Hawkwell Athletic Walking Football Club

Essex League results after today's matches. Superb ladies ⚽️👏👍😀 Ali Knight plyer of the day!

Mixed Walking Football Tournament⚽️🥅
Very well done everyone! Thank you for organising ⚽️

Hawkwell's Walking Football Social. A great night had by all!! 🎳 🦸‍♀️🦸‍♂️

Good Luck Lionesses tonight!!
Our club got a mention in a grassroots article in Times Magazine to mark today's event!
https://time.com/6201925/women-euro-soccer-cup-lgbtq-inclusive/

Christmas Timetable

What's on and off over the holiday period, at a glance:

Saturday 11th Men's Session as Normal
Tuesday 14th Men' s and Ladies Sessions as Normal
Saturday 18th Men's Session as Normal

Tuesday 21st Men and Ladies Sessions REPLACED BY
Mixed Gender Mini Tournament from 6pm until 8pm
(register to play by the Sunday before).

Saturday 25th (Xmas Day) Men's Session CANCELLED
Tuesday 28th (Bank Hol) Men's and Ladies Sessions CANCELLED

Wednesday 29th Men's Friendly against Southend
From (10am until 12pm)

Saturday 1st (NY Day) Men's Session CANCELLED

Tuesday 4th BACK TO NORMAL

NEW LADIES SUNDAY AFTERNOON SESSION

New for 2021 .. it's in addition to our already well established Tuesday Evening Session.

Register via our website at http://www.hawfc.org
Emails to [email protected]
or phone 07899 850 940

All invited, Club Members and friends and family and partners.

Just £5 non-members, £2 club members. Food included.

You may know the difference between a lupin and a lupine or are proud of your encyclopedic knowledge of Sumatran fruit bats. Maybe you can name all of the world champion bog snorkellers since 1923 or can remember the characters from Camberwick Green. This then, is the evening for you. If you want a bit of a laugh, some fun with your football mates, family and friends. This then, is also the evening for you. We'll feed you too !

All of the money raised will go to Southend Hospital Charity Trust (For Wards Appeal) who give to several specialist wards (eg Cancer, Keyhole Surgery, Premature Baby Unit etc), so we've arrived at the ticket price of £5 per person. Hawkwell Athletic (and Ladies) members will be asked to pay only £2, the Club will donate the other £3 on their behalf. This means that a club member that brings their partner (non member), will be asked for £7 total. Note: If you're registered for both Southend and Hawkwell, we will unravel this slight complication for you.

So for your money, apart from my dynamic and debonair charms as a quiz master, there will be a mini buffet mid-session. There will be a raffle and there is a subsidised bar. If you need to cool off your overheating brain, there is an open air balcony overlooking Belfairs Wood and Golf Course.

The Other Bits:
Maximum 8 in a team, 6 is recommended. Minimum of 3.
A deposit of £2 per person is required before the Quiz Night, to guarantee your places. So we would need £12 for a team of 6.
A team can consist of more than one club member.
Individuals and couples are welcome and will be encouraged to join other teams to make numbers up.
The intention is to start the quiz at 7:30pm.
I've enclosed a map, the entrance is at the back of 'The Inn' and you need to go upstairs.
Note: Please be aware that the venue is an older building and NOT wheelchair friendly.

If you want to play:
Please EMAIL ME WITH YOUR TEAM SIZE at [email protected] and I will send you my bank details for a direct transfer or you can pay in cash, next time I see you.

Also I need:
A small helping hand with the buffet, if there are any volunteers, and someone to collect money would also be useful, all would still be able to quiz.
Donations of raffle prizes.
Someone extra to mark quiz answer sheets would be nice.

All the very best
Your Quiz Master and Host
Gary

MATCH REPORT - Age UK Tournament at Harwich 8th August
Very much a game of two halves !

After the wellie, canoeing and water wing jokes on a very wet Saturday, everything looked as though it may get a bit grubby on Sunday, as 3 of the 4 pitches were grass. As it turned out, there was no need to try mud wrestling or bog snorkelling; instead we had to make do with walking football and a windy day, mostly from one of the girls (no names) !

We were blighted with 3 injuries and a positive Covid-19, before we left at the unearthly time of 7:30. Anyway, the 7 ladies and 7 men, including some last minute additions, arrived in good time. Mandy and myself acting as squad captains, had drawn straws earlier to decide which squad would be designated 'The Harriers' and play on the 3G pitch, while the other would be 'The Kestrels' and play on grass. So 'The Harriers' consisted of the tried and tested partnership of Mandy, Lyn, Coral and Lisa Smith, along with the stalwart Andy in goal and guest players from Southend and Beacon Hill, Steve and Derek respectively. Elsewhere Rob from Southend (referred to as 'the hair' by the opposing teams, it was a conservative day-glo pink!) joined myself, Tracy, Kim, Liz, Alan and the agile Gordon in goal.

The most important thing was to enjoy ourselves and perhaps have a decent go at the opposing teams, so full marks on both counts. However, it soon became obvious that we were effectively, the only truly mixed teams there. I'm therefore writing an open letter to the organisers, with our disappointment at the unfair representation. I will give everybody the chance to express their thoughts and/or add to the letter, so I will publish it on Spond, before I send it.

