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Half season review 2025/26. Roundup across our 10 adult and junior league teams
And just like that, we’re at the halfway point of the 2025/26 season ! What a great season its been so far – from starting our new Open / Mens 7s, to the table topping 6s, newly promoted O/M 2s, hosting U8 and U12 junior tournaments as well as playing cup matches across Masters and Mixed teams.
In the Open / Mens Division 1 West, our 1s are well placed to mount a strong challenge, currently sitting 5th in the league with a good run of form and teams around them taking points off each other – making it all to play for after christmas.
The Womens 1s are also in a good 6th position in the Division 1 Martlets league with a record of 5 wins and 5 loses with sights set to move further up the table in the 2nd half of the season. The Womens 2s are also 6th in the Martlets 3 league, with a great pre-christmas win moving them just outside the top half of the table.
In the Open / Mens leagues, the newly promoted 2s are having a really strong season in Division 1, losing just twice to be 3rd in the league, just 2 points off the top as we look forward to the new year. Martlets Division 2 is home for both the 3s and 4s. In a tightly packed league, the 3s are 4th, just 4 points from the runners up spot, while only 3 points behind, the 4s have moved to 7th with a couple of great wins before christmas. Look out for another club derby in this league in January !
The 5s are having a solid season in Martlets Division 3, currently in 4th place with a game in hand, aiming for a top 3 finish by the end of the season. The standout performance of the season is coming from the 6s in the Open / Mens Division 4 with an unbeaten record of 13 wins and 1 draw, giving a clear 10 point gap at the top as we go into the christmas break. In the same league our new 7s team are 11th recording 4 wins in their first season and introducing a number of our younger players to the world of adult hockey.
On the junior side, Wolves are currently 4th in the Junior Development League with strong pre-christmas performances, beating the 2nd placed team and narrowly losing out to the league leaders in the last game before the break – so things are looking good for the 2nd half of the season.
The Wildcats group is growing with dedicated training sessions on a Wednesday, so we will be looking to enter a team into the Girls Junior Development League next season.
The club hosted U8 and U12 Boys / Girls junior festivals, its great to see the future of the club coming through in ever growing numbers – long may that continue into the new year.
Thank you to all of the wonderful umpires, captains, coaches, players and club members that make these games happen week in, week out – you’re all wonderful !
Overall a fantastic first half of the season and good luck to all for the rest of 2025/26.
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September Players of the Match & Sponsorship Opportunities
The 2025/26 season is off to a flying start, with every team giving 100% on the pitch. We’ve already seen some fantastic results and strong positions in the league tables. Alongside these team achievements, several individuals have stood out for their performances and have been recognised as our Players of the Match for September.
20th September 2025
Mens 1s player was Alex Hall.
Mens 2s player was Liam Struthers.
Womens 1s player was Harriet B who is sponsored by:
Womens 2s player was Nadia Muncey.
27th September 2025
Mens 1s player was Jack Symons.
Mens 2s player was Sam Conry who is sponsored by:
Womens 1s player was Emma Watkins who is sponsored by Support CFO Ltd
Womens 2s had an excellent result and therefore the whole team was voted for!
Thank you to our sponsors mentioned above for their support with our players. Your backing means so much to us and it makes a real difference.
💡 Could you get involved with our club?
As you can see, some of our star players do not have a sponsor 🙁 – sad times for all! Can you help?
For just £50 (one-off payment for the 2025/26 season), local businesses can sponsor a player and enjoy:
- Your business name displayed in our clubhouse.
- Acknowledgement in our newsletters and on our website.
- Shout-outs on our social media whenever your sponsored player is named Player of the Match.
There are also other opportunities to sponsor or support the club, so if you’d like to get involved, please don’t hesitate to get in touch – we’d love to hear from you!
If your team at Worthing want to get involved too just find a sponsor, share the name of your player of the match each week and they could be starring in next weeks circle! All funds raised from sponsorship go to improve your club.
📩 Contact us at: committee@worthinghockey.co.uk
Together, we can keep hockey thriving in our community!
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Top day for the juniors at the In2s tournaments
Our U12 Boys and Girls had a great day playing in the In2s tournaments at Hurstpierpoint College last weekend. Playing teams from across Sussex as well as battling the wind and rain towards the end, both teams represented the club brilliantly.
The girls finished 4th out of 12 in the In2s plate competition, while the boys narrowly missed out on 1st place, losing 2-1 in the final, to take home silver in the boys plate competition.
