Derbyshire hockey team relive famous giantkilling cup win at 20 year reunion - one of the Dales’ greatest ever sporting triumphs

The players and coaches who were part of the Matlock Baileans squad of 2003 donned their old tracksuits to celebrate once again at Wirksworth Cricket Club on Saturday, May 13.

Having dug out their medals, memorabilia and scrapbooks for the occasion, the two intervening decades felt like nothing as they recalled the nail-biting final in Norfolk where they defeated the heavy favourites Hampstead and Westminster by two goals to nil.

Wirksworth resident Jane Proctor, who only recently hung up her boots, said: “A lot of the players in that squad still play, and by and large everyone’s still in touch even though some have moved away.

“A couple of people were missing, but it was quite extraordinary to be in the same room though, and brilliant fun. Because the tracksuits had our names on, most hadn’t gone to the charity shop. We laughed all night and those 20 years just slipped away. ”

Coach Jon Barry, who lives in Bonsall, said: “It seemed more like five minutes ago. Not a day goes by when I don’t think of what we achieved. I still have the replica trophy and team photos up in my house.”

At the time, the National Trophy was the the biggest knockout tournament in the English women’s game – the equivalent of football’s FA Cup – and Baileans were minnows compared to each opponent they faced.

Jane said: “Matlock doesn’t compare to any of the big hitters, most of which are down south. There was no way we were meant to win. It was a complete one-off. Hampstead and Westminster are leagues above us now. We played way above our level all through the competition and beat Sheffield on penalties in the semi-final.

“At the time, all the big matches were played on water-based artificial turf, and we’d only got a sand-based local pitch a couple of years before, so we had to travel to Nottingham to practice. We trained so hard, it was a really big build-up. None of us ever considered that we could lose, we were all so focused and so together.”

Tongue firmly in cheek, Jon said: “Some of the players asked me to become coach in 1998. I’d played with the men’s team and done all these coaching courses. I wanted to put that into practice.

“I’d seen the women play and they had potential. I thought it would take three months to mould the unfittest, unhealthiest most unskilled bunch of individuals I’d ever met. It took me three years.

“I look at photos of when I took over and they were a real ragtag bunch. They used to go out partying on Friday nights and think they could still play on Saturday morning, I suggested they go out on Saturday night instead. By the time of the cup final, they really looked the business. I felt proud of how we turned them around.”

He added: “One of the big things in the beginning was that the squad was divided into three or four cliques. They never all got on with each other. So one of my biggest tasks was to break that down.

“My main tactic was to unite them all in not liking me, and that worked to perfection. One day in training someone reared up at me, then they all had a go. It was fantastic.”

There was a defiant team spirit which carried them all the way to the title, with their final opponents making the fatal error of underestimating them.

Having travelled down separately from a family funeral the previous day, Jon stayed up late in his hotel room, picking the team from videos of the final training session led by pregnant captain Marie Cowie.

There was another video before the match, as Jon played the squad a scenes from the film Gladiator, in which Russell Crowe leads his fellow fighters into combat.

Jon said: “The speech is all about sticking together and teamwork, then at the end he shouts ‘strength and honour’. All of the players were out of their seats shouting it too. I was worried they were too psyched up. It was so scary I can still see it now. I thought they might kill someone.”

There were other sources of inspiration too, according to Jane: “We took a coach-load of supporters there and it was when we saw them arrive that it really hit home how big a deal this was. It was quite emotional.

“While our supporters were in the clubhouse bar, they saw some of the opposition putting champagne in the fridge ready for when they won. We weren’t going to let that happen.

“During the game, their supporters were awful too, just really verbally unpleasant. I only got on the pitch because the abuse got too much for one of our younger players. For me, it was like red rag to a bull.”

The highly-charged atmosphere saw Baileans’ Sally Baddley sin-binned and the rest struggling for a foothold in the game until Jon turned to a secret weapon.

He said: “We had a weakened squad for the final due to injuries, but that gave a chance to Ellie Watton. She was only 13 at the time. Everyone told me I couldn’t put her on, saying it would destroy her confidence for life, but she had really good skills and I thought she could get away with anything. She couldn’t do any worse than the rest of them.”

Ashover-raised Ellie was joined on the scoresheet by the team’s other youngest player, Nicky Bowler. The two had bunked off school to play and had to explain all to staff at Highfields when they appeared on the front page of the Matlock Mercury the following week.

Ellie would go on to represent England and Great Britain, winning medals at two Commonwealth Games, before becoming a PE teacher at the prestigious Rugby School.

Following the final, the team were greeted with a civic reception at Matlock Town Hall, and while the party died down eventually the bonds forged on that cup run remain strong.

Jane said: “Matlock Baileans has always been a brilliant club in terms of friendships, and even though I’ve stopped playing I’m still involved in the club and go out walking with ex-teammates all the time. It was a really special thing to be part of.”

Jon said: “I think we lost two games in that whole year, and the players’ hard work and commitment that year was also rewarded with promotion to the Midlands premier league. Then they sacked me.

“We had a team meeting to set parameters for the new season, and one of the players put their hand up to complain about my substitutions policy. One by one, they all joined in. It became completely untenable.”

After taking over the Baileans men’s team eight years ago, Jon can still see the legacy of that winning squad around the club though.

He said: “The player have stuck close together as a unit, and I can still see my philosophy in those who are playing and coaching: fitness, focus, organisation and commitment.

“But Hampstead and Westminster are now in the very top national division – most London teams have rich investors now, it’s a sad state of affairs – while Baileans women are exactly where they were then. I like to rub that in whenever I bump into them.”

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