The first two matches were against all male teams with resulting scores of Dunmow 2-0 Kestrels and Brightlingsea 2-0 Harriers. Then we had to different incarnations of Leighton Orient, the Kestrels drew 0-0 against the 'Red' team that consisted of 5 men and 1 lady. The Harriers opposition 'LO Whites' were supposed to be a mixed team, 'apparently' their ladies didn't turn up, it also transpires that this was mostly the winning League team from last year, so no surprise being beaten 6-2; we managed to get on the score sheet though, thanks to Steve. Finally Clacton 2-0 Harriers and a 2-0 loss by the Kestrels to Harwich, the overall competition winners, completed our involvement against overwhelmingly male teams.

As teams we played very well, individually too; although, I put in a bit of a lack lustre performance myself and had a good goal scoring opportunity deflected by a lucky save. Anyway, Lyn and Alan were deservedly awarded Players of the Tournament medals from the club, both were very effective and caused some real problems. I will mention Steve and Liz who both came a close second. From what I saw (and know) of Steve, he is really dangerous on the right wing, so the 2 goals don't surprise me and were welcome. Brave Liz excelled because of her positioning and anticipation, often getting in the way of an attack. All credit to all the girls for being fearless against opponents, often running and tackling from the side and behind, that were in some cases 2 or 3 times the size; the guy marking me in one game was about 8 stone heavier than me and the Harriers had to contend with a player of nearly 6ft 6in in height in another.

So, thank you to everybody that turned up, especially Derek, Steve and Rob at short notice. Also well done for excelling given the circumstances.

Images and videos are on 'Hawkwell Ladies Walking Football' page at:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/214265603307850

All the best
Gary

One of my team talks ... at Leighton Orient Ladies Tournament

MATCH REPORT - Ladies Tournament at Leighton Orient:

This has to be the most enjoyable tournament, I've ever been involved with, even though I wasn't playing!

It started by not boding to well as we ended up going with a squad of 5 players for a 6 a side tournament and myself as manager. It was a nice warm 73॰F in Southend when we left and a blistering 82॰F at the Leighton Orient ground, which proved to be a bit difficult to find. But we got there.

I had managed to talk to LO late on the Friday and they agreed to lend us a player to make up the squad, they didn't like the idea of me playing. Anyway, in practice we had a different player each half, 4 from Leighton Orient and 2 from Spurs (6 halves).

Since we were due to play the 2nd and 3rd matches of the round robin, it gave us a chance to finalise strategy. Liz in goal, the loan player and Coral in defence, Lyn left wing and Mandy right wing. Lisa was given the important task of playing as centre forward, with strict instructions to stay centre and act as a target. The intention was to stretch the opposing teams and give space for Mandy and Lyn to do their stuff.

The first game in our group was Leighton Orient against Spurs. LO beat Spurs 3-0. We realised that LO's no 6 was a danger and needed to be man marked, that task was given to Coral. The next match then, was our first ever properly competitive match and against the winning LO, we were loaned a Spurs player for each half. We started off OK, Coral's marking put paid to the no 6, but we were pressed. The girls were taking time to settle down and holding, but a late first half goal against us from a midfielder, meant that we were on the back foot. The formation was all over the place and inevitable happened, so we lost 2-0.

After a chat about the formation, we now had to play Spurs (with a LO loan). After a few seconds of play, a strange thing happened, everything suddenly clicked into place. The formation started to work, Lisa was now in space and holding the ball while getting past players or passing out to the wings. Both Mandy and Lyn were beginning to dominate and Coral was stopping nearly every attacking move stone dead. A driving run, then a pass from Lyn and a fine goal from Lisa put us on the score sheet. We rattled the woodwork twice and then we got hit on the counter and a classic one against the goalkeeper scenario. Liz successfully blocked the shot, only for the rebound to fall at the players feet for a second shot and a goal. Second half we had them pinned down, but couldn't quite get a decent shot off. Enter a very determined Coral again, who took it from just before the halfway line, went through 3 players and proceeded to put it in the back of net, 1 minute from full time. 2-1 to Hawkwell. Wow

The play offs for 3rd and 4th meant that we were up against Arsenal (LO and Cheshunt were the finalists). Another LO loan, and we totally dominated the first half, Lyn was starting deep and causing havoc with her runs, Mandy battled to deprive Arsenal of the ball and taking control of midfield. Coral was a 'Brick Wall' again, Liz stopped everything and Lisa was the all important lynch pin of the team. Another pass to Lisa, a bit of body strength and another Lisa goal for Hawkwell. Second half and we get another LO player, it soon became apparent that she was new. She'd been playing for only a week, in fact, and I'm afraid it showed. Being down to (effectively) 5 for a full half, Arsenal levelled. So, final score 1-1

We think if we'd met LO second we may well have made the finals. But it's still an outstanding result for a first tournament, 3rd out of 6. You can either say we were joint third or third on points and goal difference. If I had to ni**le, I guess the one or two passes across the goal mouth while defending were bad moves, being open to being intercepted and a cheap goal.

Congratulations to all of the girls for a splendid performance, to Lisa for being the only person playing for Hawkwell who has scored against both Arsenal and Spurs and to awesome Coral for being our nominated Person of the Match.

I was buzzing at the end of the tournament, I'm sure the girls were as well. A fantastic day and I'm really proud of their achievement.

The Team at Leighton Orient Ladies Tournament 17th July 2021
More at https://www.hawfc.org/gallery-results/