Big shout out also goes to our junior umpires, who were great throughout the day with cool, calm control of the games, supported by adult mentors to provide feedback for further development where needed.
Top day and looking forward to the next one !
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Worthing Hockey Club Mens 4s triumphant
Worthing Hockey Club Mens 4s triumphant this weekend as St. Francis were rocked by strikes from Holloway and Bates
Worthing Men’s 4th XI maintained their unbeaten start to the season – but had to really dig deep for their three points in a very even and hard-fought contest. St Francis looked dangerous for the entire 70 minutes and will feel unlucky to drive back to Haywards Heath empty handed. This result moves Worthing to second in the league – sitting just below Brighton, their south-coast neighbours
SCORE 2 – 1
Worthing 4s – 2 (Holloway, Bates)
St Francis – 1 (Number 80)For Holloway, a pleasing result and what he termed a ‘proper performance’. “Victories like this,” he continued, “are a by-product of a larger vision. And it all begins with a question – How much do we owe each other?”
St Francis’ captain, Phelps, was sanguine in defeat “The team played really well. We had a number of chances and converted none of six penalty corners – on another day we could easily have got three or four. We felt we played well enough for the result but sometimes that’s the way it goes.”
Worthing sported a number of changes from the previous week: Sanyo-Merrymaker returned from injury; Watkins came back to bolster the midfield; and Sephton – who turned in an ultimately match winning performance in goal – was their third keeper in as many weeks. Holloway also bravely dropped top-scorer Allan – after his 3 cards in last week’s Mid-Sussex fixture – to make space for young Bates, in a stroke dropping the combined team age by 40 years.
In the first quarter Worthing looked to maintain possession and work out their opponents’ strengths and weaknesses while not expending too much energy, for St Francis had arrived with a full complement of substitutes and an obviously younger and fitter team. Neither side were able to show any dominance in the middle and it was clear even from the early exchanges that this would be a war of attrition.
In the seventeenth minute Fuller was responsible for breaking the deadlock, finding Holloway in space who continued to showcase his ability to score simple goals from 5 yards. The goal appeared to settle Worthing’s nerves but St Francis continued to prove dangerous on the break. While the golden defence had their opposing forward line well-shackled – the speed and skill of the visitors’ midfield kept keeper Sephton busy and alert – whether advancing high in his D to cut out through balls, or saving and quickly clearing his lines. The oldster looks like a keeper in all senses of the word.
After the break the 3rd quarter followed a similar pattern – with St Francis refusing to slow and Worthing straining their older bodies to cut out the threats and create opportunities whenever possible. Eventually Bates, who appeared to struggle with the step-up to this level in the first half, grew into his role and saw his perseverance pay off in the 45nd minute. He peeled off his defender, momentarily creating just enough space to receive a pass and get away a flick. The save and rebound went straight up and he was first to react swatting the ball down and into the now unguarded net.
Even at 2-0 it never felt like Worthing were secure as St Francis probed for a way back into the tie. It looked like they had their lifeline after 50 minutes, when they manufactured an opportunity during a chaotic goalmouth scrum. However as the ball headed goalward and past Sephton’s outstretched left hand – Northam appeared on desperate covering run to drive it safely round the upright.
Whether due to pressure, tiredness or a desire to protect their lead – Worthing started to play too deep, inviting St Francis onto them and unable to find outlets to relieve the pressure. Their discipline also started to slip with Ansell receiving a green card for backchat and Holloway lucky to escape with only a 2 minute rest on the sideline after executing a tackle straight from the Saracen’s training manual. But St Francis were unable to convert their pressure until the last minute with the goal of the match – sweeping up the left, bypassing the tired Worthing defence and on to the back post where their right-midfielder completed an arcing run to stand unmarked and sweep in at the back post.
Next up for Worthing – a trip to Falmer to play Hailsham who are currently sitting just below them in third position, and a chance to cement them as one of the teams to fear this season.
Cards: Ansell (G): Holloway (G)
Worthing 4s team : Ramiz Ahmed, Matt Ansell, Josh Barron, Thomas Bates, David Edmondson, Rex Fuller, Simon Holloway (Capt.), Rod Horne, Phil Hoy, Martin Northam, Ian Penny, Adrian Sanyo-Merrymaker, Matt Sephton (GK), Neil Watkins.