Letchworth Roller Hockey Club was established in 1984 and since then has had many successes, including winning the Premier League and supplying more than 28 players to represent England.
Our current training takes place on Wednesday evenings from 7.00 pm to 10.30pm at North Herts Leisure Centre, Letchworth. Training times vary based on age and ability.
If interested in joining please contact Gill Childs on 07977 457393 or gill@childs99.myzen.co.uk
Just a quick post to let all our wonderful readers that we’ve now turned comments on which allows you all to leave feedback on articles we publish… so feel free to let us know what you think.
Along with a few other members of the Letchworth Roller Hockey club I went along to one of the sessions being held regarding the new rules for roller hockey which (along with some local by-laws) are being adopted by the NRHA. These new rules are to be introduced at the start of the 09/10 season in the UK and will be first trialled at the pre-season Allen Mezzanine and Leonard’s cups.
I thought, as a taster, I’d put up here what the ‘highlights’ of the new rules were.
These rules are being introduced to make for more flowing games with higher scorelines.
* caveat – these were my initial understandings of the rules and should not be taken as concrete.
That’s right, the Letchworth senior team have taken the title of National Division 1 champions! The team sealed the deal on Sunday 14th June at the final tournament for the division. The squad had to take two wins from their four games of the day to be crowned league champions.
The day started with a 10am start against a Farnham team that has seen some old faces come back and a rejuvenated side. Letchworth took the initial lead and maintained it throughout with a final score of 3-1. The game was seen as the toughest of the day so things were certainly looking promising.
The second game against Cambridge seemed to go much more to plan with Letchworth playing the ball around confidently and having the lion’s share of the control of the game. Cambridge were pushed back and had to resort to shooting from long range… something which keeper Ben Howes took all in his stride. A final score of 7-2 to Letchworth lifted any pressure the boys had of securing their title.
Up next was Plymouth B, and with Letchworth now dominating their games and really making some excellent space the only task left to achieve was to have Todd Halfpenny score for the first time in 2009. Service was provided again and again until finally he managed to flick the ball just above the Plymouth keeper’s shoulder… the team rushed Halfpenny and bundled him to the ground (of course Howes was not one to waste this opportunity to get out of the goal). With this out of the way the day was certainly coming along well… and with the team playing like they were it was now a battle to see who could get top-goal scorer of the tournament. The onslaught of goals continued and the game ended Letchworth 13, Plymouth 0.
The final draw was against a slightly depleted Norwich team and was the only hurdle left between Letchworth and a 100% successful day. Once again Howes was as strong as ever in goal and the team seemed to play well around him. It could be seen that the boys were however getting tired after a long day and there were a couple of late and sloppy challenges which meant a few names entered the referees book. Letchworth managed to keep their cool and saw the game through to a 7-2 victory.
With the hockey out the way and the champions thrilled but worn out after a long day of hockey all that was left to do was to crack open the champagne and tally up the goals.
For the final tournament the goals were split as follows:
A big thank you should also go to our splendid timekeepers for the day who did the club proud.
The 2008/2009 Senior National Division 1 squad: Andy Allen, Nigel Allen, Graham Busolini (Captain), Todd Halfpenny, Ben Howes (GK), Stuart Langley, Andrew Stewart, Neil Warren
So the big night came… it was the national cup semi final between the home team Letchworth and Bury. It’s only fair to say that our boys were the underdogs and although the squad consisted of a few ex-England players the majority of the team had never even played at Premier league level. Compared to the current Bury line-up which comprised of their Premier league offering which included current International players… Letchworth certainly had a lot to play for. The winners of this game would proceed in the campaign and clash with Herne Bay United’ premier league squad in the final… it was a big game for both clubs.
The level of the game was matched by an excellent crowd that attended and many thanks go to all of them for their support not only of Letchworth Roller Hockey Club but of the sport as a whole.
The game kicked off at a blistering pace, one not often seen by the Letchworth players and their support. Letchworth held their own fantastically from the off and managed to keep the Bury side, despite their speed and agility, at a good distance from the goal. That’s not to say that Ben Howes didn’t do an impressive job as he definitely did by making some strong saves in return to such large slap shots coming in from distance.
