Straight back in
What a mighty first week back!! Lots of Saturday wins with the Dockers, M2s, W5s and Pirates furthering their leads at the top of their tables. Big shout out also to the W2s, W6s and W7s who sit in a tidy second spot in their leagues, with W2 competing on goal difference.
Sunday was equally massive. Our U12 boys romped their tournament, with 4 wins, 2 draws, 14 for, 0 against. Our U10B put out a full team for the first time and did great, ending in a 1-1 draw against Tulse Hill & Dulwich. The U10 girls managed to put out two teams of six! The Sharks crushed it winning all three games 5-0, 3-0, 1-0 and the Whales showed some top form including a few goals which, having a couple of keen U8s playing, was not too shabby!
Men’s Day
This Saturday, it’s Men’s Day where we see a number of derbies:
M3 vs M4 4pm, LV
M5 vs M6 12.30pm, JO
M8 vs Dockers 11.10am, JO
Also playing at LV are:
M1 vs Barnes 14:30
M2 vs Spencer 13:00
After the games, its drinks at The Northcote where Wapping have a space from 3pm onwards. There’s even some special entertainment booked for the evening….
Reminder that we’ve got a repeat of Women’s Day down at JO on February 8th with a social to follow.
Men's Mental Health Matters
While we’ve got the men’s attention, we’d like to shine a spotlight on men’s mental health. Hockey is more than just a sport; it's a community. And like any community, we all have our ups and downs.
It's important to remember that it's okay to not be okay. We celebrated Men's mental health day recently, as a reminder that men’s mental health is often overlooked, but it's just as important as physical health.
If you're struggling, please reach out. Talk to a friend, family member, or a mental health professional. You don't have to face it alone.
Here are some resources that can help:
Mind: https://www.mind.org.uk/
Samaritans:
Phone: 116 123
Website: https://www.samaritans.org/
Useful apps and websites:
NHS Every Mind Matters: https://www.nhs.uk/every-mind-matters/
You can also reach out to the club’s welfare team on the email below, who are here to offer confidential support to any member that needs it.
Email: wappinghcwelfare@gmail.com
Let's break the stigma and support each other.
#MensMentalHealth
Coach spotlight: Aurora
I am an experienced hockey player and specialist coach with over 12 years of National League playing experience at top clubs, including Holcombe, Reading, Wimbledon, and currently Canterbury HC. My journey also includes representing GB EDP for a few years, which fuelled my passion for high-performance hockey.
As a specialist coach for over 15 years, my coaching style has evolved through my playing career. I strive to provide goalkeepers with a deep understanding of the value and importance of their position, emphasizing how dedicated, focused time can enhance their experience and development. My approach is energetic and supportive, focusing on technical and game-specific skills tailored to individual needs, while building robustness through fundamental skills, strength, and conditioning movements to meet the unique demands of goalkeeping.
I have had the privilege of coaching goalkeepers at all levels and experiences, and I love seeing their individual journeys unfold as they grow and develop.
Hats off to you (no, really)
A reminder that it’s against EH rules to play in hard-peaked caps (eg baseball hats), as they can pose a safety risk. We, as a club, extend this rule to mixed games, including Pirates and CAWHL.
This week’s fixtures
Last week’s results
Dates for your diary
Jan 25th - Men’s Day
Feb 8th - Women’s Day
12th April - End of Season Dinner
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
5% discount and 5% club kick back at the Moretown Belle
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
10% off all beers at Tap East
Balling: All members = 15% off, W1 and M1 = 25% off. We also get 25% off OTE sports (sports nutrition bars, etc)
And we back
Welcome back, Wappers! We hope everyone had a restful Christmas, and that you’ve all enjoyed getting back to fitness as training returns. Our first Back Post back contains some meaty pieces, including an important update on the club’s finances, so please have a thorough read.
Club finance update
Following a mid season finance review, scheduled at the beginning of the season due to issues we had booking pitches, I’m afraid to say we are in need of increasing match fees by £3 per person, per game, for the remainder of this season.
What? Why now?
Each year, around Feb/March, the treasurer puts together a budget based on forecasted costs for the following season. This is based on income/expenditure for the current season, requested costs from suppliers for the following year, and any other intel they have. At the AGM in April, the exec shares the previous season’s finance report and advises whether there will be membership/match fee increases based on this. Each year the actual costs vary from the budget somewhat but this year we are facing a significant deficit.
As you may remember, we had an incredibly rocky start to the season where we were unable to book any fixtures, or have confirmation we would have any slots at John Orwell (or indeed know the price of them), until the 13th of September, one week before the season began. For reference, the London Hockey league releases fixtures in early July and all game information has to be uploaded on GMS by the end of August and our fixtures secretaries normally spend many summer weeks administrating.
OK, so what were all the unexpected costs?
At the point that all league fixtures needed to be on GMS, clubs in Tower Hamlets were not even able to request bookings at JO, despite us having chased multiple times during the summer. For those unaware, in Tower Hamlets there are significantly more teams needing pitches than there are pitch slots, with multiple clubs having to play out of borough at places like Redbridge Sports Centre.
Unsure if we would receive any pitches at JO this season, and due to the limited availability of pitches, we were advised by the league to book pitches elsewhere to ensure games for our 17 teams could go ahead. This had to happen at the same time Tower Hamlets council were reviewing our request for ur regular slots at JO and meant that once our bookings were confirmed on the 13th September, for a significant portion of the season we had multiple pitch bookings.
You may also remember that just before the season started, we had to drop our men’s 9th XI due to low numbers which left us with even more pitches than required.
In case that wasn’t bad enough, at the end of last season, we were also asked by the council to run junior summer camps again, advised we would receive funding from the council to run them, and their support with promoting them. Despite this, and much chasing, neither the funding nor the support materialised so we ended up financing the pitches ourselves.
It’s normal at the start of the season to have a number of extra pitch slots that our fixtures secretaries work with other clubs and organisations to offload once our fixtures have been assigned, holding onto a few in case of frozen pitches etc. But since this year all clubs were facing the same issues, at the point where we knew how many extra pitches we had, all other clubs had already secured bookings elsewhere.
Eleanor has done an absolutely incredible job of working with other clubs, the sports centres, universities etc to repurpose as many pitch slots as possible, and use as many as we can for friendly games, additional training sessions etc, but unfortunately we could not offload all of them, and pitches are very expensive.
Without wanting to bore you with even more details… as well as an excess number of pitch slots, the cost of pitches has increased and we were also notified that our long standing free of charge storage room at JO will now cost us £1,300 per year, and despite a massive amount of work by our sponsorship secs, we have continued to see an even more challenging landscape in terms of competition for grants and - decline in CSR funding available from companies.
What does this mean going forward?
At the end of the season we will review our finances again but are confident that costs for next season are unlikely to vary drastically from this season. I have had a face to face meeting with the manager at JO who’s promised to provide us with a full cost schedule based on our fixtures for the entire season.
We’ve also planned a sign up system which will run from the end of this season for players keen to play the next. This will enable us to have a clearer idea of membership numbers on both sides of the club and the number of teams to enter.
As well as the above, we are currently in the midst of some exciting conversations and projects, including kicking off the Kidds CIO registration, which we’re hoping will have a positive impact on our finances and help plug the remaining shortfall not covered by the increase in match fees.
This sounds like a total nightmare. Is there anything I can do to help?
Yes!
Make sure you’ve joined Wapping on Easyfundraising and added the browser extension to your devices so you never fail to make a (totally free) donation to the club when shopping online.
If you know anyone with a business or organisation that might want to support the club/a team/Kidds/CAWHL/our school outreach programmes/Back2Hockey/an event please let us know. Additionally, if you’re well versed in applying for grants or are good at getting money out of people interested in a good cause, please shout.
And if all the above sounds like the meaty kinda challenge you want to get your teeth into, reach out to someone on the exec or committee about how to get involved. The committee is a super welcoming place full of wonderful people and we’re always incredibly keen to bring new people on board, regardless of experience or hockey knowledge. We will be sharing info on roles shortly as are hoping to start the onboarding process earlier this year to make pre-season smoother.
TOUR is BACK baby!! 🏴☠️
Following last year’s success, we’re going to be returning to Sonning again this Summer 2025 for more shenanigans, questionable fancy dress and mixed hockey fun!
Sign up using this form but BE QUICK as spaces are limited and we’re expecting an awesome turnout!
FOMO ain’t fun 😎
🎨 Poster design by the very talented Emiel Occidental
📸 Photography by the equally as talented James Budgen
England Hockey’s new Trans and Non-binary Participation policy
Wapping Hockey Club were disheartened to read England Hockey’s new Trans and Non-binary Participation policy which bans transgender women from participating in women’s hockey at all levels, including as women in mixed hockey, from September 2025. We have been in conversation with our D&I team and our friends, London Royals, to put out a statement which can be read here. We truly believe that sport should be an inclusive and welcoming space for all and we stand with all transgender and non-binary people, whether or not they are members of our club or play hockey.
If you would like to reach out to our club about anything regarding this matter please email our welfare team (wappinghcwelfare@gmail.com) who will be able to direct you appropriately.
City and Wharf Hockey League
Everyone’s favourite summer league is just around the corner but it cannot go ahead without a small group of people to lend a helping hand. Especially if you’re not a current committee member, summer league is a great way to give something back over a shorter duration and gives our exec/committee regulars a break from pulling the organisational strings year-round. CAWHL is a well-oiled machine at this point and would benefit from a few people helping with small logistical elements (e.g. replying to emails, tracking scores, managing ringers etc). Email cityandwharfhockeyleague@gmail.com or text our secretary directly on +447546354481 if you can help.
Also, if you think your company might be interested in signing up, feel free to email us for more info.
That was definitely snow, right?
The great return to training and playing was hampered last week as the cold weather took over. While some teams braved the cold, others were unable to play due to the ice. As always, our fabulous fixtures sec is on the case and will let captains know as soon as possible if training or games are not going ahead. Please don’t bombard her with messages!
On the topic of freezing…
It’s fabulous to see all teams bursting with players. We appreciate that sometimes this means that people are sitting out, it’s immensely difficult as a club to always anticipate how many players we’ll have each season and to plan accordingly. We are currently freezing new playing joiners on the women’s side (but are hoping to engage them with summer league/friendlies/mixed games etc and will review requests on a case-by-case basis). If everyone can make sure that they’ve filled in their availability as far into the future as possible, it would greatly help to manage the flow of individuals until the end of the season.
This week’s fixtures
Dates for your diary
Jan 18th - Games restart
Feb 8th - Women’s Day
12th or 19th April - End of Season Dinner
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
5% discount and 5% club kick back at the Moretown Belle
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
10% off all beers at Tap East
Balling: All members = 15% off, W1 and M1 = 25% off. We also get 25% off OTE sports (sports nutrition bars, etc)
Mid season massive
WHAT A SEASON IT’S BEEN, PEOPLE.
Goals galore, epic socials, top volunteering, a blossoming umpire community, excellent availability, wonderful sponsors, an expanding coaching team, Kidds on point, CIC registration, a tidy JO storeroom… Who could ask for more?
Big thanks to everyone who came to the Christmas social and especially to the massive numbers of you who cut short pres and got there early. It was a brilliant night (thanks to fab Social Secs, Hannah and Marti) and a great show of support for our clubhouse.
Here’s a mid season round up. Big thanks for being the best club in town.
Team of the year update
Team of the year (TOTY) is the system by which teams get points for all the wonderful ways they help around the club, like being on the committee, umpiring and coaching the Kidds. Here are the scores on the doors as they stand.
Well done to W6 who paid their subs first, and M1 who had the best social media this half of the season. M2 and W7 won best dressed at Halloween, and W3 won best dressed at Christmas.
