From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Trojans KC
Trojans KC
Trojans the runners up of the then Reserve (2nd) Division for
the rights to play top flight Korfball the following year.
At the time, the 1st team had a mixture of young inex-
perienced males and older, more experienced females.
The males displayed talent and potential at Korfball but
needed the guidance of the older, experienced players to
point them in the right direction. At this time, the aver-
age age of the 1st team males was just 17 compared to the
females at 34.
For 3 years in a row (1999–2000, 2000-2001 &
2001-2002) Trojans managed to win the playoff match
and maintain their National League status with the male
players showing more and more promise as the years
progressed.
They would often give the top teams a run for their
money (Mitcham, Invicta, Croydon & Nomads) but un-
fortunately they could not sustain a decent enough chal-
lenge and win the matches.
Trojans Korfball Club logo
2002 - 2003
Full name Trojans Korfball Club In the season of 2002-2003, 2 of the starting 4 females
Founded 1972 (1972) hung up their boots and called it a day. This opportunity
gave rise to some younger players being offered 1st team
Chairman Gary Brooks opportunities and, with the signing of a couple other
Manager Gary Brooks young female players and a new coach, paved way for
Trojans’ best finish in the National League (4th). With 3rd
League England Korfball League
placed Nomads not being able to commit to the Europa
Website Club home page Shield 2003 in Trebon, Czech Republic, it gave the club
and the young Trojan team a chance to sample European
Established in 1972, Trojans Korfball Club is based in Club competition (the 1st time in the club’s history).
Croydon, Surrey, England. They participate in the Dutch The young squad gained valuable experience from
sport Korfball and are a member of the England Korfball this tournament despite failing to win a single match and
Association.[1] They are 4 time National League Champi- finishing with the wooden spoon.
ons (2007–2008, 2008-2009,[2][3] 2009-2010 & 2010-2011),
4 time EKA Cup Champions (2006–2007, 2007–2008,
2008-2009 & 2009-2010) and have also won the Europa
2003 - 2004
Shield in 2007 in Vilanova i la Geltrú.[4] The young Trojan team had high expectations of them-
selves for the following season and despite some close
matches (14-11 loss to League Champions Mitcham) they
League History failed to beat the likes of Croydon and ended up finishing
in 4th place, missing out on the top 3 and a place in
1999 - 2002 Europe. The male players were really beginning to come
into their own and with the help of the new, younger fe-
The club has been established in the National League for
male players the team was finally showing a nice equilib-
many years and has only recently begun to reap the re-
rium.
wards of its hard labour.
The team, however, were very disappointed not to
From early 2000, Trojans had languished toward the
break into the top 3 for the first time in the clubs history
bottom of the National League, often finishing 2nd bot-
and vowed to go at least one better next season.
tom. This resulted in them playing a playoff match with
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Trojans KC
2004 - 2005 whistle). This was the first time Trojans had ever man-
aged more than a loss against their London rivals.
As hoped, this season proved to be a lot more cohesive Just when they thought that performance couldn’t be
than the previous year with the team playing some nice bettered, they managed to defy the odds and defeat In-
attractive Korfball, ensuring that they worked on their victa 11-10 in their 2nd to last league match and in doing
strengths. Although they weren’t yet able to match the so gave the title to Mitcham.
country’s 2 top teams (Mitcham & Invicta), they were Trojans ended the season in 3rd place again, only 1
certainly giving them good, hard matches (this was evi- point behind Invicta in 2nd and 5 behind the winners
dent in the opening game of the season in which Trojans Mitcham. There was disappointment that they didn’t im-
took Invicta to within 1 goal at 11-10). prove on their overall league position from the previous
Despite not being able to defeat these 2 teams, they season but the improvements were there in the perfor-
were finally able to defeat their local rivals Croydon for mances against the top 2 teams.
the first time in both league meetings (8-21 & 15-12) as Once again, Trojans qualified for the Europa Shield
well as in the EKA Cup (16-11). Chris Spice top scored in 2006, this year being played in Selm, Germany.
the first match with 10 goals (9 from open play). Determined to finally get their European credentials
After reaching the semi final stage of the EKA Cup, underway despite 2 previous lacklustre outings, Trojans
Trojans went on to beat the remaining teams in the travelled to Germany, riding off the confidence gained
league and finish 3rd overall, booking a place in the from their ability to mix it with the best in England.
