouth
Ladies: Ely 2 – 5 Bury
U9’s: Cambridge 5 – 0 Peterborough
U9’s: King’s Lynn 1 – 1 Gt. Yarmouth
U20’s: Bury 1 – 4 Peterborough
Senior 2: Cottenham 1 – 2 King’s Lynn
Senior 1: Bury 7 – 5 Peterborough

A film crew from Meridian tv attended the Premier League match Herne Bay v Herne Bay United on 31st October to record highlights of the local derby. The 10 minute clip showing full on action with goals and interviews started with Roller Hockey historian Roger Pout giving a brief history of Roller Hockey at the Pier.

Why?
Firstly, cost to players and parents.
The National Training Weekends have been based at Peterborough because of its availability, cost and the fact that two rinks can be made available.
However the cost and time spent in travelling by players and parents is considerable.
Secondly, the number of attendees has now risen to a level where the quality of training may not come up to the level that we would like to reach.
Thirdly, by the introduction of Regional Training Sessions, players who may not be able to get to Peterborough, for either cost or time considerations, may be able attend local sessions which will be of great benefit to them.

How will they work?
When planning how these are to work several issues are important.
Firstly, if we want to retain Carlos Amaral as a full time Roller Hockey Development person, then his income must be maintained.
The income derived from the National Training Weekends, contributes towards his overall income.
With the introduction of the Regional Training Sessions, it is highly likely that the numbers attending the National Training Weekend will fall, reducing the income to Carlos and this, therefore, will have to be addressed.
Secondly, in order to maintain a continuity of the phylosophy and training methods for Roller Hockey in England, the Regional Training Sessions must be carried out under the direction of the National Coaching Director.
This will be achieved by a Regional Coaching Team with a co-ordinator appointed by the National Coaching Director.
Thirdly, by alternating Regions each month, the National Coaching Director will be able to attend all sessions.
Fourthly, the final selection for National Teams will take place after the Inter-Regional Championships, where all the players who will be making up the various teams should be participating. For this reason we would request that the National Coaching Director has some input into the Regional Teams’ selection.

Targetted Age Groups
With the structure that we have been building over the past five years, the future has been our prime concern.
It is for this reason that we propose that the attendees for the Regional Training Sessions will comprise only players under the age of 15 years.

Logistics
There will be four Regional Training Areas : -
The North, the East, the South-West and the South-East.
They will generally be held on the first weekend of each month.
They will be run by the appointed Regional Coaching Team under the direction of the National Coaching Director.
The National Coaching Director will attend two Regions each month : -
Month 1 – East and South East Month 2 – North and South West

Costs
There are several ways that this can work.
1. The Regions collect a fee from the attendees, from which they pay the rink hire fees and any expenses incurred by the National Coaching Director when he attends the various sessions.
2. The Regions collect a fee from the attendees, from which they pay the rink hire fees and pay a set monthly amount to the National Coaching Director, £100.

Conclusions
The setting up of Regional Training Sessions is the natural progression in our planned continuation of the building of the structure for Roller Hockey in England.
The introduction of it, at this time, has been brought about by you, the Clubs, players and parents, supporting what we have put in place up to now.
It will help us in the future, with not only the development of players but also with the development of Local Coaches whose assistance will be required as part of the Regional Coaching Team.

Keith Allen

Eastern Counties scooped the double on the first day of the 2009 Inter-Regionals at Bushfields Sports Centre in Peterborough. The under 15’s and under 20’s age groups were both coached by ex Bury player Darren Willis who pushed his teams to the limits for the win win.

Listed below are the final scores from the five teams from three regions who competed.

Here are the full results :

U14’s Player of the Year : Will Smith (Middlesbrough)
U16’s Player of the Year : Aaron Scott (Manchester)
Senior Player of the Year : Dan Palmer (Middlesbrough)

U14’s Top Scorer : Aiden Lawler (Manchester)
U16’s Top Scorer : Orelle Fletchman (Manchester/Moss-Side)
Senior Top Scorer : Steve Manform (Manchester)

Referee of The Year : Karl Wilson (Sheffield)

U14’s Semi Final ONE : Moss Side 5 v Halifax 4
U14’s Semi final TWO : Manchester 7 v Middlesbrough 10
U14′S FINAL : HALIFAX 10 V MIDDLESBROUGH 12 (AET)
U16’s Semi Final ONE : Manchester 10 v Halifax 6
U16’s Semi Final TWO : Moss Side 15 v Middlesbrough 8
U16′S FINAL : MANCHESTER 8 V MOSS SIDE 4

U11’s Manchester 6 v Moss Side 7
U11’s Halifax 2 v Middlesbrough 0

SENIORS FINAL : MIDDLESBROUGH 8 V MANCHESTER 6 (AET)

Please note, NCRHA agreed at the AGM that next season we would introduce the following award at all age groups : Goal Keeper Of The Year.

