Korfball club in North London, England
Football club
Highbury Korfball Club (HKC) is a korfball club based in North London, England and is a member of the England Korfball Association. Highbury Korfball Club succeeded Arsenal Korfball Club, which was established by Hugh Barker in 1998. Rebranding occurred to avoid confusion with the football team of the same name.
With six teams, HKC competes across a range from highly competitive to highly social indoor Korfball leagues, generally in the London area during the winter months. During the summer, Highbury competes at many standards in tournaments held over weekends throughout the UK. HKC has also made trips to various European countries to play in tournaments abroad against local teams and those from further afield. The summer tournaments are often but not always played outdoors.
League history.
2003–2006.
The club became established in the London Leagues.
2006–2007.
In the season of 2006–07, Highbury expanded to become a 2 team club including 4 Australian's who did Highbury and Australia proud as they participated in the Commonwealth &amp; Friends Korfball Tournament that was held in Croydon during the summer of 2006.
2007–2008.
In the season of 2006–07, Highbury expanded to become a 3 team club. To ensure the quality rose with the quantity, Highbury travelled to the Netherlands once again to compete in an outdoor tournament but this time took in a couple of extra days to participate in a training camp run for Highbury's benefit by Mart Huijbregts. Highbury looked internally to strengthen its coaching staff base and subsidised that attendance of two of its members to the annual Avon Tyrell Level 2 Coaching Qualification course.
2008–2009.
In the season of 2008–2009, Highbury expanded to become a 4 team club.
This was the year that the EKA disbanded the National Reserve and National Division 1 Leagues and introduced a new Regional League structure. Highbury took their place in the new structure by competing in the newly formed South East Regional League.
For the first time, Highbury brought in an external full-time coach to train the elite squad; Tamara Burnell, a National Premiere League player with Bec KC and Scottish representative was given the job which also included training the players of Highbury 2 which competed in the London 1st Division.
Highbury 3 swept aside most opposition in the London 3rd division only losing two games, both by a single goal but a scheduling technicality lead to a game being forfeited and the title slipping from their grasp. There could be no hard feelings though as the eventual winners of the league, Supernova 2, were the only team not to suffer defeat at the hands of Highbury 3 with the head-to-head battles resulting in a draw and a single goal win to Supernova.
2009–2010.
During the 2009–2010 season Highbury welcomed the news that London would form their own Region due to the restructuring of Regional Leagues. Pre-season Highbury were looking for a new head coach and Laurie Swan, head coach on Supernova KC, stepped in to assist the club with player selection during the month running up to the season start while a coach was sought. Before the season was under way, Stuart Ironmonger, a National Premier League player and coach with a successful history took the role of head coach. Highbury played in the London Regional League (LRL) and was represented with a team in each of Divisions 2, 3 and 4 of the London Korfball Association (LKA).
Highbury put in many good performances and clinched a proud second place in the LRL behind winners Bec 2. Thus, achieving their goal of beating Croydon KC in to the single position awarded to the LRL in the annual Champions Trophy (Bec 2 were ineligible as Bec were already playing in the National League). While Highbury didn't win promotion into the National League they did show throughout the Champions Trophy that they could compete with the teams that were being promoted in to the top league in the country.
Meanwhile, in the LKA, Highbury 4 were regularly requiring to field two players from the higher leagues to form a complete and legal team. While this was completely within the rules of the LKA, the LKA committee decided to withdraw Highbury 4 from their league without notice.
2010–2011.
Andrew Speck was elected chair. The club maintained 3 teams although there was an exodus of men from the regional league team as they moved out of London for employment opportunities.
The 1st and 2nd teams finished mid table in the London Regional League and London League 2, however Highbury 3 won promotion to London League 2 for the coming season.
2011–2012.
Ben Hale took over as Chairman for the season. Martin Petrie (of Supernova) provided coaching for the first and second teams with Moses Hutchinson-Pascal acting as third team and development coach.
Highbury 3 struggled in LKA2, however did well to finish outside of the relegation places, but the decision was made to volunteer to drop a division to give the players a better chance to develop against similarly skilled players.
Highbury 2 again finished mid table but 4th place was an improvement on the prior season. Rachel Dixon also topped the Girls Scoring chart with 30 goals in the season.
Highbury 1 finished fourth in the LRL and qualified for the Champions Trophy as the three teams above them already had teams in the National League. Julia Hall finished top of the Scoring chart for the girls with 31 fine goals in her final full season at Highbury before moving back to New Zealand at the end of 2012.
At the Champions Trophy, Highbury competed against the best teams around the country and came a respectful 4th place with wins over Manchester Warriors and Bristol City.
2012–2013.
Simon Mackie was elected at the AGM as Chairman for the season. Andrew Speck stepped into coaching the first and second teams with fellow Aussie Ben Hale taking on the role of third team and development coach. The club was training at Old Street during this season.
Highbury 3 came third in the first season back in LKA3, with many new players developing well.
Highbury 2 also finished in the top 3 in LKA too, with several players stepping up into the second team from the prior year's thirds showing Highbury's knack for developing new players.
Highbury 1 finished 5th despite Joanna Faure Walker finishing joint top scorer of the girls and qualified again for the Champions Trophy for the second year in a row. This season sees a record Highbury win of 31–8 over Mitcham, with Moses Hutchinson-Pascal getting a triple hat trick.
