St. Andrew, Raiders top them

THE Jamaica Hockey Federa-tion's nine-a-side club championship climaxed on an exciting note at the Mona field on Saturday with Raiders United, St Andrew A, Tropics B and GC Foster winning the divisional titles.

Martin Van Kemp's field strike gave Raiders United a 1-0 win over Circus Circle in the division one men's final while St Andrew A registered a similar result over Tropics A in the women's final of that division.

GC Foster College stopped Munro College Old Boys A 3-2 on penalties to take the division two men's title while Tropics B, through Mary Schweir and Kerroni Grant, blanked Raiders 2-0 for the women's equivalent.

Raiders Suns and St Andrew B also had reason to celebrate when they grabbed third place in the men's and women's play-off games respectively.

Raiders Suns defeated Munro College Old Boys 2-1 while St Andrew had to literally work overtime for their 1-0 defeat of Sharps Shrills.

JHF president, Carol Sewell, who was on hand to witness the games said: "I was very pleased with the standard of play, certainly for the women. The men's game was very competitive but the pace of the women's is much improved.

"This league was a pre-cursor to the upcoming premier league and for that I anticipate good and exciting competition."

The Premier League starts on June 23 at the Mona hockey field.

In terms of organisation, Sewell says the Federation will seek to address the matter of having more officials present and punctual. "Off-duty" umpires were used in some games as none were previously scheduled to officiate. A few were out of the proper black and white gear.

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