Highbury Korfball Club face two tough end-of-season clashes against league leaders Bec Seconds as they chase promotion to the National League.
The team currently lies fourth in the London Regional League, but qualify for the Champions Trophy playoffs as the highest placed first team in the league. The three teams above them already compete at National League level.
At the Champions Trophy competition, held on the last weekend in April, they will face the winners of the three other regional leagues and the second bottom side from the National League to compete for a place in the top tier.
Korfball is a mixed gender sport similar to basketball and netball, which is increasing in popularity in the UK, particularly in London and at university level. Despite this it has a long way to go to reach the prominence it enjoys in the Netherlands, where there are over 100,000 players.
Highbury will be hoping to build momentum for these crucial playoffs, but face a stern test with consecutive matches against Bec on March 16 and March 23. Their opponents’ first team are challenging for the National League title.
Team spokesman Rich Hayward said: “They are going to be two very tough games. They will test where we are as a team, and whether promotion is a realistic possibility.
“But we’re in the best position we’ve been for years – going into the Champions Trophy we have a very realistic chance of winning it.
“We’ve qualified in each of the last two seasons and haven’t done well – this year will be different”.
The team will be hoping to bounce back from a painful defeat in their last match, where three late goals saw Highbury surrender a winning position to succumb 17-15 to an excellent Trojans outfit.
“It was a very exciting game,” Hayward said. “It was like Wigan v Manchester City – we were Wigan, not expecting to get anything from the game, so to come so close was quite exciting. We were leading into the last five minutes – in the past six or seven years we haven’t been that position against Trojans. But it was painful at the end – we’re disappointed that we weren’t able to convert when we had the chance.”
If you are interested in joining Highbury Korfball Club, open training sessions are held every Thursday 8pm – 10pm at Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre, 1 Adelaide Road, NW3 3NF.
