The men’s 4’s arrived for their rematch against Luton at Broxbourne, after opening the season in Luton against the same opponents and came away with a win on that first day. The day was grey but soon the sun arrived and the game began. The game began even and chances for both sides were limited. The back four of Fresh, Jason, Luke and Andy H were doing a good job of limiting Luton, and the rest of the team was working hard to create chances at the other end.

About halfway through the first half Broxbourne managed to open the scoring, with Luke providing he assist for Henry to hit the back of the net. The game looked like it was going well for Broxbourne at that stage. However, a misplaced pass by Kieran O soon after led to a Luton short corner, and they began to build some momentum at the end of the first half. Broxbourne began to tire at the end of the first half and gaps began to open up. The resistance of the back four soon broke and Luton managed to equalise with not long left of the first half.

After a rousing speech from Fresh and skipper Jason, Broxbourne went out with intent at the beginning of the second half. Broxbourne began to find their rhythm in the second half and looked like they were going to be the next team to score. Shane, Kieran P and Danny managed to lift the intensity in midfield, with the two Ollie’s, Brown and Wilkinson working well upfront with Noah, Henry and Harrison.

The second half continued in the same way for most of the second half, with Ryan having to keep his concentration up and had to be weary of the odd Luton counter attack, and made a few good clearances. The tension of the match soon began to ramp up, with both teams looking for a win, and this led to some words exchanged as the half went on.

Despite Broxbourne having a much better second half and ending the game with lots of short corners in quick succession, a winner could not be found. The team is looking forward to the Christmas break, and coming back refreshed to take on the second half of the season.

Ladies 3s vs Letchworth 2 - 2-1 win
Goal scorers: Cerys & Hannah
Assists: Olivia x2
Player: Olivia
Donkey: Sharon

Festive Edition – with Sharon on Reporting (and Tackling) Duty

With our usual match reporter sidelined with a knee injury (for once it wasn’t the captain), the task fell to Sharon—who, fittingly, also donned the donkey hat after a rather memorable tackle later in the game. More on that Christmas cracker shortly…

The final match of 2025 saw the Ladies 3s take on Letchworth Ladies 2s. The visitors beat us 5–1 in the opening fixture of the season, but after a hugely improved first half of the season and continued attendance at training and minimal hangovers, the team were ready to see if “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas” could also mean beginning to look a lot like a comeback.

Letchworth arrived confident with a full squad of 16 and enough noise in the changing rooms to make Aaliyah wish for a “Silent Night” as it was too much talking for that early in the day (it was 10:45!!) As requested by Hannah, the team prepared with hydration methods best described as “The Twelve Days of Christmas: Dugout Edition.”

Highlights included:
-Fixy’s Bonsai water dispenser
-Lauren’s traditional watering can
-Aaliyah swigging from a Lego head
-Laura with a saucepan
-Kirsty with a chewing gum pot
-Grace appearing to drink from a yogurt pot
-Cerys with a coffee jar
-Hannah sporting a spray bottle
-Sharon’s electrolytes served—questionably—from a urine bottle. Truly a festive assortment.

*First Half – Joy to the D*
The match as expected started at pace, with both sides trading attacks. Letchworth struck first with a tidy goal, but Broxbourne responded immediately through a beautifully executed short corner:
Olivia with the perfect injection, Cerys with a clean strike from the top of the D. 1–1.
Cue a little internal chorus of “Joy to the World.”
Broxbourne settled well, stringing together composed passages of play. Tensions rose as Letchworth’s frustration bubbled more than a Christmas Day Bucks Fizz but they held firm. Then came that moment: the away bench booing as Sharon produced what can only be described as an enthusiastic stick tackle. Even the opposition admitted she “didn’t do it on purpose”—but it certainly wasn’t “All I Want for Christmas Is You.” More like: All I Want for Christmas Is Not a Card.

*Second Half – Hark the Breakaway Sings*
After a sharp halftime chat from Tara, the second half became a determined blur. The Badgers absorbed pressure, won short corners, invited some chaos themselves, and kept battling—proper “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree”, except the tree was our defensive D.

