... My Arse!
Bruised rib, stick in the balls, shin splints and a ball in the face. Thank you, now that this month’s list of injuries is out of the way it’s time to enlighten all of you who haven’t seen or played any lax matches at Herts lately.
Actually, let’s start with a note far more resonant to our fellow student body – alcohol. To be more precise, Halloween saw the Comets’ initial social gathering. The plan was to meet up at the Galleria in fancy dress (always a laugh to the population of Hatfield seeing two men in a Camel costume swaggering through a shopping centre), move to the Chairman’s house for Macro’s finest delights (penny sweets, jelly beans, lager and alcopops) and then stagger gracefully through the doors of the Font in order to claim the dance floor as our own. As far as I can recall we accomplished that goal, even though I almost lost my Musketeer wig two or three times. I feel I must apologise to the member of bar staff who later that evening had to cope with peeling my sweaty moustache off the wall I had attached it to. Sorry, got bored of it dipping in my pint.
Anyway, several games were played this month containing members of the Comets, mostly for our adopted ‘sister’ club the Welwyn Warriors, but reports of these will come later. Firstly, the Comets’ first ever Men's match. The 13 th November saw the ‘King of the South’ Men's tournament take place in nearby Hitchin. Teams expected to play included the likes of UEA, Northampton and Cambridge as well as two formidable teams from Hitchin themselves. In the end we played against Hitchin’s first team, one of the finest in the country and a squad that a few of us had faced already this season – Cambridge. With some memories of hard play stirred up we launched ourselves into the first match of that long Saturday, battering the Cambridge team with an intensity I had never seen in training. Holding out the entire first quarter of the match was a feat in itself against a team that had been playing for years and we were more than fired up for the remainder. Loud and heartfelt support from the Hurricanes fuelled our passion and we kept up the same energy throughout the match. This being our first full contact game we didn’t expect to walk off of the pitch as the outright winners and although the Cambridge team put almost a dozen goals into our net we were the most exultant team at the referee’s final whistle. Stuff winning the game, we were out for full body checks, swinging attacks and beating the opponent to the floor. That’s exactly what we managed.
The second game that day was against a full compliment of national and international standard lacrosse players. We lost this too. In fact we lost count of the goal difference after they matched Cambridge’s score. BUT! The experience that Hitchin supplied us with was worth far more than winning the game. At points, some of the other team stopped to coach us a little on where to stand, who to mark and how to stop their midfielder's from waltzing through the centre of the field. The loudest team coming off the pitch at the end of that match? You guessed it. Including a bundle which I’m sorry to say I was at the bottom of (Vickers, you’re a fat bastard).
The weekend of 20 th-21 st November brought with it the lure of two more matches over both days, one Men's and one Mixed. Several Comets players joined the Welwyn Warriors back in Hitchin on the Saturday to play against Hitchin’s second team. This being a sort of derby in the Southern League, we were interested to see which way the game would swing. Would Welwyn be able to secure their place at the top of the table in time for Christmas? With a Hitchin team down two players at the start of the match the answer seemed to be yes. Graciously, we lent them two Comets: Hass and Jim, to play in midfield (something they seemed to regret 80 minutes later and needing an iron lung each). Personally, having two of my own team-mates on the opposition spurred me on to knock them about more than the Hitchin guys. Jim, I’m sorry for battering your stick to the ground every time you came near me after running a hundred yards. Must’ve been devastating ( he he he he ). And Hass and I have a long standing tradition of being on opposing sides and trying to force each other into the ground, so that was no problem for us. Three goals were conceded by our defensive team and one of them was from Hass himself (keep laughing boy; it’s the last time you get past me). But it was the other end of the pitch where all the action was taking place. Thanks to a combined team effort, Welwyn won the game with the largest goal difference so far this season, the final score being 21-3.
Our next game as Welwyn is away to Northampton University on the 27 th November. The Comets had the pleasure of playing a Mixed match against them on their home turf a few weeks ago. Unfortunately I was unable to play and apparently I missed out on several drinking games in their Union bar and two streakers. Fortunately they were male so I guess I didn’t miss too much…
The Sunday saw us piling into a minibus and making the trip to historic Oxford, land of bicycles, towering spires and posh students. The fact that we played the match itself on one of Oxford Brookes’ campuses dulled the illusion somewhat but never mind. Oxford have been playing lacrosse since the early twentieth century so it will come as no surprise that we lost again. The upside of this, as I’ve mentioned before, is that the weight of experience we took away from the field was well worth the loss. The first quarter started badly, with Oxford scoring two or three times in quick succession against a defensive team still trying to find its feet and midfielder's not quite quick enough to respond to the threat. By halftime however, the Comets’ pace had picked up noticeably and Oxford found the second half frustrating in scoring goals and getting past our midfielder's. With some excellent interceptions from the back of the field we managed consistently in getting the ball up front to our attackers, something we were lacking in the first half. This enabled us to score 3 good goals against Oxford’s 11. Unlike their rivals Cambridge, Oxford decided it would be nice to invite us to their local pub for a few drinks. Unsurprisingly we accepted enthusiastically.
Our next Mixed match will also be the first ever game of lacrosse played at the University of Hertfordshire. UEA are coming to take on the MIGHTY OPTIMISM that is the Comets on 28 th November. Face off is at 1pm, well after most of you get up so there’s no excuse this time for anyone who hasn’t yet experienced this sport. As for me, I think I’ll be asking Santa nicely for some more protective equipment.
