2019 News and Events

Scottish Thistles go down in Cumbria

The first Scottish Thistles match of the year was a friendly against a North of England select in Cumbria on Sunday 27 January -final score 1-3. report

EGM Sunday 27 January

At the Extraordinary General Meeting of the Club at The High School of Glasgow on 27 January 2019 the 2017 Accounts of the Club were approved; Norrie Springford was appointed Honorary Auditor.

Scottish Masters International Selection Criteria

The International Sub Committee set up by the Executive Management Committee has produced a document setting out selection criteria for Masters International Teams (initially applying to the Over 60, Over 65 and Over 70 teams managed by the club on behalf of Scottish Hockey). selection criteria (PDF)

Over 70s go down in Durham

Scotland Over 70s were beset with travel difficulties once again and with a squad of only fourteen went down 7-1 to England in the annual Over 70 International in Durham on 5 March 2019. Alan Parker scored Scotland's goal on his debut for the senior side. match report

Second Place for Thistles White in Lille

Thistles White fought out the final of the Jacques Lévy Tournament in Lille on 17 March 2019 with Welsh Dragons but neither side could find the net and the match went to penalties. 2-2 after five penalties each led to sudden death and sadly it was Welsh Dragons who won the trophy after the last Scottish penalty was saved. Scottish Thistles Blue finished in seventh place, beating Alliance 2-0 courtesy of two first half goals scored by Tim Lorimer. The highlight was the first ever win over England LX in the semi final

Scottish Thistles White sealed their place in the tournament final with a close-fought win over England LX, a single goal from Gurdial Duhre making the difference between the two teams. Welsh Dragons also qualified for the final. Blues went down 1-0 to France C and played Alliance for seventh place in their final match.

the match ball from the semi final Lille 2019 Scottish Thistles White 1 England LX 0
the match ball from the semi final

results and reports

Thistles Whites finished second in their group after drawing 1-1 with Welsh Dragons in their final pool match, qualifying to meet Thistles Blues who had finished third in Pool B following a last minute loss to France B. Whites won to go on to play England LX, while Blues went into a play off against France C.

Scottish Thistles White beat both France A (1-0) and France C on the first day of the tournament - scorers Cliff Martin in the opening match, and Alan Parker and Gurdial Duhre in the second. Blues gave away four soft goals in the first half against England LX, John Connaghan pulling one back, but LX went on to win 5-1. Their second match, against Alliance, ended goalless in spite of strong Thistles pressure.

AGM 2019

The 2019 AGM was held at The High School of Glasgow on Sunday 31 March 2019. Kieran McLernan, John Hay and John Smith were re-elected as President, Secretary and Treasurer, and John Candlin and Jim Chisholm were elected to the Executive Management Committee as Ordinary Members. The Constitution was amended to allow proxy voting. Approval of the accounts and setting of the subscriptions was deferred until an Extraordinary General Meeting planned to be held during the Four Nations tournament at the end of May in Aberdeen.

International Coaches and Managers

Early in 2019, Adam McInnes and George Guy were appointed as coach and manager of the Scotland Over 60 squad and Ian Wilson as player-coach for the Over 65 squad, whose manager was Donny Watson. They were later joined by Sandy Keith and Rona Beattie as coach and manager for the Over 70 squad. more details

Celtic Cup Swansea 26-28 April 2019

Both Scotland Grand Masters and Scotland Senior Grand Masters finished second in their competitions, while Scotland Great Grand Masters were third. reports

Tilburg International Veterans Tournament 26-28 April 2019

Scottish Thistles Whites wth the 2019 Over 67 Cup at Tilburg

Scottish Thistles White won the 2019 Over 67 Cup in Tilburg while Scottish Thistles Blue finished sixth in the Over 60 competition.

Lakes Tournament Cockermouth 18-19 May 2019

Scottish Thistles sent a mixed age team to the England LX tournament at Cockermouth on the weekend of 18/19 May. The opposition were England LX 60/65s and the Reivers (masters team from Cumbria, Northumbria and Durham who, at this stage are in the quarter finals of the England Over 60's cup). Thistles lost their friendly matches against the two England LX sides on the first day but beat them both in the competition proper on the Sunday. A loss to Reivers meant that they finished second in the tournament. report

Four Nations Tournament Aberdeen 24-26 May 2019

Scotland hosted the annual Four Nations Tournament in Aberdeen on 24-26 May 2019 and, for the first time, there was a Tournament Trophy involving sides from all four countries. In another first, Ireland made up the full set of teams in the International Over 70 competition. England came into the tournament as holders of all three age group trophies, won in Dublin in 2018.