Letchworth continued to defend with strength and despite having some more of the ball than perhaps they had imagined the first half ended 3-0 to Bury. Two of Bury’s goals coming from penalties and Letchworth having more than one or two attempts on goal… with the only the goal-cage denying them on one occasion following a Stuart Langley shot.
After a good team talk at half time and the crowd still cheering the teams on the second half started just as fast as the first. This half though Bury seemed to tire slightly and eased off on the pressure defence. This gave Letchworth more time with the ball and they continued to push on the Bury goal. A lapses of concentration (and some hard luck) caught Letchworth by surprise and Bury took full advantage of these opportunities and increased their lead further.
Letchworth had further attempts on goal, including another one that rattled off the metal-work but they were unable to convert these chances following a fine display by Bury’s keeper.
The match ended 7-0 to the Visitors but Letchworth and their fans (and staff) can be proud of themselves for taking the game to Bury and making the whole night a success. Bury now go on to face Herne Bay United in the National Roller Hockey cup final.
The Letchworth Squad consisted of A. Allen, N. Allen, G. Busolini, T. Halfpenny, B. Howes (goal), S. Langley, A. Stewart, N. Warren
Over this year’s Easter bank holiday weekend Letchworth Roller Hockey Club were invited to attend a ‘Skate Nation’ event organised by the CBBC children’s television programme. The event was held in Rickmansworth & aimed at getting mixed teams of children & some adults together from skating disciplines to learn a different skating style & compete in a mini tournament. The kids were from many different styles of roller sport clubs including figure, inline, street hockey, roller disco & speed skating.
CBBC's Skate Nation
The Letchworth coaches first put on a surprise demonstration game with two players & a goalie in each team for five minutes to show what our style is like & how fast it can be.
After the demo it was time to get the teams kitted up in field & goalie gear, show them the basics & explain just the rules they needed to know. The kids really enjoyed all the tuition & after a couple of hours or so they were ready to compete for a trophy that Keith Allen had got made especially for this event.
The games were great fun to watch & everyone enjoyed themselves with the CBBC presenters Mark & Sam fooling around & interviewing. We did have to use a soft ball in all but the final game for safety reasons, as a lot of the kids had soft booted skates and the teams only had 3 players on the rink, with the oldest member of the team or a parent going in goal.
The street hockey team were the final winners in the end but only just as it was very close.
All the film, sound, technical & presenting crew said what a fantastic day it had been & that Letchworth RHC had been a credit to themselves & the club with the way it was all professionally put together at such short notice.
The programme will be put out on a Saturday morning sometime in June or July yet to be advised.
As previously mentioned for the season 09-10 the new CIRH rules will be adopted for Roller Hockey games within the UK (as annouced by the NRHA).
New Rules
If you want to have a look for yourself which rules could (we’re not sure yet if all the new rules will be used) then you can check them out at the site for the Comite Europe de Rink Hockey.
I have only briefly glanced at them but some key chanegs appear to be the removal of yellow cards and the introduction of Power Play… one’s thing for sure though, this may take some getting used to by the players and referees alike.
If you want to know more about the rules then check out our calendar for dates of some seminars on this subject which are being held by the NRHA.
The Goodward Roller Marathon is this year taking place on the 9th of August and shall be raising money for the NSPCC. Vairous lengths of tracks can be undertaken including a “dual” marathon which is 22 laps of the great Goodwood circuit which works out to be 53.24 miles.
Goodwood Roller Marathon
At least some of the members of Letchworth Roller Hockey club are planning on taking part so if you fancy joining them on the skate of fancy sponsoring them then watch this space for more details to come in the future or head over to the Goodwood Roller Marathon site.
On Wednesday 27th May Letchworth take on Bury in the National Cup semi final at the North Herts leisure centre in Letchworth. The game time has not yet been fixed but an estimate of 8pm has been placed for now.
Of course we’d like as many supporters as possible there to help us beat Bury and make the final so please please come along and watch some sexy hockey!
We have just finished adding photo gallery functionality to the site. I know there’s only one picture so far but don’t worry we should get some more up soon… so watch this space for some photos of sexy hockey!
