Railway Union’s women continued their strong rise up the Irish EY Hockey League rankings as they defeated Pembroke 3-0 last weekend, moving into a share of second place.

The Dublin club will make their EHL debut next Easter in Den Bosch and are now on a four-game winning streak after a slow start to the season.

Two goals from Lily Lloyd and one from Róisín Upton propelled them to this latest success and sees them share second with Old Alex and Catholic Institute.

Coincidentally, those are their next two opponents in the next two weekends in the lead-up to their winter break.

Loreto are the current leaders with a six-point gap back to the chasing pack but they have drawn four of their last five fixtures after initially winning five games in a row.

English men’s reigning champions Old Georgians made it 11 wins out of 11 last weekend  with a narrow 4-3 win against Wimbledon to complete a perfect first phase of the season.

They left it late as a converted penalty corner in the 62nd minute by Wimbledon’s Sam Hooper levelled the score at 3-3 but OGs’ Tom Carson scored his fourth of the game in the 68th minute to give Old Georgians all three points.

For Carson, it brought his total to 14 goals this season with club mate Sam Ward heading the goalscoring charts on 21.

The result leaves them five points clear at the top ahead of Holcombe in second place while Surbiton’s 6-3 win over Hampstead & Westminster secured third place in Phase 1.

The EHL FINALS-bound club’s goals were shared around by Nick Park, James Gall, Gareth Furlong, Jacob Smith, Luke Taylor and top scorer Struan Walker.

On the women’s side, Surbiton are also in third place following a narrow 2-1 win over Birmingham University with goals in the 29th minute from Ellie Mackenzie and the 40th minute from Darcy Bourne.

Above them, Reading’s unbeaten run came to an end following a 5-1 defeat by their closest rivals Hampstead & Westminster who moved to the top of the Women’s Premier Division for the first time this season to push Reading into second place.

Den Bosch face a big test of their 100% record on Saturday afternoon as they look to close out the first phase of the Dutch Hoofdklasse in flying form.

To date, they have landed 12 wins in succession and created a seven-point gap to second-placed SCHC ahead of a showdown with AH&BC Amsterdam on Saturday.

The run to date has seen them also go past the 50-game unbeaten mark in the league with Frédérique Matla taking her place at the top of the goalscoring standings with 13 to date.

Second-placed SCHC have also been free-scoring with Yibbi Jansen firing in 11 times while new arrival this season Jip Dicke has scored nine.

For the Bilthoven club, they conclude their 2024 schedule with a tricky derby match against SV Kampong. They have a four-point buffer to third placed Amsterdam with Pinoké a point back from their Amsterdamse Bos neighbours.

Once this series of games is complete, the league will go on hiatus until early March.

In the meantime, both Den Bosch and SCHC will be keen viewers of the EHL draw which will take place in the coming weeks.

On the men’s side, HC Bloemendaal are in the box seat with a two-point lead and a game in hand over Amsterdam with Den Bosch in third place.

For the sparrows, they have a Thursday night date with HC Rotterdam before going to Nijmegen on Sunday; to date, they have only dropped two points from 30 on offer in addition to two healthy wins in the EHL KO16.

The other EHL Men’s sides are battling for a place in the playoffs with Kampong in fourth spot and Rotterdam in fifth.

Mannheimer HC and Düsseldorfer HC are leading the way in the German’s women’s Bundesliga for the winter break following strong starts to the season.

It has the two EHL Women’s representatives in good shape for Easter and when their outdoor season returns in late March.

Mannheim – EHL finalists last season – are top of the league following 10 wins out of 12 and amassing 32 points from 36 so far. Indeed, they have won their last eight successive matches, Stine Kurz’s single goal seeing them defeat Münchner SC 1-0 in their final game before Christmas.

Kurz had led their scoring this term with eight goals with the returning Sonja Zimmerman and Aina Lilly Kresken both netting five times.

A key result which has helped them build a five-point lead in the table was a 2-0 win over nearest rivals Düsseldorf who are in second place.

For DHC, they have nine wins out of 12, signing off their 2024 series with a 4-3 win over Bremer  HC with Lisa Nolte nicking all the points with a 4-3 win. She scored that goal in the 58th minute, her ninth of the season to see her sit top of the goalscoring charts. It puts her just ahead of Kurz and her club mate Sara Strauss.

Both clubs will find out who they meet in the EHL FINAL12 Women in the Den Bosch in the coming weeks.

On the men’s side, Hamburger Polo Club have a narrow lead in a very competitive table at the winter break stage. They are on 27 points, one clear of Mannheimer HC, three ahead of both Harvestehuder THC and Rot-Weiss Köln while TSV Mannheim are in touch in fifth place on 22 points.