W6 - 955 points
Dockers - 890 points
W4 - 755 points
M7 - 670 points
M6 - 660
A huge shout out to the following individuals who are leading the TOTY points, many of whom have collected the majority of their teams’ points:
Jordan Smith - 375 points
Helen Rogers - 360 points
Olivia Shears - 350 points
Grant Aidoo Nash - 340 points
Isabel Ringrose - 340 points
Please note this doesn’t include any goalscorer stats (grr captains, please fill the tab in) or a couple of other metrics that will be calculated at the end of the season. If you’ve umpired the Kidds on a Sunday, or helped others and don’t think it’s been tracked, please let the secretary know and it can be added on.
Thank you to everyone who has done so much to keep the club running this half of the season, we are always grateful to everyone who has stepped up and would encourage as many people to do so next half.
round ups
Women’s
After a huge reshuffle the women's side is smashing it at the halfway point of the season.
W1’s first ever season in the National League has been fantastic to watch so far, and they're currently sitting mid-table.
W2 are on joint points at the top of the table and fighting hard for that promotion, while the W3 sit comfortably in mid-table.
W4 have been battling hard and are ready for some big wins in the new year.
W5 are flying at the top of their league with a 5 point lead. And W6 are following up in third despite only being promoted this season.
W7 also sit high and mighty at the top of their league with a huge 46 goal difference. And the W8, who were newly formed this season, with some players totally new to hockey, are now putting in some impressive performances.
Women's Day 2.0 on 8th February will be another day of derbies and fun to celebrate all our fab women.
- Isabel Ringrose, Women’s Club Captain
Men’s
Heading into the midseason break, M1 sits 5th in a league where just 3 points separate 5 of the top 6 teams, promising goals, excitement, and a wide-open race as we go into 2025!
M2 sit second after a strong first half of the season, with the strongest defence in the league and a 4 point cushion to our nearest promotion rivals. We’ll look to continue our 7 game unbeaten run and hopefully wrap up promotion back to Div1 with little fuss
After a ropey start, M3 sit 3 points off promotion with only one defeat since September, including taking 7 points off the top 3. Two chances for retribution against Indian Gymkhana and M4 in January as we fight for promotion back into Div2. Should be in for an exciting second half of the season.
In the words of the illustrious M4 captain Sam van Der man “M4 occasionally play alright hockey”
M5s head into the Christmas break on 14 points and a mid-table position. Following a difficult previous season the 5s have recruited well and are playing a much improved brand of hockey. Momentum has been building with an extremely impressive away win against third placed Wanders to help round off the first half of the season.
M6’s sit 7th in the league 1 point off 5th and with a game in hand against 6th place. The team have been very consistent beating each of the bottom 4 in our league drawing to the teams from 5-8th and losing by a single goal to 3/4 of the teams above us, let’s not talk about the final one… Second half of the season we’ll aim to turn the 1 goal defeats and draws into wins!
Newly-promoted M7 currently sit in 8th place, 3 points above the drop. With a new-look squad and a steep learning curve, there have been some gutsy performances. Remaining in control of their fate with early, key showdowns in the new year against London Accies and old foes THD. The fight for survival will heat up in 2025!
After a dramatic reshuffle (RIP the 9s) and 3 consecutive bye weeks, the M8s initially struggled to get into the groove. A rocky start to the season on 3 points (but beating East). In recent weeks we have faced a number title chasing teams and showed major improvement, with chances created but not taken. We now aim to turn these improvements into wins in 2025, and hopefully score our next P flick.
Dockers head into the New Year top of the league and still unbeaten. The juniors have been the heartbeat of the team improving week on week and the league title is ours to lose. BZ to all who have played for the Dockers in 2024 🤙
- Men’s captains
Kidds
It has been a huge pleasure to see so many children play their first competitive matches this year. Our U8s have exploded both in number and noise, and played in two tournaments. The U10s, U12G and U14B teams have been challenged at times with insufficient numbers but that never deters these determined players. The U12 boys are making themselves known in their league with the highlight being the Krakens’ unforgettable wins against Southgate and Surbiton. The U14 girls continue to chat, laugh and win (nearly) all of their matches and the Kidds closed the season with our U14 mixed team winning an epic 11 game tournament on Saturday.
None of this is possible without the dedicated work of the coaches. Volunteering their time each weekend and encouraging the juniors every step. We thank you all.
- Amy Winklegrund, Kidds’ Chair
Umpiring
As the year wraps up, we’re pleased to report that we’ve fulfilled nearly all our umpire fixtures, often early in the week, which has helped keep things running smoothly. We’ve also continued to support other local teams when in need, ensuring games can go ahead. It’s been great to see regulars like Iain and Budgen continuing their commitment, while new faces such as Flo, Jesse, Annie, and Euan have brought fresh energy to the team.
Thanks to funding from Tesco we now have radios to support our umpires and ensure our officiating is as good as it can be. We also have a blossoming umpiring community complete with brand new ‘Learning and Discussion’ whatspp group, born from the excellent clip sharing and discussion that was happening in the umpire admin chat. This group is open to everyone and is an excellent way to understand more about umpiring, the rules, and interpretation of the rules within game situations, so please do check it out. Big shout out to our UDOs, Phil, DC and James for their continued support and guidance.
Looking ahead to 2025, we want to see even more players from all teams involved—whether by completing the umpire course and officiating league games, or casually umpiring junior tournaments and friendlies. Building a more engaged umpiring community will only make us stronger as a club.
Finally, a huge thanks to Jane, our outstanding Umpire Liaison Officer. She’s managed the setup solo, keeping everything running smoothly and ensuring Smithy didn’t get too much power! Her dedication has been key to our success, and we’re incredibly grateful for her efforts.
- Jordan Smith
Chedd, the main money man
Props to Joe Chedd, of M1 and Insta fame, for being unanimously selected by the London Hockey Board as their new Finance Director. As with club roles, London Hockey is run by volunteers and without people like Chedd stepping up hockey simply wouldn’t happen. Go Joe!
Coaching Survey
During the Christmas break, please take a few minutes to reflect on the coaching you have received during the first half of the season and fill in the "Coaching Feedback Form" HERE. It's really important we regularly feed back to the coaches what they are doing well and maybe not so well! This is an opportunity to have your say, completely anonymously.
Wapping’s newest recruits
It gives me great pleasure to share news and gorgeous snaps of three of the latest additions to the Wapping family. Wapping alumni Alix Poeton’s daughter (and founder Tim’s granddaughter) Riley Harper; Hon. president Stuart Burnside’s, daughter, Margot; and VCP Lizzie’s daughter Daphne. Looking forward to pitch side cuddles soon!
Women’s London INdoor
On Saturday the women’s 1s trekked down to Croydon to play in the London indoor tournament. Having never played together as a team, the girls began building patterns straight away with a 3-0 win over Harrow.
The girls continued to play great indoor hockey in the group stage with a 5-0 win over Tulse Hill and an unlucky 3-1 loss to Wayfarers.
The girls found themselves in the semi-final against a strong Spencer side. Some great passages of play and resilient defence saw the girls win the game with a great 2-1 win.
Unfortunately the girls then had to go straight into the final with one sub and weary legs against a rested and bench heavy Wayfarers side. The girls held Wayfarers to 0-0 at half time but then sadly conceded 2 in the second half.
A really strong showing of some great indoor hockey from all the girls involved 👏👏 - Izzy Montgomery, W1 captain
Mid season results
Dates for your diary
Jan 18th - Games restart
Jan 25th - Men’s Day
Feb 8th - Women’s Day
12th or 19th April - End of Season Dinner
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
5% discount and 5% club kick back at the Moretown Belle
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
10% off all beers at Tap East
Balling: All members = 15% off, W1 and M1 = 25% off. We also get 25% off OTE sports (sports nutrition bars, etc)
Ho ho hope your last game’s a cracker
This Saturday marks the halfway point in the season - it’s sped by! We want to extend our thanks to everyone who has helped make this first half of the season so impactful, we are grateful to everyone on the committee, all the coaches, umpires and volunteers. This weekend we let our hair down in true Wapping fashion at the Christmas social, there’s still time to get a ticket from your team’s social sec!
Passing the baton on
As we’re reaching the halfway point of this season, we are starting to plan for next and are really keen to ensure a smooth transition to the new committee, including more of a handover between roles. If there’s anything you have your eye on for next season, now is a great time to reach out to the secretary or to the person in the role to discuss a slow learning of the ropes. Find a list of positions here.
🎄Christmas Social🎄
It’s finally time for the Christmas social, a highlight of the social calendar. This time we’re taking over our favourite clubhouse and turning it into a disco 💃🏾🪩🕺🏼so get ready to party and grab your tickets from your team social sec now!
This social has a slightly earlier finishing time so please do try to get there as close to 8 as possible to seize the night!
When?: Sat 7 December, 20:00-1:00
Where?: The Moretown Belle 🔔✨
Tickets?: £10 - bites will be provided
Why?: 🍻🍷🎄☃️
Dress code: Fancy Dress
Again, there will be prices for the best dressed teams! (judging method TBC 😛)🪩
Wapping Hockey Club No Tolerance Drugs Policy
With socials comes much merriment and fun but please remember to look out for yourself and your pals, and respect the clubhouse and their team who go above and beyond for us every week 🫶
We would also like to remind everyone that Wapping Hockey Club has a strict no-tolerance policy towards the use or possession of illegal drugs in any club environment, including club socials. Any member found in breach of this policy will face the following consequences:
First-time offender:
3-week ban from all club activities, including training, matches, and coaching.
1-month social ban from club premises and events.
Second-time offender:
Remainder of the season ban from all club activities, including training, matches, CAWHL Summer League, coaching, club premises and events.
Third-time offender:
Permanent ban from the club.
Potential involvement of the police.
Any member found selling drugs to others will be permanently suspended from the club with immediate effect.
This policy applies to all members of the club, regardless of age or position. Possession of illegal substances is a serious issue, and we are committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for all members.
We encourage anyone who has concerns about drug use within the club to reach out to the welfare team (wappinghcwelfare@gmail.com).
Should you wish to remind yourself of Wapping’s Code of Ethics, you can find the document on the members area of the website (pw: whc1989)
City and wharf hockey league
It was great to hear from a few people after last week’s Back Post who were interested in entering a team for their company. The sign up form will be available after Christmas but we’re still really in need of a few people to help with the logistics, please email cityandwharfhockeyleague@gmail.com if you can help.
Team of the year
Next week we publish the TOTY points for the first half of the season - it’s looking close! Remember to not let your good deeds go unnoticed: if you do any Kidds volunteering or umpiring, make sure it’s on the spreadsheet, and if you’ve attended the umpire course or passed the qualification, please let the secretary know on wappingsecretary@gmail.com.
Umpiring: hear from Flo
With the Christmas break approaching, now is a good time to remind you that we always need more umpires. There are 4 courses before Christmas, please consider taking part.
Recently Flo, who plays for the Women’s 6s, undertook the umpiring course. She has already umpired for the kidds and signed up for a league game next weekend so we asked her to share her experiences:
Why did you sign up?
I signed up for umpiring because it’s not only a way to gain a better understanding of the rules of the game, but also to get more involved with the club and as a different way to experience hockey.
What did you have to do before attending the course?
Before the course there was an online test covering the rules and best practice which was useful background and made the course itself a really interesting discussion.
What happened on the course?
The session leaders (experienced umpires themselves) took us through the key topics (Advantage rule, penalty shorts and strokes as well as positioning) in a very interactive way, making the course very valuable!
Overall thoughts and what happens after the course
I expected it to be easy but there’s a lot that goes into high quality umpiring! My first umpiring experience was an U12 tournament which Smithy & Winky helped ease me into - and by the last few games I was feeling confident enough to umpire a game alone! Having the opportunity to umpire the Kidds games has been a great way to learn while building experience and confidence to take into Adult games.
Why others should sign up
It’s a great skill to develop and chance to get involved! I would highly reccomend the course and the club has been incredibly supportive
Also a reminder that individuals who umpire more than 10 games receive a discounted EOSD ticket!