Additionally, each club at each age group would agree internally who for their own team deserved a Most Valuable Player Award. This would be decided by the club, but the NCRHA and the club would pay 50% each towards the purchase of these trophies, and the awards would be presented at Finals Day.

Apart from the Cup Finals for all the age groups, we had the Ivan Cook Under 9,s Championship running through the day, in which 6 teams competed for the coveted trophy.
All games throughout the day were highly competitive with several going to a golden goal and/or penalty shoot out to decide the winning team.

The crowd were amazing.
From the very start of the day there were loads of spectators cheering on their teams which made the atmosphere fantastic.
Although it was a long day and people were coming and going throughout, the number of spectators never diminished and by the start of the presentations Bushfields Sports Centre was packed.

As we had a lot of people together and no National Training Weekend this month, we took the opportunity to carry out the second 600 Club draw.
This was won by number 89, purchased by Mrs P. Hillard from Kings Lynn, whose daughter was able to take her home a cheque for £150.00.

I would like to congratulate all the teams on their performances and in particular the winners of the various Leagues and Cups, not forgetting Steve Taylor, who won the Referee of the Year Award, which was voted by the Clubs.

I would like to thank Billy Wells, who we got out of retirement, to come and help out on the day by selling raffle tickets, 600 Club memberships and by presenting most of the awards for us.

I would like to publicly thank, on your behalf, all those on the E.C.R.H.A. Executive who have all worked very hard all season to maintain the position of our Region as the largest and strongest in the Country and to make this Cup Finals day so memorable.

But most of all we have to thank all the players, from the youngest right up to Ivan Cook for providing great entertainment and lasting memories of a superb day.

Keith Allen
President

MINORS (U13’s)

SEMI FINAL ONE
MANCHESTER 5 vs MIDDLESBROUGH 9

SEMI FINAL TWO
HALIFAX 6 vs MOSS SIDE 7

FINAL
MIDDLESBROUGH 5 vs MOSS SIDE 5 (FULL TIME)

MIDDLESBROUGH 6 vs MOSS SIDE 7 (AFTER EXTRA-TIME & PENALTIES)

LEAGUE WINNERS
MANCHESTER

RUNNERS UP
MIDDLESBROUGH

PLAYER OF THE YEAR : S.NASSIR-ALI (MANCHESTER)

TOP SCORER : A.LAWLER (MANCHESTER)
INTERMEDIATES (U15’s)

SEMI FINAL ONE
HALIFAX 17 vs MIDDLESBROUGH 3

SEMI FINAL TWO
MANCHESTER 10 vs MOSS SIDE 2

FINAL
HALIFAX 10 vs MANCHESTER 11

LEAGUE WINNERS
MANCHESTER

RUNNERS UP
MOSS SIDE

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
A.SCOTT (MANCHESTER)

TOP SCORER
A.SCOTT (MANCHESTER)
_________________________________________________

SENIORS

FINAL
MIDDLESBROUGH 7 vs HALIFAX 3

LEAGUE WINNERS
MIDDLESBROUGH

RUNNERS UP
SHEFFIELD

PLAYER OF THE YEAR
G.STEWART (MIDDLESBROUGH)

TOP SCORER
A.GREGORY (SHEFFIELD)
_________________________________________________

REFEREE OF THE YEAR
MATT RADCLIFFE (HALIFAX)

“I would appreciate if you could mention on the web site about the performances of all the players for all the northern sides over the weekend without any prepartion everyone played with great pride and put in some excellent performances all wer a credit to the there clubs and the NCRHA.

I have to make a special mention to for players who played in the NCRHA youth side.
I a minor Aiden Lawlor, Two intermediates Beth Cook and Charlie Armstrong and FInally one youth Player Aaron Scott. Firstly they are used to playing 15 minute each way games not the twenty that was played (int rules state they should be 15mins) They were effectively playing against a Herne Bay United side (sechra) that are all to old to play international Youth Hockey.
From Being 4 goals down after 5minutes they put in a perform that filled all watching with pride they brought the score back to 4-2 at half time and quickly made itb 4-3 infact they controled, dominated completely outplaying the opposition until they finally conceded two goals with less than eigth minutes to go. The end result was inevitable with a intermediate goalkeeper Cameron scott who has only ever played 30 minute games. But the final score cannot detract from what is one of the best performance I have seen from Northern players at any age group in my carreer as a coach.

Well done to everyone who played this weekend and to the four mentioned They are High on my list great Northern Players.”

When a new date has been arranged, the NCRHA Competitions Executive will ensure all clubs are notified, the new date will be posted on the ‘events’ section on this page, and the www.fixtureslive.co.uk competitions page will be updated.

Best Regards

Tony Czifra
NCRHA General Secretary