The second tournament of the 2022/2023 Super League season got underway recently at Peter Symonds College, Winchester.
Teams in attendance were Birmingham, Phoenix Blaze, Queen Bees, Fen Tigers, Fenland Tigers, London Elephants, RNC Academy, Northern Allstars, and Winchester Kings. The nine teams were split into two divisions as a result of Tournament 1 results, teams who finished 1st to 5th played in Division A, and teams who finished 6th to 9th would play in Division B.
- Division A = Fen Tigers, Northern Allstars, RNC Academy, Winchester Kings, and London Elephants.
- Division B = Queen Bees, Phoenix Blaze, Birmingham, and Fenland Tigers.
Promotion would be achieved for the team finishing in 6th place in Division B, meanwhile, finishing 5th in Division A would result in relegation.
Harry and Jacob of our Youth Forum also joined us for the weekend as they hosted a fundraiser for Goalball UK. They had two games to entertain the #GoalballFamily in attendance, guess the name of the teddy bear, and guess how many sweets are in the jar. After their efforts across the two days, they raised £41.07, and are already busy planning their next fundraiser!
Saturday
Division A
Tournament 1 silver medalists Fen Tigers certainly had their Weetabix as they started their day with an emphatic 10-0 victory over Winchester Kings. Northern Allstars halted their progress later in the day, beating the Tigers 5-2. Fen Tigers ended their day with a 17-7 win over RNC Academy, who themselves had a difficult day coming off the back of two losses versus Northern Allstars (6-10) and London Elephants (3-13). However, with players still adapting to playing at Super League level, we’re sure RNC Academy would recoup and learn from day 1!
Gold medalists Northern Allstars continued their dominant start to the season, as well as overcoming RNC Academy and Fen Tigers, they went on to beat Winchester Kings (11-5) and drew their final game versus London Elephants (10-10). Chelsea Hudson made her debut for the Allstars and as results showed, slotted right in!
Winchester would hope for better fortunes on Sunday after finishing day 1 with the formerly mentioned losses against Fen Tigers, Northern Allstars, as well as losing by 1 goal to London Elephants, with the game finishing 11-12!
Division B
Meanwhile, over the road at King’s School in Division B, teams were vying for the chance to gain promotion to Division A for Tournament 3. Queen Bees, who finished in 6th place in Tournament 1 would certainly be in high spirits to achieve this and got off to a great start overcoming Phoenix Blaze 11-8. A pattern became apparent in Queen Bees fixtures, they were all close contests! Their final two results included an 8-5 loss to Birmingham and a 9-8 win versus Fenland Tigers.
Hot on Queen Bees heels from Tournament 1 Phoenix Blaze (finishing in 7th place) was not able to muster up a challenge to rise up the rankings, as they ended Saturday with a further 2 defeats against Fenland Tigers (15-5) and Birmingham. The latter was one of the highest-scoring fixtures of the day, finishing 7-13 in favour of the West Midlands outfit.
Sunday
Division A
Winchester King’s and RNC Academy would meet for their final fixture ahead of the placement games. The winner would go on to the bronze medal game, and the loser would be relegated to Division B. In an entertaining encounter, Winchester Kings picked up their first and what resulted in a crucial victory, winning 11-5! Meaning RNC Academy would play in Division B at Tournament 3 at the University of East London (Saturday 22nd – Sunday 23rd April).
An exciting start to day 2 continued as Fen Tigers took on London Elephants, the winner going on to face Northern Allstars for the gold medal! The Elephants went into the game knowing that a draw would suffice, having racked up 7 points to Tigers 6. In a nail-biting affair and a 4-goal swing, Fen Tigers won 13-9! A rematch from the first Tournament of the season and the Goalfix Cup 2022 final was set up between Northern Allstars and Fen Tigers.
With just 1 goal to split London Elephants and Winchester Kings the day prior, the bronze medal game was set up to be a cracker. It certainly lived up to expectations as it finished 12-8 in favour of the Elephants, securing them the bronze medal!
Leaving just one game to play to conclude Super League Tournament 2, Northern Allstars versus Fen Tigers. Two teams who know one another so well and have competed in many a final over the years. Northern Allstars would be chomping at the bit to continue their excellent form winning gold in Tournament 1. They were able to do so, winning 9-4!
Division B
Phoenix Blaze had a chance at revenge against Fenland Tigers in the 8-9th placement game, after losing to them 15-5 on day 1. Despite a closer encounter, Fenland Tigers came out on top in a high-scoring affair winning 17-11.
This left the matchup to decide promotion to Division A between Birmingham and Queen Bees. Both teams were entering the game in high spirits after winning their closing fixtures the day prior with Queen Bees beating Fenland Tigers, and Birmingham beating Phoenix Blaze. Birmingham had the upper hand, however, as they stung the Bees 8-5 in their pool game. It required overtime to split the two, and Queen Bees secured promotion winning 5-4!!
