Dundee Day 2018 – group photo courtesy of Abbi Fleming

Dundee Korfball Club hosted their 7th annual summer tournament on Sunday, 27/5/2018, and fielded a record number of home grown players in the process. A total of twelve teams participated in the whole-day adult competition, with a further four junior teams playing in a lunchtime competition for 8-14 year olds. City teams came from as far away as Manchester and Glasgow, with University teams from Lancaster, Strathclyde and St. Andrews also taking part. It was Dundee’s biggest ever home turnout, with 37 players participating in the adult competition, and 8 more in the juniors: not a bad effort for a club that was only formed 7 years ago! The weather was fantastic too, with sunshine and light winds making for perfect playing conditions all day long.

And the korfball? Well, that all seemed to go just fine, as usual. In the adult competition, Glasgow KC just pipped Saint Andrews’ Alumni to the trophy, with excellent performances from Strathclyde University and Manchester Hawks earning them 3rd and 4th places respectively. Saints took 5th spot, just ahead of Dundee’s Dragons, with a scratch team of Sinners taking 7th place. This year’s Dugong squad narrowly edged out the Dolphins, with Lancaster’s Old Boys, Dundee’s Young Guns and Lancaster Uni propping up the lower end of the table. In many people’s eyes though, Dundee’s Young Guns were the team of the day, notching up some creditable performances against some much bigger and stronger sides. They also gained their first ever victory against a visiting team in the competition, and even when they weren’t winning on goals, they won more than their fair share of praise from their opponents.

In the 8-14 y.o. junior competition, Glasgow’s Frogs came out clear winners in a 4-way round-robin contest between teams of 4. Second place went to Dundee’s Inbetweenies, with Glasgow’s Wee-Gees and Dundee’s Ardunno’s tying for third place.

More wonderful photos here (thanks Erwin!)

Biggest winners of the day? Tommy’s, our nominated charity for the day. A lunch-time shooting competition raised £38 in support of Tommy’s, who fund research into stillbirth, premature birth and miscarriage, and provide information for parents-to-be.

Best burger-makers: the flaming Flemings, once again.

Best cake: impossible to tell for sure, but the tablet looked highly sought after, and nobody seemed to go home hungry. Many thanks to all the bakers and confectioners out there: I think DKC is earning an excellent reputation among the visiting teams.

Best tent-building: shared between umpteen members of the club. And the McHugh’s are definitely worth a special mention simply for persistence.

Best pitch taping: Eleanor from Crewe, without a doubt.

Best time-keeping / handwriting / overall organisation: Frankie. (Sorry about the delapidated air-horn Frankie – maybe we’ll invest in a new one next year!)

This year’s killer queen: Calum Lindsay (Glasgow).

Longest journey: Yuki Kishimoto, all the way from old London town. Hope you had a good week, Yuki!

And this year’s MVP? Caroline Dodd, tournament secretary extra-ordinaire.

Final placings
Adults:
1 – Glasgow KC
2 – Saints Alumni
3 – Strathclyde University
4 – Manchester Hawks
5 – Saints (1)
6 – Dundee Dragons
7 – Sinners (Saints 2 / scratch)
8 – Dundee Dugongs
9 – Dundee Dolphins
10 – Lancaster Old Boys
11 – Dundee Young Guns
12 – Lancaster University

Juniors:
1 – Frogs (Glasgow)
2 – Inbetweenies (Dundee)
=3/4 – Wee-Gees (Glasgow)
=3/4 – Ardunno (Dundee)