International News: Autumn 2023

It’s been a busy few weeks for our international stars since Premier Division action concluded for the first half of the season in November.

GB Men & Women Pro League: Argentina

Great Britain’s men and women were part of the Pro League Season 5 launch in early December, playing a mini tournament with hosts Argentina and the Netherlands in Santiago del Estero.

The GB Men secured four points across the games, beating Netherlands 3-2, losing on shootout to Argentina following a 1-1 draw and losing once to both sides.

It was a trip to remember for Struan Walker who scored a brace against the Netherlands in his GB debut, with SHC’s James Gall also achieving a caps landmark in his 50th GB appearance. Surbiton players Brendan Creed, James Mazarelo, Tim Nurse, Nick Park and Stu Rushmere also played on the trip, while M1 captain Dave Goodfield was sadly forced to return home early due to injury.

The GB Women had a tough trip in terms of results. Following a 0-0 draw with Argentina (lost 2-1 on shootouts) in the first game, they suffered 8-0 and 5-1 defeats against Olympic champions the Netherlands and a 2-1 loss to Argentina.

Surbiton’s Izzy Petter scored against the Netherlands, with Giselle Ansley part of the captaincy group on her return to international action after several months out with injury. Izzy (50 GB caps) and goalkeeper Sabbie Heesh (50 combined GB/England caps) achieved milestones on the trip while SHC players Amy Costello, Hannah French, Sophie Hamilton and Martha Taylor were also in action for GB Women.

The GB Men and Women are back in action in mid January in the Olympic Qualifiers. The sides must finish in the top three of their respective tournaments to secure a spot at Paris 2024.

GB Men head to Muscat (Oman) and will take on Pakistan, Malaysia and China in the group stage before the crucial crossover matches.

The GB Women have been drawn in a pool with Canada, hosts Spain and Malaysia in their qualifying tournament, which takes place in Valencia.

Good luck to both teams!

Women’s Junior World Cup

Surbiton’s Ella Burnley, Katie Curtis and Martha le Huray (as well as recent junior player Maddie Long) went to Chilean capital Santiago in December as part of England U21 Women’s Junior World Cup squad.

The team topped their group after beating USA and New Zealand despite losing to Japan in their final pool match. A 1-0 win over Germany in the quarter final put the team into the semi finals, but a tough 8-1 loss against Netherlands in the semi finals and a 7-0 defeat by Belgium in the third place playoff meant England were unable to repeat their bronze-medal winning heroics from the previous edition of the Women’s JWC.

Well done to Ella, Katie and Martha on several years of outstanding performances with the U21s - we look forward to seeing where the future takes you!