The gallery can be found here
Three of our Intermediate players were part of the Eastern Counties Select Div 2 team that won three of there four games. First game they won 3-2 against HBU, second game they won 4-0 against Cottenham, third game they won 10-2 against Colchester & fourth game they narrowly lost 2-0 against second in the league table Cottenham.
Well done to Jake Mansfield, Adam Allinson & F.Childs who have helped the team to be currently top of the league.
Hi All,
Here are the results from yesterday.
A tough game to have first off against a very good Peterboro side (with 4 subs) with some england players & one international amongst them. It was fast & furious action from the off with both teams battling hard to score, but with only one sub we were stretched to the limit & the first half ended 3-1 to boro Graham scoring ours. Second half much the same but we had found a rhythm at last & started to match them goal for goal with some great team moves, Stuart, Graham & Alan getting one each. At the final whistle though it was 6-4 to Peterborough.
I remember seeing some of the moves they had practised in training in this game resulting in some great first half goals from Stuart ending 4-1 up at the break & Alan with the other. Second half much the same with Neil getting one & a four goal haul for Matt. Colchester managed to find our net twice more though but it ended with a win for
Letchworth 9-3.
Another tough game overall & more great passing moves from our lads, Graham scoring our two goals to make it 2-0 at half time. Second half much the same with Stuart & Matt getting one each, ending in another hard win for Letchworth 4-0 & Michael managing to bag his first clean sheet.
This was the easiest game of the day (just as well as the team were knackered by now) first half ending 6-3 to us Neil getting one, Graham two & Stuart Three. Second half & Cambridge seemed to have given up fighting now enabling us to score at will, Stuart getting another four & Matt three. Letchworth won 13-3.
Top goal scorers of the day were:
Stuart…..12
Matt………8
Graham….6
Neil……….2
Alan………2
Thats the last tournament of this season & i ‘think’ we would have amassed enough points to secure second place in the league which means promotion to Div 1 next season but will have to wait untill all the other games are played on 31st May to be sure.
ATB
Paul
New interanational hockey rules were agreed at the CIRH congress in Japan and the NRHA are keen for us in the UK to adopt these for the domestic season ‘09 – ‘10 with the Allen Mezzanines and Lennards Cups being a the first competetions to use them.
New Rules
At present we have no further information on what the rule changes actually involve but we’ll be sure to let you know once we do.
What a day we had, three tough matches that we needed to win so we stay up at the top end of the table. If we retain enough points then its promotion to Div 1 next season !
Stuart was on fire in the first half banging in 4 quick goals many of them assists from Todd. End of first half it was 4-3 so Neil changed tactics for the second half which improved things. Neil scored 1, Andy scored 1, Graham scored 1 & Stuart got another 2 making the final result Letchworth 10, NorwichB 3.
This was a very tough & physical game with both teams attacking & counter attacking constantly. Colchester scored first then Stuart equalised making it 1-1 at half time. Neil reinforced tactics again then it was much the same untill Colchester were awarded a penalty, Michael came out early & saved it, then minutes later another penalty he saved that too & yet another ! saved again. He saved all three penaltys to keep us in the game. One minute before end of time Stuart bangs one in to win the game making it Letchworth 2, Colchester 1.
As there goal keeper was injured at previous days training session they had to field an un-registered player so they defaulted making it a ‘friendly’ match meaning we collected all points. Ivan Cook went in goal for them & for a 60 yr old he was very good. We still wanted to win the game which was far from friendly but at half time we were 2-0 down. The second half Andy scored 2 & Graham 1 but Farnham put another 3 past Michael finishing it Letchworth 3, Farnham 5 but we win on points anyway 
Great day & all Letchworth scorers were:
Stuart Langley 8
Andy Stewart 3
Graham Bussolini 3
Neil Warren 1
Todd Halfpenny 101 (assists
Michael Adams 3 (saved penalties
Just a quick note to let you know that LRHC.co.uk has a twitter user (http://twitter.com/lrhc) and the latest tweets can also be seen on the right hand side of this site. Hopefully we can use this to keep you all updated with live scores and news… so watch that space!
So finally the official website for Letchworth Roller Hockey Club has been relaunched. It’s taken some time but hopefully you’ll all enjoy it.
Site Re-launch
Of course we’re going to continue to add more articles, photos, match reports and so much more to the site as time goes on.
