HOCKEY: No Cup defences for Bann

Banbridge Hockey Club will NOT be allowed to defend their Kirk Cup and Anderson Cup trophies next season.
Banbridge Hockey Club's days of picking up the Kirk Cup, for now at least, are over. Pic: Presseye.Banbridge Hockey Club's days of picking up the Kirk Cup, for now at least, are over. Pic: Presseye.
Banbridge Hockey Club's days of picking up the Kirk Cup, for now at least, are over. Pic: Presseye.

At the Ulster Hockey AGM on Tuesday evening, proposals to permit next season’s IHL teams from the province to play in the Ulster Cup competitions were rejected.

Banbridge, Lisnagarvey, Annadale and Cookstown, therefore, will not compete in either the Kirk Cup or the Anderson Cup, both of which currently rest in the Havelock Park trophy cabinet.

Banbridge Head Coach Mark Tumity is trying to look on the bright side.

“There are positives and negatives,” he said.

“It’s disappointing but we have chosen to make the step to the IHL and we have to live with the consequences of that. I can understand the branch’s position.

“At least we will be able to give full concentration to two main competitions next season.”

Bann first won the Kirk Cup in 1906 and won it for the 20th time last December.

The Anderson Cup was donated to the Ulster Hockey Union by Mr T N Anderson as a memorial for his brother Captain J G Anderson MC, who was a prominent member of the Banbridge Hockey Club.

Bann won the first ever tournament in the 1919/20 season and have won it over 20 times since, including last season. The final of the competition has also been traditionally held at Banbridge’s Havelock Park.

Also at the AGM, Banbridge’s Douglas Anderson was voted onto the board while David Larmour was voted in as UHU President, replacing Ann Rosa.

Related topics: