Cannock players help Staffordshire Men to National Title
Posted by Rob Davies on 6 June 2014
Cannock players help Staffordshire Men to National Title
Cannock players past, present (and future?) were part of the Staffordshire Men’s squad that won the National Inter-counties Championship this weekend. This is the first time that Staffordshire have won the competition in 20 years.
The players involved; Paul Parker, David Harris, Will Hearne, Stuart Gooderham, Richard Parker, Peter Jackson, Arron Wilkes, Nick Bandurak, Robbie Smith and Arjan Drayton Chana, joined players from clubs across the county and together with coaches Satbinder Chana and Andy Jones, defeated Sussex 4-2 in a fiercely contested final at Old Loughtonians HC to lift the cup. This victory was a culmination of 5 years of training and competition that had seen Staffordshire win promotion back to the A division three years ago. With winning silver medals in the last two finals, having won their qualifying tournament at Lincoln in May, the squad went one better to claim the gold medal they had worked so hard for.
Being drawn from clubs across the county, the players obviously do not play together regularly, which makes their achievement all the more important. The squad has excellent team spirit based around the trust and respect of each other. This combined with a frightening degree of skill and speed has produced an outstanding quality of hockey this year. The Captain, Stuart Gooderham (now of Burton HC), who has been at the helm throughout those 5 years, was finally able to lead his players in their celebrations as the final whistle went and paid tribute to Sussex who were worthy opponents.
