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Catch up with all the latest sports news from across the county with Finn Macdiarmid.
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00:26Hello and welcome along to Invicta Sport,
00:29the only show on your TV dedicated to wrapping up all of Kent's sporting action.
00:33I'm Finn McDermott and here's what you can expect on this Monday 11th May.
00:38Jill's Journeyman, one Gillingham fan, completed his visit to all 92 English stadiums.
00:45Keep Your Head in the Game, a charity across Kent, raises awareness of mental fitness.
00:51And getting a steal for it, I head to Canterbury to try out medieval combat.
00:58But before that, a run-up of your headlines.
01:00Gillingham has been keeping their eye out for a promising young talent who looks to be a free agent in
01:04the very near future.
01:07They've been linked with Callum Stead in a move that would see the 26-year-old join the squad after
01:11an impactful performance against them,
01:13previously scoring six goals against the side in just one game.
01:16But they'll see competition. Leighton Orient has also been linked, but the move to Gillingham had been proposed in January
01:22with nothing coming of it.
01:24We'll see this summer if it will materialise.
01:27Now, with contracts coming up soon, Ebb's Fleet United manager Josh Wright is patiently waiting to find out if a
01:33number of players will stay on with the club.
01:35Top players like Dominic Samuel, Charlie Seaman and four others have all been offered new contracts that would extend their
01:41stay at the South Division side.
01:43However, Josh Wright holds out hope as he says no one has moved on or declined any offers as of
01:48yet, adding they have to go away and take their time.
01:50But at the moment, all six of those could quite comfortably stay, with negotiations still ongoing.
01:57Now, cricket and Bristol saw the second innings as Akash Sin and James Taylor both helped Kent reduce Gloucestershire to
02:04251-9.
02:07The game saw bowler James Taylor on loan from Surrey, who was a key man when it came to the
02:11points.
02:12As well as that, Akash Sin was also vital, saying the key for us today was to stick together as
02:17a bowling unit and not go searching for wickets too much when they built partnerships.
02:21Kent's next game is in a few days as they face Durham on the 15th, wishing them good luck.
02:27Moving on now to some rugby with the Kent League Premier Division recently, including defending champions Tunbridge Wells.
02:35Apologies, I should say this is actually cricket.
02:37Tunbridge Wells won with an impressive 10 runs on Saturday at Sevenoaks Vine.
02:41The win saw New Zealand player Danru Ferns was one of the standouts that saw Tunbridge Wells walk away with
02:46the win.
02:47Other games saw wins for Blackheath, Bexley, Hayes and Bromley, with Blackheath's win over Whitspool being particularly notable.
02:53They won a huge 76 runs over the newly promoted side.
02:58Now to rugby. Canterbury Rugby Club are celebrating big after a 95-0 win over Oxford Harlequins on Saturday.
03:04Head coach Matt Corker showing gratitude to their opponents.
03:08The win saw the conclusion of their National League 2 East campaign and saw Oxford relegated.
03:13The game came after a delay in which a meningitis outbreak saw the game push back from March.
03:17Although not their strongest, Oxford did have just enough players for the match to go ahead.
03:21That led Matt Corker to say the overwhelming emotion is thanks to Oxford for putting a team out.
03:27And Stuart Hill saw massive success at the historic Monaco Grand Prix with the Kings Hill native as he took
03:33his, sorry, as he upped his win tally over the period.
03:37He saw victories in the McLaren M23 and the Rothsmans March 8-2-1.
03:41Hall saw success in all sessions.
03:44With some tough competition, he toppled five-time Le Mans winner Marco Werner in order to take the Grand Prix.
03:50He said, it's a very special place for me. We had a great weekend finishing with two wins. The team
03:55did a fantastic job as always.
03:57Hall is looking to continue his success this July at the Le Mans Classic.
04:01The Ramsgate Youth Club has become part of Ramsgate FC after spending 20 years separated.
