The Firebird Volume 3 (2017-18) | Page 8

Articles Sports Review The Grey Team Dan Wilson gives a run down of this years sporting progress as part of his role as outgoing Sports and Societies Officer Grey college enjoyed a year of signif- icant sporting success. After languish- ing in the depths of the college sport championship table before Christmas, there were some spectacular, yet pre- dictable, performances which pushed Grey up to finish in what is now its customary 2nd in the leader board. Women's hockey remain the stalwart of Grey's sporting success. The GCHC girls went yet another league season unbeaten! No one was even surprised by this. In the league, 16 games re- turned 16 wins only conceding 5 goals. They were unlucky to lose out in the cup the semi-final, where Castle denied them a double of doubles. Cricket continued to be an area of outstanding strength. The club went from strength to strength claiming their first silverware beating Collingwood in the indoor competition. Revenge for the previous year's final. Once again the lads swept all before them. Originally missing out on finals day due to a three way 1st place finish in their pool ne- cessitating names being pulled out of a hat, GCCC were lucky to gain a place on the day due to a Collingwood no show. The boys showed the magnitude of the injustice comfortably beating Aidan's in the semi and bowling Josephine Butler out to win the final. Easy. Again. Both the men's and women's football clubs enjoyed strong seasons. GCWFC ably led by the revolutionary Whal- ley-Flaherty axis stormed to the Divi- sion 1 Championship to gain a place in the premiership with the big guns. Their strength was indicated by their Floodlit cup run, which was only ended by eventual winners Butler in the final. GCAFC, the largest and (arguably) most significant club in the college 8 mirrored the success of the women. Creation of an F team highlighted the strength in depth of the club, the F's were NOT the worst team in Durham, which is good. Further up the quali- ty ladder, the C's, led by long suffer- ing GCAFC badger Bramley, gained promotion and contributed to Grey's dominance of the trophy. Date and Coops' B's followed up a solid season in Division 1 with a cup run ended in the semi finals by premiership side Staff A. The Grey derby against Bramley's C's in the quarters was enjoyed by many a Greysperson. Now for the A's: after early heartache and injustice against a weak yet lucky Mary's outfit, Leonard and co. bowed out of Floodlit in the last 16 to the great disappointment of everyone involved. Remedy was found in the trophy and the league. Finishing second in the league only losing out on the last day to Van Mildert by one point was a tough pill to swallow for Grey's ageing A's. However, in the final game for many, the 1st XI Staff A were crushed 4-0 in front of a bumper crowd who had come down from the hill. We talk about finishing on a high; GCAFC's first silverware in 6 years after many near misses for the current squad! The mixed lacrosse team likewise won the trophy and put in a strong perfor- mance in the league, as well as nar- rowly losing in the floodlit final to be denied a cup double. Meanwhile the B team excelled in division 1 finishing second.