Having the season cut short has affected many teams at UEL, however East London Men’s Hockey are one of the few lucky teams that were able to finish their season before all BUCS fixtures got postponed due to the coronavirus.
Following the recent closure of universities, and subsequently the sports departments coming to a close means any team were lucky to see the end of their season.
Uncertain Start To The Season
The past few seasons for East London Hockey have been quite contrasting ones.
At the end of last year the team was honoured enough to be up on stage at the UEL Sports Awards being awarded the most improved club at UEL, for a season where the team had a phenomenal run in the league finishing second and narrowly missed out on promotion, losing out to Essex.
The club had been run by captain Issac Charles and Vice Captain Grant Shephard to this position.
As the new season beckoned the team returned to Lee Valley with an issue.
From the full team that was playing in last year’s fixtures, the only remaining players were new Captain Josh Walsh-Oakes and new vice captain Paddy Wilkins. This was mainly down to many players graduating last summer.
The situation looked bleak for the team by having only two players ahead of their first fixture.
The year progressed and the team started to grow; following the university’s freshers week and a strong recruitment drive, the side ended up being able to form a team of eight players.
Following further recruitment throughout the year, the team managed to grow into a full squad capable of fielding substitutes as well.
Unable To Produce A Victory
A series of defeats was the story of the season.
Opening out the season the side gained three points from a walkover given by Kent Men’s 3rd team, these would be the only points secured this season.
From there it became more difficult for the team from East London, playing their first match against King’s College Men’s 4th team. The game featured an under-powered East London team being defeated 3-2.
Things soon got harder for the side as their next game was particularly tough, being defeated and subsequently knocked out of the cup by a strong Brunel team, where East London lost 14-0.
As the league continued the team’s luck didn’t pick up. They were defeated by Imperial 6th’s 7-0, followed by a 5-1 defeat to London Kings College 5th’s.
As the new year dawned the team was forced to give a walkover to UCL Men’s 5th team for being unable to field a team, before being beaten by London School of Economics.
The final game of the year was the closest the team have been to a victory, where East London took on Queen Mary’s Men’s 3rd team.
After going 3-1 up at half time, the East London side were starting to believe that this could be their first win of the season. To their dismay, an unlucky second half meant it wasn’t meant to be, and they ended the season with a 5-4 defeat.
“We All Bonded Really Well”
Despite the struggles the team have had to face this season, captain Walsh-Oakes has ended the season feeling pleased with the progress the team has made away from their results.
“The season started off a bit late for us as we couldn’t field a team for the first few weeks, however we did manage to get a team together and all started to improve individually, and this showed in training and in games when we would play well, we made chances.”
He also spoke about his experience as captain going through a worrying time at the start of the season.
“When I first became hockey captain I was really nervous and unsure about it, what made it worse is that we couldn’t field a team for the first few weeks, that just made me more anxious.
“We all bonded really well as a group and as a team and this showed as all understood what was expected of each other and the position we were playing,” he added.
