The 2011-2012 season was one of our most successful to date and this should stand us in good stead for the coming season. Last year, 5 out of 6 teams had record high finishes in their Saturday leagues and 4 of the 6 Varsity honours currently lie with the Dark Blues.
In 2011-2012, the Men’s Blues resoundingly reinforced their position as the next best team in BUCS South Prem behind national champions Exeter and Captain Adam Jordan was the South Prem league top scorer for the second season running. The Women’s Blues had one of their best seasons in memory, narrowly missing out on Saturday promotion by 3 points, beating every team apart from Exeter in the BUCS league and holding on to the Varsity trophy for the eighth year running! The Occasionals finished in the top 5 of their Saturday league, won silver in the LHL Div 1 Cup and finished 2nd in their BUCS league, which they will surely be looking to be promoted from next year. The Monkeys continued their fantastic form, taking the Varsity domination tally to four consecutive wins, beating every team that finished above them in their Saturday league and having the best goal difference in their BUCS league. Special mention has to go to the Infrequents and the Hos who both achieved back-to-back promotions last year. The Infrequents were entered in BUCS for the first time in the club’s history and they were unlucky to be drawn in the same league as Cambridge 1s. This still didn’t stop them putting the Tabs to shame with a 2-1 win at Wilberforce Road! The Hos also secured a comfortable 5th place in their competitive BUCS league and won their Varsity thriller 1-0.
2011-2012 was the inaugural season for the OUHC Academy. This proved to be a great success and the year’s training culminated in a convincing victory over Oxford Brookes 4s. In 2012-2013 we hope that the Academy will grow in size and play many more matches. The ultimate aim for this would be to add 4th teams to the club.
Off the pitch the club’s social scene has continued to thrive and OUHC remains a very special club to be part of. OUHC may be the largest mixed club in the University with over 100 members, but it is still one of the most cohesive communities you could be part of. For its members, OUHC will be a source of friends and memories for life. We look forward to welcoming our freshers and new members of the club this year.
2012-2013 will see a few changes for the club, one of the most obvious will be this new website! The site will be updated at least twice a week with match reports, stats, photos, news and player profiles. We encourage you all; members, alumni, parents and friends to sign up to the website as supporters to make sure you receive the most up to date news. We can now also be found on twitter, so please do follow us; @darkbluehockey. For now, our old website: www.darkbluehockey.com will continue to exist, but watch this space as we will soon be transferring our url to this new pitchero site.
We are delighted to announce that Aberdeen Asset Management will be the major sponsor of OUHC for the fourth year running. 2013 will also see the first “Aberdeen Asset Management Varsity Hockey Match”, which is sure to be a success. PwC will again be sponsoring our Cuppers Competitions and Ashurst will continue to be a valued supporter of OUHC. This year, the Club will also be sponsored by Deutsche Bank and RBS and we are excited to work with them both. OUHC extend their warmest thanks to all of our sponsors for their generous support, without which we would struggle to exist.
2012 saw a large number of leavers from our club and I want to take the opportunity to thank them for making OUHC such a great club to be part of over the last few years. In 2012-2013 we hope to see many of our alumni again; whether it be on the Iffley sideline, at the Varsity matches or at the numerous alumni events we hope to hold. We are very grateful for the continued support our alumni give us and for alumni wanting to get back in touch with the club, please do take a look at the “alumni” pages of the website.
Finally, I’d like to thank the OUHC Committee, who give so much of their time to make sure that the club is a success and our team coaches, for their unstinting support. In particular, thanks must go to Rupert Barker and to John Shaw, the coaches of the Occasionals and both Blues teams respectively. John has been with us for many years now and his knowledge, dedication and enthusiasm have been invaluable to OUHC and instrumental in determining just how good a club we can be.
Here’s to hoping that 2012-2013 will be our most successful season yet!
Katherine Mackay
OUHC President 2012-2013
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