The inaugural American Express HKFC Hockey 6s were staged successfully over the Easter weekend at the Club. In total 24 teams took part in the competition with over 200 players playing at the club over the 2 days. The Club’s overseas guests from Korea and Switzerland added an enormous amount of colour to the competition.

Day 1 involved group play on both the Hockey pitch and the Main Pitch. With teams playing at least 1 game on the longer grass of the Main pitch techniques had to be adapted and the speed of the game changed quite dramatically. That being said, all players agreed that the change in the tournament organization to have all games played at HKFC was a massive change for the better and we would certainly like to continue holding the entire competition at the club in the future.

A total of 50 games were played on Day 1, with 30 in the Men’s Competition and 20 in the Ladies. In the Men’s Competition ASI Samurai A went sailing through from Group A with 4 straight wins whilst the Flying Hoppers surprisingly beat Zack Attack from KCC A in the final Men’s game to go through second whilst Zack Attack scraped through as the 8th placed team into the Cup. No surprises in Group B with Kangwon University A from Korea remaining undefeated and Maobidi from Shaheen finishing second. In Group C Valley, perhaps surprisingly, beat Kangwon University B and finished top with the Korean’s second and Valley ended the day top of the Men’s standings due to goals scored.

In the Ladies competition KCC and the Drill Bits from HKFC finished their groups undefeated with Drill Bits scoring 41 goals in the process! Second place was more competitive with Valley edging out their competitors to advance to the Cup Semi Final from Group A and Arissa from Shaheen perhaps surprisingly beating ASI Samurai Geisha to join the Cup Semi Finalists.

Day 2 played out under overcast skies, as Day 1 had finished. The Men’s competition divided into the Cup, Plate and Bowl, with the Ladies playing for the Cup and Plate. The first game of the day saw a major surprise with Valley, having qualified first, losing to Zack Attack in the Cup. The Flying Hoppers lost to ASI Samurai A and the 2 Korean sides went through as well, with Gibbrelli from KCC putting up an excellent challenge to the Korean A team. The Plate play off games saw HKCC, HKUST and Easy, Tiger say goodbye to the competition. In the Ladies Plate HKCC and the Hangovers also said goodbye after their first games.

The Men’s Plate quarter finals arrived with Khalsa beating the Flying Hoppers, Gibbrelli beating ASI Samurai B and Valley beating the Owls, Maobidi had a bye. In the Ladies Plate Akita from Shaheen beat Elite and ASI Samurai Geishas beat HKUST. All the Semi Finals and Finals took place on the Hockey pitch with the Semis being played simultaneously. No games required extra time, however, some spectacular hockey was being played. The Men’s Cup saw the Korean A team and Zack Attack qualify, an outstanding effort from KCC as they had almost missed out on the Cup altogether. In the Ladies Cup Drill Bits and KCC kept on course for their predicted show down.

The Finals provided some hugely entertaining hockey. Flying Hoppers, having started in the Cup and finished in the Bowl ended the day on a high with a comfortable win over the Owls. ASI Samurai Geishas had to work hard to break down Akita, but in the end proved too strong and took home the Ladies Plate. Khalsa and Maobidi put on a show of outstanding skill in the Men’s Plate with Khalsa eventually coming out on top, what might have been if they had made their first game on Day 1.

In the Ladies Cup Final KCC started well against the Drill Bits but once the breakthrough came the Drill Bits powered away. So Drill Bits from HKFC became the first winners of the Ladies Cup at the American Express HKFC Hockey 6s. Whilst it was a complete all round team performance special mention must go to Katy Mountain who was named Ladies Player of the Tournament. The Men’s Cup Final was played at a phenomenal pace. Zack Attack had clearly got their act together after a very mediocre day 1 and were playing some exceptional hockey, however the fitness and skill of the students from Kangwon University was there for all to see. Early in the second half the Korean team scored a field goal bringing the core to 4-3 to Zack Attack and it was definitely game on. It was hard to tell which team would be a more popular winner with plenty of support for both sides. Zack Attack scored the clincher from yet another lightning break and try as they did the students couldn’t get the goal they needed to get back in the contest. An absorbing final finished with a jubilant Zak Attack side winning the inaugural American Express HKFC Hockey 6s. The Men’s player of the tournament was Arshad Khan from Zack Attack.

The new format of 6 a side with separate Men’s and Ladies competitions proved a huge success with extremely positive feedback from all participants. So roll on next year, we hope to be able to considerably raise the number of overseas participants and put on a thrilling spectacle for all to enjoy.

The organizing committee would like to publicly thank all players and supporters who attended the American Express HKFC Hockey 6s. We would also like to thank the Members and Staff of HKFC for their support and patience. Finally we would like to thank our sponsors, in particular American Express, our title sponsor, and Cosmopolitan Hotel, Pocari, Canterbury and Stella Artois our main sponsors, for all their support.

We look forward to seeing you all again next year, 22nd and 23rd April 2011.