Cardiff Uni runners up in 2nd Team Nationals

On the 15th March, the student 2nd team nationals were held in Manchester, and saw an impressive performance by Cardiff University in reaching the final.

Having failed to qualify for the BUSA nationals, Cardiff were entitled to field their first team in the event, along with the other teams that hadn’t qualified, to compete with the strongest second teams. Howevre, while the squad did contain several first teamers, there were also a few first choice players not in the team.

Having negotiated the group stages safely, and beaten Birmingham in the semi-final, Cardiff were pitted against UEA in the final. Having beaten the East Anglians earlier in the tournament, Cardiff may have fallen victim to over-confidence as they couldn’t repeat the victory, ultimately losing 8-5. 

Cardiff University fail to reach BUSA Nationals

At the University Southerns tournament held in Birmingham on Nov 24th, which acts as a qualifying tournament for the BUSA Nationals, Cardiff University finished in 9th place, one short of the position required to qualify. This is a significant disappointment for a promising team that probably lacked the experience required in a tournament hald so early in the season. Another factor may be the disbanding of the Excalibur Korfball League, which has reduced the level of competition in both Wales and the South West - it’s noticeable that Bristol University also fared worse than they have traditionally, qualifying only in 8th place.

The main factor has to be the increasing strenth of new university teams such as Kent and Aston and the impressive re-birth of London Uni who finished 2nd overall. Birmingham Uni were the tournament winners.

EKA Cup results

Cardiff City were eliminated in the first round of the EKA Cup yesterday, after an under-strength side lost 10-4 to Highbury 2, and 15-4 to Croydon. In the decisive game in the pool, Croydon beat Highbury 8-7.

The other teams to progress from yesterdays pools were Bec, West London Wildcats, North Downs and Mitcham 2 as the South East once again showed it’s pre-eminence in British korfball by eliminating some of the strongest regional sides, like Manchester Warriors and Milton Keynes Bucks.

The second set of matches in the first round will be played on the 4th November, but Cardiff Dragons will no longer be taking part, having had too many players unavailable due to the Welsh national team’s participation in the Groningen Interland tournament.

EKA Cup Draw

The draw for the first round of the EKA Cup (formerly the BKA Cup, but now under the auspices of the English Korfball Association - but with Welsh and Scottish teams particpating as before) has been made, and both Cardiff City and Dragons face tricky tasks.

Cardiff City travel to London to play against Croydon and Highbury 2 on the 21st October. Croydon feature ex-City player Grace Stimpson and will be very tough opposition given their promotion from National League 1 last season. Highbury 2 should be beatable, but that club continues to strengthen rapidly, and there can be no call for complacency.

Cardiff Dragons have been drawn to play on the 4th of November, which will mean they will beat without coach Remco Broekhuis and several key players who will be representing Wales in the Interland tournament in Groningen. Even with a full squad, fixtures against Nottingham 2 (a second team, but from the strongest club outside the South East) and NL club Cambridge City would pose a significant challenge. As it is, the match offers a chance for some squad players to step up, and for some of those omitted from the Wales squad to show that may have been a mistake.

The full draw is on the EKA website.

Bearsted friendlies

The two Cardiff clubs got to test themselves against National League opposition last weekend, as Kent side Bearsted kindly travelled down to Wales for a couple of friendlies.

Their first game was against Cardiff City, and the first half was very tight, with City just having the edge. Ramzi and Susan combined brilliantly at one end, while Max and Zoe scored from long range at the other. In the second half though, City began to struggle to create shooting opportunities, and while their defence held firm Bearsted gradually pulled away to win 11-7.

Against Dragons, Bearsted had a more comfortable win as the home team were very rusty and too often chose the wrong options. By contrast, the teamwork of the younger visitors kept a regular threat going and they won 11-4.

The games showed that while the gap between Welsh clubs and the National League is far from unbridgeable, there’s plenty of scope for improvement in key factors like tactics, movement and teamwork in order to make the leap.

Cardiff City website relaunched

After a while without a current website, Cardiff City now have a shiny new one, at http://cardiffkorfball.co.uk/, looking very professional, if not quite as good as the Cardiff Dragons one at http://www.cardiffdragons.co.uk/.

Cardiff City also had a very impressive 10th place (out of 44) finish in the Croydon tournament, traditionally the most competitive summer club event, finishing ahead of several top clubs, including Kwiek and Invicta Sharks.

Cardiff Tournament 2007

The second annual Cardiff tournament, co-hosted by Cardiff City and Cardiff Dragons will be held on the 11th August, at Howell’s School, as last year. Cost is £32 per team. Several entries have already been made, including teams from the Netherlands and London. As well as the fantastic venue at Howell’s, there will also be a bungee run, a big social event and various other things going on. Although entries are nudging towards double figures, the organisers are still seeking more entrants to really put the Cardiff tournament on the map.

Cardiff Dragons win EKL Division 1

Cardiff Dragons retained their EKL trophy, finishing 2 points ahead of last season’s runners-up, Bristol City. Despite defeats earlier in the season to Bristol University and Exeter City, they sealed the trophy by winning all three matches in the second stage of the season.

Cardiff Dragons win Division 2

Cardiff Dragons retained the reserve division league, though their victory was much less comfortable than last year. Cardiff City managed to clinch the runner’s up position, as well as blooding a large number of new players in a particularly impressive performance. Bristol University were excellent on their day, but as is customary with student sides, fluctuating player availability meant they were too inconsistent to finish ahead of the Welsh clubs. Full Tables below.