30th Roger Merry minis-tournament

Over 250 youngsters from eight clubs across Hampshire, including Andover, Bournemouth, New Forest, Romsey, Salisbury, Southampton, Trojans and Winchester converged on the Southampton Sports Centre and enjoyed the autumn sunshine which blessed the 30th anniversary Roger Merry Memorial mini-hockey tournament.
Hundreds of supporters crammed the touchlines to watch 32 teams, aged under-eight and under-ten, enjoy three hours of hockey – and boost the coffers of the BBC’s Children In Need Appeal and Southampton hockey club to the tune of over £900.
“I was overwhelmed by the support and continued success of the tournament, which is now long established and is for such a good cause,” beamed organiser Sue Merry, pictured above.
“Encouragingly, the skills of the players continued to improve and hopefully a lot of youngsters will carry on and play the game for a long time to come.”
Southampton ladies’ players, fresh from their 2-1 success against Wimbledon the previous day, manned the cake and coffee stall, with others umpiring, time keeping and organising the three-hour long event.
“It was a wonderful day, one which Roger would have been proud of,” Sue Merry added.