Hoylake Red Rocks 17 v 10 Tranmere Lions

Report by Rob Marland (West Wirral Snakehips – @WWSnakehips)

Red Rocks – R. Marland, P. Marland, Birss

Lions – Marshall, P. Devlin, C. Devlin

The Tranmere Lions may well have been the only team with no prior volfsball experience, but they certainly looked the ticket in their full purple and white kits. They had also proven themselves naturals during practice, when team captain Chris Marshall connected on his first volfsball attempt while Charlie Devlin, the youngest player in the tournament and evidently a genius at some obscure sport called ‘football’, accurately targeted the prism with kicks. But the first quarter of this match between the Lions and Red Rocks failed to live up to expectations, with both teams misfiring. The highlight was undoubtedly Devlin’s early one-pointer, a powerful fireball evidence that the rookie boasted a right arm to rival those of volfsball veterans Dan Louw and Thom Tuck. But mostly this quarter was an embarrassment to all concerned.

The second quarter was even worse, with both team captains embarrassingly impotent. Charlie Devlin was the only player on form, scoring and blocking shots with ease. The half ended 6-1 to the Lions.

The team from Tranmere entered the second half with some aggressive play, forcing Phil Birss of the Red Rocks to block two shots with his nethers. Great passing play by the father/son team of Charlie and Paul Devlin ended in a whip-fast score for Devlin Jr. Both teams defended well but missed their low-percentage shots; by the end of the third quarter the spectators were baying for volfsballs.

Their prayers were answered. The fourth opened with a volfsball for Phil Marland, the man behind the world’s second volfsball stand. His older, balder brother followed up with a second volfsball and Birss notched up a spectacular ‘splits’ one-pointer, rocketing the Red Rocks to their first victory, 17-10.