Words by Paul McKenna, CIHT North East & Cumbria Events Officer

CIHT North East & Cumbria's first ever netball event

Who knew playing netball could be that perfect mix of fun, skill, and tactical nous, all mixed in with a huge dollop of fitness and stamina? Well, I guess the millions that play on a daily basis, but for the complete novice, this was a true eye opener. There was a 'wide range' of ability on display at our first ever netball event. Take Stefi (Stantec) for example, a pure pro in attack, stealthily moving into the perfect position to pounce and keep totting up those points on the board - super impressive stuff.

Then we had the likes of Jo Gledhill and Lauren Burnett (AECOM), kindly mixing up their game with umpiring duties and they managed it with aplomb - Lauren even giving McKenna some much needed advice whilst juggling whistling for travelling and offsides, then escaping to set forward another attack for her team. Both Jo and Lauren had to be pretty regular on the whistle to keep Nick Webster in check. No one could work out whether it was his polite yet assertive style causing so many contacts or whether it was a case of the opposition just bumping into him, given he was one step ahead on several occasions. Unfortunately for him though, he fell foul of the rules a few times but remained a commanding presence throughout. 

Even after a stringent warm up and regular water breaks, some players began to tire, but that simply spurred on AECOMs Franchesca Nichols who began to dominate in centre before taking up a wing attack role in the latter stages. Another player clearly cutting her mustard in the top leagues. 

The likes of James Kehoe, Paul Elliot and Will Marshall all deserve a mention for bringing energy, skill and the ability to pick up the rules quickly (largely thanks to a lunchtime powerpoint presentation). The one thing a few of us just couldn't quite get to grips with was staying within the correct lines. You think how hard can that actually be? Well, it turns out it's pretty hard. You look down see the red line of doom and toot goes the whistle!

And what about our very own CIHT NE&C Chair, Joanne Roberts, who kindly took time out of her extremely busy schedule to come along, meet and chat to the teams, and then well and truly get stuck into the game. She is a master tactician of the game, you could tell from the outset. 

The success of this game was largely down to the likes of Lauren and Stefi for rallying the troops and encouraging them to take that step and get involved in something fun. It was also each and every player that took part, playing the game in the spirit it was intended, and sticking around for a few drinks and pizza afterwards. So a big thanks to everyone for making it a success.

As with most events, we like to make them bigger and better each year so if you (as an individual) or even a team would like to take part in the next event, please contact paul.mckenna@transportnetworkconnect.co.uk or drop a message to one of your CIHT representatives.

CIHT Football Tournament 2024 Round Up - A right 'Ding Dang Do' of an event

For any player that's ever ran down to their local newsagent to pick up their local rag, frantically turn to the back page to see if their name got a mention following their weekend exploits, this headline is simply a homage to the Hartlepool Mail that far too regularly used this term to refer to a game that essentially had a bit of everything. Well, it seemed fitting in this case. 

The first team to rock up was Transport Network Connect, a hybrid team led by Paul McKenna and made up of colleagues he can happily call friends including Jack Thomas (Gateshead Council), Michael Lennon (Nexus and former Northern League player), Nicholas Bryan (Leading the charge at North Tyneside Council), Dan Nicholson (brandishing his heavily stacked frame around Cundall these days) and Dan Hodgson (a calm, collected figure now with AECOM).

As the smell of Volteral and Deep Heat settled, the rest of the teams filtered in. Fairhurst were next led by Zac Hart who seemed his usual confident self but perhaps with an extra spring in his step, sensing they had an opportunity this year with the team they'd managed to assemble. 

Shortly after came Waterman Aspen and a surprise last minute addition of Andrew Bruce with family in toe to support. The sheer sight of his presence - an experienced, creative and hugely talented player to be added to a team unbeaten all season in the league had some teams wondering whether to pack up and go home before they'd even started. Ben Ali was also making his debut for Waterman - a demon in 11 a side, a fitness freak of nature and all round annoyingly 'brilliant at everything' kind of guy. Would they miss one of their best players Andrew Brown? Surely not with last seasons player of the tournament Chris Pearson also bidding to make it two trophies in a row. 

That said, it was clear from the first round of group games that the two favourites wouldn't have it their own way. Especially as AECOM come into the tournament fresh from winning the league this year so confidence was at an all time high. James Mole seemed as determined as ever, Jacob Crawford as fresh as a daisy and JP, well what can we say, rumours circulated before the game that this guy plays hard and parties hard so if AECOM were to be victors, we're expecting Jack Grealish style celebrations. 

Perhaps the surprise package came in the form of Northumberland County Council. Last year they battled hard but couldn't buy a win. This year they widened the net a little from the Engineering core to Programme leads in the form of Alex Poole. He set his stall out from the beginning, just a cool, calm and collected player with plenty of energy. Will Binks brought his fine form in the league into the tournament format and was stretching every sinew of his being to send NCC soring into the semi finals after easily dispatching TNC and Stantec in the early stages. 

Stantec were unusually off colour and struggled throughout. However, captain Luke Roberts was gracious as ever in defeat and had some lovely words to say about the tournament in the bar afterwards. Speaking of fair play, what about Milestone Transport Planning? Plucky losers in the group stage but somehow (due to a clerical error) making it through to the quarter finals. After some serious flapping around, Milestone agreed to forfeit their one and only win to allow Jacobs to rightly take their place. A fair play award awaited them, but alas, they ventured off before they could collect it. 

Jacobs brought with them a secret weapon. Players and supporters alike were all star struck by none other than Dr Neil Thorpe, former lecturer and expert in Road Safety at Newcastle University. It seemed most teams had been taught by him at some point or other, and he must have dished out some good grades because everyone seemed to love him. A fantastic man deserving of the accolades he received on the day. Complimented by the resplendent Richard Peaty, who still had plenty of tricks up his sleeve, they gave TNC a tough game which ended in a draw and with it, any chance of TNC getting out of the group stages. 

Whispers were circulating that WSP and Fairhurst would be the eventual final pairing and they were right. Ian Watson and his WSP team seemed a little giddy and somewhat surprised to have played so well throughout and fought their way to the final, having had mixed results in previous years. Replacing experience for youth in their case certainly paid off this year. But it just wasn't quite to be, no matter how desperate WSP were to be after trying to grab the 'Invincibles' award from Waterman at the end. In fairness to Ian, they were also unbeaten in the league but they only played a handful of games. Fairhurst got their name on the winners trophy for a second time beating WSP 6-2 in the final of the Champions League. Arup led by Morley Hill got a fantastic win in their final game 6-2 against Jacobs whilst AECOM put TNC to the sword once again winning 4-2 to take the Europa conference final. 

Player of the Tournament was close between JP (AECOM) and Jack Massey (AECOM) but after a close run check went to Jack (which was a struggle as the refs went home with their votes before I could grab them). Having played against him in the league it came as no surprise, as he could be likened to either Bernardo or David Silva. 

Regardless of the results and the overall standings (which may or may not be right), it was genuinely about the taking part and the fun that can be had, as well as the socialising which went on for a good couple of hours after. 

I've personally loved working with each team captain, and the recent additions of Arup and Jacobs have massively complimented what was already a great sense of comradery to begin with. 
If you're interested in joining the league please contact Paul McKenna on paul.mckenna@transportnetworkconnect.co.uk.