Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
ROUND-UP Midlands five in Euro action with Scotland
THE Scottish U/21 ladies and men’s squads play in the EuroHockey Junior Championships with Midlands players involved.
The ladies are competing in Hradec Kralove, Czech Republic, from July 16-22 and the men are in St Petersburg, Russia, on the same dates.
The ladies pool opposition is Russia on the 16th then the host nation on the 18th and Turkey on the 19th with the classification games on the 21st and 22nd.
The other pool comprises Ukraine, Poland, Belarus and Austria.
The 18-strong squad includes Emily Dark (MJV Dundee Wanderers) and Katie Stott (Grove-Menzieshill).
The men’s squad opposition is Poland on the 16th, Italy on the 18th and Russia on the 19th.
The other pool comprises France, Ukraine, Czech Republic and Turkey
The pool crossover games are on Friday and final placings will be resolved on Saturday.
Midland players i n the 18-man squad are GroveMenzieshill’s Aiden McQuade, Hamish Gault and Cameron Golden.
The squad left today and has warm-up games tomorrow and Thursday against a Russian team. It’s rest on Friday and a final training session on Saturday.
For both men’s and ladies events, the medal games are on July 22.
At the other end of the international age range, the U/16 and U/18 boys and girls teams have been in action with mixed results and a lot of experience gained.
There is even international action for the ‘ oldies’ next month in the European Masters Championships being held in Tilburg, Holland, from August 11-18.
Teams, male and female, in age ranges for over 35, 40, 45 50 and over 55s will be involved and come from Holland, Germany, England, Ireland, Wales, Australia, Spain, France, Italy, Ghana and Canada as well as Scotland.
Dundee Wanderers Summer sessions continue on Saturday at Dalnacraig (2pm).
These sessions are also open to anyone, male or female, wishing to try out hockey or are interested in joining the club. Age is no consideration.
The annual Pat HaeburnLittle Sixes are at Dalnacraig on August 5 (2pm-5pm).
Clubs will be pleased to note national fixtures for all nine divisions, men’s and ladies, for next season have been issued.
For Wanderers men, promoted to Division One, their opening game is against Grove-Menzieshill on September 9. This is also the date their ladies teams play in their opening Division One game.
Perthshire men, promoted to Division Two, open at home against Granite City Wanderers.
Harris FP, also at home, play demoted Gordonians while Monarchs are away to relegated Greenock Morton in Division Three.
In the case of both the ladies Championship divisions, their opening date is September 2.
Now the national fixtures are known, the Midlands ones will follow shortly.
The date for the various national cups getting underway is September 17.
For MJV Dundee Wanderers Men’s II there is confirmation of their application to play in the Men’s Regional Division Two. Their opening opposition is Stepps II who were relegated last season.
This was the division which Grove Menzieshill Men’s II won last season at the first attempt. They now play in Regional One with Clydesdale IIs as their opening opposition.
Dundee Wanderers II were the winners of the Midland Division One last season.
In a statement, they said: “Dundee Wanderers II are delighted to be accepted into Central League Division Two.
“We are grateful to Scottish Hockey to allow us to play outwith our traditional District Leagues.
“We believe this will provide the club with a more competitive standard of hockey and give us a better platform to develop our younger players and prepare them for the National League demands.
“We hope this will be a rewarding challenge for Dundee Wanderers II who are excited about playing new opposition.”