This week’s fixtures
Dates for your diary
Dec 7th - Christmas Social (and last pre-xmas game providing no rearranged fixtures)
Jan 18th - Games restart
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
5% discount and 5% club kick back at the Moretown Belle
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
10% off all beers at Tap East
Balling: All members = 15% off, W1 and M1 = 25% off. We also get 25% off OTE sports (sports nutrition bars, etc)
Winter winners
Last week was a superb set of results all around, with all but one men’s side picking up a win. Our U8s, U10s and U12s put in some fab performances on Sunday, the Women’s 5s furthered their lead at the top of their league table, and many other teams are now sitting firmly in the top 3 as we approach the halfway mark of the season. At this point I would like to say a massive thank you to Lizzie, Matt, Jenna, DvS, the club captains, coaches and captains for all their hard work around performance across the club. There’s been a huge amount of effort and the results are testament to everyone’s hard work 🫶
🎄Christmas Social🎄
Our Annual Christmas social is almost upon us! And this time we’re taking over our favourite clubhouse and turning it into a disco so get ready to party and grab your tickets now! 💃🏾🪩🕺🏼
When?: Sat 7 December, 20:00-1:00
Where?: The Moretown Belle 🔔✨
Tickets?: £10 (available from your team social sec) - bites will be provided.
Why?: 🍻🍷🎄☃️
Dress code: Fancy Dress
Again, there will be prices for the best dressed teams! (judging method TBC 😛)🪩
Fixtures
Our fixtures sec, Eleanor, has done a brilliant job as always and has now inputted the fixtures for the second half of the season - please do update your availability where possible, it really helps with planning.
City and Wharf Hockey League
Everyone’s favourite summer league will be back next year! For those new to the club, the City and Wharf Hockey League is a summer league run by Wapping from April to August and features corporate teams from all across the City alongside a number of Wapping teams and other social entrants. Not only does it provide a cracking summer of hockey but it also funds the Back to Hockey sessions which contribute to our aims of bringing free hockey to the community.
We appreciate that lots of company social budgets reset at the start of the year, so if you think your company might be interested in entering a team, it’s never too early to ask us for information. We’re also very much in need of a team to cover the logistics again - the more people helping, the less work all around and there are roles of all sizes to accommodate any amount of free time. Please email cityandwharfhockeyleague@gmail.com for any information or to offer to lend a hand.
Umpire action required
Hi all, a reminder that it is a League Regulation that all umpires for all league games are registered as umpires in GMS - I’ve just been sent a list by England Hockey and a large number of people doing matches are not registered.
To be clear, this means you need to have the ‘free’ EHO Bronze Membership, nothing higher for insurance purposes.
Why should I care?
Umpires not registered in GMS cannot be added to the match sheets (reg 11.1.4) - which can result in points deductions for the teams involved on a 3rd+ breach (I suspect from the data almost all teams are in this territory of risk already)
Failure of umpires to be registered as members of EHO can result in fines for the club (reg 11.3)
I’m not sure if I’m registered as an umpire, how do I check?
Go to My Profile (under your name in top left hand corner)
Click the Loyalties tab
You should see ‘Wapping HC (Umpire)’
If you don’t you aren’t registered
How do I register as an umpire?
Go to gms.englandhockey.co.uk
Click the “To register for GMS click HERE” link
Select ‘Officiating’ as your role
Enter the same email address as your main (playing) GMS account
Await your verification code
Complete the form, ensuring you select Wapping HC as your club
This will add the Umpire profile to your account
Newsletter sec
Those of you who are glued to your inbox in anticipation of receiving this newsletter will have been sorely disappointed not to receive one last week. Sorry - we forgot! We would be really grateful still if someone can step in and fill the role to relieve a bit of brain space for the Chair/Secretary who have been cobbling it together each week.
Last week’s results
This week’s fixtures
Dates for your diary
Dec 7th - Christmas Social (and last pre-xmas game providing no rearranged fixtures)
Jan 18th - Games restart
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
5% discount and 5% club kick back at the Moretown Belle
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
10% off all beers at Tap East
Balling: All members = 15% off, W1 and M1 = 25% off. We also get 25% off OTE sports (sports nutrition bars, etc)
Winter is coming and Warren’s here.
Happy Friday all! Last week saw another excellent weekend of hockey as the W1 prevailed in their first ever East London National League derby, and a number of teams were rewarded for a season of solid effort as they climbed towards the top of their respective league tables. A huge shout out to everyone playing and supporting at Lee Valley last Saturday (including all the Royals!), the atmosphere was electric and the hockey incredible. A fantastic result to kick off new W1’s captain, Izzy’s, reign! Well done all.
Christmas social
The Christmas social is fast approaching on December 7th, while the exact details are to be imminently provided, it’s never too soon to start planning your team’s fancy dress.
Warren D’Souza, VCP
We are delighted that Warren D’Souza has offered to step in and continue Lizzie and Jenna’s excellent work on the club performance front.
Warren has played in the National League for over twenty seasons, winning four English Premier League titles and a Euro Hockey League bronze medal with former club Reading. He has also appeared for England at every age group.
Coaching-wise, Warren has over a decade of experience coaching at various levels, including three teams in the National League. He's very familiar with the development of Wapping over the years having coached M1 over two stints: from 2011-2013 and from 2018-2022. Welcome (back)!
It’s getting chilly
The astute among you have probably realised that it’s getting chillier. With this comes the possibility of matches being cancelled as pitches are frozen over. Have no doubt that the fixture secs are on it, so please don’t bombard them with messages from midweek asking if your game will be on over the weekend. Fixtures sec will let captains know who will inform teams.
Training:
Final decision will be made 1 hour before training, however if cancelled earlier in the day Eleanor will inform captains as soon as she’s informed.
Matches:
Home
LV - inspection of the pitches at the following times: 08:30, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00 and if necessary 17:00 once a decision has been made Eleanor will inform captains.
JO - process to be confirmed with centre but aim to follow same procedures.
Away
As soon as Eleanor or captains know we will inform the teams.
Safety
We’ve sadly seen a few injuries for both our own players and opposition in recent weeks. Please continue to do what you can to stay as safe as possible, including wearing mouthguards and short-corner protection.
All teams should carry a complete first aid kit (including ice packs) and have trained first aiders who can help should an injury occur. It is the responsibility of teams to issue first aid, not venue staff.
In the event of an incident, please do tell the club - Injury reporting is a requirement of England Hockey, is needed for our own risk management, and because we purchase insurance which can claim for losses or expenses associated with injury. More details can be found here.
If your teams needs any first aid or short corner kit please reach out to Kit Sec, Kat (wappingkit@gmail.com).
If you need any help with this, please contact the Club Secretary, Irini.
Introducing the Printers
This Sunday our performance mixed team, The Printers, have their first EH tournament game against West Hampstead at Lee Valley (pb @ 11:30).
The Printers team is predominantly aimed at those playing in the first to fourth teams, the group chat can be found in the Wapping community if you’d like to join them.
Free swimming for women and over 55s living in tower hamlets
If all the hockey wasn’t keeping you fit enough, BeWell (who run JO) are now offering free swimming for women and over 55s resident in Tower Hamlets. More info here: https://be-well.org.uk/what-we-offer/swimming/free-swimming/
Upcoming events at The Northcote
Our new hangout, The Northcote, has a great set of events between now and Christmas, ranging from folk to house music - feel free to gather your teams and stick around after teas.
Last week’s results
This week’s fixtures
Dates for your diary
Dec 7th - Christmas Social (and last pre-xmas game providing no rearranged fixtures)
Jan 18th - Games restart
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
5% discount and 5% club kick back at the Moretown Belle
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
10% off all beers at Tap East
Balling: All members = 15% off, W1 and M1 = 25% off. We also get 25% off OTE sports (sports nutrition bars, etc)
And what a weekend it was…
Hope y’all have managed to make it through the week following Saturday’s spooktacular social. A tidy 9 wins and a draw set the tone for a cracking evening at the Forge which saw a resurgence of the Mens 9s, a pre-election visit from Trump, hundreds of (wo)Men in Black, and plenty of emotions, but those crowned best dressed were me hearties, the W8s (complete with hand crafted boat), and the M2 who were at one with the force having landed a 5-0 win against Wayfarers. Big shout out to Social Secs Hannah and Martijn for another awesome night out.
Get your support on!
Following the departure of much loved VCP and W1 captain, Jenna, we’re thrilled to announce that the fabulous Izzy Montgomery has agreed to take on the role of W1 captain for the remainder of the season. Izzy brings a wealth of playing, umpiring and committee experience so is the perfect candidate to continue the W1 successes and top vibes.
To kick off Izzy’s reign, we have a packed day of fixtures at LV, culminating in a MASSIVE game against East for the W1, so make sure you head on over/hang around post game to get your support on before heading over to The Northcote to celebrate the impending wins.
In Izzy’s words:
“This is a huge game for us, not only because it's a home derby but it's a good chance for us to get another 3 points on the board.
We haven't played East London for a few years now and are excited to play down at Lee Valley with a big crowd behind us.
Although we've been unlucky with results at the start of this season, we've been constantly improving as a team - we are excited to show how far we've come this Saturday!”
Training up Match Officials
The Women’s 1s are looking for a few club members who would be willing to take on the match official role at their league matches when required.
The W1 need someone to act as match official at home games. This involves things such as keeping track of cards, managing subs and in general helping the match to run smoothly.
At the moment Iain is currently fulfilling this role but he is keen for a couple of individuals to shadow him so we have knowledge of the role shared around the club. In particular, we are looking for a volunteer to shadow the match official role at the W1s 6pm derby this Saturday against East London.
If you are interested or want to find out more please email wappingladies1@gmail.com or message Izzy M (07456 883646).
Availability
Squads have largely settled across both the men’s and women’s side, though we continue to see excellent availability each week, which means that at times we have had to ask a few players to sit out. The club and team captains are doing a brilliant job at managing it all, but this work is made much harder where people update their availability late, therefore if this hasn’t been updated by Sunday, players won’t be prioritised to play the following weekend.
Umpire Slot Sign-Up Process
As part of our efforts to streamline the process for assigning umpires, we’ve introduced a proactive sign-up system for all teams. Umpires will now be able to sign up for their respective match slots directly on the master spreadsheet.
Each match is assigned to an accountable team who are then responsible for ensuring the umpire slot is filled. To ensure smooth operations, please note the following:
Proactive Sign-Up: Umpires can sign up for available slots in advance on the master spreadsheet.
Accountable Team: Each match will have an accountable team assigned to oversee umpire allocation.
Deadline for Filling Slots: If a slot remains unfilled by the Wednesday of the match week, it will become the responsibility of the assigned team to secure an umpire for the match.
This system aims to reduce last-minute scrambling and ensure all matches have an umpire. We appreciate everyone’s cooperation in adhering to this process.
Up the pirates
The W8s weren’t the only pirates prevailing over the weekend, as our mighty mixed team was also in action. The Pirates is aimed predominantly at players in the lower end of the club (4s-8s), and plays in a league at Kennington Park most Sundays. It’s a really relaxed environment to play with a friendly bunch of people and enjoy some of the finest teas in town at The Beehive. The team also enters tournaments like the Pride Cup and enjoyed a hugely successful tour to Sonning last summer.
The team is captained by Maddie Fletcher and Ollie Kaye, and is always happy to accept new players - the link to join the team chat can be found in the Wapping Community. It’s also open to individuals with a social membership who aren’t able to commit to regular league games. Match fees are usually £8, and the team plays in black.
Our performance mixed team, The Printers, will also be back on the pitch soon - more details of this to come! Again, the team chat can be found in the community for anyone who’d like to be the first to know about the upcoming fixtures.
REMINDER: Socks back in stock
Also, if you’re after some discounted Wapping stash, the 23/24 clothing is now 50% off at Hawkinsport.
