Roller Hockey Photos

Its now twelve years since Ian Morrison ex Letchworth RHC player went out to Spain to play Roller Hockey, and is still playing. He currently plays for the asturian club CP Areces in the Spanish National Division 1 and has done so for the last six years. Over this time he has put his roots down and has fitted into the Spanish way of life mastering the language and traditions.

Recently Ians regional newspaper wrote an article on him and the club outlining his club career and personal life which you can read the translation. In addition to this you can see Ian in the photos of Areces v CP Cerceda played last month.

This is the newspaper article translated

He came first for the Hockey then everything else followed. What can we say about the love story between the Englishman Ian Morrison and Spain. Its a passion that he shares with Arece’s as a goalkeeper and English Roller Hockey. He came to Asturias six years ago.
Ian was born in 1983 in Luton, Bedfordshire. But he was 15 when his love for Roller Hockey found him in Catalan town of Vic, where he attended a Roller Hockey summer school.

When he was 17 he was part of the first team of Vic, he also played in European Competitions for England Roller Hockey. He then joined G.E.I.E.G. in Gerona. Ian found it very hard at first being in a country where he did not know anyone or speak any Spanish.

He found it very difficult in Catalonia as people had there friends and it was very difficult to become part of those groups. But when he came to Asturias it was different people were much easier to make friends with.

Ian then signed up for a Team in San Sebastian, a beautiful city but the level of hockey was quite low. It was there that he met an Asturian girl whom he is to marry in August 2012. Everything seem to come together and he found himself living in Asturias. The level of roller hockey was of a high standard and his future wife was here. Ian said this whilst sipping a beer in a bar in his neighbourhood Florida, Oviedo.

It has been a long time and Ian now feels Oviedo is more like home, where he has many friends, a job and a wife to be. He does not think he will return to England even in death. After 12 years in Spain he has lost touch with friends and feels his life now is in Oviedo where he teaches in San Ignacio & Santa Teresa School. He also tutors students and last summer started a small business to bring some of his students to England to improve there level of English.

SPAIN 5-4 ARGENTINA

We are very pleased to say we will be photographing all the matches from this years Senior World Championships in San Juan Argentina. Log on and have a look at the pictures throughout the week and see all the action from your rink side seat. In addition to the photos all the match score will be added to keep you up to date with the winners and losers from this spectacular event.

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Times are British Summer Time (BST) -4

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* No photos due to insufficient space at the rink for photographers.
** No photos due photographing Angola 2013 presentation

Congratulations to Spain for becoming the Under 20′s World Champions in Barcelos Portugal.

As mentioned in my last posting we will soon be traveling out to Barcelos Portugal to cover this years Under 20 Roller Hockey World Championships starting on 11th September. I have listed the first phase of the championships below and will update the scores after each match subject to the availability of an Internet connection.

Our main reason for going to this prestigious competition is to photograph some of the best upcoming players from the fifteen participating countries and to catch the atmosphere of the stadium. This year as the championships are in Portugal we are expecting to see many spectators supporting their young players.

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This years International Season will soon be with us with the World Men’s Seniors Championships being held in San Juan at the back end of September. The European Under 17′s this year are in the beautiful city of Geneva, Switzerland at the beginning of September.

Barcelos, Portugal will host the Under 20′s World Championships to 16 teams starting on 10th September 2011 and this years European Ladies will be in Cronenberg in Germany this coming October.

September is going to be a busy time for us due to the fact that we have been asked buy some participating teams of the mens worlds and the under 20′s to represent them and take there photos this year. In addition to this we will be uploading pictures of the matches to our achieve gallery which is used buy many Roller Hockey writers world wide for their source of editorial picture content.

Carlos Amaral, National Coaching Director, has announced the England Under 20 Team to participate in the World Championships which will take place in Barcelos, Portugal 11th to 17th September 2011.

Goal Keepers
Matt Stearn – Peterborough RHC
Sam Cayley – Peterborough RHC
Outfield Players
Hanwei Lim – Peterborough RHC
Josh Taylor – Kings Lynn RHC
Liam Conroy – Igualada (Spain)
Michael Carter – Peterborough RHC
Nicholas Flint – Peterborough RHC
Sam Norris – Bury RHC
Sam Norton – Bury RHC
William Smith – Middlesbrough RHC

The final squad has been announced to participate in the Group A World Championship which takes place in San Juan, Argentina from 24 September till 1 October 2011.

Dan Milne (Gk) – Cambridge
Ian Morrison (Gk) – Areces (Spain)
Craig Gibson – Letchworth
Grant Zaccarias – Middlesbrough
James Taylor – Bassano (Italy)
Karl Smith – HBU
Marc Waddingham – Grimsby
Michael Ableson – Middlesbrough
Owen Stewart – Middlesbrough
William Smith – Middlesbrough

Head Coach: Carlos Amaral
Manager: Keith Allen
Assistant Coach: Joe Wheatley
Mechanic: Steve Taylor

The team will depart on Thursday 22 September and will return on Monday 3 October.

There is in place a preparation plan running up to the competition which includes a tournament in Wimmis, Switzerland prior to our departure to Argentina.

2011 is an exceptional year for Montreux, Switzerland the town of the bi-annual top Senior Men’s International tournament “Coupe des Nations”. On the run up and over the Easter weekend eight teams including Argentina, Spain, Portugal France, Germany, Angola and Macau with host club Montreux Hockey who celebrate their centenary this year.

Coupe des Nations is the top International tournament where the best teams in the world compete on the run up to the Senior World Roller Hockey Championships in San Juan, Argentina in September 2011. The venue “Pierrier in Clarens” on the outskirts of Montreux will on 20th to 24th April have the roller Hockey eyes of the world clearly focused on the world class teams to get a taste of whats to come later in the year in South America.

This year Gordon & Debbie Morrison have been invited to take the official action photos for the tournament organisation for the website and supplied to the worldwide press. “Its great to be able to photograph some of the best teams in the world” said photographer Gordon Morrison.

Areces took on the Spainsh Nation div 1 league leaders last night in a thrilling end to end match. Early in the first half SHUM Grupo Maestre took the lead with a lucky penalty when Areces goalkeeper Ian Morrison saved the initial shot but the referee disaloud the shot due to a player prematurely crossing the line. The second attempt ended in a successful goal after the ball deflected off the goalkeepers skate.

Throughout the match we saw no more goals but very good defending from both sides with the final score ending at 0-1 to the relief on the faces of the players from SHUM Grupo Maestre.

SEE THE FOTOS NOW