A successful 72nd Torbay Easter Hockey Festival concluded on Easter Monday with the final game being abandoned at half time due to a tremendous rain storm, summing up the weather over the whole weekend, reports Mike Carter.
The transition from the Redcliffe Hotel to the Palace proved to be virtually seamless, with the latter quickly adapting to the incoming Festival HQ and Oddfellows Club – even coping with the 100 or so sitting down to the Oddfellows Club Annual Dinner.
Every team lost at least one game, the first time this had happened since 2016.
The Bill Stickells Cup for highest scoring team was won for the third time in four Festivals by the Buffaloes from Smethwick HC, with 44 goals.
Midwives, from Surrey, were a distant second with 27. Ironically, the abandoned game was between these two teams, with the Midwives causing the Buffaloes to lose their unbeaten record with a two goal to nothing win.
The inaugural outing of the Tony Forward Fair play Shield saw it jointly awarded to the Bluebottles (Bristol) and the Torreadors from the local Torbay Club.
A total of nine teams, the same as in 2023, contested the tournament, but seeds were sown over the weekend to increase this number, thus allowing the longest surviving Easter Festival to continue.