Then came the moment of magic:
A slick break involving Hannah, Olivia, and Aaliyah. Olivia fed Hannah, who found herself one-on-one with the keeper. With cool precision, she slapped the ball low into the bottom corner.
2–1 Broxbourne.
Suddenly, “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” felt very appropriate.

*The Final Countdown – Deck the Halls (with Stress)*

The last ten minutes were tense enough to qualify as a Christmas thriller. Letchworth earned a couple of questionable short corners. The whistle blew, cue the celebrating… and then the umpire in true Grinch style re-awarded the corner. Let’s just say the language drifting across the pitch was not “Deck the Halls” material. But the team held strong, the ball stayed out, and the final whistle brought the gift the team had been waiting for - a win!

The team were able to ‘Step into Christmas’ with another three points.

As this half of the season draws to a close, we would like to thank our Coach Em for all her hard work. It truly has made an impact and we have put into practice in our games which is paying off.

Thanks also to assistant coach Josh for all your help.

Thanks to our club captains Finch and Tor for all your help, especially the goalkeeper saga earlier in the season.

We leave 2025, stronger and more confident and as ever, a united team.

Ladies 2s vs Colchester 1 - 3-3 draw
Goal scorers: Isobel, Grace R & Cat
Assists: Isobel, Grace R & Darcy
Player: Isobel
Donkey: Gemma

Put it up your bottom

A big day loomed for the ladies 2’s on Saturday. The build up to the game saw Colchester attempting to start a tik tok battle involving butt’s and shoving things up them. The badgers sophisticated as always refused to be drawn into the shenanigans, all except team hoe, Vic. The club management unhappy with Vic’s behaviour decided to sanction her by removing her from the ladies 2’s and downgrading her to play for the 1’s. I would like to say lesson learnt however past experience of Vic’s behaviour leads me to believe this will not be an isolated incident.

In other team news Emily Rollins was also placed elsewhere, rumour has it she is hoping to train to become an umpire and she was spotted at Hertford hockey club on Sat taking notes on the umpires performances, the only redeeming part of this is she was in full badgers kit and did abuse one of the umpires as well as several Hertford supporters!

As match day approached there were concerns for captain Gemma, after being viciously struck on the head by a Blueharts player last week she struggled to work out who was playing and where they might need to play and it was only thanks to 2’s legend Millie and Lisa that a starting line up even appeared.

Some good pre match news was the call received from Bench’s mum, bench, who had been grounded by her mum for ‘behaving like a twat’ had spent the morning sucking up and managed to persuade her mum minutes before the match to give her permission to play. It was also advised that Dr Wills play for the 2’s this week, due to a few pretty bad bruises it was decided we might need medical intervention on the pitch and she was our only option.

The match started and I honestly can’t really remember a lot of what happened. They scored, this was annoying! We equalised with a cat meow classic. Then I thought we let in 2 more and were 3-1 down but apparently my recollection of goal order might be slightly out! What you need to know is that Grace R scored a beautiful goal and then Isobel smashed one home meaning the match finished 3-3. As always the team worked incredibly hard and never gave up. We are rewarded with a Christmas break out of the relegation zone. The team celebrated with a mix of Christmas jumpers, which brother shenanigans and finished with baby shower fun.

Mens 3s vs Hertford 3 - 4-2 win
Goal scorers: KP x2, Russ & Hayden
Assists: Cranners x3 & Rich
Player: KP
Donkey: Russ

Not our greatest performance but a victory none the less.

The M3s welcomed Hertford to Badger Field for the first A10 derby of the weekend. After another Frantic Friday for the mens captains trying to organise squads, Ruddy was sent up to the 2s and the 3s were expecting to welcome KPs brother. A late sickness bug squandered those plans. So instead Hayden had a word with his knees and Mr Rich Mellor was put on standby.

The game got off to a fantastic start for the M3s with KP putting the home team 1-0 up within 5 minutes. Cranners getting one of many apparent assists.