Europa Shield 2005, which was to be held in their home- In their opening match against the Hungarian side
town of Croydon, England. MAFC, they were able to play to their strengths and over-
Invicta won the National League that season and so come their opponents 9-5. The next game put them up
the other English team that joined Trojans in the Shield against one of the tournament favourites and previous
were their other local rivals, Mitcham. Europa Shield winners, Czech side TJ Znojmo. In a hotly
Whilst Trojans were confident that they could do bet- fought contest, neither team could press home their ad-
ter than their previous appearance in this competition, vantage and with Trojans 1 goal down, they were award-
they had to face Mitcham in their 1st match of the tour- ed a penalty. David Brooks stepped up to cooly convert it
nament. Again, like in Trebon, they were overwhelmed and tie the match at 11-11.
by the occasion and ended up losing 12-6. Unfortunately, With a draw against the Czech side, it meant that
this paved the way for the rest of their matches and once Trojans realistically only needed to avoid defeat against
again they ended up finishing the tournament bottom the home side KV Selmer (Znojmo had previously beaten
and still without a win in Europe. To make matters worse, Selmer 13-10) to progress to the 3rd/4th playoff spot.
Mitcham won the overall competition and in doing so be- They also had an outside chance of making the 1st/2nd
came the first English team to win the Europa Shield. playoff if they beat KV Selmer by 8 goals or more. The
match started off pretty even with both teams trading
2005 - 2006 goals however it was the home side that took a one goal
lead at half time, 6-5.
This was the first season that Trojans believed they had The second half carried on in pretty much the same
a genuine chance at winning the league title. They felt vein until KV Selmer managed to pull into a 4 goal lead
that this season would be their coming of age and, finally, at 11-7. Trojans hung on in there and with some smart,
the potential shown by the group for so long would be re- clever passing pulled back 2 quick goals to bring the
alised and put into practice. score to 11-9. With the momentum seemingly back with
Their first match of the season was to be against the them, Trojans pushed for another goal and got it with
current National League Champions Invicta, who hosted a smart long shot. With less than a minute remaining,
a team full of international players (including Trojans’ the home side looked to play "keep ball" and in doing so
coach). Despite holding their own early on, a couple of caused Trojans to concede a penalty and effectively the
costly errors allowed the game to get away from them match. The final score ended 12-10 to KV Selmer who ad-
and they ended up losing out 11-9. vanced through to the 3rd/4th playoffs.
Trojans took heart from running the League Champi- Trojans were mightily disappointed after coming so
ons so close and the performance in general, something close, but again the performances they had produced
which held them in good stead for the rest of the season. against the other teams was very pleasing. Not once were
They went on to record double wins against the likes they outclassed (this was evident by their 11-11 draw
of Croydon, Nomads, Bec, Kwiek & Nottingham and even with TJ Znojmo who ran out eventual winners of the
managed a 9-9 draw against Mitcham in an exhilarating competition).
finale (2 goals were scored in the final 30 seconds, first Trojans finished off their European campaign with
Mitcham and then Trojans with the leveller right at the victories over English rivals Invicta (10-5) and for the sec-
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Trojans KC
ond time of asking Hungarian side MAFC (9-8) to claim With a beleaguered squad, Trojans battled for the full
5th spot. 60 minutes but were eventually beaten by several goals
and with it, secured 3rd place for the 3rd year in a row.
2006 - 2007 Trojans had a chance at revenge in the EKA Cup final
where they faced off against the new National Champi-
With the team gaining some valuable experience in close ons Mitcham. The match was tight throughout the 60
fought competition (both in the league and Europe), their minutes and neither side could be separated, forcing the
confidence was ever growing. They maintained that be- game into a Golden Goal situation. Both teams had op-
lief in their opening league fixtures which included a portunities to score and both failed to capitalise until ex-
1st time win over reigning National League Champions player Sinead Cafferkey found herself unmarked from 3
Mitcham (16-12). metres out and slotted the ball home to seal the victory
They were top of the league 6 games into the 14 game for Trojans.
season and unfortunately let their guard down against It was their first piece of senior silverware in English
the less fancied but renewed Kwiek. They were missing Korfball....