Last week’s Results
This week’s fixtures
Dates for your diary
Nov 9th - W1s vs East London derby and social, 6pm @ LV
Dec 7th - Christmas Social (and last pre-xmas game providing no rearranged fixtures)
Jan 18th - Games restart
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
5% discount and 5% club kick back at the Moretown Belle
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
10% off all beers at Tap East
Balling: All members = 15% off, W1 and M1 = 25% off. We also get 25% off OTE sports (sports nutrition bars, etc)
Trick or tequila
Happy Friday! We hope you’re all as excited as we are to get back on the pitch after a restful slip week last week. Not everyone used it as a chance to put their feet up, as the Pirates stormed to victory with a 5-2 win against THD and our Masters teams were hard at work. This weekend also marks one of the most important dates of the Wapping calendar, with the Halloween Social taking place on Saturday night - it’s never too late to come along!
Socks back in stock
This week has seen a huge delivery of socks to HQ so any pre-orders will be fulfilled shortly and new orders sorted as they come in.
Spooky szn is finally upon us!
The time has come for the infamous Halloween Social. Whether you’re a Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader, Brat or anything in between, everyone is invited for what is always a highlight of the social calendar.
Details:
DATE: Saturday 2nd November
LOCATION: Forge EC3V 3ND (Bank station)
TIME: 7:30pm – 3am
TICKETS: £6 (please pay your team’s social sec)
OUTFIT: Fancy dress
There will be WELCOME DRINKS so make sure you arrive in a timely fashion AND there will be prizes for the best dressed teams, the more creative, the better! Look forward to seeing you all there!
NB. this venue requires a minimum spend so please ensure you only purchase drinks in the section of the bar we’re in (where spend is tracked) else we risk losing our deposit. Thanks all!
Watch your 1s
If one social saturday isn’t enough, then head down to Lee Valley on Saturday November 9th at 6pm for the Women’s 1s derby game against East London. This is the first time that the Women’s 1s face EL in the National League as they continue to rise up the table - it’s bound to be a good one!!
The Masters are in the building
Last weekend saw both Masters’ teams play their first games of the season. The Remains beat East London 2-0 with PoM going to Afia for a fabulous debut and great goal, while DoD was Marieke for a most generous pass into 3 of the East players just in front of the D with 3 minutes to go.
At the same time, the Wæpenmenn had good fun playing their inaugural game which they ‘could have won but didn’t’ ending up 3-2 down. Both teams are open to players who are 35 years old by December 31st 2025, if you’d like to join them for occasional Sunday games, both team chats can be found in the Wapping Whatsapp community.
Vice-Chair Performance
As many of you will know, our VCP powerhouses Jenna and Lizzie are taking a step back from the role as Jenna moves to pastures green in Ireland and Lizzie takes long-term performance planning to the next level in birthing the W1 protege of the 2044/2045 season. We are hugely lucky that Warren D’Souza, who previously player/coached the M1s, is stepping into the role. He brings an absolute wealth of experience and we are so grateful to have him support us in continuing to develop the club.
Raise Her Game
Last Sunday, Kidds’ Head Coach, Sandra Akinbolu, took part in Raise Her Game UK’s first ever hockey camp. Raise Her Game is a charity founded by GB Hockey player Darcy Bourne which aims to improve diversity and representation in women’s sport. The charity offers free sessions in local primary state schools to give girls the opportunity to play sports that might have otherwise been out of reach. Their first camp on Sunday was aimed at girls in years 4 & 5 from Tower Hamlets and Hackney and will no doubt be integral to shaping the experiences of young players and offering role models to those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
An update from the Women’s club captain
Thank you for everyone's patience as we restructured the teams on the women's side. We've completed a huge amount of movement, and I'd like to thank the captains and coaches for all their hard work, and every player for their understanding.
We're at capacity now so any new joiners on the women’s side will only be able to train and play friendlies until next season/space becomes available. I'll now work with Matt and the VCP to make sure each team has enough players each week, as many players as poss get a game and we win all the games we can! There will be weeks when there's small amounts of movement, and others when there's less. But overall the squads should now be settled.
If you have concerns or problems, you can reach out to me, Issy, at any point at wappinglcc@gmail.com
Meet the coaches: Craig Tuaine
I began my coaching journey in New Zealand, where I discovered a passion for helping players grow by seeing them take on advice and improve their game.
This year, my main goal is to lead the Wapping Women’s 2s to promotion while ensuring we have a successful, fun season.
Wapping Hockey Club has been instrumental in my development as a coach, providing invaluable support.
Matt BB has been especially helpful, offering constructive guidance on team strategies and always ready to answer my questions.
His mentorship, combined with the club’s welcoming environment, has empowered me to keep progressing as a coach.
Last week’s Results
This week’s fixtures
Dates for your diary
Nov 2nd - Halloween Social
Nov 9th - W1s vs East London derby and social, 6pm @ LV
Dec 7th - Christmas Social
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
5% discount and 5% club kick back at the Moretown Belle
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
10% off all beers at Tap East
Balling: All members = 15% off, W1 and M1 = 25% off. We also get 25% off OTE sports (sports nutrition bars, etc)
Alive and CIC-ing!
Last weekend saw the start of our coach development sessions and the return of Women’s Day, a jam packed day of hockey followed up with a serious serving of fun at the Northcote.
It also saw the W2, W5 and Dockers continue their non-stop winning streak, the W1 get their first National League point, a squeaky point for the M4, the U12 boys smashing it, with the Corsairs winning their tournament, and the U10 girls (with a couple of U8 fill ins) knocking it out the park winning four of their five games!
CIC registration complete! 🎉🎉
We are delighted to announce that Wapping is now a Community Interest Company (CIC)!
Thanks to support from Wapping’s Hon. Life President and Founder, Tim Poeton, the club has now been able to adopt an incorporated structure as a Community Interest Company (CIC). This is a form of social enterprise that provides the club with a number of key advantages:
It limits the liability of the club and its members as the CIC has its own legal personality (the club rather than individual members could be sued)
It opens up funding opportunities with grant and statutory funders and some offers limited tax breaks, but it also allows us to enter commercial arrangements
It future proofs the organisation and locks in the assets for the sole benefit of Wapping Hockey
It provides a simple structure to run the club as a recognised community facility
In due course, we will register Wapping Kidds as a charity to increase our ability to fundraise and support the development and expansion of the youth offering for the public benefit.
To all intents and purposes, everything will look and feel the same as a club member or user but importantly we will have a sound legal structure to future proof all that is great about the club. This is a hugely positive move for the club, the next stage in its 36 year history and one that will see us become stronger and more competitive.
We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Tim and his wife (and Wapping’s OG Tea lady) Susan, without whom this would not have happened.
🎃👻 Halloween Social 🎃👻
It’s spooky season again, so time to break out all your best costume ideas for the fancy dress event of the year!🍬🧛
DETAILS
DATE: Saturday 2nd November
LOCATION: Forge (EC3V 3ND, Bank station)
TIME: 7:30pm – 3am
TICKETS: £6 (please pay your team’s social sec)
OUTFIT: Fancy dress
There will be WELCOME DRINKS so make sure you arrive in a timely fashion AND there will be prizes for the best dressed teams, the more creative, the better! Look forward to seeing you all there!
Please note that this venue requires a minimum spend so please ensure you only purchase drinks in the section of the bar we’re in (where spend is tracked) else we risk losing our deposit 😬 Thanks all!
Qualified as an umpire abroad?
Great! Join our umpiring team by completing this form and sharing it with our ULOs (wappingulo@gmail.com) so they can get your non-England Hockey qualification transferred to an EH Level 1.
ECLIPSE at Ugly Duck
Long time club member Dave Charlesworth’s production company KitMapper have recently installed the exhibition ‘ECLIPSE’ by artist duo Nonotak.
‘ECLIPSE’ is an audio-visual experience which explores the power and impact of light on visual perception when combined with space and sound. Light will be sculpted and expressed in various forms through three curated installations, HIGHWAY, DUAL, and HIDDEN SHADOWS.
After viewing ECLIPSE, unwind in the bar area, where expert mixologists craft a diverse selection of artisanal cocktails designed to complement and enhance your ECLIPSE experience.
Be sure to check it out and use the code WAPPINGHC at checkout for a tidy 20% off the ticket price.
KitMapper provide critically engaged project management, production, design, installation, consultation and technical services for creative projects across the creative and commercial industries.
Northcote update
After a hugely enjoyable set of trial weeks at The Northcote, we plan to move all teas for matches played at Lee Valley there. The landlady, Tuesday, commented on how lovely everyone from the club was and had already begun trying to learn everyone’s names! We really appreciate all the efforts everyone went to, to show them why Wapping is such a special club and we hope that this will be a nice hub for teams to congregate to for the season ahead.
Last week’s Results
This week’s fixtures
Dates for your diary
Nov 2nd - Halloween Social
Nov 9th - W1s vs East London derby and social, 6pm @ LV
Dec 7th - Christmas Social
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
5% discount and 5% club kick back at the Moretown Belle
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
10% off all beers at Tap East
Balling: All members = 15% off, W1 and M1 = 25% off. We also get 25% off OTE sports (sports nutrition bars, etc)
The good times keep coming
Last weekend the ladies side smashed local rivals, East London, with the W5 racking up a cheeky 4-0 win, the W6 with a HUGE 2-1 victory, and the W7 with a WAPPING 18-0 goal fest. Notable mentions also for the M3 and W2 for a couple of tidy wins and the M2 who, having held fast on a draw, remain unbeaten.
This week we see the return of L’Ump Month, ‘Ladies Day’ and the launch of our Coach Development Sessions!
Kidds made county!
We are thrilled to announce that, for the first time in Wapping’s history, we have homegrown juniors selected for county teams - FIVE of them (and with two 11 year olds making the U13 team!)
Huge congratulations to Zed (U14 London North defensive), Annabel (U13 London South goalkeeper), Asa (U13 London North defence), Rayan (U13 London North forward) and Leo (U13 midfield).
These incredible achievements are testament to the outstanding coaching team we have at the club, dedicated volunteers inspiring the next generation of hockey players.
Kidds are always on the lookout for new helpers and coaches for their junior sessions so if you’d like to get involved (no experience necessary), please reach out to our Kidds Head Coach, Sandra, or complete the Coaching Development Pathway form below.
L’Ump Month
L’Ump Month was started in October 2017 by 4 umpires in the M7 (including two of your current UDOs), who decided to umpire in pink and donate their match payment to a Breast Cancer Charity.
7 years later and with thousands raised across the UK, L’Ump Month is back, and this is how you can get involved:
Umpires: if you are umpiring in October, please umpire in a pink shirt (with your colleague) if you can and donate your match fee to the L’Ump Month fundraiser.
Wannabe umpires: maybe this is the reminder you need to get signed up on an online umpiring course.
Players/teams: organise playing in pink socks during October if you can and consider adding a team donation to the JustGiving page.
Congrats to two of our best
At Wapping we’re incredibly lucky to have three amazing Umpire Development Officers, and over the last week two of them have stepped it up AGAIN.
Dan Carter for qualifying as an umpire for the Women’s National League following a successful assessment. He goes onto NPUA B Panel to match where he is on the men’s side. 👏👏👏
And to Phil O’Hagan for getting promoted to men’s NPUA B Panel following a drizzly game in Guildford. A testament to the hard work put in behind the scenes, as well as on pitch each week. 💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼
What a team!
Coaching Development is go!
We’re thrilled to announce the launch of one of our biggest performance focuses of the year, our Coach Development Pathway. We have lots of people keen to get into coaching but not sure where to start so Head Coach, Matt, and Coach Development Officer, DvS, have created the program to upskill anyone on their coaching journey.
The CDP are fortnightly Tuesday sessions, starting 15th October, run by Matt and DvS. It is both for people with no experience keen to start out and people who have already tried their hand developing teams. We will look to help develop this group to get into assistant, match day and lead coaching including EH qualifications and using our VEO camera.
If you are interested in getting involved, please register your interest here.
Girls just Gonna have fun
This weekend is a huge one for the women's side of the club!