All was rosy. The "boys" had brought their girlfriends along to watch and were starting to show off a little, Stu was playing the number 10 role, and James was finding life quite pleasant at left back.

But on 15 minutes it changed. Some say it was all AJs fault. His hamstring gave way, again, and as as he limped off the pitch the momentum shifted.

Hertford was starting to get more of the ball primarily because Brox decided to gift it to them and a soft goal was conceded after 27 minutes. This was quickly followed by a second 2 minutes later.

The M3s were trailing at home for the first time this season. The halftime team talk was mainly a tirade of helpful things we all should do better at.

The second half started very similar to how the first half had ended. Hertford were now showboating a little. 3 short corners in a row were saved by Si, with one deflection taking out the Hertford Badger. He sends his apologies.

At this point Rich was fed up with pacing the sideline so came on to insert some fresh ideas. 20 minutes into the 2nd half the scores were level. Rich played a through ball for Hayden to bury. 2-2.

Hertford showboating stopped and they were showing signs of panic. Two more goals for the M3s within the next 10 minutes brought home the victory. A screamer by Russ from a short and a solo run by KP, who buried the ball in the top corner.

Not our best performance, but a classy 15 minute spell in the 2nd half brought the M3s their 5th 4-2 home win of the season. But who's counting. Happy Christmas.

Ladies 4s vs St Albans 7 - 3-1 win
Goal scorers: Jo x2 & Rachel BA
Assists: Meg H x2 & Jo
Player: Jo
Donkey: Kirsty

Festive Chaos & a 3-1 Win!

On the twelfth day of hockey, Broxbourne gave to me…
Twelve epic players,
Eleven Christmas jumpers,
Ten Christmas photos,
Nine tinsel tangles,
Eight pizzas piping
Seven sticks a-tapping,
Six Jazzy questions,
FIVE BILLION GONKS!
Four merry supporters,
Three golden goals,
Two cardboard boxes,
And a captain with the wisdom of Scrooge!

If you think this match report is about hockey, think again….

Pre-Match Festive Antics
‘Twas the night before hockey and Frankie declared "I've got an idea…. Bring Christmas jumpers, decorations and I’ll need some cardboard boxes"

Kirsty arrived like Santa’s sleigh, overloaded with 478 (give or take) jumpers and two cardboard boxes. Jo rocked up with 5 billion Gonks (rough estimate), apparently just one third of her collection. Jen unveiled a sparkly green dinosaur in a Christmas hat, Jane scattered festive stickers like snowflakes, and there was enough tinsel to decorate the entire county. We can't say too much more on this as Frankie made us sign an NDA, but all will be revealed.

In the Changing Room
Down in the changing room, Captain Lisa embraced the “minimalist” vibe and gave the shortest pre-match talk in history, going something along the lines of: “Last game before Christmas – I’m not going to repeat myself, you should know what to do by now so let’s just get on with it.” Inspiring stuff.

At The Pitch
Two hours after arriving at the club, we finally made it to the pitch… not to play hockey but for another extensive photoshoot, this time in Christmas jumpers and hats (because priorities).

The Match
When we eventually remembered hockey was the point, we came out swinging like elves on espresso. Despite expecting a tough game, we dominated from the off and chances flew in from all directions. After 20 minutes our hard work finally paid off and Jo slotted the first goal, courtesy of a magical Meg (in a skort) assist. Cue cheers, jingles, and a gonk victory dance.

St Albans, like the Grinch stealing Christmas, were having none of it and equalised quickly (like seconds). Still, we fought hard and minutes before the half time jingle bell, Jo bagged another goal (thanks to another magical Meg assist – proving her comment in warm-up about leggings making her lazy to be true.

Halftime result was 2-1 and we were pumped.

Fuelled by sugar and festive spirit, we continued to control the game in the second half, with plenty more chances and little threat from the opposition. There was one hairy moment however, when a St Albans player channelled her inner Dasher and made a solo run from the halfway line, getting round several of our players. One-on-one with keeper Emma, the shot went just wide – missing by the width of a candy cane. The fans in the stand exhaled like Santa after a chimney squeeze, and even umpire Tara looked as relieved as someone finding the last mince pie in the tin….

