Bath Eights returns this weekend with 40th anniversary edition

The annual Bath Eights competition returns to Bath Lacrosse Club’s Odd Down Sports Ground this weekend with its men’s tournament celebrating its 40th anniversary.

The ninth edition of the women’s competition will take place alongside the men’s tournament with almost 60 teams taking part.

When Bath Lacrosse Club held its first Bath Eights men’s competition in September 1986, Margaret Thatcher was seven years into an 11-year stint as Prime Minister, Catchphrase had just started on ITV, and GCSEs were about to replace O Levels (what a time to be alive!).

The most important fact about 1986, however, is that Low Profilers, a touring team from Sheffield that eventually became Sheffield Steelers, secured the inaugural Bath Eights title, the first of four victories in the space of six years.

Since that first competition and aside from a year out due to the pandemic in 2020, the Bath Eights has become an ever-present in the lacrosse calendar, traditionally taking place the weekend before the season begins.

Cheadle of Greater Manchester are the most successful side in the competition’s history with six titles, five of which have been won since 2012.

They’re closely followed by local rivals Timperley and Wilmslow who sit on five trophies, Timperley’s last title coming in 2021 and Wilmslow’s in 2015.

Geographically, teams from the north of England have performed better in the Bath Eights men’s competition than teams from the south with 34 of the 39 titles won so far claimed by that region.

No team from the south of the country has won more than a single title with Hillcroft, Kenton, Spencer, and reigning champions Reading Wildcats all on one title each; Stuttgart are the only non-English team to have lifted the trophy after a famous victory back in 2011.

In 2017, Bath added a women’s tournament to the event for the first time which was won by Stockport; since then, however, teams from the south of England have the upper hand, winning all but one title since.

Last year, Cirencester became the first team to retain the trophy and are currently the most successful side in the competition’s history with two titles.

Matches begin at 10am on Saturday with spectators welcome to attend free of charge.