Author Archives: whc-user

Fun, family and smiles at the U8 and U12 junior festivals

Worthing HC opened its doors to hosting an U12 Girls junior hockey festival on 2nd November – following with up with U12 Boys, U12 Girls and U8 Mixed festivals last week on 30th November. It was fantastic to see clubs from across Sussex playing fun, yet competitive junior games in lovely sunshine.

The club pillars where shown in the fun, family and smiles that were seen across these festivals.

FUN – Enjoy the game and grow through challenges
FAMILY – Support each other on and off the pitch
LIFE – Hockey is for life; play, learn, and belong

Full details are available here : https://www.worthinghockey.co.uk/site/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/WHC-Junior-Tournament-30-November-2025-1.pdf

Putting on an event of any kind always relies on the dedication and hard work of a handful of volunteers, so we would like to thank the following who have made this tournament possible.

Jeremy Subedar – Junior Development Manager
Robin Hallett – Junior Lead Coach
Hugh MacGregor – Volunteer
Sophia Bolton – Volunteer
Bejay Ranger – Volunteer
Marc Taylor – Volunteer
Robert Neil-Smith – Goals and Maintenance
Theresa Cooper – Design and Organisation
Robbie Warner – Bar and Clubhouse
All our other volunteers (incase we missed anyone)!
Our umpires, who enable us to play games
All the parents who support us and the children
Our kind sponsors and advertisers

Family club day welcomes the 2025/26 season with hockey, BBQ and sunshine !

What a fantastic way to kick off the 2025/26 season in style ! 105 members from age 4 upwards enjoyed a family fun day in the early September sunshine.

Opened by Worthing Town Crier, Bob Smytherman – the day started with a hockey skills competition featuring mixed teams of all ages – competing in fun events against the clock and each other ! Supported by our coaching team and 1st XI players – it was a wonderful way to get things off the running.

Alongside the BBQ (massive thanks to chefs for cooking all day to keep everyone fed), there were matches throughout the day, ending in a brilliant social match that kept everyone on the edge of their seats – well the ones who like to see lots of goals any way !

The stalls in the clubhouse introduced our new club kit, sold tickets to the 100 club to raise funds and thanked our sponsors for their on-going support as we enter a new season.

All in all – a fantastic day, thank you to everyone who made it happen and good luck to everyone for the new season.

Celebrating our 2025 Veteran Masters Tournament in style !

The WHC Veteran Masters Tournament returned on a warm and sunny August Bank holiday weekend. Featuring touring teams from Netherlands and across the U.K., we welcomed Schoonhoven HC, Gin & Chronics, Maidens of Mayhem, Handbags, Fuel X, Landgirls and the chairman’s WHC XI.

The great hockey across Saturday and Sunday was supported by lovely food and a fantastic social atmosphere. The pizza van was supported by BBQs and the Worthing Steel Band, the wonderful bar staff who worked tirelessly to keep everyone fully hydrated !

Congratulations to all of the teams and thanks to everyone who played, supported, organised, ran the bar, umpired and made the event run smoothly – its a real team effort to make these event so successful.

The 2025 winners were Fuel X on the Mens side and Maidens of Mayhem – see you all next time !

Hockey players and golfers join forces for Andie’s Charity Day

Hockey players and golfing hockey players joined forces last Saturday for Andie’s Charity Golf day to raise money for St.Barnabas Hospice in Worthing. As ever it was a fantastic event combining golf, hockey, BBQ, curry and even a steel band !

44 golfers dressed to impress and spent 5 hours battling it out on Rustington Golf Course for this year’s title. In a close fought contest, congratulations to ‘Teds’ team for finishing as the overall winners.

Meanwhile back at the hockey club, there was a mixed hockey festival where players from across all teams in the club combined for a fun, social game, played in warm conditions with a great club spirit.

In the evening, everyone came together for an evening of music from The Worthing Steel Band as well as our biggest ever raffle, BBQ and curry served up by our very own club president !

Thank you to everyone involved in making this day happen – it was fantastic, memorable and raised money for a really wonderful charity – see you all again next year.

End of season league roundup 2024/25. Mens 2s win league and promotion !

Another fantastic season has flown by – with all of Mens, Womens, Mixed, Masters and Junior teams playing out a packed fixture list throughout the season. The highlight being the Mens 2s winning Martlets Division 2 by 10 clear points and gaining promotion back into Division 1.

Mens 1s had a strong season, in contention for the South East – West Division league title until the last few games where a tough run of fixtures ended with a great 4th place finish, and a great platform for next season. Womens 1s consolidated their position in Martlets Division 1 after promotion a couple of seasons ago with good season in a strong league, again, looking good as a platform for next season.

Having Mens 2s, 3s and 4s in the same Martlets Division 2 was always going to make for some interesting matches. In the end, the table played out along with the form guide, with Mens 2s winning the league, with just 1 defeat, Mens 3s in mid table and Mens 4s securing their place in the league for next season above the drop zone, with a couple of great wins at the end of the season.

