AT LEAST SEVEN BRIGG HOCKEY TEAMS WILL BE PLAYING AT THE REC GROUND

 

With Brigg Town Cricket Club playing its last game of the season at the Recreation Ground this afternoon (Saturday, August 28) from 1pm, thoughts are now turning to winter sports.
Briggensians Football Club have introduced a Reserves side to play in the Scunthorpe & District League on Saturdays alongside its well-established first team, while the Black Bull pub, on Wrawby Street, will have a presence in the local Sunday competition for the first time in many years.
Brigg Hockey Club, based at the Rec, has just furnished us with its fixture list for the 2021/22 season, which starts in September.
There will be four men's sides and three ladies' teams playing league games. There's also provision on the fixture list for a ladies' 4th X1 but no matches have yet been assigned.
The hockey club can take advantage of the very impressive all-weather floodlit pitch made available a few years ago by North Lincolnshire Council, together with a new changing room block with showers and other facilities.
The so-called 'Blue Astro' can accommodate a string of games each day, using staggered start times.
The first hockey matches are pencilled in for Saturday, September 18.
The men's first team will welcome Sheffield University Bankers to the Rec for a 2pm start, while the 4ths will take on Louth 2nds at 3.30pm.
The ladies' first team are due to host Leeds Adel 2nds at 12.30pm, with the 3rds taking on Louth 2nds from 11am.
It's very pleasing to see four Brigg teams using the pitch on the opening day.
Brigg Rec had three grass pitches in the 1980s but didn't see more than three afternoon games on a Saturday, and often only two - starting at the same time.
The Brigg men's first team fixture list shows there will be plenty of travelling involved for local players going to away fixtures and for visiting sides coming to the Rec.
Sides in Brigg's division include Whitley Bay Tynemouth, Stockton, Durham University, Newcastle University and Chesterfield. The nearest team to Brigg is Lindum (Lincoln).
Brigg 3rds and 4ths will be less widely-travelled, taking on a number of fellow Lincoln sides including Leadenham, Alford, Grimsby, Horncastle and Lindum.

Brigg Hockey Club can trace its (grass) roots right back to 1920 when the first team was established in the town.