club captain Chris Spice through injury and added to The 2007 Europa Shield was held in Barcelona, Spain
that, the coherence in the team wasn’t there. This was and was to be Trojans 4th time in the competition. They
the first game back after the Christmas period (the last had just signed 2 new female players over the close sea-
of which was the victory over Mitcham) and it showed. son which had helped to bolster their squad.[4]
From the beginning of the match Trojans were second Their 1st match was against English rivals Kwiek who
best. Kwiek were playing at the peak of their game and had beaten them to 2nd place in the domestic league.
they managed to pull off a shock victory of 8-11. Trojans Trojans led from the beginning and never looked back
were devastated at letting slip the advantage they had winning 12-6. Next up they faced a familiar opponent in
over rivals Mitcham. The hard work that was done beat- MAFC. With the Hungarians playing their strong style of
ing the reigning champions had been undone and Tro- rebound defence, it took a while before Trojans could
jans had slipped down to 2nd place on goal difference. find their shooting boots and eventually pull away 10-5
The home match against Mitcham towards the end of the winners. Their final match of day 1 was against KV
season was now a must win game (as was the other re- Selmer, the team that beat them by 2 goals the previous
maining 6 matches). year. Much to the satisfaction of the coach, Trojans came
They managed to win against the likes of Nomads, firing out of the blocks and put on their best performance
Croydon, Bec, Kingfishers & Nottingham to keep the in a while to win convincingly 14-7.
dream alive of winning the National League for the first The 2nd day saw Trojans face the 2 home teams of
time in the clubs history. Trojans had lost their highly CEVG and CK Vallparadís. In the 1st match it was a tense
influential player David Brooks through a broken affair. Both teams traded goals equally and with literally
metatarsal whilst training with the GB senior team - this the last shot of the match, David Brooks levelled the
was a big loss for them. score at 10-10 and took the game to a Golden Goal sit-
And so it came to their home match against Mitcham, uation. After 5 minutes of no one scoring, the dreaded
it was clear that this was going to be a hotly contested penalty shoot out was introduced. CEVG converted their
battle. Mitcham started the stronger and raced into a 0-4 1st 2 penalties and Trojans obliged by scoring their 1st
lead. Trojans managed to peg back a couple of goals but one but unfortunately veteran Rob Williams failed to put
they were always playing catch up. With the score 3-7 at away his effort, handing victory to the Catalans and with
half time, coach Gary Brooks tried installing some belief it, Trojans 1st defeat of the tournament (he later puts the
in his young players, sensing an uphill struggle in the 2nd penalty miss down to his shirt being too tight).
half. The loss meant that Trojans had to beat CK Vall-
They came out and tried their best to get back into paradís in their final match if they were to win the tour-
the match but unfortunately it wasn’t enough and the ex- nament (CK Vallparadís had previously won all their
perience of the Mitcham team eventually won through matches).
8-13. The game was very tight and understandably tense
With the League title effectively all but lost, Trojans as both teams knew that the victor would be crowned
had to re-group if they were to take 2nd spot. Their pre- the Europa Shield Champions. The players were nervous
vious conquerors Kwiek were level on points and so the and the scoring was low throughout the match with half
remaining match between the two sides would decide the time coming at 3-3. The second half was very much the
runners up spot, the loser taking 3rd place. same, both teams working hard in defence and not allow-
Trojans had some more injuries to contend with, ing the attack to create many scoring opportunities. With
their captain Chris Spice was again sidelined and David 2 minutes remaining, Trojans worked a nice attack which
Brooks had still not recovered from his metatarsal prob- saw the ball fly through their opponents basket and put
lem. them into a tantalising lead of 5-6. For the remaining 90
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Trojans KC
seconds, the Spanish team pressed and looked for the
equaliser, twice coming close with efforts. Fortunately,
2008 - 2009
Trojans managed to steal the ball and play out the final Now that Trojans were the reigning National League and
moments for a resounding and hard fought victory. EKA Cup Champions, they were the team to beat and
They had done it, only the 2nd English team to have with this came the stigma of expectancy. This season
ever won the Europa Shield and the 1st to do it on foreign the league format had changed whereby the top 4 teams
soil. would compete in “The Playoffs”. The team that finished
It seemed that all of the hard work put in by the play- 1st would play the team that finished 4th and 2nd would
ers and coaching team was finally paying off. Was this the play 3rd in one off matches. The winners of these games
start of something big for the team from South London? would face each other in the final and whoever won this
would be crowned National League Champions.
