Veteran Scottish hockey players have returned from the Masters World Cup in South Africa boasting their best-ever medal haul. All four women’s teams in the competition in Cape Town enjoyed a podium finish, with three silvers and one bronze.
Held between October 1-10, the event saw the W55s, W60s and W65s agegroups reach their respective gold medal matches. In all three games they lined up against England.
Two goals in the first quarter were enough to see England take the honours in the W65s final match, whilst in the W60s the auld enemy racked up a 5-0 win.
A goal from England in the 16th minute was the only difference between the two sides in the W55s final, which saw the Scot’s Margery Taylor up against her cousin Mandy Gatherer.
The W50s recovered from their semi-final heart-break – where they equalised in the final seconds to take the game to running penalties, only to lose – and dominated their 3rd/4th playoff to beat Germany 2-0 and win bronze.
The M55s finished in 9th place, with Donald MacFarlane in the race for top goalscorer, finishing third with seven goals across the tournament. Full stats on games can be found on the Altiusrt website. The event was livestreamed, with recordings of games, including Scotland’s finals and bronze medal match available on Youtube.
Jacky Burnett, President of Scottish Masters Hockey, said: “We have been on the podium before in major tournaments, but not with such a level of consistency across our squads. To have four out of five teams return with medals reflects the hard work put in by managers, coaches and athletes.
“Masters hockey is growing year upon year, with more people playing later and longer in life. Our performances individually and collectively demonstrate that we’re not just growing in numbers – but in confidence too.”
The M60s are currently competing in Tokyo for their agegroup’s World Cup.