5 games, 3 derbies, plus a social. The W2 face W3, W5 play W6, and W7 go head to head with W8. To top off a full day of hockey fun, W4 will look to beat PHC Chiswick.
We'll also be sending love from LV to W1 who take on Old Georgians away!
Get down to Lee Valley to cheer on our Wapping women, support our 6 female umpires facilitating games - and watch Wapping's two female coaches Tara Feeney and Lakin Eddy do battle on the sidelines!
We'll then all be heading for a joint teas and women's social at our new Leyton hang-out The Northcote.
Saturday will be a fab day to enjoy hockey and celebrate our amazing women. Don't miss out!
Issy
Women's Club Captain
Last week’s Results
This week’s fixtures
Dates for your diary
Oct 12th - Women’s Day, LV all day and social after
Nov 2nd - Halloween Social
Nov 9th - W1s vs East London derby and social, 6pm @ LV
Dec 7th - Christmas Social
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
5% discount and 5% club kick back at the Moretown Belle
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
10% off all beers at Tap East
Balling: All members = 15% off, W1 and M1 = 25% off. We also get 25% off OTE sports (sports nutrition bars, etc)
Points mean prizes
Another week, another 7 MASSIVE wins, making it 2 out of 2 for the M2, W2, W3 and Dockers! It’s league points central. And if that’s not enough points for you, we’ve got Team of the Year points incoming too…
TOTY
Team of the year is back! For those who don’t know, Team of the Year is the formal process by which all the wonderful things teams do to give back to the club are counted to crown a big winner at End of Season Dinner.
Here is the scoring that will be applied this year:
Please make sure that all your good deeds are tracked in the relevant places so if you’re volunteering with the Kidds, put it on the tracker and when you’re off to a social remember to note down how many came. If you want to directly report any achievements, feel free to ping the Secretary an email.
Tour
After a really successful tour to Sonning last summer (thank you Maddie and Ollie for organising), we are really keen to get the tour and potentially ski vibe going again across the club. For this to happen, we need people both to organise and to attend. If you’d be interested in either, please fill out this short google form.
Current suggestions are Sonning, the Netherlands, Ireland and a Ski trip but we’re open to any other ideas or connections people might have across the globe!
Umpiring
Umpiring is a wonderful way to give back to the club and earns you £15 per game, as well as being a great way to meet people from other teams. We have two incredible Umpiring Development Officers, DC and James Holmes, who are there to provide support for all. You won’t be thrown in the deep-end, there are plenty of opportunities to start with games in the lower leagues (or with the Kidds), and umpire alongside someone very experienced early on. Our Umpire Liaison Officers, Jane and Smithy, have the job of finding umpires each week and it can be really, really tiresome if there isn’t enough of a pool to support this - even umpiring a game here and there makes a huge difference.
We remind teams that they should all have 2 qualified umpires (W8 and Dockers are exempt), and that there is a team allocated to cover a game before/after theirs in the case of a game going unfilled.
There are weekly online Level 1 courses open to all so get in touch with the team if you’d like to know more (wappingudo@gmail.com)
Photo opt out form
Wapping Hockey Club will use match photography on multiple platforms, for example for promotion on our Website or on our social media platforms.
If you would prefer not to be captured please complete this form
You are always able to withdraw consent at any time. If changes are requested post match we will endeavour to complete these asap, however it may take additional time.
Meet the Coaches
This week’s instalment of ‘Meet the coaches’ appears on our Instagram with Smithy of the M4 talking about his experiences of developing as a goalkeeper coach, his time at Wapping Hockey Club and much more! Check out the video here.
… ANd Meet the kidds!
In case you’re not aware, our Kidds have their very own Instagram account where you can follow all their fun and games. Be sure to give them a follow to show your support.
Teas at the Northcote
As of tomorrow, we will be starting our two week trial of teas at The Northcote in Leyton (15 min walk/next to Leyton Stn) for matches at Lee Valley.
It’s an excellent boozer (with £5 pints), and the owner is incredibly lovely and delighted to be hosting us, so please please ensure you head down and show some love - the price of the teas for the season is dependent on how much we can show them we spend over the next fortnight.
This is a trial for us both so it would be great to hear your thoughts on the venue. All feedback to be emailed to wappingsecretary@gmail.com
Last week’s Results
This week’s fixtures
Dates for your diary
Oct 12th - Women’s Day, LV all day and social after
Nov 2nd - Halloween Social
Nov 9th - W1s vs East London derby and social, 6pm @ LV
Dec 7th - Christmas Social
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
5% discount and 5% club kick back at the Moretown Belle
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
10% off all beers at Tap East
Balling: All members = 15% off, W1 and M1 = 25% off. We also get 25% off OTE sports (sports nutrition bars, etc)
Winning looks good on us
Happy Friday, Wappers! Last Saturday saw a triumphant start to the season with many teams picking up some strong wins, this included
M2 (2-1), M7 (2-1), M6 (5-2), M7 (2-1) W1 (3-0), W3 (3-1), W5 (2-0), W7 (5-0) and Dockers (3-1).The great day of hockey was rounded off with an even better evening at our Clubhouse, the Moretown Belle, where those in attendance collected their Wapping membership cards. Remember to show it when at the bar to get a discount!
Important notices
Pay your membership: after Friday October 4th, those who haven’t paid won’t be able to play - please contact the treasurer if you have any queries or concerns
SOS: Save our Secretary. We’re still looking for someone to draft the weekly newsletter so that our Secretary can use the Thursday commute to watch reruns of Gilmore Girls
Join the results chat to celebrate results as they come in and be sure to hang around at LV this weekend to catch the much anticipated M3/M4 derby.
Dates for your diary
Oct 12th - Women’s Day, LV all day and social after
Nov 2nd - Halloween Social
Nov 9th - W1s vs East London derby and social, 6pm @ LV
Dec 7th - Christmas Social
Photography
For photography, we operate an opt out permissions form. This will be shared club wide before next matches are captured. If there is media of you that appears online and you would prefer it removed, it will be taken down on request no questions asked.
Match galleries will now be posted on the club website. The password is whc1989. These images are for personal use only, such as printing or posting on your own social media. It would be appreciated if you credit the original photographer - each album will have the photographer's information attached.
Please do not share photography with third parties like opposition or player sponsors. If you have any questions or requests r.e. Photography please email Head of Press - wappinghop@gmail.com
Meet the coaches
Next up we have the lovely Kiran Dhoot (above) who this season is running training for M8-9 and is our Back2Hockey king.
“Having started my coaching journey at 16 at Reading HC, I became keen to get involved with developing talent. Alongside playing competitive hockey throughout my life at various top leagues, I’ve had the chance to play and work alongside some elite players and coaches, each of whom have contributed to developing my coaching style and approach.
This season my aim for the Mens 8s is to develop a formal tactical team structure which will allow players to fit into higher teams as they climb up the hockey ladder. Back2Hockey players can expect a season of skills workshops to help develop player confidence and ability to make the most out of thier game time.
For the Kidds teams, my aim is to lay a solid foundation of basic and advanced skills which will let them compete with their peers across the country, and lay the groundwork for attending regional and national trials.
The coaching community at Wapping has helped me develop as a coach and make sure that I have the tools I need to make sure each session is varied, stimulating and addresses the latest needs of the players.”
Last week’s Results
This week’s fixtures
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
5% discount and 5% club kick back at the Moretown Belle
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
10% off all beers at Tap East
Balling: All members = 15% off, W1 and M1 = 25% off. We also get 25% off OTE sports (sports nutrition bars, etc)
Happy start of season eve!
We hope you’re as excited as we are to kick off a new season. Good luck to everyone on their first fixtures, and a big congratulations to the Women 1s who play their first game in the National League. We can’t wait to see everyone at the Moretown Belle in the evening to toast our first wins. As the season begins,we appreciate that there’s still a lot of moving parts, and we’re grateful for your patience, but this edition should help to smooth some of these areas out.
Reminders:
Make sure you’re registered on GMS
Please pay your membership as soon as possible - soon you won’t be able to play if you’re not a member
We’re still looking for a Newsletter secretary, please reach out if you can help
Fixtures
Having only received news from the council last week about our JO pitch slots, there has been a delay in confirming these fixtures. They will all be in the trackers by the end of the week, thank you for your patience.
Dates for your diary
Sep 21st - Start of Season Social, MTB @ 6pm
Oct 12th - Women’s Day, LV all day and social after
Nov 2nd - Halloween Social
Nov 9th - W1s vs East London derby and social, 6pm @ LV
Men’s Squads and selection
With much regret, due to small squad sizes and low availability we have taken the decision to fold the Men’s 9s team for the upcoming season.
It’s never good to lose a team but trying to sort teams with low availability is difficult for all involved so we’ve taken the executive decision to boost numbers for the other teams rather than scrape a bare eleven each week.
Regretfully we’ve had to make this decision last minute so can I please request that everyone keeps on top of their own club admin going forward. The exec and committee volunteer many hours a week to run the club but without basic updates from members we are managing the operations on guess work. Unknown/low membership numbers significantly impact our financial position and ability to plan for the season ahead so it would be hugely appreciated if everyone can maintain at least 4 weeks of their availability in the spreadsheets and double check it’s correct the Sunday before the following game. A club the size of Wapping has many moving parts and being able to work with correct and complete information makes a huge difference to the team organising and the ability for things to run smoothly.
In order to facilitate this, the Men’s Club Captains and Coaches have worked together to propose new teams based on the players we have confirmed and feedback from captains has been requested. Please bear with us as there is a significant amount of work happening to make these changes but should you have any questions please reach out the Men’s Club Captains, Chris and Craig.
Wapping Kidds
New junior team members
As you start your pre-season games this week, you may notice a few younger faces joining in. We have some new junior players graduating from the Kidds' set up into adult hockey, many for the first time. Do please make them welcome, they have looked up to you all for years and will be excellent additions to your teams and training squads. Please also remember that senior hockey is very new to them so please do encourage and include them on and off pitch.
Wapping Kidds need you!
Do you think you can coach? Would you like to learn? Can you bring enthusiasm and your love hockey to the next generation of hockey players? Wapping Kidds, the junior section of the club, is a volunteer run, fun set up, dependent on the support of adult members of the club. Sessions run on a Friday evening, 6-7.30pm, and a Saturday, 9.30-11am at John Orwell Sports Centre in Wapping.
Each age group, from age 5 upwards, is headed by an experienced lead coach who prepares and directs the session. We need helping hands, assistant coaches, to help deliver those sessions in a fun and friendly way.
If you are keen to give back to the club, and if you think you can give some time, please drop us a line at wappingkidds@gmail.com. No coaching experience is necessary and we recognise that coaching will occasionally clash with your playing commitments, but the bigger the pool of volunteers we have, the better.
Lee Valley Teas
Following feedback from players, and after reviewing the club’s budget, we have decided to move away from having teas at Lee Valley. They’ll stay as they are this week but next Saturday 5th October we are going to be heading down to The Northcote in Leyton (110 Grove Green Road, E11 4EL) for teas. We are really hoping to find another local that will feel like home and where teams want to stay for the afternoon. We’ll give this a shot for a couple of weeks and then are keen to hear teams’ feedback before we lock anything in.
The Moretown Belle
We are really pleased that the Moretown Belle is returning as our Clubhouse this season. They have provided us an immense amount of support over the last couple of years and are only looking to further support us. We are very lucky as a club based in Central London to have a site that serves as our Clubhouse, and it’s important that we show them the same love they show us. This is both in terms of respect towards the staff and continuing to give us their custom.
For those who don’t know, Wapping members, opposition teams and family and friends are eligible for a 5% discount at all times throughout the week. The club also receives 5% kick back for every purchase made by us so please remember to let the bar staff know you’re with Wapping when purchasing. We’ll be handing out membership cards at the social on Saturday which you can show when buying your drinks.