Womens 2s had another good season in Martlets Division 3 with strong, consistent results throughout the season keeping the team safely in mid table in this competitive league. Mens 5s kept everyone on their toes, retaining their position in Mens Martlets Division 3 on goal difference by 1 goal. However, with a strong looking squad, the platform is set for next season. The Mens 6s had a fine season in mid table of Division 4, narrowly missing out on a top half finish and a massive development in the team compared to last season.

On the Mixed side, the team had a cup run including winning a penalty shoot-out, before finally losing in the Plate competition. The Mens O40s team also enjoyed a Plate cup run which ended at the quarter final stage.

The juniors had another good season with the Wolves U16 boys finishing 3rd in the Sussex Development League. The squad grew during the season with the inclusion of the Wildcats girls and hopefully Wildcats will have a team next season too.

The U16 and U14 South East Sunday league collaboration continued with Horsham this season, with the boys U16s finishing 2nd in their league by 1 point – a great achievement against some large Surrey clubs.

The U10/U12s played interclub festivals, In2 tournament and Ron Easton tournament throughout the season, with each match building and progressing from the previous – great work all.

Overall a great season – thanks to all involved and here’s to 2025/26 !!

2024/25 half time report. Mens 1s and 2s top their leagues at christmas !

Hard to believe, but its half time in the 2024/25 season already. As we head into the festive break, what a season its been Worthing Hockey Club already.

The Mens 1s sit top of the South East Mens Division 1 West by a single point from Reigate Priory in a tough battle at the top of the table. The Womens 1s are just a point away from the top half of the Division 1 Martlets league recording 4 wins and 4 losses, with the Womens 2s having a great first half of the season currently in 4th place behind East Grinstead who are the runaway leaders in Division 3 Martlets.

In Mens Division 2 Martlets which features 3 Worthing teams, Mens 2 are also top of their league, in a close battle, leading Crowborough by a single point. Mens 3s and 4s have both had a healthy start in this league, ending 2024 6th and 8th respectively.

In the Division 3 Martlets league Mens 5s have had a tougher start to the season, but with promising recent performances are looking to climb the table as we head into January. The Mens 6s have had a great run of recent results and are looking to consolidate a top half position in Division 4.

During the season it is fantastic to see how each team has grown and how the club’s policy of promoting junior players has young players in every team across the club.

On the junior side itsself, Wolves (U16s) have had a strong start to the season with 5 wins from 9 games, and sit in the top part of their league, a great achievement whilst introducing 9 new players to the team during the first part of the season. Both U14 and U16 boys teams have been in action in the South East Tier 3 Sunday league in partnership with Horsham – both teams having an unbeaten first part of the season.

Our youngest players have been in match action too – with both Boys & Girls U12s and U10s giving strong performances at regional festivals held across Sussex during the first few months of the season.

Overall a great first half and we look forward to resuming after the christmas break. Merry Christmas !

Meet our President, Chair, Mens and Womens 1s captains

A strong club is built on experience and firm foundations. Meet our President Clive Neil-Smith, Chair Anthony Fuest ‘Ants’, Mens 1s Captain Luc Hinton and Womens 1s Captain Ellie Chambers. All have long connections with the club. Luc and Ellie have even agreed to take part in our Comets juniors Q&A to learn more about what inspired them to take up hockey and progress from juniors to the 1st XI.

Captain Allan heads to the Masters

Worthing Hockey Club stalwart, Andy Allan, heads down to Auckland, New Zealand, towards the end of October to skipper the O60’s England B side.

It’s a long road from his days as a stylish 70’s prep school lad, where the only masters he would have been familiar with were those teaching at school! It was at Broadwater Manor school, across the road from WHC’s old home, where Andy first picked up a hockey stick.

Having joined the club as a young man, he forged his reputation as a club man and all round nice guy with many years service across his peak years in Worthing’s 4th team. In 1995 this side was rebranded the Hooch XI after the release of the popular alcoholic lemonade drink. It witnessed many promising youngsters passing through, with Andy prominent in passing on his journeyman wisdom before waving them goodbye to higher teams.

It wasn’t until his 40’s that he started taking his hockey seriously and eventually made his 1st XI debut. He still holds the record for oldest first team player to score a hatrick.

He progressed from here into age group international hockey, initially via Scottish heritage, then onto a gold medal at the Cape Town, South Africa Masters in 2022.

With his wife Lisa playing on the club tennis circuit with Storrington and two very talented daughters, Holly & Nicole, Andy has become very driven in his later years, not wanting to be the worst in his family. He can be found regularly park running, taking on huge mountains in the Alpine air or completing triathlons in competitive times.

Now a VP of Worthing Hockey Club, everyone connected with this great institution wishes him well on his latest journey. His family are super proud to see him head off to New Zealand as captain of his country.

Andy has family members out in New Zealand, including a twin sister who was born the day before him. Those of us that have played with Andy for many years will recognise this trait of arriving later than everyone else, though on that occasion absolutely no way was he at the Washington roundabout !

Good luck Andy, we will all be watching. x

Introducing our coaching team

We are a very fortunate club to have a strong coaching team across our Men’s, Women’s and Junior sections. Whether it is a coaching session on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Sunday or coaching at Saturday 1st team and junior matches, you will find our dedicated team bringing as much skills training, passion and tactical knowledge as possible to our WHC teams.