To see 2003/4 match reports, including the CIC Final click here
At the end of the 1997 hockey season the majority of the second team of a local team called Beavers decided that their playing and social skills were better suited at a higher level. The majority of them went on to form the Drunken Ducks who with their inspirational star player Richard O’Dell (ex Ireland under 21) went on to be smashed around the park in their first season in Division One. The jump in standard didn’t deter them and they quickly realised that it was the taking part and the socialising that followed that counted the most. Richard left the island not long after the end of that season due to money, girls and alcohol problems (brought on by the sustained socialising that being a member of the team demanded).
The next season was more of the same and it was decided that more younger players would have to be brought in to the team to do the running around, the skilful stuff and fetch the drinks from the bar (from where a few older players now resided on a permanent basis). In their third season they changed their name to the Bullets and a few more results started to come their way and the socialising was by now relentless. At the end of the season they changed their name to Colombians and entered the Easter Hockey Festival 2000 as a wild card entry. Despite drinking local establishments out of Smirnoff Ice, turning up to games completely legless and with numerous casualties on the way the team came second and a new heightened level of drunkenness and team spirit had been finally been found.
The fourth season was impressively better. Not only was the drinking and socialising impressive but the team started to play as a team on the pitch on a regular basis. By the end of the 2000/01 season the team had come third.
By the fifth season we had attracted new sponsors (La Collinette Hotel) and were all set to go.
With new sponsors on board and due to the continued popularity of the team we continued to attract more players and a second team was started for the 2001/02 season. By end of the season they were undefeated and had cruised to winning the division two title. To give you the correct statistics they won all their games until the last game of the season which they drew.
The first team also went from strength to strength and cemented a second place in division one.
The 2002/2003 season saw all local hockey pundits predicting the Colombians would fulfill their destiny and finally take the Division One crown. The players, undaunted by the pressure placed on them by their favorites tag, succeeded in overcoming all opposition and claiming the title. The Upton trophy was soon to come the Colombians way following an almighty battle against crapauds, umpires, the devil and all his minions, and the night on the town in St Helier that followed will live long in the memory of those that can remember it.
The second team retained the Division Two trophy thanks to a last second goal against Vets. They also had their finest hour in destroying the first division side Elizabethans in the cup competition.
The crowning glory and fulfillment of the 5 year plan came in 2003/4. Because I can't be arsed to write a full account suffice to say that the Colombians won every single trophy available to them in Island and Channel Island hockey. Retaining the both leagues at a canter and winning the cup competition that had previously alluded them the Colombians rightly ascended to peak of Channel Island sport being nominated for the prestigious Sports Council Team of the Year award (click here to see the certificate). The Colombians would surely have won the award were it not for the incestuous old boy network clearly in operation between the Island Games Association and the Sports Council.
Click here for information about Colombia
