Australian Masters Results and History at World Cups and Trans-Tasman
World Cup Results
The most recent World Cups were held in 2018. Barcelona hosted the Grand Masters Hockey World Cup while Terrassa hosted the IMHA Masters World Cup.
The Grand Masters World Cup (all grades from Over 60s to Over 75s) was held from 20-30 June. The Men contested four grades including +60s, +65s, +70s and +75s, while the women contested +60s and +65s. The World Cup was played at Real Club de Polo de Barcelona. More information
Results
The 60s was won by the Netherlands, with Australia finishing 5th following a 3-1 win over Scotland in their final match. They played seven games for 6 wins and 1 loss, scored 30 goals for and only 3 against. Graham Miller was the highest goal scorer with six, which saw him tie for 5th highest scorer in the 60s competition. Robert Lifmann from the Netherlands was the leading scorer with 12 goals. Interesting fact – Germany only won 3 games to finish 3rd.
The 65s was won by England after defeating Australia 4-1 in the Grand Final. The Australian 65s played six games for four wins, a draw and the GF loss, 18 goals for and 7 against. Highest goal scorers were captain Bruce Snape and Noel French with three. Tim Smith from England was the highest scorer with 8 goals. Coach Peter Sweeney said his team put in an awesome effort to get to where they did.
70s. After scoring an amazing 34 goals for the tournament it was heartbreak when the Australians went down to England in the Grand Final. Scores were level 2-2 at full time but the shootouts went in favour of England 2-0. Australia played 7 games for 6 wins with Tony Rodgers and Simon Williams both netting 8 goals for the tournament and being the leading goal scorers in the competition.
75s. Norman May’s favourite team came away with Gold. Having to wait for the very last game of the round robin format and see England beat the Netherlands to allow the Australian team to retain its place at the top of the ladder and take home the trophy. They played 6 games for 4 wins, a draw and a loss, scored 12 goals with Ian Wright leading with three. A shout-out to the Southern Cross players who won both the 60s & 75s Tournament Trophy competitions.
The IMHA Masters World Cup is the field hockey world cup for master national teams from all over the world. The competition included both men and women teams and was divided into the following categories: +35, +40, +45, +50, +55.
The IMHA Masters World Cup takes place every two years and has been promoted since 2012 by the International Master Hockey Association (IMHA) and recognized worldwide by the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
Club Egara in Terrassa hosted the 4th edition of the IMHA Masters World Cup. Canterbury (2012), Rotterdam (2014) and Canberra (2016) have hosted previous editions.
Results from Terrassa
In the women’s, the Australian Over 35s won the silver medal, going down to England 1-0 in the Grand Final. Leading goal scorers were Belinda Cameron and Sharon Clark with three each.
The 40s also won the silver medal losing to Argentina 2-1 with Nan Latta scoring four goals for the week.
The 45s lost the bronze to Russia in a shoot-out to finish 4th.
The 50s played Ireland for gold but lost 1-0 to take the silver medal, as did the 55s who were tied 1-1 with England at the end of their Grand Final but lost the shoot-out 3-0.
Australia’s 60s teams played each other for the bronze with the 60s beating the Wattles 2-1 in the shootouts after being tied 1-1 at full time.
In the men’s competition, Australia’s Over 35s are the world champions after beating England 1-0 in the Grand Final. Australian players took out four of the top six goal scoring spots with Troy Sutherland netting 10 over the championship.
Australia’s 40s played good hockey but shoot-outs got the better of them. They defeated South Africa 11-0 to finish 7th.
Australia’s 45s also came undone on shoot-outs, losing to Ireland to finish 6th.
The 50s join the 35s as champions after defeating the Netherlands 2-1 in the Final. The team only conceded two goals in the tournament.
The 55s did not lose a match in regulation time, finishing 5th after rolling Malaysia 4-2 in their final match.
Trans-Tasman Challenge
In 1997, recognising the need for an international competition for Australian Women’s Veterans teams, Jeanette Slade OAM and Caroline Wood representing the then Women’s Hockey Australia Association, were instrumental in negotiations with New Zealand in establishing an event between the two countries.
The Trans-Tasman Masters Challenge was established as a bi-annual 3-test series and began in May 2000. The first event was held in Auckland at North Harbour with six teams, consisting of a women’s team from each nation competing in 35’s, 40’s and 45’s age groups.
In Brisbane in 2002 the event expanded to 12 teams with the inclusion of 50’s Women and 45’s and 55’s Men’s age groups.
In 2004 the Challenge continued with 12 teams competing in Wellington. In 2006 in Hobart there was further expansion to 16 teams with the inclusion of a Men’s 40’s and 50’s division. In 2008 in Hamilton the competition remained with 16 teams across the eight age divisions and in 2010 in Newcastle a Women’s 55’s division was included with a total of 18 teams contesting the event.
After the 2010 challenge in Newcastle the scheduling of the event was changed to the ‘odd year’ sequence to avoid clashes with potential IMHA international tournaments.
In 2013 the Trans-Tasman Challenge returned to North Harbour in Auckland with the inclusion of a Men’s 60’s division bringing 20 teams into the challenge.
The Women’s 60’s age group played an invitational tri series that was run in conjunction with the Trans Tasman event. The same rules applied however results were not included in the overall country championship.
At the conclusion of the 2013 event it was agreed by HA and NZ Masters Councils that the 60’s women would be fully included in the 2015 challenge.
The 2015 Challenge was held in Melbourne from 5-9 May with a further expansion of the event to 26 teams with the inclusion of Women’s 60’s and Men’s 35’s and 65’s.
Whangarei New Zealand was the venue for the 2017 Challenge in May, again with 26 teams – Women’s 35s-60s and Men’s 35s-65s.
The 2019 Trans Tasman was hosted on the Gold Coast in Queensland with the competition expanded to 28 teams with the introduction of Women’s 65’s.