OC SPORT

BY ED SIBLEY (2001-2012)

1st XI Football

Back Row (L-R): R Taylor, E Sibley, S Aylott, T Clapham, J Good, M Rutherford, J Grace, B Alexander, W Taylor, T Fellowes Front Row (L-R): M Salador, J Nolan, L Farrant, A Drew, R Farrant, J Banfield

This season saw a new manager (Tom Fellowes), a new 5-3-2 system, a new captain (Rory Taylor), assisted by Ed Sibley. It was our first season in Division 1 and we see many new recruits namely - Matt Koczan, Liam Farrant, Tom Clapham, Sam Aylott, Alex Drew, Flynn Prevost, Tommy Williams, Jordan Grace & Dan Whitehead - all of whom go on to have telling impacts throughout the season.

A slow start was followed with three wins in a row followed by a draw that took us near the top of the league. Next up, a narrow defeat to strong Premier Division opposition in Tonbridge in The Arthur Dunn Cup. However, it is a performance which shows the strides that have been made in a short space of time. Unfortunately, we then entered Lockdown 2.0. Returned for two weeks in December for one game and then headed into Lockdown 3.0 which in turn lead to another season cancelled due to Covid. We did manage to make a small comeback in the month of April with two friendly victories against Repton and close rivals Forest which yet again show the strength we have in the squad. Things are looking very positive for the future of the club and a special mention goes out to all the OCs that recently left school and either joined the club or went to university.

It has been a difficult year for everyone. It gives all of us captains great pleasure knowing that the club has been a positive release in people’s lives in what otherwise has been a tough time. The pandemic has shown the importance of being part of a club and we continue to welcome new joiners.

BY JOSH COPPEARD AND ANTHONY KOCZAN (2006-2011)

2nd XI Football

Back Row (L-R): W. Taylor, A. Titmarsh, C. Kay, M. Rutherford, J. Coppeard, T. Standen, J. Grace, S. Ohrie Front Row (L-R): N. Kala, A. Koczan, G. Stroud, A. Taylor, J. Kelly

The 2nd XI’s 2020/21 campaign started like any other, a strong recruitment drive, a very positive pre-season and then one point from our opening four games.

After a frustrating, Covid-hit, 2019/20 season, the 2s were looking forward to building on the squad which had us finish mid-table the season before. For the first time in a couple of seasons we managed to bring in a heap of new players. Ali Taylor and Kieran Auluk returned for another stint, as did Chris Kay and George Stroud. We also had a large influx of the new university leavers in Jack Clapham, Joe Klein, Josh Schaffer, Justin Morse and Nathan Selling adding both youth and strength to the squad. In addition, we managed to recruit some lads still at university in Amo Pawar, Jake David and Dylan Bregman. And lastly, let’s not forget our two 18-yearold school leavers in Josh Hart and Tom Standen. was managed until lockdown 3.0 paused the league for the second time. If there is anything worse than not winning football matches, it is not playing football at all.

The league decided to use what remained of the season to prioritise the cups and this proved to be a pivotal turning point for the 2’s success. The 2s had a great cup run beating Old Carthusians III, Old Johnians and Old Aldenhamians, before losing to Kings College Wimbledon IIs in the semi-final. So, an incredible platform for the 2s to build on next season. With the youth throughout the squad, the 2’s will be well poised to be far more competitive throughout their 2021/22 season and can hopefully go one better in the cup. The only farewell this season was to Dean Ben-Yosef, who we wish well for the future.

A big thanks to all those who played, and a special mention to Ed Sibley and Tom Fellows for their admin and coordination throughout the year. It’s been a pleasure playing alongside so many of you.

BY PAUL GARFIELD (1983-1990)

Vets Football

Back Row (L-R): B.Shephard, K.Taaffe, J.Smith, D.Carter, C.Lawrence, L.Dorney, A.Brandon, L.Mines Front Row (L-R): R.Schaller, P.Barnes, S.Rex, J.Mahoney, T.Compton, P.Garfield, M.Baker

Congratulations to the OC Vets football team who beat Old Brentwoods on Sunday 30th May to become the Derrick Moore Veterans Cup champions. This knockout competition is for teams consisting of old boys of public schools and is named after the Arthurian League’s former Referee Secretary.

Brentwood started the game the brighter but an opening goal from Stuart Rex, following neat work from Baker, mean the OCs took the lead. However, an unfortunate own goal silenced the crowd, so it was all square at half-time.