Meet the coaches
First up is Tara Feeney (above) who this season is running training for W5 and M5-7
"As many American college players do, I started coaching summer camps and coached for the USFHA futures programme. I realised that I really enjoyed helping teams develop and watching hard work in training turn to results in competition.
My aim for this season is to provide consistent and challenging training for both the Men’s and Women’s teams to improve overall team play and to allow players to build confidence in & skills for their individual game with of course some fun mixed in!
As a coach at Wapping, I receive tons of support from our Committee, the development team, the other coaches, captains and players to make sure I have what I need to make the sessions are productive, effective and fun."
Club Day snaps
Club Day photos can be found here in a new password protected area of the website (pw: Wapping1989) - thanks to James Budgen for taking some cracking shots as always!
This week’s fixtures
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
10% off all beers at Tap East
The Time is nigh
Welcome back, Wappers! Apologies for the lack of updates lately. There has been a lot going on but seeing all your beautiful faces enjoying the pre-season fun has made it totally worth it.
SO, with start of season rapidly approaching here’s all the info you need to know, along with the summer news from across the club.
Things you need to do:
Register on GMS if you didn’t sign up last year.
Go to training. With lots of new people joining, and to ensure you’re playing in the right team, it’s important to make it down to training as much as you can. New training times are below
Head down to the Moretown Belle on Saturday (21st @ 6pm) for our Start of Season Social to celebrate our first wins of the season! 🏆
Plan how to pay your membership fees (more on this below)
Join Wapping on Easyfundraising - this raises vital funds for the club while you shop online
Important updates
Save Our Pitch. Again.
As you may be aware, we have recently faced issues making bookings at the John Orwell centre so I wanted to provide a brief update on the situation and why you haven’t seen any October onwards fixtures scheduled.
In April, Tower Hamlets Council took over operation of all leisure centres in the borough. On the 17th of August we received notification that the Director of Culture would like to have a meeting with all Tower Hamlets based hockey clubs to discuss provision within the borough. At that meeting, at which Wapping, East London, The Royals and Tower Hamlets hockey club were in attendance, all clubs were advised that pitch allocations would be reviewed under the new management, and pitch allocation based on an assessment of the clubs.
From then on a dedicated team have been working day and night to retain access to the pitch we’ve called home for the last 36 years. Late last week we received an update from the council advising we have retained the majority of our Saturday slots at John Orwell, including our Kidds session, so are now in a position to allocate fixtures.
We’ve lost a slot every other week which isn’t ideal but given the discussions that were had, and options proposed, this is by far the best outcome we could have achieved.
I would like to say a massive thanks to Stuart Burnside, Amy Winklegrund, Sandra Akinbolu, Alex Corrie, Eleanor Tennant and Irini Kounoupias for their significant support on the matter, and to everyone who completed the forms and polls or provided any other advice. We started this game on the back foot, but I couldn’t have asked for a better defence.
Committee
We are still looking for
a Newsletter Secretary to send out this nifty newsletter each week.
someone with accountancy experience/a numbers brain who’s keen to help us make the most of our finances.
Please let our Club Secretary, Irini, know if you're able to help or would like more information on the above.
Training and coaching
Our Head Coach, Matt Bowen, and VCPs, Lizzie and Jenna, have pulled off mini miracle to come up with a training schedule that works for all our coaches, teams and pitch slots and we're very grateful for their efforts. You should already be well in the swing of it but on the off chance you’ve just returned from summer hols, training times are as follows:
Costs and membership fee
As mentioned last year, and reminded about at AGM, the club is facing significantly increased costs since covid, so we have been unable to freeze membership fees again (as we did two years prior).
For those who are not aware:
match fees cover match day costs (pitch costs and teas) and membership covers our training and additional costs.
We have a dedicated sponsorship team who work hard to source additional income. Thanks to sponsors like Simon Wright, the Moretown Belle, Savill’s, grants from Tesco, Sports England and London Hockey and our City and Wharf League we are able to offer free kit shirts and numerous training and outreach initiatives that we wouldn’t have been able offer to otherwise, including Back2 Hockey.
We also sell merch and run fundraisers, profits from which are considered when budgeting and calculating membership fees
Membership fees can be paid via our website here and the deadline for payment is Friday 4th October. We operate a ‘no pay, no play’ policy for anyone who hasn’t paid after this date.
As always, if you are struggling financially or costs will be a barrier to you participating this season, please reach out in confidence to our treasurer. Our policy is to facilitate hockey for all.
A table showing this year’s membership fees is below.
Kit
I would like to add that, despite there being a lot of missing shirts at the end of last season, we have (just) been able to make the shirts we still have work, so the increase in membership has not been affected by that. However, with additional cost pressures this season, we need to be more careful than ever with our kit. We are really proud that we offer shirts to players, helping to keep costs down, but it's imperative that these are looked after, alongside the other items. We have allocated teams a kit bag and will be asking them to replace anything that is lost over the course of the year.
And finally it’s worth adding that if you’re in need of new Wapping socks or discounted shinnies you can buy them from our shop here.
Squads and selection
This season we are entering an eighth women's team into the league, reflecting our club's continued growth. This should ease the problems we faced last year whereby squads were very large and availability each week often exceeded the maximum game-day squad size. With this, there will therefore be a lot of movement at all levels which will predominantly be at the discretion of the coaches, with some input from captains.
We hope that initial squads on both the Men’s and Women’s sides will be drafted in the coming weeks so that teams can train as they will play however please note that no squad is final at this point. So, if you'd like to be considered for a higher team, train hard and let your club captains know (wappinglcc@gmail.com/ wappingmcc@gmail.com)
Fixtures
We are experiencing a delay in confirming home fixtures due to the above issues with the Council. Our Fixtures Secretaries, Eleanor and Jen, are working really hard and as soon as information is available it will be pulled through to individual team spreadsheets. If you think any info is incorrect, or have any updates, please let them know (wappingfixtures@gmail.com)
Coaching and Umpiring
There are loads of ways to give back to the club, and two of the most important ways are through coaching and umpiring. We have installed a new Coaching Development Officer, the brilliant DvS, who can help anyone who is hoping to get into coaching, and to support the coaches we already have at all levels of the club. If anyone is interested in finding out more, please contact him on wappingcdo@gmail.com - there is no obligation for weekly commitment and there is heaps of support available; we are really excited to continue developing our home-grown talent.
Speaking of coaches, huge congratulations to As, coach of the Men’s 2-4s who has been appointed Head Coach for French Men’s O40s, and will be accompanying the team to the World Cup in Cape Town.
We have also worked hard with our Umpire Development Officers, Dan, Phil and James, who did some fantastic work during CAWHL supporting new umpires. This included them umpiring games alongside newer umpires, and having matches where they remained off-pitch and talked through the decisions as they were made. These guys have loads of experience and umpire at the top levels so we are really lucky that they give us so much time, please do use them. A reminder that there are weekly online Level 1 courses open to all so get in touch with the lads if you’d like to know more (wappingudo@gmail.com).
We’d also like to say a big thanks to last year’s ULO, Jane, who will reprise the role later this year. It's not always an easy job and is made significantly easier with more umpires trained up and more people agreeing to oversee the odd game.
SUMMER NEWS
Back2Hockey
Wapping ran another incredibly successful Back2Hockey programme this summer, which has led to plenty of new faces at training across the club. We will continue to offer free Back2Hockey sessions fortnightly all year round. This is a big step forward for us in relation to goals around inclusion and community so I want to formally thank our Head B2H coach, Kiran, who has been utterly fantastic. If you’d like to get involved helping coach those sessions (Mon 19:30 @ JO) please let DvS know, this is a great place to kick off your coaching career, especially if staying on for training afterwards.
Summer League
CAWHL was as enjoyable as ever this season, with 28 teams participating to eventually crown Goldman Sachs, Accenture and SA Saints champions of the Bowl, Plate and Cup respectively. The league was rounded out in true Wapping style with the six-a-side tournament and End of Season Dinner. Huge thanks to Alex Corrie and the team for delivering such a smashing summer.
In other summer news, congratulations to our Men’s performance squad who won the Elite League at Lee Valley!
Club Day
We kicked off the new season with our annual Club Day on August 31st. This year’s Club Day was bigger than ever with morning yoga, a strength & conditioning challenge by our new partners, Eastside Fitness, and a super social at Hackney Bridge to finish off the night.
Matt and the 1s delivered a masterclass to our Kidds in the morning which they loved, followed by a mixed tournament and exhibition games from the M1s and L1s. A huge thanks to our sponsor, Savills, for supporting the day. As always, any love you can send our sponsors’ ways makes a big difference to the club.
Thank you
Finally, a massive thank you to everyone who supported the club last season and will continue to support the club going forward. This includes everyone on the Exec, Committee, Coaches, Umpires, Kidds volunteers and those who help out on a more ad hoc basis. You are all superstars and we are so excited for another great season ahead
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
10% off all beers at Tap East
Pre-season is Go!
It’s August, it’s sunny, and there’s hockey galore!
This Back Post contains more pre-season info including training slots, trials and games, a new way to contact the exec, and a note on our move from ‘Ladies’ to ‘Women’, but before we get onto that…
Firstly, I just want to say an enormous thanks to the CAWHL committee for an incredible summer of hockey fun. Corrie, Issy, Jules, Budgen, Eleanor and Smithy have put in many, many, many hours organising what turned out to be a very tricky operation, and I’m very much looking forward to wrapping up the summer in style with them at the EOSD next week 🕺💃
And secondly, a big shout out to the men’s performance teams for securing top spot in the LV ‘Elite’ league and being crowned summer league champs! Excellent work lads! 🏆🏆
August training
Starting next week, we have training for all teams as per the table below. Please note that this schedule only runs until the end of August. An in-season training timetable, starting September 1st, will be shared shortly.
Open trials session
Make sure you’re signed up to Sunday’s open trials session if you played in the 4-9s last season/are new. With a new ladies team this season and significant movement between all teams likely, it’s recommended to attend if you can.
More info on the session can be found in the previous Back Post. Note that there's no overground running from Highbury to West Croydon/Crystal Palace/Clapham on Sunday. There will also be a wander to the pub after for anyone footloose and fancy free, likely to Hackney Bridge in Hackney Wick🍻
If you can’t attend but would like to be considered for a different team please reach out to your club captains wappingmcc@gmail.com / wappinglcc@gmail.com.
Pre-season games
The exec have been busy arranging pre-season friendlies so teams have at least one in the diary but the more games your team has prior to season starting the better position you’ll be in come the 21st.
This document has been created to track the pre-season games scheduled. If you’ve arranged games that aren’t on here, please let the Fixtures Secretaries, Eleanor and Jen, know.
If you know other teams/clubs that you can reach out to to arrange friendlies for your team, please do so CCing the Fixtures Secs, who can liaise with you re pitch arrangements.
something you’d like to Chat to the Exec about?
Run by volunteers, Wapping Hockey Club are continuously looking to build and improve to ensure a sustainable, scalable future as a key hockey destination in East London.
As those who attended AGM will know, there’s been a massive amount of work put into performance improvements for the 24/25 season which was only possible due to the wealth of feedback we received from members across the club.
The Exec are currently working flat out to plan and organise for the coming season and we want to be able to focus our efforts and manage our mental load so where anything is not urgent we now request that you submit any questions/queries via this short ‘Questions for the exec form’ so we can collate, discuss and respond to in an efficient, effective manner.
Please can we request that you try to avoid sending WhatsApp messages wherever possible.
Ladies > Women
Following a brief discussion with our Welfare and Exec teams, we have decided to follow England Hockey’s lead and will be publicly renaming our ladies’ teams 'women's teams’ so that it reflects how we are represented by the leagues and follows best practice around the use of language in sport.
A couple of links on the topic should you be interested to read more:
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And a big thanks to JMAN for supporting our 6-a-side tournament!
