Collingwood sailors help Royal Navy hockey team to victory

The Inter Service Indoor Hockey Championships 2017 took place at Aldershot Garrison last week with two members of HMS Collingwood Ship’s Company representing the Royal Navy masters in the eleven man squad.

Petty Officer Underwater Warfare (POUW) “Timmy” Mallett and Leading Physical Trainer (LPT) “Sammy” Howard played an integral role in seeing the Royal Navy retain the John Gawly trophy with victories over both the Army and Royal Air Force.

The RN lined up on Wednesday evening with a strong squad, many of whom had experience of winning the competition at both the senior and masters age groups, and who were confident they could bring the trophy home again.

The first game for the RN saw them take on the RAF and quickly dispatch them with a resounding 5-1 win.

The second was a slightly tougher encounter against the Army who were doing their level best to win the trophy on home turf. Despite having a full 14 man squad and using it to rotate players and drive a high tempo in the game they did not have enough quality to trouble the RN who raced in to an early 3 goal lead.

Despite a second half flourish from the Army the RN closed out a comfortable 6-2 victory.

After the victory, POUW Mallett said: “Having taken the reins of the RN masters at the beginning of this season a successful indoor championship was the perfect way for me and the team to get started.

"The Inter Service outdoor championships are coming up in early 2018 and I’m confident that we are laying strong foundations within the squad to allow us to be successful in that event too.

"It’s an exciting time for masters level hockey with a culture of success developing within the RN group."