There is a very special showcase of the future of school sports taking place this Thursday, as Gordon’s School hosts Wellington College in Rugby, Football, Netball and Hockey, all live on Gordon’s very own channel, powered by NextGenLive. Feast your eyes on our AI broadcast technology in full flow across these separate sports, or enjoy our first-class, fully manual coverage of the rugby, with kick off at 2 pm.
Wellington College is a sporting powerhouse, and has been for several years, but heading to Gordon’s will be a different challenge, drawing upon a plethora of fine athletes from across the South East, Reading and London, and their partnership with Harlequins making them a force on the rugby field. Head to www.gordonsschool.tv to catch all the action and browse their purpose-built platform for all the games. Grab a cuppa. This one’s going to be a fairly long read.
RUGBY
First, let’s discuss the visitors and what they might have to offer in their last block before Christmas. Wellington College rugby is perhaps having the strongest season out of any of the 4 teams on show, as they can lay a claim to being the very best team in the nation this year. 16 games played, 13 wins, just 3 losses. A title at the St Joseph’s College Festival, their first in 6 years, and statement wins against Sedbergh School, another candidate for team of the year, and national cup Semi-finalist Whitgift. Their three losses were also coin-tosses, losing all three games by a margin of 3 points or less, to Clifton College, Millfield and most recently, Brighton, in the south coast’s best result of the season. They have been outstanding and will cherish the rare opportunity to face off against ACE opponents.
Although it is the Boars, Gordon’s Saturday side, that Wellington are scheduled to play this Thursday, the end of the ACE season might encourage some of their fully fledged first teamers from the ACE program to brace the Cage for this special clash. The Boars have still pulled off some results of merit on their own this season, however, with 4 wins in their last 4 games, beating Windsor Boys, Latymer Upper, St Paul’s and Tiffin’s. They were beaten by Seaford, who are live with NextGen on Tuesday, but if they do call upon some of the squad that ended up finishing third overall as defending champions in the ACE league, they will be a major challenge to the visitor.. The game will be live on the NextGenLiveYouTubee channel or at Gordonssports.tv at 2 p.m
FOOTBALL
Football at Gordons is fairly massive. They have 42 teams competing this season across the school, and Matt Nash, the former Chelsea and Brentford player, heads up a highly qualified coaching team. It hasn’tt been a perfect season for them, they had to wait until October for their first win of the year, although their early games did include teams like Lancing – a name anyone familiar with school football will recognise. Although beaten by Wellington in that early season stretch, they are undefeated in 3, beating Emanuel school, St George’s, Weybridge and Winchester boys by the same scoreline as Thursday’s opponents – it should be a very good game.
In football, Wellington College has a flourishing football program, overseen by their first-ever director of Football, Stu Widdowson. Having coached the side since 2018, he stepped into a directorial role in 2024, and the program has gone from strength to strength under Widdoson, who has coached as far as China and New Zealand. And his side should be confident coming into this fixture, having beaten Gordons 3-1 at the beginning of a season in which they have won 11 of their 18 games, and scored 50 goals. They had some real success in the ISFA, beating St Edward’s, Epsom after extra time, and St Alleyn’s 2-0, before falling in the fourth round to Eton – a respectable run. Another clean sheet in a 2-0 over Winchester College on Saturday will stand them in good stead against the men in green.
The game will go out live on gordonsschool.tv at 2 p.m.
NETBALL
Gordon’s takes Netball very seriously and has had several excellent alumni in the sport. Eboni Usoro-Brown (nee Beckford-Chambers) is an internationally recognised netball star, and more recently, Jayda Pechova is one of the brightest prospects in Netball today, also starring for Team Bath like her fellow Old Gordonian before moving to Nottingham Forest. This season, Gordon’s were excellent over both legs of the ISL, also live on NextGen, and will be heading to the championship playoffs in January. A massive 48-29 victory of Epsom also saw them progress to the next round of the national cup, and they are in excellent form.
Netball Wellington is always strong, and this season is no different. Amy Flanagan, the 4x Superleague champion, is closing in on 5 years at the very helm of Wellington Netball, and they have already had a lot of success on the early-season circuit. At Gordon’s own tournament back in September, Wellington went undefeated in the group stages, even beating the hosts on their way to a semi-final, before losing out to Brighton College. They then took on Gordons again, drawing 41-all in an absolute classic that we would love to see a repeat of come Thursday. In the Sisters’ in Sport National Cup, they have almost strolled into the 4th round. They got revenge on Brighton in round 1, squeezed past Hurspierpoint in round 2, but were comfortable winners over a very talented St Swithuns side in round 3 last week. There will be fierce competition, but we are hoping for a half as contestable a tie as last time.
The game will be available in full after the match is recorded at Gordon’s School, and it will be available via gordonsschool.tv
Hockey
It has been a very busy, but very successful season for Gordon’s Girls in Hockey. Two big tournament wins at the LW7s and the Tormead 6-aside invitational complemented deep runs into the regional and national cup. A loss to Latymer in the 4th round of the national cup was a tough result to take after great wins against top teams like Charterhouse and Tormead themselves. The third round of the national plate against Eltham, which could be a season-defining fixture, has been postponed til after Thursday’s big game against Wellington, and the hosts will fancy themselves.
Hockey is always a bit of a minefield to navigate in terms of fixtures played, but Wellington has had another decent season. Rob Farrington, of the prestigious Surbiton Hockey Club, has overseen some bright moments for this season’s Girls team. A win at the regional indoor tournament would have kept Farrington happy as a former national indoor champion himself, whilst the weekend’s 4-0 win over Marlborough will instil some confidence into the girls. In fact, Wellington has only lost twice since the end of September, and would love to finish the calendar year on a high.
This game, like the netball, will be available after recording on gordonsschool.tv
Gordon’s School vs Wellington College: Thursday 11th December: Football, Hockey, Netball, Rugby | All LIVE on www.gordonsschool.tv
