Greif Masters 2011 poster
Over the weekend of Australia’s first national Bench Minor tournament, Karlsruhe in Germany held a European Bench Minor tournament called Greif Masters. This is the second year Karlsruhe has hosted a European tournament and the first European Bench Minor. Countries were invited and selected teams based on individual skill or were playing ‘lines’ of 2 to 3 of their top national teams for choice combinations. See below for the nine countries representing.
France impressed and took out the final against the past dominating Swiss. The final rankings are below or at this link on the Greif Masters website:
| Rank | Team name | Points | won | lost | draw | goal difference | goals | goals against | games played |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1.) | France | 27 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 117 | 60 | 9 |
| 2.) | Switzerland | 21 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 31 | 112 | 81 | 9 |
| 3.) | Spain | 18 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 32 | 104 | 72 | 8 |
| 4.) | Germany | 15 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 23 | 90 | 67 | 8 |
| 5.) | London | 10 | 3 | 4 | 1 | -17 | 71 | 88 | 8 |
| 6.) | England | 7 | 2 | 5 | 1 | -10 | 75 | 85 | 8 |
| 7.) | Benelux | 7 | 2 | 5 | 1 | -42 | 54 | 96 | 8 |
| 8.) | Italy | 3 | 1 | 7 | 0 | -50 | 53 | 103 | 8 |
| 9.) | Karlsruhe | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | -24 | 48 | 72 | 8 |
While we are waiting for more photos and videos (which will be posted ASAP), take time to check out the Greif Masters website, especially to see how amazingly legit it is becoming. Marco from Roma Bike Polo put together the best trophy I’ve seen so far. The photos and an awesome video of it’s making are below, or can be seen on the Roma blog.
Greif Masters 2011 trophy