If you are looking for a sunny weekend filled with great lacrosse then Wilmslow Lacrosse Club in Styal is the place to be this Bank Holiday weekend.
The Nick Kehoe Championship is without doubt one of the tournaments to be a part of, no matter whether you are a player, coach, official or a spectator.
In the late 90s, Nick Kehoe was Yorkshire President, ELA President Elect and had been the England Lacrosse team Doctor for many years. A keen volunteer & a massive servant to the game he loved.
Amongst many of his successes, Nick negotiated the merger between the men's and women's games and was instrumental in developing the old County Championship into what became the British National Championship and is now the Tournament that bears his name.
Few will remember but the England County Championship took place over 3 Sundays prior to Christmas between Cheshire, Lancashire, South & Yorkshire. The games had 25 minute quarters & seemed to last forever!
In 1991 the event moved to Hyde United over a single weekend on their all weather surface. This proved so popular that the format was adopted by the ELA and the counties thereafter
In 1998 Nick Kehoe asked Wilmslow Lacrosse Club to host the May Day Bank Holiday weekend tournament. It was now called the "British National Championships" as it included Scotland & Wales to aid their development. Scotland actually won that year.
It was so successful, Nick asked if Wilmslow Lacrosse could host the event again before he left for a hill walking holiday in Scotland. That was the last time anybody in Lacrosse saw Nick as he tragically died in an accident climbing the Munroes. The terrible news of his death being announced during the Annual Dinner taking place at Rochdale Lacrosse the Friday after the BNC.
Nick was a very talented leader & administrator and his untimely death was a great loss to the sport.
The tournament has been hosted by Wilmslow Lacrosse ever since & annually takes place on May Day Bank Holiday weekend.
With the expansion of European lacrosse, entries were received from Eire, Belgium, Spain and Switzerland, the tournament changed title to honor Nick's name & make it truly International.
That’s why you play for the Nick Kehoe Trophy @ Wilmslow.
Many players over the past 26 years have benefited from being part of the BNC/NKI & they have Nick Kehoe’s vision to thank for that experience
Good luck to all teams, hope for good weather & have another great NKI
This year sees 12 men's teams competing with the return of South's 2nd team & also Welsh Universities. Both back for the first time since the Pandemic.
England U20s will be using the tournament as practice for their defence of the European Trophy in Wroclaw, Poland in July. They will have their work cut out for them as a strong North West defend the Nick Kehoe Trophy again. North West have dominated this competition for the past 7 or 8 years since combining the old Cheshire & Lancashire regions.
South are always in the mix & English Universities are looking to show how Uni Lax has improved over recent years.
Yorkshire are another competitive team to watch & have been Championship finalists previously, winning the Trophy in 2014
Scotland have entered 2 teams & bring a big squad offering a showcase for all their players to take on "The Old Enemy"!
Eire, Midlands & Wales Dragons make up the rest of the NKI24 men's complement.
There is also a women's tournament on the Sunday only with Eire, North, Mersey Lions & Scotland competing against one another. The women's competition starts at 10.00am with their Final at approx 3.00pm
The men's game schedule is hectic with 3 games at a time on Saturday starting at 10.00am with the Prelims & then the Divisionals commencing at 1.30pm after lunch. The games will finish approx 5.00pm.
The results from Saturday's games split the men's teams into 3 "Final 4s" on the Sunday starting at 9.30am with the Development competition, the middle group play for the Plate with the top 4 teams battling it out for the Nick Kehoe Trophy itself scheduled for approx 3.00pm
The weather this season has been abysmal & badly affected the domestic lacrosse season. There will be plenty of fast flowing Lax at Wilmslow this Bank Holiday weekend so come on down & fill your boots!
NICK KEHOE INTERNATIONAL 2024 – SATURDAY 4 MAY & SUNDAY 5 MAY FINAL PLAYING SCHEDULE
(3 FIELDS)
CONFERENCE ‘A’ |
CONFERENCE ‘B’ |
CONFERENCE ‘C’ |
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APPROX TIME |
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ASTROTURF PITCH |
GRASS PITCH 1
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GRASS PITCH 2
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SATURDAY 10.00 |
PRELIMS (2 x 12 MINS) |
North West v Scotland White |
Dragons v South |
Scotland Blue v Midlands |
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10.30 |
PRELIMS (2 x 12 MINS) |
Yorkshire v Welsh Unis |
English Unis v Eire |
South Dev v England U20s |
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11.00 |
PRELIMS (2 x 12 MINS) |
Midlands v South Dev |
Dragons v Eire |
South v English Unis |
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11.40 |
PRELIMS (2 x 12 MINS) |
Scotland Blue v England U20s |
Welsh Unis v North West |
Yorkshire v Scotland White |
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12.10 |
PRELIMS (2 x 12 MINS) |
English Unis v Dragons |
England U20s v Midlands |
South Dev v Scotland Blue |
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12.40 |
PRELIMS (2 x 12 MINS) |
Eire v South |
North West v Yorkshire |
Scotland White v Welsh Unis |
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1.30 |
DIVISIONAL (2 x 15 MINS) |
7th v 9th (Plate A) |
2nd v 6th (Championship B) |
8th v 10th (Plate B) |
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2.15
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DIVISIONAL (2 x 15 MINS) |
12th v 8th (Plate B) |
1st v 5th (Championship A) |
11th v 7th (Plate A) |
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3.30 |
DIVISIONAL (2 x 15 MINS) |
9th v 11th (Plate A) |
5th v 3rd (Championship A) |
6th v 4th (Championship B) |
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4.15 |
DIVISIONAL (2 x 15 MINS) |
10th v 12th (Plate B) |
4th v 2nd (Championship B) |
3rd v 1st (Championship A) |
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SUNDAY (APPROX TIME) |
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ASTROTURF |
GRASS PITCH 1
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GRASS PITCH 2
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9.30 |
ROUND 1 FINAL 4s (2 X 20 MINS) |
1 v 4 (Development A) |
2 v 3 (Development B) |
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10.30 |
ROUND 2 FINAL 4s (2 X 20 MINS) |
1 v 4 (Plate A) |
2 v 3 (Plate B) |
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11.30 |
ROUND 3 FINAL 4s (2 X 20 MINS) |
1 v 4 (Championship A) |
2 v 3 (Championship B) |
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1.00 |
DEVELOPMENT FINALS (2 X 20 MINS) |
Winner B v Winner A (Development) |
Loser B v Loser A (Development) |
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2.00 |
PLATE FINALS (2 X 20 MINS) |
Winner B v Winner A (Plate) |
Loser B v Loser A (Plate) |
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3.00 |
CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS (2 x 20 MINS) |
Winner B v Winner A (Championship) |
Loser B v Loser A (Championship) |
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Previous “British National Champions” & winners of the Nick Kehoe Trophy
1998 Scotland
1999 Cheshire
2000 Cheshire
2001 Cheshire
2002 Wales
2003 England U19
2004 Lancashire
2005 Scotland
2006 Cheshire
2007 Cheshire
2008 Cheshire
2009 Lancashire
2010 Cheshire
2011 Lancashire
2012 Cheshire
2013 NW - East
2014 Yorkshire
2015 North West
2016 North West
2017 North West
2018 South
2019 North West
2020 Cancelled – Covid 19
2021 Not contested – Covid 19
2022 North West
2023 North West
2024 ????????