2009 Winners: Flaming Galahs (Oval Division 1
Wednesday)
2009 Runners Up: PricewaterhouseCoopers Netball
(L&F Cup, Valencia 2009)
2009 Player of the Tournament: Amy Greenwood of Flaming Galahs
Thankfully the sun decided to put its hat on and come out while we played, so just like last year we had glorious weather for our annual best-of-the-best tournament! Everyone showed up on time and games got off promptly at noon.
The roll call for the day was as follows:
2008 Winners Victorious Secrets – Winners of Southwark Division 1 Spring 2009
2008 Runners Up Flaming Galahs – Winners of Oval Wednesday Summer 2009
Chiqueetahs – Winners of Waterloo Monday Division 1 Spring 2009
City Storm – Runners Up of Liverpool Street Thursday Winter 2008/09
Karisma – Winners of Vauxhall Wednesday Division 1 Summer 2009
Mixtures – Runners Up of Southwark Division 1 Autumn 2008
Phoenix – Winner of Brixton Wednesday Autumn 2008
PwC Netball – Runners Up of Legal and Financial Cup, Valencia 2009
Rock n Roll – Winners of Turnham Green Division 1 Autumn 2008
Trelawney – Winners of Waterloo Monday Division 1 Autumn 2008
The ten teams had been split into two groups of five and were set to play each team in their group once. All games were played in two halves of ten minutes and though these were shorter than standard league games, it wasn't long before ladies became tired – a result of the nice sunny weather and also the top-quality netball being played at lightning pace!
Notable were purple-clad Karisma who had a hugely successful day starting off with their whopping defeat of 28-8 against last year's Runners-Up Flaming Galahs. They carried on their winning streak throughout the first stages of the tournament with an end goal difference of plus 70 for the results over on court two – very impressive! For Flaming Galahs, it seems that this was their opener was merely their warm-up match as from their 19-8 defeat of the hard-fighting Trelawney team onwards they just seemed to play better and better with each game. Unfortunately the second game of the day on court two brought us our first and thankfully only major injury of the day! During the extremely close game between Mixtures and Rock n Roll (end-of-play score being 11-10 win for Rock n Roll), Mixtures’ Sarah Bell had a big fall which resulted in a bad cut on the underneath of her chin that saw her rushed off to hospital for stitches! We all wish her a quick and speedy recovery (she is well thank you for asking, albeit a bit bruised!). Another very notable game on this court was between Flaming Galahs and Rock and Roll – they were level in the points table and therefore the result of this match was to determine who was to go through as the runners up from court two. The very close quarter-final of sorts eventually saw Flaming Galahs winning 18-14.
In swish new dresses, Victorious Secrets seemed to be the safe-bet over on court one until they met PwC Netball who put a stop to their consistent winning, it was an extremely close match which ended in a result of 17-13 to the ladies in white. PwC Netball continued their success with some brilliant edge-of-the-circle shooting but only just overcame strong opposition from City Storm in their last match of the group stages where they only won 8-7. Brixton Champions Phoenix and Waterloo Winners Chiqueetahs played great netball all afternoon and it is a testament to the strength of the group that they were not able to reach the knock-out stages. The group games ended on court one with only the goal difference between Victorious Secrets and PwC Netball determining the winners and runners up. Over on court two we had out-and-out victors Karisma qualify followed by runners up Flaming Galahs.
After the group stages the winners of court one played the runners up of court two and the winners of court two played the runners up of court one. Flaming Galahs vs. Victorious Secrets (in a replay of the 2008 final) was the closest game of the day so far. The holders were constantly one goal ahead and it seemed that they would once again claim victory over the girls in pink but when a centre pass was lost in the second half and Galahs finally pulled ahead, there was no getting them back. By the time the 17-16 final score was called in the Galahs’ favour, there were several spectators whose nails were bitten down to the quick from the excitement! And the story was the same on court one – it was favourites Karisma vs. 2007 champions PwC Netball and those Karisma took the early lead, they were reigned back in and leap-frogged by some extremely determined netballers. PwC pulled off a shock 18-13 victory to secure themselves a place in the final.
It was a surprise final therefore between the two runners up from both group stages – Flaming Galahs and PwC Netball. It was an extremely exciting match! In fact they kept the score so close that at the final whistle the score was tied 15-15 and we therefore we had to go to extra time. We all watched with racing pulses as it stayed neck and neck into the last sixty seconds. When injury time had to called, the players could barely stand still to get their breath back so high was the tension. Back on court and the Flaming Galahs managed to score in the last few seconds causing the final result to be 17-16 to Flaming Galahs. A really great match to watch girls – so a big well done all round!
So despite a patchy start and being given a really good run for their money by PricewaterhouseCoopers, Flaming Galahs went one better that last year and took home the big silver cup. Not only that but their Centre Amy Greenwood was awarded the title of Player of the Tournament by the umpires. An excellent day’s work!
After medals and trophies were awarded and photos taken, netballers, TC staff and umpires returned to their various corners of London tired after the long hard day’s work! The day ran as smoothly as we could have hoped (bar the small incident with Sarah’s poor chin and an ambulance of course). Everyone seemed to have had a great day and there were many comments about how much fun was had! Many thanks to the umpires who worked so hard but also to all the wonderful teams who played every game in a great spirit.
(See yourself in action! All of our photos are up on Picasa.)
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Court 2 |
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L |
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Pts |
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Karisma |
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Flaming Galahs |
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Rock N Roll |
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Mixtures |
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Trelawney |
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Court 1 results |
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12:00 |
Victorious Secrets |
18-9 |
Phoenix |
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12:22 |
PwC Netball |
16-20 |
Chiqueetahs |
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12:44 |
Victorious Secrets |
20-4 |
City Storm |
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13:06 |
Phoenix |
8-19 |
PwC Netball |
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13:28 |
Chiqueetahs |
23-6 |
City Storm |
| 13:50 |
Victorious Secrets |
13-17 |
PwC Netball |
| 14:12 |
Phoenix |
18-12 |
Chiqueetahs |
| 14:34 |
City Storm |
7-8 |
PwC Netball |
| 14:56 |
Victorious Secrets |
15-9 |
Chiqueetahs |
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15:18 |
City Storm |
7-10 |
Phoenix |
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Court 2 results |
12:00 |
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12:22 |
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12:44 |
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13:06 |
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13:28 |
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15:18 |
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Semi-finals |
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Final |
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Previous winners |
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2008 |
Victorious Secrets |
2007 |
PwC Panthers |
2006 |
Honeys |
• Netball homepage
• Thanks to sponsors Gilbert who will be providing with the winners with fantastic new kit
• Email Jen with enquiries about 2010's tournament
