Herne Bay RHC travelled to Soham to take part in the Jubilee Cup, an annual tournament contested by ten U13s teams from around the country.

With strength in depth, Bay fielded two teams: Bay 1, many of whom had competed in the 2015 tournament and finished as runners up; and Bay 2, a younger team taking part for the first time.

The tournament ran over two days with Saturday allocated to pool qualifying matches and then play-off games on Sunday to decide on overall tournament positions.

Bay 1 qualified comfortably for the semi-finals on Saturday, winning all four of their pool games against Letchworth, Maidstone, Cottenham and King’s Lynn, scoring 31 goals in total and conceding just 2 in the process.

Bay 2 had a tougher qualifying campaign having been drawn against some of the stronger teams in the competition, eventually finishing fourth in their pool.  The stand-out performance of the day was a 14-1 victory over Ely 2, which gave the team confidence to take into the play-off games.

First match of day two saw Bay 1 face off against Peterborough for a place in the final.  After a slightly frenetic start to the match, Bay 1 eventually established their superiority and qualified for the final with a 7-1 victory.

The highest position Bay 2 could finish was fifth but that would require two wins from a squad reduced to just 5 outfield players.  The young team were not to disappoint, first of all notching up a mature 2-0 win against Letchworth followed by a nerve-jangling 3-2 victory over an older Ely 1 outfit.

The final saw Bay 1 face-off again against local SECRHA rivals Maidstone who had won through to the final with a fine victory against Sudbury. Bay 1 established a 3-1 half-time lead and were never really troubled in the second half, adding a fourth goal to run-out 4-1 winners and claim the cup for the first time.

Bay 2 will be back in 2017, bolstered by some of the older group who will still qualify to take part, determined to retain the trophy.

Bay 1:  Edan Emery-Webber (GK), Ben Walton, Joe Chipperfield, Joe Witty, Sian Emslie, Charley Langford, Mason Albon, Jamie Tritton.

Bay 2:  Harrison Hills (GK), Brandon Eynon, Owen Freeman, Toby Wilson, Brandon Lawn, Charlie Webber, Kristian Phur.

Photo 1: Herne Bay 1 presented with the Jubilee Cup by England Head Coach Carlos Amaral.

Photo 2: Herne Bay 2 with their fifth place medals.