Ian Downie interviewed by ThatsTV Scotland North

Ian Downie interviewed about the tournament by ThatsTV North Scotland

In Aberdeen, England continued their domination of the competition, adding the inaugural Tournament Trophy to their haul through England LX, all three international sides retaining the respective trophies. Scotland Grand Masters and Great Grand Masters improved their positions from 2018, finishing runners up in two out of the three international tournaments, Senior Grand Masters staying static and finishing third, and Scottish Thistles claimed the runner up spot in the Tournament Trophy.

international tournament   Tournament Trophy Scottish Hockey news item

Scotland Grand Masters win European Bronze

Scotland were represented by three international sides in the Men's Grand Masters European Cup at Brasschaat, Belgium on 19-29 June 2019: at Over 60, Over 65 and Over 70 level. Scotland's Over 60 Women competed in the Women's Over 60 European Cup at the same venue, and Scottish Thistles had teams in the Over 60 and Over 65 Tournament Trophy.

Scotland Over 60 Men took the Bronze Medal in the Grand Masters European Cup with a 4-3 win over Germany on the final day of the tournament.

Scotland Over 60 2019 World Grand Masters Bronze Medallists
Scotland Over 60 2019 World Grand Masters Bronze Medallists

Not to be outdone, Scotland Over 60 Women beat Netherlands 2-1 to win Bronze in the Over 60 Womens European Cup. Finally, Scotland Over 65 finished the tournament undefeated, beating Ireland 3-0 to secure fifth place in the Great Grand Masters European Cup.

Coach Adam McInnes & Manager George Guy with the Trophy
Coach Adam McInnes and Manager George Guy with the Trophy

The morning of the final day of the European Cup tournament saw both Scotland Over 60 Men and Women win Bronze, against Germany (4-3) and Netherlands (2-1) respectively. Scotland Over 65 men beat Ireland 3-0 in their crucial final match, with both sides having a 100% record in the round robin for places 5-9 but with Ireland having a better goal difference. Nothing less than a win for Scotland would give them fifth place in the Great Grand Masters European Cup and a 3-0 victory sealed it for them.

The final situation for each of the Scottish teams was:

Over 60 beat Germany for Bronze

Over 65 beat Ireland for 5th place

Over 70 beat Ireland to finish 7th

Over 60 Women beat Netherlands for Bronze

Thistles Over 60 finished fourth in the Over 60 Tournament Trophy

Thistles Over 65 finished ninth in the Over 65 Tournament Trophy

Scottish Hockey news item    fixtures and results

Dragons Tournament

Scottish Thistles took part in the Dragons Tournament in Swansea on 3-4 August 2019, winning one match out of five.

Scottish Thistles North East Tour

Two Scottish Thistles squads travelled to the midweek North East Tour in Durham on 10-12 September 2019.

EGM 29 September

An Extraordinary General Meeting was held at Glasgow National Hockey Centre on Sunday 29 September 2019 at 14:45 for the purposes of approving the 2018 Club Accounts and appointment of the Honorary Auditor.

New Treasurer Email Address

With John Smith and Jim Chisholm sharing the duties of Treasurer, the Club has set up a new email address to which both have access. Please use this address for any communications about financial matters so that the correct person can deal with your email.

Winter Field Day 2019

There was another Club Event open to all hockey players aged at least 58 by the end of 2020 on Sunday 8 December 2019 from 11:00-14:00 at Peffermill, Edinburgh. Cost: £10. Members were encouraged to 'bring a friend' and to spread the word amongst hockey players of the right age.

The format was a training session in teams followed by a round robin tournament played by four teams.

  • 10:50 Pitch side register and collect fees
  • 11:00 Welcome +allocation of teams
  • 11:10 Warm up and drills in teams
  • 12:00 — 12:35 Game A & B (1 v 2 : 3 v 4 )
  • 12:40 — 13: 15 Game C & D (1 v 3 ; 2 v 4 )
  • 13:20 — 13:55 Game E & F (4 v 1 : 3 v 2 )
  • 14:00 Trophy Presentation