The skill and fitness of the OCs was to be the feature of the second half. Carter was a rock in goal. Taaffe, full of youthful exuberance was marshalling a back line of late forty somethings in Garfield, Shepherd and Dorney. Brandon was imperious in a midfield that also included the diligent Mahoney and the artistry of Lawrence. Whilst up front Smith and Baker were combining well to excellent effect. Midway through the second half, Brandon’s feet were too quick for the opposing defenders in the box and Smith despatched the resultant penalty with some aplomb. Ten minutes later Schaller stepped off the bench and planted a beautiful strike in the top corner to make it 3-1.

This was only the second OC success in this competition and the first since the legendary Davies side of 1998.

Huge credit must go to Pete Vohmann who has transformed the OC Vets over recent seasons, taking us to several finals and delivering (now) two trophies. We go into this new season for the first time with two strong Vets sides in Divisions 1 and 2 of the Greene King League. Huge credit also to the loyal support of Pat Ward and the passion of Nigel Davies who never stopped reminding us of his 23 years of hurt. And finally, special mention to Keith Mitchell who was instrumental in the formation of the Old Chigwellians Club, entertained us with his acerbic wit at many football dinners, followed us home and away in recent seasons and got to enjoy cup final success with us on home soil.

BY ALAN CARPENTER (1972-1979)

Golf Society

Alan Carpenter’s Captains Day 2021

May saw OC golf get underway again, with the Past Captain’s event at Royal Worlington. James Houghton won both the singles in the morning and the foursomes in the afternoon with Tim Ager. Our friendly matches against the other Essex Public schools resumed with our only loss being to the Old Foresters.It was refreshing to see a good number of younger OCs golfers joining in.

For Captains Day I was delighted to welcome 12 intrepid OCs and guests (pictured) to Hockley GC in Hampshire. After a tough battle with the long rough it was Gerald Coleman who eventually came out as the “Champion Golfer” of the day. In the scratch representative matches we had mixed results. The OCs comfortably qualified for the finals of the Grafton Morrish and in the Cyril Gray we once again reached the quarter finals. Mark Flack marked his debut by winning all three of his matches partnering seasoned veteran Buster Oxley. My thanks to Charlie Biss for expertly captaining the side. In the delayed Halford Hewitt it was again “so near yet so far”. The team excellently captained by James Houghton put up a strong performance. Unfortunately, the OC team went down 2 -3 to recent former winners Merchiston.

At the time of writing, we are looking forward to the Autumn Meeting at Deal and the Grafton Morrish finals - good luck to all!

Finally, I would like to thank our truly excellent Secretary, Miles Taylor, for all his hard work over many years. He really is the one who keeps the show on the road.

OC Autumn meet at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club

OC Hockey & Netball

On Saturday 11th September, OCs returned to Chigwell with hockey and netball matches against School sides. It was good to see these (relatively) recent leavers playing sport here once again. OC Vanessa James (1989-1991) commented that the standard of netball was high and the game a competitive one. The honours were even, with the OCs winning the netball and the current Chigwellians victorious in an extremely close hockey match on the astroturf pitch. We hope to build on this success for next year.

If you would like to get involved then please do contact philanthropy@chigwell-school.org

BY HOWARD BERNDES (1967-1974)

Tennis Report

It was good to get back on court and play some competitive tennis against familiar old foes, such as Epping, Friary and Connaught. Boosted by a guest appearance of Will Taylor we just ran out winners on the count back of games against Epping. We then beat Connaught, the best team in the league, who had previously not lost a match all season.

Our first match against Friary, on lovely summer Sunday morning, saw Simon Phelps venturing out for the first time in 15 months and finishing with a conclusive win in time for Richard Potter to get back for his mum’s birthday party which he had forgotten when saying he was available for selection.

In a shortened season a good time was had by all who turned out. Thanks again to Ross Berndes, affectionately known as El Captain, for all his hard work organising the team and his now legendary What’s app match report summary of outstanding (or otherwise) individual achievements. As always, I cannot finish the report without mentioning how blessed we are with the excellent facilities and the school’s invaluable contribution in maintaining the grounds and clubhouse and appealing to younger OC’s, hopefully inspired by the incredible achievements of Emma Raducanu, to come and join us next year.

Please contact Ross at ross@rossmotors.co.uk, as it would be lovely to strengthen our squad particularly with some younger members, male and female, so that we can enter a second team again.