British Korfball Association National League Preview
The British Korfball Association (BKA) 2005/06 National League
programme begins in force this weekend, October 29th-30th,
with the race for the title set to go right down to the wire.
Last year’s title holders Invicta Sharks, from Kent,
will face stiff competition from south London team Mitcham,
who finished in second place in 2004/05 but who looked impressive
in winning the Europa Shield, korfball’s equivalent
of the UEFA Cup, in early October.
Mitcham have already played their first league match one
week ahead of the official season start, defeating Bec, based
in south-west London, 12-5 last Sunday. Despite being newly
promoted to the Premier Division, Bec, coached by Great Britain
assistant coach Graham Box and with one Great Britain squad
player, have been tipped to not only stay up but also challenge
in the top half of the table, and Mitcham were pleased to
come away from the match with the victory under their belts.
As the first English team to win the Europa Shield, Mitcham
will hope to follow in the footsteps of several other past
winners who have then gone on to claim their domestic titles
in the same season.
However, there are talented players spread across many teams
in the division, and although Mitcham provided five members
of the Great Britain squad which competed at the World Games
in Duisberg, Germany, this summer, champions Invicta Sharks
also provided three, while last year’s third-placed
team, Trojans, provided four. Invicta, who have successfully
qualified for the 2006 Europa Cup finals (korfball’s
equivalent of the Champions League), and Trojans face each
other on Sunday in what should be a very close match.
The battle at the bottom of the table is likely to be equally
hard-fought, as there is no team obviously weaker than the
rest of the division, yet one team will be automatically relegated
and another will face a promotion/relegation playoff. Nottingham,
who stayed up last season after winning this playoff, and
who also provided one player to the Great Britain squad, travel
to London for an opening double-header of matches, firstly
against Croydon with new Dutch coach Alex van Alebeek, and
then against Mitcham. One of van Alebeek’s former clubs,
Nomads, are now coached by former player and former international
Reg Etwaroo, and will be hoping for a stronger showing this
season after arranging to loan promising young players from
neighbouring junior club West London Wildcats. In their first
match they face Kent team Kwiek, who still boast star players
Dave and Corrinne Buckland after a delay in the former internationals’
emigration.
The fixture list expects Mitcham and Invicta Sharks to finish
in the top two places, as they are scheduled to meet in a
potential title-decider on the final day of the season in
March. However, sport is never that simple, so there are likely
to be many twists and turns before that point.
In the First Division, there are only two matches this weekend,
as National League newcomers Norwich Knights play their first
ever match at this level against last year’s runners-up
Cambridge, and the other Norwich team, Norwich City, travelling
to Kent to take on Kingfisher. This division has shrunk to
seven teams, after last year’s bottom team, Oxford,
were relegated out of the league after losing a playoff to
the Knights, and Staffordshire team Castle have opted to return
to playing at a regional level, but is still likely to be
just as hard-fought as the teams aim for promotion. Manchester,
North Downs, and London team Supernova make up the remainder
of this division.
Full weekend fixtures:
Premier Division:
Croydon vs Nottingham, Saturday, 20:00, Royal Russell School,
Croydon
Mitcham vs Nottingham, Sunday, 10:15, Trinity School, Croydon
Nomads vs Kwiek, Sunday, 14:45, Epsom College
Invicta vs Trojans, Sunday, 15:15, Cornwallis School, Maidstone
First Division:
Kingfisher vs Norwich City, 12:00, Fort Pitt School, Chatham
Norwich Knights vs Cambridge, 14:30, CNS School, Norwich
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