A Flyerz 'first' as HockeyID team goes Dutch

Eight amazing Flyerz hockey players from three clubs joined forces to represent London & South East Areas over Easter at an invitational tournament at HC Den Bosch in the Netherlands, the EHL HockeyID 2025 Tournament, run in conjunction with the EHL Finals.

Our London & South East team were the first English representative club side to join this prestigious Europe-wide HockeyID (Intellectual Disability) event, and amongst very (very) strong opposition performed extremely well.

This one day ID tournament has been run in conjunction with the EHL Finals for three years now, with the organisers looking to increase the number of teams and countries each year and our team making an English debut alongside teams from the Netherlands, France, Spain, Germany and Belgium.

With a relatively late invitation, and therefore only a short time frame to within which to put together the team, a squad of 8 was formed with players from London Wayfarers Flyerz (2), Forest Flyerz (2) (Waltham Forest HC), and Tunbridge Wells Flyerz (4).

The tournament was held at the very impressive HC Den Bosch on one of their eight astro pitches (or was it ten, we lost count and none of us quite managed to walk right to the end of all of them), with teams allocated between two pools of four, playing 2x15 minute-halves against each other team in their pool.

L&SE were drawn with Moers (Germany) the eventual 2^nd placed team, Racing Club De France (oddly enough from France) and DHC Hudito (Netherlands), and finished third in their pool and sixth overall.

Moers and DHC Hudito were both strong sides and while we managed to compete at times, they proved too much for us and we were well beaten; although had we played DHC Hudito first, things might have been different, as our small squad was somewhat exhausted by their third pool game and that match was a real case of one team taking their chances, while the other did not.

Our group game highlight was the performance against Racing Club De France where we controlled possession and scored goals from both open play and penalty shuffles.

We played our final game against AMHC Upward, another team from the Netherlands, who proved too strong at the end of a long hot day (not least as they had a squad of 12 so could change the whole outfield team in one go) … however, the effort, energy and enthusiasm shown by the L&SE squad was exceptional.

In very competitive conditions and as a small ‘scratch squad’ we ran, we chased, we tackled and fought for the ball and did each other and the team proud in our efforts, while playing throughout in the right spirit and with a camaraderie both with our opposition and within our own team. Every player on the squad was a credit to themselves, their Areas and their clubs.

The very nature of HockeyID, as an inclusive sport, encourages a friendship and connection that is rarely seen across sporting competition, and this was no different at HC Den Bosch. It was fantastic to see the cheers of support from the crowd around the main pitch in the stadium who greeted the ID players from all of the teams when they processed around the pitch during a half-time break in the women’s semi final. The organisers’ ambition is to play the HockeyID final between the men’s and women’s finals next year!

From an English perspective, we cherished the first invitation we have had to this event and are delighted that it will not be the last (we’re already invited back for next year). We’ll bring home our learnings from the competition to grow the wider competitive (but always fun) side of HockeyID across all Areas and in due course across all clubs, as well as to grow the number of clubs generally offering Hockey ID (and Flyerz). We entered a joint Areas team, while all other sides playing (like in the main EHL tournament) were club sides.

Bridging that gap to having an English club HockeyID team that has earned the right to send a team to compete in these championships is the long-term goal. In the near term, building on this opportunity given to us by EHL to grow HockeyID will be focussed on Areas, itself forming a step between those playing at clubs and the successful national HockeyID side we now have. This can only serve to grow the pool of players who may be considered for national selection as well as offering additional representative opportunities for club players and growing the offering of HockeyID generally across the country