“THE FRIENDLY LEAGUE”

In the 1989/90 season the Women’s Clubs West Hockey League (WCWHL) was launched. Beaminster Ladies Hockey Club (BLHC) felt they had no option but to enter it if they wanted to continue to play a high standard of hockey on a Saturday. They successfully played in this new league but found that over the next few years their Saturday and Sunday friendly fixtures were being called off by the opposition. It was decided that this was probably due to the fact that the WCWHL games held more importance than the friendly games, and unlike the league there were no penalties for calling off a friendly game.

So in 1994 under the guidance of club stalwart Ken Mackesy “The Friendly League” was created. The league was run along similar lines and rules to the WCWHL, but it was there to encourage those clubs who had second teams that didn’t play in the WCWHL or for clubs who had no league hockey at all. So the term “Friendly” wasn’t there to imply fair play and amiability (although it was hoped this would still happen!), but there to create a structure of games to replace those all to frequently cancelled friendly matches.
So for the last 10 seasons BLHC have successfully run this league, have encouraged clubs to fulfil their fixtures, and have not had to administer too many fines for postponements.

Sadly one of the aims of the league has not been a success. BLHC are the only club to have used these friendly games to qualify their umpires for level 1 umpiring (currently they have 6 level 1 umpires). In the original letters to clubs, and reminders every year, BLHC tried to encourage clubs to use these fixtures as a means to qualification. In Dorset you have to umpire at least 3 games in a season and get a card signed, sit a written exam, and then umpire a game in front of an examiner. It is a shame other clubs haven’t used it to its full advantage, and the onus of umpiring still falls to a dedicated few.

Hopefully the 8 local clubs playing in the league at present all enjoy their hockey; they seem to, because they keep entering year after year. Also last season there was a request from Salisbury to enter the league, sadly they had to be turned down because the travelling for clubs like Seaton in Devon would have been too much.

Carol Pearson has been collating the results for the league since its inauguration, and in 2001 Emma Gardiner took over the secretarial/fixture side of things. Between them they see to the smooth running of the league, whilst Ken sits back and has his well deserved rest!

Long may “The Friendly League” continue in the spirit of Sunday hockey. Most satisfyingly of all, BLHC have seen and encouraged the future of senior hockey in the promising juniors that turn out every weekend.