Day 1 of the 2016 MacRobert Invitational Lacrosse Tournament, a two-day festival of lacrosse set to be the biggest ever as teams from all over the UK descend on Peffermill Playing Fields in Edinburgh.
Today’s action features the men’s and women’s tournaments, the group stages and semi-finals running in parallel throughout the day on pitches near the grandstand. The MacRobert Invitational finals will then take place on the main grandstand pitch – which last year hosted Canada versus USA in the final of FIL Rathbones U19 World Championship- with the women’s final at 4.30pm followed by the men’s final at 5.15pm.
Women’s tournament
Format: The women’s tournament will take the form of 2 groups. Within each group it will take form of a round robin (all-play-all). Two semi-finals will then be played (1st in Group A vs 2nd in Group B & 2nd in Group A vs 1st in Group B). The winners of these two matches will then contest a final.
Teams in Group A: Norwegian All-Stars, Leeds Penguins Blue, Timperley Lacrosse, Edinburgh Capital and St University.
Teams in Group B: Scotland U19, London Blues, Edinburgh University and Leeds Penguins Yellow.
Men’s tournament
Format: The men’s tournament will take the form of a round robin (all-play-all) competition between six teams. Each team will play a total of 5 matches at least. Two semi-finals will then take place depending on the table standings (1st vs 4th, 2nd vs 3rd). This will then be followed by a final on the grandstand pitch by the winners of these two fixtures.
Teams: Scotland International, Strathclyde University, Stirling University, Lacrosse The Pond, Edinburgh City and Edinburgh University.
For a full rundown of the timings for all the MacRobert Invitational matches taking place on Saturday check out the Lacrosse Scotland guide, page 5-7.
Taster sessions – try your hand at lacrosse! There will be young-persons taster sessions taking place between 12 noon-3pm for both Lacrosse and Shinty (The Camanachd Association). All young people involved will get an hour of lacrosse and an hour of shinty followed by short sided games. The first hour will take place on Astro 2 between a men’s break. 1-3pm will then be on Astro 2.
Food and drink – The Café at Peffermill Sports Complex will be open, overlooking the pitches. Hot/cold food and drinks will be able to be purchased throughout the day. On Saturday evening the Edinburgh University Men and their Sponsor Pub, The Tron, are hosting a MacRobert Invitational social from 7pm after the men’s and women’s tournament. The address is: The Tron Bar, 9 Hunter Square, Edinburgh EH1 1QW
Matches start at 10am.
Admission is on the day: free entry to all spectators!
The MacRobert Invitational action continues on Sunday 8th May from 10am with a mixed tournament and men’s national squad scrimmage.