Home Internationals 2016
Great Grand Masters Tournament
For the first time, all four home nations took part in the Great Grand Masters Home International tournament held at Southgate Hockey Club over the weekend of 1-3 July 2016, Ireland fielding an Over 65 side to make up the full complement of home nations. England were defending the title they had held since the tournament was inaugurated in 2009.
As expected, England once more came out convincing winners. There was little in it between the other three sides but Wales edged second place on goal difference while Scotland's lack of a cutting edge was again a major factor in their inability to win close matches.
Friday 1 July
England 3 Wales 1 
Scotland 1 (Gordon) Ireland 2 
In the final match of the first day, Scotland Great Grand Masters took the game to Ireland, who were playing at this level for the first time, but Ireland absorbed the Scottish pressure and started to come back into the match. A hard drive into the circle from a pass back at an Irish free hit on the edge of the Scottish circle was parried by Dick Pearce but an Irish forward was on hand to fire home the rebound. Scotland continued to press but could not penetrate the Irish rearguard and Ireland went 2-0 ahead in the final quarter. Finally, after two Scottish attempts had been repelled by Ireland, Peter Gordon scored to make it 2-1, but try as they might, Scotland could not find the equaliser and the match ended with Ireland the winners.
Saturday 2 July
Ireland 0 Wales 0
Scotland 0 England 8
Scotland Great Grand Masters put in a backs to the wall performance against England in their second match but could not stem the constant flood of English attacks, conceding four goals in each half to go down 8-0. Ireland having draw 0-0 in their match against Wales, Scotland needed a win against the Welsh in their last game to finish third.
Sunday 3 July
Scotland 0 Wales 1
Scotland Great Grand Masters lost a closely fought match 0-1 to Wales in their last match in the tournament, leaving them in fourth place. There was little between the teams, Scotland putting in their best performance of the tournament to match Wales in almost every phase of the match. Wales scored the vital winner in the first half when Scottish keeper Dick Pearce was left stranded and a Welsh forward found himself a metre from the line with the unguarded goal in front of him. He could not miss, and didn't.
Ireland 0 England 5
Table
| P | W | D | L | F | A | Pt | GD | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| England | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 9 | +16 |
| Wales | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -1 |
| Ireland | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 4 | -4 |
| Scotland | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 0 | -10 |
Squads
England
Ireland
Scotland
Alan Auld, Ernie Brittain-Dodd, Jim Chisholm, Graham Conkie, Donald Dunbar, David Fargus, Colin Gallacher, Peter Gordon, Kieran McLernan, Alan Parker, Dick Pearce, John Smith, Colin Tucker, Douglas Turner.