The first phase finished with a bang with three of the top five being dropping points; Polo Club fell in a shoot-out against Crefelder HTC, TSV fell 4-3 to Münchner SC and Mannheim were beaten by Rot-Weiss.

HC ‘s-Hertogenbosch will host the ABN AMRO Euro Hockey League FINALS next Easter for the first time with their venue at Oosterplas ready to welcome 20 of Europe’s best club teams.

The event runs from Wednesday, April 16th to Monday, April 21st, 2025 and will feature the first edition of the expanded EHL Women FINAL12 competition along with the EHL Men FINAL8.

Twenty-six elite games will take place over the course of the six-day festival which will run alongside the ABN AMRO EHL Hockey ID and Under 14 tournaments in the heart of Brabant.

Speaking about the announcement, EHL chairman Peter Elders said: “We are delighted to bring the Euro Hockey League to Den Bosch for the first time.

“We received a number of very attractive bids for next Easter’s showpiece event and we are encouraged to see very motivated clubs putting themselves forward to host.

“Both the club, BrabantSport  and the Municipality of ’s-Hertogenbosch have been incredibly welcoming already and it will be great to play our finals at the venue of a club whose women’s team is steeped in EuroHockey history.

“We look forward to extending this welcome to fans from all across Europe in April.”

The club has won EHL Women twice in the past four years having previously won the EuroHockey Club Cup 16 times. The club also hosted the Club Cup on seven occasions.

For host club Den Bosch, they cannot wait to bring the event to life following a rich history in European club competition.

Club Chairman Rob Almering said: “It has been nearly ten years since we last organised this kind of event and we are thrilled to once again showcase the pinnacle of European club hockey.

“Our beautiful venue, paired with the warm hospitality of Brabant, provide the perfect backdrop for this exciting occasion. This event presents an excellent opportunity to inspire the youth and ignite their passion for our sport.

“Let’s come together to celebrate the game and foster the next generation of hockey enthusiasts!”

This season, EHL Women FINAL12 makes its first appearance with the competition expanding from eight to 12 teams. In addition to the hosts, Dutch club SCHC, Germany’s Mannheimer HC and Düsseldorfer HC; Spain’s Club de Campo de Madrid; Belgium’s Gantoise and England’s Surbiton all return to the competition.

They will be joined by debutantes Braxgata (Belgium), Real Club de Polo (Spain), Railway Union (Ireland), MSC Sumchanka (Ukraine) and Slavia Prague (Czechia).

The EHL Men FINAL8 features SV Kampong (Netherlands), Old Georgians (England), Gantoise (Belgium) and Club de Campo (Spain) who all pre-qualified. They are joined a quartet of successful KO16 clubs – HC Bloemendaal and HC Rotterdam (Netherlands), Surbiton (England) and Royal Léopold (Belgium).

The event will be supported significantly by Brabant Sport and the Municiplaity of ‘s-Hertogenbosch as part of their strategy to bring top sport to the region.

BrabantSport’s Robert van den Hoogenband said: “We are incredibly proud that, next year men, women, and youth will compete for the European title in Brabant during the EHL.

“Elite sports and high-profile sporting eventslike the EHL are an inspiration for our region. They create excitement, connect people, and also provide economic and social added value to Brabant. We are already looking forward to next year.”

Municipality of ‘s-Hertogenbosch councillor for sport Marianne van der Sloot added: “What a great opportunity to bring this event to the city. We already see top hockey and top performances every week in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

“With the European Hockey League, the top hockey teams from Europe are coming to our city. That will be a sporting highlight in advance in 2025. I am really looking forward to it.”

The draw for the EHL Women FINAL12 and Men FINAL8 will be made in the coming weeks with the match schedule and tickets launched soon after.

Den Bosch produced a Hoofdklasse record on Saturday evening as their 2-0 win over Huizen saw them go 51 games without defeat in the women’s competition.

In so doing, the side outdid their run of 50 games between 2015 and 2018 during Raoul Ehren’s tenure as coach at the Oosterplas club.

The goals were scored by Frédérique Matla from a penalty corner and Joosje Burg. It was Matla’s tenth goal of the season while Burg  moved within her own personal milestone, moving within one of 50 Hoofdklasse goals.

The result saw Den Bosch move on to 10 wins in succession as they sit seven points clear of second place SCHC following the weekend’s action.

The Bilthoven club were 7-0 winners over Rotterdam, lifting them clear of AH&BC Amsterdam who drew their derby date with Pinoké 1-1.

While they drew, their goal from Agustina Gorzelany was a piece of history, the 20,000 goal in the women’s Hoofdklasse since it was introduced in 1981.