With just 3 minutes left, Rachael tapped in a short corner special (Jo assist), neatly wrapping up the win we very much deserved.

Final score: 3-1 to Broxbourne. Christmas delivered!

In the Teas Room
Clearly not in the Christmas spirit, St Albans decided to skip teas altogether, leaving us with a pizza wonderland fit to feed some hungry hockey elves. Victory on the pitch, victory at the table.

Player Highlights:
Player of the Day: Tough one today as the whole team played so well but the crown went to Jo, for her 2 goals and assist.

Donkey of the Day: Kirsty, for her spectacular fall (or maybe her Olympic-level commitment to the pass she never received). She also received a vote for bringing a gazillion jumpers. Controversial.

Honourable Donkey Mentions: Jaz somehow escaped donkey status despite asking (again) how long a hockey game lasts AND randomly dropping her stick mid-match. Umpire Tara also miraculously escaped after awarding a free hit to the wrong team, then casually saying, “Oh hang on, we’ve switched ends, haven’t we?”

Everyone played brilliantly, securing a win we didn’t expect. A perfect way to jingle into the Christmas break.

Broxbourne Ladies 4 – bringing the Christmas spirit AND the hockey magic!

Away Fixtures

Ladies 5s vs St Albans 8 - 3-1 loss
Goal scorer: Tess
Assist: Milly
Player: Tess
Donkey: Mia

A match we weren’t particularly looking forward to….. St Albans sit 2nd in the table and we, well, aren’t! In fact, we’re quite far from that. And we lost 0-5 at home to them at the start of the season. So, it was always going to be a tricky one.

The day didn’t start well either. Mia had to pull out after not having a kit (unanimous donkey so that was one less thing to think about!) so we were down to 12. Then the whatspp group started pinging (meet was 9:30) – “Running a bit late”, “Gonna be late as well” (That one was Teagan so brought no surprises), “I’m running a bit late too”, “Where on the campus is it?” and so on. Things weren’t looking great! Very short team talk - general consensus was mark, mark and mark. It’s going to be a defensive game. Do your best! Then a pretty short warm up and we were off.

Expecting a battering from the start, we were pleasantly surprised that, after 5 minutes, things were looking rosy!

View from the back. As stand in goalie for Hannah, I (Sharon) was pretty nervous that we might end on a cricket score. However, the girls did a cracking job of keeping their players at bay. There was some super marking and Teagan even managed to keep 214 at bay for most of the game. It was a shame she got free after 8 minutes to fire one into the corner at my left post.

However, we carried on as usual (we’re used to that kind of thing now so have developed quite the resilience!) and had a really rather good first half. Some great clearances and lovely work from the defensive 4 (Lorraine, Fran, Caitlyn and Aimee) together with some great interceptions and runs from the mids (Olivia, Tess and Annie Q) meant that we went in half time 1-0 down.

Second half continued on a similar vein. Annoyingly they snuck one over the line after some very intricate little passes in the D at 45 and then a straight strike from the top of the D at lightning speed by their 214 beat me at 55. However, a fantastic shift from the team, not one short corner conceded and possibly our best game yet!

View from the front. The game started at a high pace with everyone running the ball down, tackling and generally giving as good as we got from St Albans. Their first goal, to be fair, was a great shot with little Sharon could do. But our heads held high and we fought hard, Annie in particular getting very competitive! Half time talk was great to be only 1 nil down (very pleased captain), more of the same and don’t do what we tend to do in the second half which is to drop our work rate.

If anything we upped our performance, continually pressing and not giving St Albans too much time on the ball. Their few attempts at goal were strongly cleared along the back line by Sharon. The defenders continued to made decisive tackles and marking was better.

