ON WEDNESDAY, August 28, Yate Hockey Club will celebrate the 25th anniversary of - arguably - its finest moment, writes Andy Bethell. 

This was when the Men's section won the Banks International Festival, held every August in Barbados, to become only the 2nd British team to do so.

With a party of 33 heading to the Caribbean, the focus was more on enjoying the holiday as opposed to winning the tournament but Yate started the tournament well with Nick Ashley scoring the winner against the 1997 champions, All Stars.

(Image: Yate Hockey Club) This was followed up with another narrow win over Imperial College, Chris Roach scoring the decisive goal. In the match against Combermere, played in sweltering heat, Yate conceded first but secured another victory through a brace scored by Simon Pearce.

Roach scored a controversial goal against the Trinidad and Tobago Police Force to secure a point and their final group match resulted in a stunning 4-1 win against Aston University, an entertaining match despite both teams partaking in a rum tasting session at half-time !

The semi-finals beckoned and Yate were up against the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force, which contained nine internationals, including Kwan Browne, now a coach within the GB system.

Super fit and with an enthusiastic crowd behind them, T&T started impressively but could not get past the outstanding Yate defence and Yate scored against the run of play with a deflection off a shot from Matt Leney.

This spurred on the opposition more but Yate GK - Darren Ashley - was in outstanding form,with a triple save the pick of the bunch. T&T equalized following an interception but Yate squeezed through to the final, following another deflected shot, this time from Pearce.

Defending champions ABC (from Barbados) awaited in the final and were hot favourites. Spurred on by the recent performances and supported by the still rum-fuelled Aston University students, Yate were under pressure from the outset, but withstood huge pressure by great goal-keeping and defending.

Nick Ashley scored following a rare attack to give Yate the lead and after the interval ABC changed formation and put a further player into the attack - this worked in Yate's favour as a counter-attack down the left by Martin Ashley led to Trevor Willcocks slipping the ball under the advancing goalkeeper to double Yate's lead. 

ABC eventually converted a penalty corner with 7 minutes remaining (one of 18 corners they had, in comparison Yate had 1) but Yate held on for what was a remarkable victory and tournament.

Yate have several Mens, Ladies, Mixed and junior teams and have entered more teams into the West League for the forthcoming season, anyone interested should contact the Club on mail@yatehockey.com