Korfball “is better than sex!”

Last weekend, Leeds University Korfball Club was proud to play host to the Northern Regional qualifiers for the BUCS National Korfball Finals.
Despite extreme weather conditions and stranded minibuses, nine university squads from the North of Britain arrived at The Edge for an intense day of Korfball.
The Leeds team began the morning with a convincing performance against an experienced Edinburgh team. A narrow 4-3 defeat was no disgrace to the Leeds team. The hosts struggled to turn around their fortunes throughout the morning however.
Facing strong opposition in the form of St. Andrews (Northern winners 2009) and the University of Sheffield (National winners 2010), Leeds struggled against the former champions.
Nevertheless, after lunch Leeds demonstrated true competitive sprit to come back from a disappointing defeat to Manchester as they put in some strong team performances to beat Keele, and Lancaster, and secure a close but well fought victory over archrivals Sheffield Hallam.
Throughout the day, Leeds defence was particularly strong, with their major downfall being the final execution of shots on goal. The final positions saw Nottingham finish first overall on the day, followed by the University of Sheffield in second place, with Leeds placing a respectable seventh.
As the top eight qualify for the Nationals in the New Year, Leeds have an opportunity to compete against the some of the best Korfball sides in the country.
In spite of their final placing, an improving Leeds display left them just 2 points away from fourth place. Considering the presence of some talented international players in the competing teams, it was a pleasing result.
A further positive was Leeds player Rachel Long, who was awarded joint winner of the MVP of the day, a just reward for her enthusiastic performances throughout the tournament.
Leeds Captain, Tom Goodhew led by example, finishing top scorer in the team for the day. Tom commented on his team’s performance: ‘In view of our newly formed team and the considerable experience of our opponents, the results were fair. Once consistency in our play is achieved; we have the potential to threaten at Nationals’.
The tournament brought significant interest in the Dutch sport, one spectator, Leeds second year Catherine Noonan said: ‘Even without any knowledge of korfball, it was interesting and exciting to watch. I may even go along to their next give it go session to try it for myself as I have heard it is better than sex!’.
Saturday’s competition, organised in conjunction with the British Student Korfball Association, establishes the legitimacy of Korfball as an alternative to more familiar team sports. It is a highly competitive, mixed sex, fun university sport.