🗓️ Dates for your diary 🗓️
11th Aug - Trials/Open session (Info below)
15th Aug - CAWHL End of Season Dinner - Buy your ticket here (deadline 31st July)
17th Aug - Back 2 Hockey tournament @ Lee Valley
31st Aug - Club Day (Info below)
7th/14th Sept - Pre-season games
21st Sept - First League games
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
2 weeks free trial of El Tab app giving members 4 free drinks in London nightly
10% off all beers at Tap East
Pre-season incoming!
Well, hello there! Hope you’re enjoying some sweaty hockey and lush pub gardens now that summer has finally decided to show up. We’ve been a bit quiet on the comms front but this email should fill you in on what to expect from pre-season including the open trials session, Club Day, CAWHL EOSD and a request from our new Sponsorship Secs, Estelle and Steph.
🗓️ Dates for your diary 🗓️
11th Aug - Trials/Open session (Info below)
15th Aug - CAWHL End of Season Dinner - Buy your ticket here (deadline 31st July)
17th Aug - Back 2 Hockey tournament @ Lee Valley
31st Aug - Club Day (Info below)
7th/14th Sept - Pre-season games
21st Sept - First League games
Trials/Open session
Following on from your feedback, and as proposed by Lizzie at AGM, we are running an open trials session this year on Sunday 11th August 2024. If you missed the AGM, you can read more about the feedback we received and subsequent performance plans for the upcoming season here.
Who is the open session for?
For all new members including B2H players looking to join a team
For all members currently playing in the competitive/social tiers which is for those who play in
Womens’ teams 4-8
Men’s teams 4-9
The trials are for those who want to play in this bracket next season, and for those who are aiming to reach the performance bracket
What about those playing in the 1-3s?
Pre-season for the performance teams and invited players starts this week and will be used to inform team placement so current 1-3s players do not need to attend the open session.
Purpose of trials:
To get an idea of current level and ability to ensure everyone is training and playing at an appropriate level. This is of course subject to change but is mainly to give everyone a fair shot of playing at a level that matches their ability. This is not something to worry about and is a great opportunity to get to know the coaching team, understand what you might need to work on and have a fun day playing hockey. It is essential that if you are available on this day, you attend.
For our coaches to be able to assess and place players new to the club.
For players new to the club to meet the coaching team and other club members.
When/where are the trials?
Sunday 11th August, 10am-6pm @ Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre
Session times and format:
10:00-12:15: Ladies 4-6
13:15-15:30: Mens 4-7
15:45-18:00: Mens 8-9, Ladies 7-8 & B2H
Please ensure you arrive promptly and ready to play.
Each session will incorporate
Sign in, intros and briefing, including new five pillars approach to selection
Warm up
Stick and ball + drills
Small sided games
Sign up
Please complete this Google form by Sunday 4th August so that we have some essential information about you prior to trials day.
What if I can’t attend?
If you can’t attend, please let your Club Captain know (wappinglcc@gmail.com/ wappingmcc@gmail.com) along with any desire to be considered for a different team.
CAWHL EOSD
The summer has seen some incredible hockey thanks to the City and Wharf, Lee Valley leagues, Sonning Tour and mixed friendlies and we’re looking forward to dressing up and celebrating at this years’ end of season dinner at Balls Brothers Minster Court. Deadline for tickets is Wednesday 31st July. Buy yours NOW!
Expect tasty food, a stocked bar, big tunes and fab company to celebrate the best league hockey can offer. It would be great to see as many people there as possible to round off another fun-filled summer of short corners and stick tackles.
Standard tickets cost £65 but should you wish to have the steak main course then you will be charged a £5 supplement fee. There is also the option to purchase raffle tickets to help support Wapping Kidds and be in the chance of winning some great prizes!
RAFFLE PRIZES
💫 DG Corporate: The Boss Headshots session including hair and makeup (worth £385)
💫 £100 Feeney’s bar tab
💫 Salmon Hockey stash
💫 £60 Moretown Belle bar tab
💫 A weeks’ worth of Grubby recipes (worth £50)
💫2 bottles of Taittinger donated by JMAN
💫 Storm Hockey stash
💫 Bottle of Mermaid Gin
… and more!
Get one raffle ticket for the bargain price of £5 or a bumper four for £15
❤️ Huge thanks to our incredibly generous sponsors DG Corporate, Feeney’s, Salmon Hockey, JMAN, Storm Hockey, The Moretown Belle, Grubby and Isle of Wight Distillery ❤️
Club Day - 31st August
Last year was an absolute banger so we’re looking forward to another sunny hockey filled day of fun. Schedule for the day as follows:
11:00: Older Kidds’ masterclass with Matt Bowen
12:30: Mixed tournament for all current/new players who play in the adult leagues
14:30: Lunch and mixed tournament final
15:00: L1 showcase game
16:30: M1 showcase game
18:30: PARTY (Location TBC)
Ossie’s incredibly tasty pizza stall will be along again serving pizzas for all dietary requirements from 12:30-18:00 🍕🍕🍕
Breaking News: Wapping to play shirtless next season…
... this could be the cold reality if we don't get some more partnerships/sponsorships for the 24/25 season!
Just joking, but if you have any connections (sport related and not!) then we'd love to hear from you at wappingsponsorship@gmail.com. Having a personal connection is the best way for us to begin conversations!
Estelle & Steph, Sponsorship Secretaries 24/25
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
2 weeks free trial of El Tab app giving members 4 free drinks in London nightly
10% off all beers at Tap East
Wapping Kidds needs you
Since you’re all missing hockey Saturdays, now is the perfect time to get involved with Kidds! At JO every Friday evening (6:00-7:30pm) and Saturday morning (9:30-11:00am) we are blessed with the most incredible juniors who absolutely love hockey and are now holding their own against some of the most established clubs in London.
The sessions are run by our fabulous lead coaches but we need some extra helpers to make the most of the junior’s potential.
Who do we need?
On Friday nights, our senior school group have skills that would challenge most adults at the club and having a few technically sharp players executing drills, focusing attention and challenging players works really well. So if you’ve got some skills, can set an example for how to play and train, and would like to inspire the next generation, this session’s for you.
On Saturday mornings our junior school children love hockey but also love a chat. At these sessions having a few helpers with a good sense of humour assisting with focus and explaining techniques and drills in a warm and encouraging way is vital. So if you like hockey based fun and excellent chat, this session’s for you.
At our summer camps (over the summer holiday) we offer paid opportunities for coaches and coaching assistants, paying £20/h for assistant coaches and £40/h for lead coaches (Level 2 qualification or equivalent).
The broad plan, which is still subject to approval, will be to run the camps over from 29 July to 15 August, Monday-Thursday, 9-12. They'll be split into camps for the more experienced players and taster/try out sessions, so hopefully both safer and more fun to run.
At this stage, we are just trying to gauge interest. Please do pass this information on to anyone else who you think may be interested. We would prefer some coaching experience, and all coaches will need an up to date England Hockey DBS check, but we can get that done ahead of the sessions if needed.
If you’re interested in any of the above, please reach out to Sandy (wappingkidds@gmail.com), who’ll pop you on the Kidds coaches WhatsApp group, sort your DBS, and get you involved at a session soon.
How else can I help?
We’re looking to recruit more juniors, especially girls, so anything you can do to spread the word about our Kidds’ sessions in local community/school/parent groups would really help.
We have two flyers which can be downloaded and shared via WhatsApp or email. The general ‘Kidds’ flyer is here and the Kidds’ ‘goalkeeping taster sessions’ flyer is here.
More old guys needed
We’ve got a cracking line up of Wapping legends for the 23rd June LV 10th anniversary game but could do with a few more men, so if you played for Wapping in 2014 and your back/knees/spouse allows you some sort of movement please complete this form and join in the fun. Please note that anyone can attend the event but you will need to have played at Wapping in 2014 to be eligible for the game.
We’re also in need of an umpire for this too.
Dates for your Diary
16/06: Men’s Saturday Social League commences
23/06: LV 10 Year Anniversary ‘team of 2014’ game (sign up here)
06/07: Kidds’ End of Season @ Wapping Tavern (12:00-14:00pm)
w/c 29/07: Performance teams pre-season training begins
w/c 12/08: Pre-season training for all teams
11/08: Trials/open session (coach facilitated sessions for current and prospective players)
17/08: Back2Hockey Tournament @ LV
17/08, 24/08: Pre-season games (provisional)
31/08: Club Day (11am-6pm @ LV followed by social)
07/09, 14/09: Pre-season games (provisional)
21/09: First league games for all (WEHL conference and London League)
REMINDER: Umpire and coaching Opportunities
umpire Development
Thanks to our three Umpire Development Officers (UDOs) we have a fab summer development program to help new umpires get started and existing umpires up-skill. If you’ve thought about trying umpiring now is the time to give it a go as Wapping will not only pay for your umpire course but also arrange two practice games with experienced (and very lovely) UDOs, assisted by our brand new radio sets to ensure you’re fully supported. It’s a fantastic opportunity so please reach out to VCC, Alex Corrie (wappingvcc@gmail.com), if interested.
Get into coaching
As well as our umpiring program, we have a summer development program for anyone keen to get into coaching.
Reach out to VCP, Lizzie, or Kidds’ Chair, Amy, to find out how to get started and the resources available (including our excellent Head Coach, Matt).
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
2 weeks free trial of El Tab app giving members 4 free drinks in London nightly
20% off Sharp Movement
10% off all beers at Tap East
WhatsApp?
Thanks to everyone who’s put themselves forward for a role on next year’s committee. The first voting round has been emailed to all members so please check your emails and get voting. This Back Post contains a call for an O40s team, ‘team of 2014’, and Sonning Festival ladies, info on our kit amnesty and move to ‘WhatsApp communities’, and some updated dates for your diary (note that Club Day has changed!).
[Updated] Dates for your Diary
23/06: LV 10 Year Anniversary ‘team of 2014’ game (sign up below)
w/c 28/07: Performance teams pre-season training begins
w/c 04/08: Pre-season training for all teams
UPDATED: 11/08: Trials/open session (coach facilitated sessions for current and prospective players)
17/08, 24/08: Pre-season games (provisional)
UPDATED: 31/08: Club Day (11am-6pm @ LV followed by social)
07/09, 14/09: Pre-season games (provisional)
CONFIRMED: 21/09: First league games for all (WEHL conference and London League)
Join Wapping’s O40 group and ‘team of 2014’
On the 23rd June 2024 Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre are marking the 10th Anniversary of the centre’s opening with a celebratory event. They’ve asked a Wapping “team of 2014” to play against one from East London (or it may now be a mini tournament with 20min games against Crostyx and Waltham Forest too. Details TBC).
If you would like to join in the fun please complete this form. Please note that anyone can attend the event but you will need to have played at Wapping in 2014 to be eligible for the game.
On a related note, Jane Blake of Old Loughts reached out enquiring about Wapping’s over 40s for some friendly mixed games/tournaments. If you’re interested in being looped in please reach out to Roche (wappingremains@gmail.com) who is liaising.
Ladies listen up!! Tour alert!
The mixed Pirates team are going on tour and you don’t want to be missing out. A big group of us will be taking on Sonning in July, but we need to even the playing field - so we’re currently asking specifically for more girls to join us!
Overview
Sonning Hockey Festival 2024: Friday 5th - Sunday 7th July. 11-a-side full pitch mixed hockey tournament. More details: https://www.sonninghockeyfestival.co.uk/
What is it?
Grass & Astro games
Semi-competitive or Social levels
Teams are capped at max. 25 players
Sonning Toybox fancy dress theme
Friday night is Disco night w/ DJ ‘Bomber’ Harris
Live music Saturday night
Camping
The £40 price will include:
Generous welcome drinks gift
Entrance wrist bands
Disco Friday night
Fancy dress party!
Live Band Saturday night
Free camping, free parking
Full marquee and bar!
Onsite facilities
..and of course plenty of hockey!"
How to sign up?