Tess continued to twiddle her way through umpteen opposition, often surrounded by 3 of them. Although she did have a donkey moment by forgetting she couldn’t pass the ball directly into the D from a free hit! The forwards of Shannon, Maisie and myself (Milly) were getting more possession and had some shots but they had a very strong keeper who kept us from scoring. Eventually we won the only corner of the match which with a strong injection from Milly and a straight strike from Tess gave us a well-deserved goal. Annoyingly we should have had another corner, but the umpire was unsighted when the ball went marginally over the backline, Tess dribbled it back and attempted a shot which was blocked.

Repeating a training session moment (much to Em’s amazement!) Milly controlled the ball from an aerial (from a massive deflection this time) to have a shot, but again that keeper was there!

So, a loss in the end but only a 2-goal negative tally and a great team performance so a very proud captain moment.

After the match, the St Albans umpires complemented us on our play and said we could have possibly won.

A massive thanks to Becky Ellis (Lorriane’s daughter and ex Broxbourne player who now plays for St Albans 1s) for turning up (in her Broxbourne coat, no less) to support us from the sidelines and manage the subbing. Her fitness app showed it was a high stress period of time for her!

Player was a hard one as everyone really put in 150%. 7 of the players received votes so that gives some indication! However, it went to Tess for her great work rate and keeping that ball moving round St Albans, creating us plenty of chances. Next match is the early one back at the Badger Den on the 10th January – have a great Christmas everyone and see you in the New Year!

Mens 1s vs Cambridge Uni 1 - 3-2 win
Goal scorers: Tom DS, Sam W & Sam G
Assists: Tom DS x2 & Sam W
Player: Tom DS
Donkey: Hoppo
Cards: Sam G (green), Toby (yellow)

Spiffing Away Victory for the 12 Merry Men - High Fives All Round

Broxbourne arrived to Cambridge for the second week on the bounce with a much depleted squad and an opportunity to right wrongs after last week’s poor performance at the home of Cambridge South. With the avoidance of Badger Nadgers last weekend and the knowledge that newby Elliot hadn’t made it home after last weeks shenanigans, the squad arrived to a small dressing room and chirpy Hoppo was full of spirit after his 6 or 7 Guinness’ the night before and terrible attempt at guessing how much money his company had overturned in the year. Team talk commenced as the already late captain, Sam Weissen delayed his tactical nous for Sam Groves who was dropping the kids off at the pool after a vigorous swim from the night before. After a long winded team talk, which had the team gripped with the cries of ‘zonal’, broxbourne enter the pitch with one thing in mind, what’s the chances of a Savanna hitting us before Hal arrived. After watching Santa and his industrious elves in the game prior, Brox were prepped and ready to go.

Brox had commenced their intense warm up and masculine chant prior, whilst opponents psyched themselves up with sky high high-fives, indicating that they’d had a rather spiffing preparation for the game. These morale boosting high fives didn’t last long as Brox were quickly on the counter with a point to prove. Returning Tom DS started the game rapidly. The rapids he’d been down at Centre Parcs the week prior had sent a rocket up his bum and a goal to his name in the opening encounters. Wiessen drove effortlessly into the D and his deflected pass found its way to Tom DS who’s redirected lob, looped over the keeper, who’d clearly spent the week on the lazy river.

One quickly followed by two, as Toby’s customary reverse stick shot was saved by the keeper. With Tom DS ready to tap home to double his tally, a horror tackle from Cambridge centre resulted in a flick for the travelling side. Skipper Wiessen slammed home from the resulting flick to double the Broxbourne’s advantage only five minutes in. With Broxbourne’s continued organisation of the zonal press, chances continued to fall to the away side, who were always looking to capitalise from Cambridge’s’ mistakes. Tom DS looking to punish the home side again, ran along the baseline and squared it to poacher Sam Groves who did a wonderful job of keeping his footing and tapped home. Brox were three zip going into the end of the first quarter. The whole team buzzing with the start they’d made to the game apart from Hoppo who proceeded to be angry about everything. Once Chris had calmed his anger and spotted the Savanna in the distance, Brox went into the first break full of confidence and happy with the 3 goal lead.

