The Banks Hockey Festival is said to begin with the first rains of the season, but the weather never lasts long and neither the players nor the fans seem to mind! The nineteen year history of the hockey festival is a major event for our country - so much so that the local season breaks for the week. All of our local players head to the fields to cheer on their favorite teams.

The festival lasts for a week and includes mens, ladies, mixed and mens veterans competitive streams. Far-flung hockey teams have included New York Islanders, Slough, Sandy Bottoms, Aardvards, Southampton, Riverside, Titan Hockey Umpire Club from England and Deventer A and Schaerweijde from Holland. Old friends from other Caribbean countries are frequent visitors as well.

The first and final games take place in our world class facility and famous cricket pitch of Kensington Oval. The matches throughout the week are at fields all over the island. Many of the games leading up to the finale are on grass, dinosaurs to the modern game. But the last match takes place on Astroturf, ensuring that the only thing impeding the players’ performance is the evening spent in the beach bar the night before! 

The high energy of a Barbados hockey match is a thing to behold. Fans will wear their team colours to the pub as well as to the sidelines, and the jocular air of a sports bar after the match is always fuelled by good-humour. The high energy of our fans and will carry the party long into the warm tropical evening. 

Won't you join us?


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