Either email wappinghcpirates@gmail.com or join the Pirates’ WhatsApp group
Kit amnesty
Having done a club wide collection of kit from captains, we’re currently missing a huge number of shirts which will need replacing before September if not found. The cost to replace those currently unaccounted for is £9,960 which could lead to increased membership fees. Please check all your cupboards, sports bags, washing baskets, back of the sofa etc and return any shirts, balls, masks or other kit you may have to either your captain, the JO storeroom or the LV lockers before the 6th of June. If you could also pop a message in your previous season’s team WhatsApp in case any previous Wappers have any lying about.
Move to WhatsApp community
Very shortly we’ll be setting up a Wapping ‘community’ on WhatApp (thanks to Doug Shipton for flagging and initiating this)
Why?
It should help us streamline our comms and improve visibility around what’s happening at the club and things you can get involved with. It should also make using WhatsApp for Wapping stuff less painful as all the chats you’re a member of will be together. You can read more about WhatsApp communities here but once up and running we’re hoping all club members will be a part of the community. At this point we’ll retire the ‘news and updates’ group and use the announcements functionality instead. There’ll be a period of transition whilst we work out how best to use it so please bear with us as we do so.
CAWHL results
Playing in the City and Wharf league but unsure how your team is faring? Check out the results page here: https://www.wappinghockey.club/cawhl-fixtures-results
REMINDER: Umpire and coaching Opportunities
umpire Development
Thanks to our three Umpire Development Officers (UDOs) we have a fab summer development program to help new umpires get started and existing umpires up-skill. If you’ve thought about trying umpiring now is the time to give it a go as Wapping will not only pay for your umpire course but also arrange two practice games with experienced (and very lovely) UDOs, assisted by our brand new radio sets to ensure you’re fully supported. It’s a fantastic opportunity so please reach out to VCC, Alex Corrie (wappingvcc@gmail.com), if interested.
Get into coaching
As well as our umpiring program, we have a summer development program for anyone keen to get into coaching.
Reach out to VCP, Lizzie, or Kidds’ Chair, Amy, to find out how to get started and the resources available (including our excellent Head Coach, Matt).
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
2 weeks free trial of El Tab app giving members 4 free drinks in London nightly
20% off Sharp Movement
10% off all beers at Tap East
Discounted club trip to Leyton Orient on February 13th 2024
AGM Updates, Elections and Summer Opportunities
Thanks to everyone who made Monday’s AGM. If you missed it the reports and slide decks can be found here. I would strongly recommend Lizzie’s performance report to understand the work happening in the background this year and what it means for the upcoming season.
Secondly a massive thanks to everyone who’s volunteered across the club this season, especially the outgoing committee members. Nominations for next year’s committee open on Monday and I would encourage everyone to take a look at the roles below and think about joining the crew.
Dates for your Diary
23/06: LV 10 Year Anniversary ‘team of 2014’ game (info and sign up below)
w/c 28/07: Performance teams pre-season training begins
w/c 04/08: Pre-season training for all teams
10/08 & 17/08: Trials and open sessions (coach facilitated sessions for current and prospective players)
24/08: Club Day (11am-6pm @ LV followed by social)
31/08, 07/09, 14/09: Pre-season games (provisional)
14/09, 21/09: First league games (provisional)
Wapping needs you!
One of the key areas highlighted at the AGM is the need for more coaches and players for the 2024/25 season.
As VCP, Lizzie, said, our coaches have been fantastic this season, but we need more, and we need to better support those we do have. Having support from the Mens 1s, Ladies 1s and some dedicated player coaches has enabled us to all train this year, but every team should have their own dedicated coach and there’s been a lot of work to try and make that happen.
In terms of support and development, we need to make Wapping a better place to coach and, at the AGM, a motion was approved to add a Coach Development Officer to our committee. It is a facilitation role that will be supported by the VCP and Head Coach so you do not need to be a coach to apply. If you’re interested in hearing more please reach out to Lizzie to chat.
In terms of players, every year it’s important we recruit at least enough players to fill gaps left by departing members. Membership is the club’s largest revenue stream and ensuring stability/slight growth in this area is essential to covering our costs.
Following a handful of demotions, we’re facing increased divisions between teams which could be detrimental to the club longer term. As gaps widen, movement up and down teams becomes more difficult. Players may struggle when pulled up or leave the club if dropped down, so one of the club’s aims for next season is to reduce gaps between teams, especially between the 1s and 2s.
what does that mean?
It means the club’s current focus is on recruiting coaches (of all levels), performance end players (1s-3s), and increasing the number of mens players slightly, to help bolster their availability.
So what can I do to help?
Share the recruitment social media posts. The wider our net, the more likely we are to catch the people we need.
Read the email you’ll be receiving regarding the new referral schemes, and reach out to your networks. This year we’re trialling a recruitment drive assisted by you - on the assumption that our collective reach will be far greater than that of just the committee 🫶
Summer Opportunities
umpire Development
Thanks to our three Umpire Development Officers (UDOs) we have a fab summer development program to help new umpires get started and existing umpires up-skill. If you’ve thought about trying umpiring now is the time to give it a go as Wapping will not only pay for your umpire course but also arrange two practice games with experienced (and very lovely) UDOs, assisted by our brand new radio sets to ensure you’re fully supported. It’s a fantastic opportunity so please reach out to VCC, Alex Corrie (wappingvcc@gmail.com), if interested.
Why umpire?
The better the quality of umpires we as a club provide to ANY level of match, the greater the enjoyment factor of those playing it. Thus the better the environment around the pitch, at teas etc.
Knowing the rules (heaven forbid…) and how they should be applied, makes you a better player.
It’s a great way to meet more people across the club.
Pocket a min of £15 per game umpired.
Get into coaching
As well as our umpiring program, we have a summer development program for anyone keen to get into coaching.
With weekly Back2Hockey sessions, bi-weekly Kidds’ sessions and paid summer camp opportunities it’s a perfect time to get involved.
Reach out to VCP, Lizzie, or Kidds’ Chair, Amy, to find out how to get started and the resources available (including our excellent Head Coach, Matt).
2024/25 Elections
The club is managed by the Executive (Exec) and Committee—the full list of positions is below. We encourage as many people as possible to get involved with running the club, whether it's your first season or tenth. If you have questions about any of the roles, please get in touch with a member of the Exec or Committee.
For nominations to the Exec, we encourage people to send in a short manifesto. Exec members pay zero-rate subs, while Committee members pay a concession rate.
Nominations in the first round of elections for Exec and Committee roles, excluding Captains, can be sent until Sunday 19th May at 9pm.
Nominations must be seconded by one other WHC member. To put yourself forward for a role, please email wappingelections@gmail.com confirming your interest and copy in the member seconding you. Positions can be shared by two members, even if that's not specifically highlighted below. Following AGM, Committee roles that are shared will also share the concession rate discount - you will not both get the full concession rate.
Once nominations close on 19th May, voting will be open to all members on Monday 20th May until Sunday 26th May at 9pm. Results will be announced on Monday 27th May and a second round will commence to fill any vacancies and open for Captains' nominations, until Sunday 9th June.
Club positions
Election Timetable
10 years at Lee Valley
On the 23rd June 2024 the team at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre will be marking the 10th Anniversary of the centre’s opening with a celebratory event. They have asked a Wapping “team of 2014” to play against one from East London at 1pm on pitch 1.
If you would like to join in the fun please complete this form.
Please note that anyone can attend the event but you will need to have played at Wapping in 2014 to be eligible for the game.
EOSD updates
Thanks again to Hannah and Jez for organising what was an absolutely fantastic End of Season Dinner. Hopefully everyone has just about recovered.
If you missed out on the fun, or want to relive it, be sure to check out the photos from the event and the awards presentation (complete with notes on all the worthy winners).
Please note that in addition to the Honorary Vice-President nominations made by the Exec (Vicki Wonders, Barbara Lo Giudice and Phil O’Hagan), members at the AGM also voted to approve Hon VP status for previous club members, Richard Musto, Greg Edmunds and Rachel ‘Hoff’ Edmunds. Nominations thanks to Iain Davidson.
Final league standings
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
2 weeks free trial of El Tab app giving members 4 free drinks in London nightly
20% off Sharp Movement
10% off all beers at Tap East
Discounted club trip to Leyton Orient on February 13th 2024
That’s a wrap
And just like that we have come to the end of the 2023/24 hockey season, a huge congrats to the L1, L6 and M8 who secured promotion (more detail below) and a massive thanks to all players, coaches, umpires, volunteers and supporters who contributed to the club this year. We can’t wait to celebrate with the whole club at the End of Season Dinner on Saturday.
Final league results
A huge congrats to the Ladies 1, Ladies 6 and Mens 8 who secured promotion for next season.
Only dropping 5 points all season, the Mens 8 dominated Div 6 East with highlights including a 11-1 win over East London 8 and an 8-1 win over THD.
The Ladies 6s similarly dominated Div 6 East with a huge 58 points. Winning 19/20 matches the L6 were unbeaten all season and achieved a positive goal difference of 92! Regularly scoring 5+ goals, highlights included an 11-1 win against THD and a 9-0 win against Southgate.
Finally, the L1 remained top of the league all season, battling until the end with Surbiton and Barnes to win London Prem by 1 goal (eek) following a 5-2 win over Hampstead & Westminster. This has earned the L1 promotion to national league (East Conference) for the first time in Wapping’s history.
Last week in a line: WLDDLWWLLWWWWL
EOSD AFTERS
As if you couldn’t get more excited for Saturday, our cracking social squad have secured an after party at Kapture (right next door to the venue) so the fun and dancing can continue until 2am. What does this mean? Pace yourself, people, and make the most of what will be an epic evening.
Reminder: Dinner is being served at 7pm sharp so all teams must arrive by 6:30 at the very latest.
AGM
Our Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held on Monday 29th April at 7pm. This year's AGM will be online, and an agenda will be circulated in due course. Google Meet link here
The AGM is an opportunity to review and discuss the 2023/24 season, and set out plans for next season.
Any resolutions or motions for the AGM should be submitted to the Secretary account no less than 7 days before the meeting (by 22nd April). Any proposed changes to the Constitution or Rules should be sent no less than 14 days before (by 15th April). Under-18s can attend, but not vote.
AGM will:
Hear and vote on reports from the Chairs and other Executive members.
Hear and vote on reports of any sub-committees and their recommendations.
Consider and pass motions from members.
Set out a plan for elections.
We need 15% of the club to be present for the AGM to run, so all the more reason to attend. Any questions or queries, please get in touch with the Secretary account, or Chair Helen Rogers.
IN case you still haven’t done ‘em…
Wapping corporate league sign up. As mentioned last week, all Wapping members are invited to sign up to be part of a Wapping team taking part in the City and Wharf Summer league. This year we will have 4 Wapping teams; Wapping Mutineers, Wapping Highwaymen, Wapping Husseys and Wapping Privateers! Please use this form to sign up.
Don’t forget to get your EOS raffle tickets to be in with the chance of winning a stunning Simon Wright gold and natural fancy cognac diamond bracelet. Even if you can’t attend the End of Season Dinner you can still be in with a chance to win, so share that link with all your pals and get your tickets now!
All team kit must be handed back at the end of the season so if you’ve got any shirts, balls or masks lying around, make sure you get them back to your captains this week. Any items lost will need replacing from your squad kitty, which means less cash for EOS drinks!
Still thinking about umpiring? Well good news! Now is the time to give it a go as CAWHL is the perfect opportunity for some easy going first games. Wapping can book and pay for your online level 1 umpiring course in exchange for booking in your first two CAWHL games. Reach out to Rogers if interested.
Member discounts:
Check out our Members' area (Password: whc1989) which has all of our available offers, including:
20% off NuSmile dentists
A free Psycle session
Grubby: 50% off + free delivery on 1st box, plus 30% off for the rest of the month
2 weeks free trial of El Tab app giving members 4 free drinks in London nightly
20% off Sharp Movement
10% off all beers at Tap East
Discounted club trip to Leyton Orient on February 13th 2024