At the Champions Trophy Highbury finish 5th despite beating eventual runners up Birmingham who were promoted to the National League.
2013–2014.
Joanna Faure Walker takes the role of Chair with Andrew Speck continuing to provide coaching to the squad.
The club moves into two new venues in Swiss Cottage and Stoke Newington ahead of the new season to improve training facilities available to the squad and wider club.
Good recruitment over summer means that Highbury 4 are started up again, playing friendly matches this season in the hope of entering another team into the league the year after.
The club recruited several new players both at the top level (including several Portuguese and Dutch players) and beginners. The teams performed well with Highbury 1 again qualifying for the Champions Trophy after finishing 4th in the Regional League, Highbury 2 having a best ever finish of 2nd in LKA2 and Highbury 3 and 4 improving in LKA3.
At the Champions Trophy Highbury again finish 5th despite some good performances against the best teams from around the country.
The club goes on tour to Lisbon, Portugal led by Tiago Almeida to take part in the 14th Annual Korfball Tournament organised by Clube Corfebol Oeiras, with Highbury finishing in 5th, 8th and 14th places.
2014–2015.
Rich Hayward is elected role of Chair. Andrew Speck continues to coach the 1st and 2nd team squad whilst Tiago Almeida assumes the position of head coach for the 3rd and 4th teams
The club continues to train at Swiss Cottage whilst the squad move to Petchey Academy in Dalston in order to enable weekly squad sessions to be able to take place.
The summer sees some of Highbury's established members leave the club for pastures new outside of North London, but another strong summer of recruitment sees the depth in the squad enhanced. Players join the club from all over the country from Nottingham to Norwich bringing their experience in to heighten competition for places.
This year sees Highbury 1 competing in the newly formed England South and East Promotional Division against a higher calibre of opposition for a place in the Champions Trophy.
Highbury 1 finish 4th in the S&amp;E Promo league and 3rd in the London Regional League, Highbury 2 finish 4th in LKA 2 and Highbury 3 &amp; 4 playoff for 3rd place in LKA 3 with the Highbury 3 running out 7–4 winners.
2015–2016.
Rich Hayward continues as Chair. Steph Allen (of Trojans and England) becomes the new squad coach.
The club trains in Finsbury Park over summer in order to try to attract more passing trade and promote the club.
The club and squad both train and play matches in Petchey Academy in Dalston this season, marking the first time the club has played its home games in North London for years.
Highbury 1 compete again for the London Regional League and South &amp; East Promo League, whilst Highbury 3 are promoted to LKA Division 2 alongside Highbury 2. Highbury 4 continue to develop in LKA Division 3.
Highbury 1 finish 3rd in the Promo League (despite an excellent 16 - 8 win over the eventually promoted Bearsted) and 4th in the Regional League, a good result given a new coach and a whole host of new players in the squad.
Highbury 2 finished 3rd in LKA 2 despite being in contention to win the league with 2 games remaining, and Highbury 3 went on a 5 match unbeaten run to secure 6th place (including a 9-goal game from new signing Tom Rich).
Highbury 4 finished 8th in LKA 3 but with many new players getting experience. With the new influx Highbury have entered a 5th team into the league for 2016-17
2016–2017.
Rich Hayward continued as chair for one more year. Steph Watson (née Allen) continued in the role of head coach, with Darryl Light and Rosie Oxenbury becoming the development coaches.
The club again trained in Finsbury Park in the summer, having forged a close link with The Finsbury pub which provided both a location to store equipment and the post training social venue.
The Petchey Academy remained home for both squad and club training, with Highbury 1 playing their Promotion League fixtures in Trinity School of John Whitgift due to size restrictions.
This season marked the first full season for Highbury 5 competing in London League 3.
Highbury 1 finish 3rd in the Promo League, missing out in the final game of the league and 3rd in the Regional League, an improvement on the previous year.
Highbury 2 finished 2nd in LKA 2 after finishing equal on points to rivals Supernova 2 but behind on head to head results, and Highbury 3 finished in 5th improving on the 6th-place finish from the year before.
Highbury 4 finished 2nd in LKA 3B and promise to be pushing for promotion next season, with Highbury 5 finishing 4th in the same league.
2017–2018.
James Sipthorpe (formerly Development) is elected chair. Steph Watson (née Allen) is on maternity leave so Toby Clarke (of Trojans Korfball Club) is the coach for the squad for this season, with Darryl Light and Rosie Oxenbury continuing as the development coaches. Helen Gilmore is appointed as the club coach for both the 5th team and beginners, utilising her experience with new players having set up Essex Blades (the korfball club of the University of Essex).
The club trained in Finsbury Park in the summer and found success in many outdoor tournaments including winning in Bristol, runners up in Leicester and coming 3rd in an international tournament in Nitra, in Slovakia.
All teams continues to train at the Petchey Academy with expanded sessions for the development squad every week, meaning that the club is now running 3 sessions per week at the venue.
A very successful season for the club as Highbury 1 finish 1st in the Promo League and headed to the Copper Box for promotion playoffs against Bristol Thunder, Manchester Warriors and Norwich City. Despite winning their first two games, a loss to Manchester Warriors in the final game