Brox were understandably straight on the back foot from the start of the second quarter with Cambridge trying to make those pre match high five’s worthwhile. Short corner after short corner for the home side eventually paid dividends with the drag flicker of Cambridge finally finding the right hand corner of Joe’s goal. The blame for this goal was quickly passed on from Joe to centre back Elliot for not being there. Which is strange as Elliot had been using the post to sleep against for the last week. Brox continued to be on the front foot for the remainder of the quarter and were still leading 3-1 at the half time break. Many wise word from skipper Wiessen ensued at the break and coach for the day Stan Mason made sure he got the last word in. I’d love to tell you what he said, but no one was listening. As Stan limped back into his technical area, the second half got under way.

The third quarter was a scrappy affair with cards being thrown out at will. With a controversial decision awarded in Broxbourne’s favour, tenacious but slightly angry midfielder Chris Hopson got a ball to the nose via a deflection from a high-fiving Cambridge player. This led to supporters on the side giving dogs abuse to the umpires. This resulted in the home side losing their captain to a green card as the umpires were not willing to spend their Saturday afternoon being hounded by supporters on the side. The quarter finished with Cambridge doubling their tally for the day making it 3-2 and forwards Sam Groves and Toby House gaining cards, putting Broxbourne down to 9 temporarily. Sam was the first to receive a card. His card was awarded for second hand embarrassment, as he’d slipped over on multiple occasions. The first right by the dugout, with him losing his stick on the uprise. The second for slipping over on the touchline close to his onlooking girlfriend. Toby’s card was given as he body slammed the Cambridge attacker and was harshly awarded a yellow. This card means that he is only one away from a ban, which he is buzzing for as it allows him to spend the week drinking Guinness and not have to run around for 70 minutes.

Broxbourne got to the break for the last quarter up 3-2. The away side knew they had to dig in for the last quarter to walk away with the three points. Despite Broxbourne’s organised zonal press, they continued to threaten on the counter and put the game well and truly to bed. Stalwart centre back Josh Chapman took it upon himself to run the length of the pitch and put the ball to the back post where Chris Hopson was waiting to tap home. Unfortunately Chris was unable to convert from close range as the onrushing keeper dived in studs up to put the attacker off. Brox were able to see out the 3-2 victory and bring the three points back to broxbourne. It was a tremendous effort by the squad with absolutely everyone putting in a great shift to see out the game and go into the Christmas break with three points. Darts song was played in the changing room to celebrate and high five’s all round for the victorious badgers.

Ladies 1s vs Cambridge City 3 - 6-3 loss
Goal scorers: Meg S x2 & Em
Assists: Em & Emily R
Player: Meg S & Emily R
Donkey: Martha
Cards: Meg S (green)

*The one where Martha Chose Jim over the Badgers*

The Badgers rolled into Cambridge ready to win their final game of the season, full of energy, optimism, and absolutely no idea just how many dramatic plot twists were about to unfold.

The Martha–Jim Love Saga Continues

Our first shock of the day: Martha was absent.

Why?
Because the night before, she’d fallen head-over-heels—literally—into the arms of Jim, the man she now claims is her soulmate. Picture a Christmas romance movie, twinkling lights, festive magic, and Martha swooning so hard she injured her knee before Jim finally noticed her curly rom-com hair.

One thing led to another and…
No Martha at the match.
Just a text cancelling faster than Cambridge City scored their first goal.

The Team Investigates

During warm-up, the Badgers worked harder on conspiracy theories than actual drills. Why wasn’t Jim supporting her hockey career? Had Martha eloped? Was she already planning names for their future children? Were we about to welcome the another “Badgers baby”? Newly single mum Becky Scarrott ready to give support after her husband Ben Scarrott ran away with Dr Wills after seeing her naked in a still life drawing class.

Back to Hockey (Unfortunately)

While the team was busy writing Martha & Jim fanfiction in their heads, Cambridge City 3 slipped an early goal past us—shocking us awake faster than Martha’s “Sorry team, can’t make it xx” message.

