Cardiff City’s win in the Regional Champion’s League (Wales, South West & Oxfordshire) secured their place in Norwich on the 9th & 10th May to play in the Champion’s Trophy. The winners of the Champion’s Trophy would be promoted to the English Premier League. This two-day event was jam-packed with korfball action, including matches for the English Premier League Play-offs (ie relegation matches) and the korfBALL on Saturday evening.
CCKC was placed in a very tough pool comprising of Norwich Knights, Manchester Warriors and Tornadoes. The first match of the weekend was versus Norwich. Matches were played on full size pitches which CCKC were not used to. Combined with Knights’ shooting accuracy, this proved too much for CCKC and ended in a loss.
The second match versus Manchester was a much closer battle, but unfortunately CCKC could not keep their match momentum going and let a potential victory slip from their grasp.
The third and last match of the day was against the Welsh coach’s team; Tornadoes. It had been a long day but all of City’s players were extremely keen to show the Welsh coach what they were made of. Defence was tight as always, but small slip-ups allowed Tornadoes some easy opportunities which they converted. Slowly but surely the goal difference increased but CCKC fought hard until the final whistle. CCKC ended 4th of their pool.
Matches over for the day, it was time to do our hair, put our bow ties on, slip on our dressed, drink Moët champagne and generally smarten up for the evening’s korfBALL. The food (prepared by Delia Smith’s catering team) was delicious, the drinks were flowing and the dance moves were hilarious. Lady Luck was with Kat at the roulette table (fake money though) and was £100 up when she decided she had enough of pretend gambling and needed a top-up on her drink. So logically she put all her money on #26… which came up. Doh!
First match of day 2 of the Champions Trophy was against Birmingham who ended 3rd in their pool. The best way to start the day is with a win, which is exactly what CCKC did. Next match was a re-match against Manchester, this time for 5/6th position. Although the stakes were much higher and CCKC’s performance much better, it was still not quite enough to overcome the Warriors. CCKC ended the tournament a creditable 6th overall in the standings (out of 8 teams).
Players that weekend were: Ramzi Barbir (captain), Susan Belfourd, Rob Davies, Aidan Dickson, Elaine Dunlop, Zoe Gabica, Chris Gubby, Max Lloyd, Julie Prosser & Kat Trelawny.