This year’s championship was held on Saturday 24th October at the all-deep Watford Woodside pool. The teams put on a superb display of top quality water polo in a thrilling evening of competition, watched by a gallery full of spectators including Sheila Mackenzie (ASA East Region President) and Derek Milton (Hertfordshire ASA President) while Ian Mackenzie (ASA East Region Chairman) captured all the action on camera. Andy Morton (East Region past president and former GB water polo manager) came to judge the quality of this year’s event and declared himself highly impressed by the region’s young talent. 2009 saw a welcome return of Bedfordshire to the championship after two years’ absence. Hertfordshire fielded two teams, Essex and Suffolk entered their A teams and a young Essex/Suffolk B development team completed the line up. Herts A started in fine style with an 8-1 win over Suffolk A, including a brace of goals each from Baker and Condon while Clements posted Suffolk’s only score. Beds then took on Essex A in a taut and thrilling match between two evenly matched teams. They traded goals until Attwood found the net for a second time to put Beds 3-2 up before the break. Both sides showed skillful defence and held this scoreline without either side conceding an exclusion foul until Beds scored again to seal a 4-2 victory. Herts A outplayed the Essex/Suffolk B development team with an emphatic 15-0 win, but the younger side showed they have a bright future. Beds then had a surprisingly close 3-1 win over the young Herts B squad who will clearly play a big part in years to come. Suffolk A cruised to a comfortable 8-0 win over Essex/Suffolk B including a trio from Foskett. Essex A saw off Herts B 7-2 with five goals from Seber, and the stage was set for the semifinals. Herts A and Essex A lined up to contest a place in the final. The first half saw Herts collecting four goals and as many exclusion fouls while Vella scored twice for Essex. But that was to be the visitors’ only score as the home side romped away after the break to clinch the match 11-2 including four from Kohler. A straightforward 5-0 victory for Beds over Suffolk decided the final line-up. Herts and Beds looked evenly matched as the final got under way. Herts went 2-0 up just before half-time but the game still looked wide open. Beds were tiring though, and their lack of a deep water training pool was maybe the deciding factor as Goodwin-Robertson added three more goals for Herts. Beds avoided the duck with a late goal from Lourensz, but the tournament finished with Herts as worthy 6-1 winners. Andy Morton presented Herts with the trophy that bears his name while East Region President Sheila Mackenzie presented their gold medals. Beds collected the silver medals, and Essex the bronze thanks to superior goal difference over rivals Suffolk. Sheila Mackenzie thanked all the teams, their coaches, the officials and referees for making the 2009 championship another memorable event. Match Scores Herts A 8 Suffolk A 1 Beds 4 Essex A 2 Herts A 15 Essex/Suffolk B 0 Beds 3 Herts B 1 Suffolk A 8 Essex/Suffolk B 0 Essex A 7 Herts B 2 Semi-finals Herts A 11 Essex A 2 Suffolk A 0 Beds 5 Final Herts A 6 Beds 1 Results 1st Herts A 2nd Beds 3rd Essex A 4th Suffolk A 5th Herts B 6th Essex/Suffolk B Top goal scorers Ben Kohler Herts 9 Jared Baker Herts 8 Richard Goodwin- Robertson Herts 8 David Seber Essex 6 Emrys Ellis Herts 6 Darren Norman Beds 4 Hugo Cliff Herts 4