North West Side Pushing for Double Promotion

^{📷 David Bellin - Hockey Today}

Rod Gilmour of The Hockey Paper reports on the North West side pushing for double promotion back to Premier Division 

Against the backdrop of floodlight curfews, Bowdon HC can tantalisingly see the bright lights of the England Hockey Premier Division for both their women’s and men’s sides, first and second respectively in Division 1. Meanwhile, there are waiting lists for new members and a general buzz around the club as the end-of-season looms. It would be some party on the first weekend in April should Bowdon see a double promotion.

Bowdon men are seeking a return to the Premier Division for the first time in over a decade and are currently in a league run-in tussle with Cardiff & Met, their opponents at home this weekend.

“We started the season quite poorly,” said Bowdon’s 38-year-old Simon Edgerton. “We have tried to get the right formula with players like myself and some 15 and 16-year-olds in the squad. It is the young and the old and we took a while to adjust to that.”

Bowdon have struck a rich vein of form, with eight wins on the bounce - since losing to Cardiff in November - heading into their crunch encounter in Division One on Sunday. Meanwhile, with four match days left in the Vitality Women’s Division 1 North, Bowdon are currently top on goal difference by +1 ahead of Stourport. 

The women’s coach is Nick Clark, who was an assistant to Edgerton on the men’s programme last season. “He was my first coach at Bowdon and so it’s swings and roundabouts,” said Edgerton, who also assists with the women's 1s. “It shows that Bowdon is a real family club with me staying there and Nick coming back. It’s a great atmosphere, not just with the current players but with the coaching staff as well.”

It is a different scenario in Men’s Division 1 North, with Cardiff holding a vastly superior goal difference, meaning the Altrincham side are relying on a slip up from their Welsh rivals. “Our plan is to win every game for the rest of the season and hope for the best,” added Edgerton, who is also director of hockey at King’s School Chester.

Edgerton points to games such as Cambridge City at home (losing 2-1 in October) which could have made this weekend’s match a virtual title decider. He said: “We dropped points with them and we couldn’t put the ball in the back of the net. It’s still out of our hands and even if we finish second we can count it as a real positive season after losing nine games last season.”

Should Bowdon achieve title success, it would also put some players in a summer predicament ahead of the 2023/24 season.

“With the older lads it’s interesting that if we did get promoted a few of them may well stop as they have kids and have played in the Prem before and we would be left with a crop of youngsters,” said Edgerton. “It’s a double edged sword getting promotion but we are pushing for it and it’s where the club wants to be.

The older guard in the men’s programme include Edgerton, Richie Dawson-Smith, and Sam Cooke, Bowdon’s captain after 14 seasons with the club. On the flip side, the younger brigade include Jack McAuliffe, a bright prospect aged 15, Will Grant, Bowdon’s teenage goalkeeper who has yet to taste defeat and EDP player Ted Graves.  

While the club is riding a wave across the ages at elite level, it is also benefiting from a club focus when the pandemic hit, although success has highlighted their current facility issues in the Greater Manchester area.

During Covid, Bowdon put on small coaching sessions of six, while the club was inundated with memberships. The only drawback to this uptick was that the club has one pitch and could only turn the floodlights on until 8pm. 

Edgerton admitted: “We can’t fit everyone in, take new members as we are full and can’t put any more teams out as we only have access to four pitches close by. But the club is thriving and you wish we could expand a bit more.”

The lights issue came about when the club’s pitch was laid down, while during Covid the club asked the council for an hour’s extension which was granted. However, that finished in October and they now have to put in planning permission again. Edgerton said: “We have put in a lot of volunteers' work to get the extra hour and it makes a huge difference to training times and how many players we can get on the pitch.”

Meanwhile, Bowdon 1s can only train for 90 minutes each week, the rest of the time focused on video sessions. In a competitive university region and plentiful student hockey programmes, Bowdon are holding their own as they bid to return to past riches.

“We are a well established club with Premier Division credentials in the past,” said Edgerton. “We are reliant on a lot of lads who pay match fees and memberships. We don’t have the extra gym sessions and we're not on the pitch three or four times per week.

“So it’s a credit to the lads and how far they’ve worked and listened as we've come up with this structure and how we’re playing at the moment. The club atmosphere is great and we are really looking forward to Sunday. It should be a great day.”

Bowdon were last relegated from the Men’s Premier Division in 2012. Edgerton moved to Beeston the next season and tasted league championship success a year later, before a successful period with HGC in the Netherlands.

He said: “I’m from Manchester and I always said I wanted to finish my career at Bowdon. Now I’m back coaching and playing and it’s the ideal situation really. I do really enjoy it and I do love the club. It’s not really a job for me!”

Sunday: Bowdon v Cardiff & Met, 2:30pm