City capitalised on our emotional turmoil, securing six short corners, which they put away with ruthless efficiency. Each one went in as easily as Martha fell for Jim. Tragic.

Badgers Fight Back

But then, salvation,
Meg S went full superhero mode, smashing in 2 glorious goals and carrying the attack like she was personally avenging the entire team’s heartbreak.

Em added another cracker, though not without a few dramatic trips—eerily reminiscent of Martha’s collapse when she first laid eyes on Jim (who, according to rumour, was high on strawberry Calpol at the time).

Looking Ahead

Despite the chaos, heartbreak and conspiracies, the Badgers battled hard. Next season, we return stronger—with a full squad, tighter defence, and absolutely no absences permitted for hangovers, romantic entanglements, or spontaneous life dramas.

And Martha…
Please.
For the sake of the team…
Let. Go. Of. Jim.

Mens 2s vs Hertford 2 - 1-1 draw
Goal scorer: Jack
Assist: Baller
Player: Stapes & Tom
Donkey: Fradley
Cards: Tom (green)

How many?

Following a tough away game last weekend at top of the league, the fixture list doubled down and presented a late 4o’clock start away to second in the league Hertford as the final game before the winter break.

The return of Captain Jack and Tom who were loaned to the 1’s, browny from the 5’s and Satwick & Baller from their visiting friend from Manchester, were all warmly welcomed. Elliot was unavailable due to an injury, however some were saying that it was really because of embarrassment of trying to chip the keeper on his 1’s debut. Fradley was unavailable due to his daughters birthday… the day after? Surprisingly we still only had the bare 11, so up stepped clubman Ruddy to help out, who did try his best to dampen the mood in the changing room pre match with a select choice of songs. Jack thankfully stopped this to give an inspiring speech, demanding focus and desire in the A10 Derby to get a result.

The first half got underway and straight from the off broxbourne were up for it. Unfortunately so were the Hertford fans on the sideline trying get into the broxbourne players heads throughout the whole game. After their forwards being mugged off by Tom and being fouled continuously, CB partner Satwick asked the umpire ‘How Many?, before their forward was rewarded with a card. The phrase kept being repeated from the large group on the sideline, as if they were mindless parrots and could not think of anything original. Some slick passing moves and high energy plays were ultimately fruitless, but showed great promise. In a very evenly matched half, it ended with young Tom getting his first christmas card for a tackle that sounded worse than it was.

The halftime team talk was demanding much of the same, ignore the jeers and play our own game. We were frustrating Hertford and they knew it. Not long after the restart, a well worked free hit from Tom was worked into the D, deflected by baller round the defender and slotted in comfortably by Jack, 1-0 to the badgers. Broxbournes defensive discipline was almost perfect for the rest of the half, working solidly as a team and not giving anything away. The parrots kept chirping from the side to try and do their bit, after all they were losing at home to bottom of the league, however even their crafty forward admitted he was even getting annoyed with them. Stapes made several fine saves with the stubborn broxbourne team digging in collectively to try and walk away with a well earned three points. A dubious short corner was awarded, and Hertford took advantage. A well guided deflection flew past stapes head and there was nothing that could be done. In the final moments of the game, the lights went out, bringing the game to a halt. Whilst the players waited for the lights to come back on, the large group of hertford fans decided this was their chance to slip away, they clearly did not want be associated with a team that has just been outplayed by bottom of the league. When the lights came back on, it left broxbourne asking the very question that started them off. Of those that were left, how many?

With that the final whistle went and broxbourne can be proud of that performance and disappointed as it deserved more. Enjoy the christmas break and we will be back in 2026.

Watch this space, up the badgers

Final Club Social of 2025
It was great to see so many club members at our final social of the year with their Christmas jumpers on and enjoying live music from Skeggsy. Look out for the 2026 social calendar that will be released soon, including the date for Badger Ball!

Wishing all club members past and present a very happy Christmas and a wonderful year ahead.