Trojans progressed through the season well, finishing
2007 - 2008 2nd behind rivals Mitcham and in doing so, qualifying for
And so Trojans began their 2007-2008 league campaign the Playoffs. In their semi final, they swept aside Notting-
with renewed confidence, looking to add to their already ham 20 - 14 and progressed to the final to face Kwiek,
growing collection of silverware. They picked up wins who had surprisingly overcome Mitcham in the other se-
against Bec, Invicta, Croydon, Nottingham, Kwiek and mi final.
Nomads before heading into the first of two big games With the team full of confidence, they put in an in-
against reigning champions Mitcham. The match was spired performance to win with a convincing scoreline of
close throughout with both teams playing to their re- 25 - 17 and thereby retained their National League title
spective strengths but it was Trojans who went into half for a 2nd year.
time with a slender lead of 8-7. The second half continued Trojans quickly followed this success up with another
in the same vein with Mitcham working the block en- EKA Cup title, this time defeating Mitcham 16 - 15 in the
abling their shooters to have numerous chances, howev- final.
er the accuracy of their shots was not as deadly. Trojans
on the other hand was shooting well and extended their
lead, adding further pressure on their opponents. With
Squad (Current)
Mitchams chances fading with the clock, Trojans played
with experience and were able to see out the match 15-13
to give the club ‘first blood’ in the head to heads.
Both teams continued to win their other matches
against the other teams in the National League, ensuring
that the title would be decided in the final game of the
season when the two teams faced off again. In what was
a slow and low scoring affair, Trojans came from 3 goals
down at half time to take the match 11-10 and with it
their first ever National League title!! With 2 pieces of sil-
verware already won that season, Trojans went for the
treble when they reached the semi finals of the EKA Cup.
This would prove to be a tough ask though as they were The starting 8 players for Trojans in the 2010-2011 Playoff Final
drawn against Mitcham 2, the winner of which would
face Mitcham 1 in the final. The Trojans team fought
• David • Sarah-
hard and played some very exciting Korfball, defeating
Brooks (C) Jane Spice
Mitcham 2 by 4 goals. For the third time that season, Tro-
• Sam • Carly
jans played off against Mitcham in an all important tie.
Brooks Holness
With the final being played on the same day as the 2 semi
finals, both teams were fatigued from their earlier esca- • Tony •
pades. Once again the match was very close and neither Woodvine Charmagne
team managed to assert their dominance on proceedings • Chris Woodvine
until the latter stages of the match where Trojans pulled Spice • Rhia
away with a 2 goal lead. With Mitcham chasing the game, • Vassallo
Trojans were able to capitalise on the situation and hold Stephen • Kathryn
out for the win. They had done it, Trojans had completed Waller Goodridge
the treble and with it, their most successful season in the • Chris • Heather
clubs history. Trojans were at the top of the English Korf- Duffin Ikwuemesi
ball world!!
4
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Trojans KC
• Blake • Laura References
Palfreyman Woods
[1] http://www.englandkorfball.co.uk
• • Neala
[2] ^ http://www.englandkorfball.co.uk/
Russell Brennan
newsitem.aspx?id=7
Smith
[3] http://www.englandkorfball.co.uk/competitions/
• Head coach Gary Brooks news.aspx?id=5
• Fitness coach Christine Brooks [4] ^ http://www.korfball.org/
index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1039:europa-
Honours shield-2007&catid=131:europa-shield&Itemid=47
• 2007 - 2008, 2008–2009, 2009 - 2010 & 2010 - 2011 [2] -
EKA National League Champions (4 times) External links
• 2006 - 2007, 2007–2008, 2008–2009 & 2009 - 2010 - • Trojans website
EKA Cup Champions (4 times) • England Korfball
• 2006 - 2007 - Europa Shield Champions (1 time)
• 2003 - 2004, 2004–2005, 2005 - 2006 - EKA u23
Champions (3 times)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trojans_KC&oldid=466501463"
Categories:
• Korfball teams in England
• Sport in Croydon
• Sports clubs established in 1972
This page was last modified on 18 December 2011 at 10:09. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of
the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.Contact us
Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers
5