04:08The non-league club's chairman, James Lawson, has called this a positive step going forward, with a key member of
04:13the youth club, Ian Syvet, stepping away after three decades.
04:17Phil Adams is another key member who's secured the long-term future of Walton Road, seen as an important part
04:22of the club's youth provision.
04:24The chairman said Ian and Phil have built something that genuinely matters in the local community, and our role now
04:29is to carry that forward.
04:30And that his contribution to local football cannot be overstated.
04:34Now, for many Gillingham fans, this season has been one to forget.
04:37But for Kevin, this campaign marks a historic first for him. He's managed to complete the 92 Challenge.
04:43For those who don't know, once you've watched a game at all of the 92 stadiums in professional English football,
04:49from the Premier League down to League Two, you've completed the challenge.
04:51And I'm pleased to say that Kevin joins me now. Thank you so much for joining us, Kevin.
04:56And I suppose my first question is, when did you realise you were getting close?
04:59When did it become a conscious decision that you were chasing that 92?
05:04Yeah, so I went to my first football match back in 1972.
05:09My uncle took me to watch Bristol City play against Queen's Park Rangers.
05:15And it was another five years before I went to watch a game at Gillingham in 1977.
05:20And I went with two other guys from school, both of whom have also done the 92.
05:27And that's been, you've got a picture up there of David and Michael who've also achieved the 92.
05:36David actually completed it back in, I think it was 2011.
05:42And we went to a game together at Burton Albion.
05:46Now at the time, I've been watching a few games and done a few away games with Gillingham.
05:52But I had no real idea that, you know, ultimately I would get to do the 92 as well.
05:59My focus at that time was very much just on watching the Gills and going to games.
06:06But in more recent years, as I've had a bit more time on my hands and I sort of started
06:13creeping up into the late 60s and early 70s
06:16and suddenly thought, well, actually, maybe I can do this.
06:19So it was probably about three or four seasons ago when I started looking at Gills away games
06:25and looking at games that were nearby on a corresponding day.
06:31So, for example, I did a few seasons ago, I did a game at Barrow on a Tuesday night
06:37and then went from one extreme to the other by watching Manchester City in the Champions League
06:43playing against FC Copenhagen on the Wednesday night and stayed up there and did that.
06:48So as I've started ticking them off and getting through to, you know, the harder ones to do,
06:55and most of these were up north, bear in mind, it became a bit more of an obsession
07:01and, you know, kind of got to the stage where you started thinking about, well, what, which ones are going
07:08to be the most tricky ones to do?
07:10And there were a few, there's a picture there, you've got one there of Anfield.
07:15That was when we played against, oh, sorry, Liverpool played against Barnsley.
07:21And that was something I did back in January this year.
07:25We was keeping an eye on the FA Cup third round games.
07:29And, you know, I had Liverpool and I had Manchester United to do.
07:33And that weekend, I think everything just sort of aligned because I managed to secure tickets for games at,
07:43well, I went to Manchester City on the Saturday, which was a ground I'd already done.
07:48But I saw a 10-1 game against Exeter, which was quite exciting.
07:52Then the following day, went to Manchester United against Brighton.
07:58And then on the Monday, went to see Liverpool play Barnsley.
08:02So that ticked off the three or two of the most difficult ones that I had left to do.
08:08Right.
08:08And as I said, the stars kind of aligned there because my local club here in Sussex, I live in
08:15Sussex now.
08:16I've moved away from Kent.
08:17So although I'm still a season ticket holder at Gillingham and I drive over, I do watch Horsham occasionally, which
08:22is my local club.
08:24And two or three seasons ago, they had a cup run where they got through to the first round of
08:28the FA Cup and they played at Barnsley.
08:32And it just so happened that you had to get the ticket to go up there to watch that game.
08:37Sorry to cut you off.
08:40We haven't got too much time left.
08:43I want to get through as much of your story as possible.
08:46I've got a bit of a sort of quiz for you.
08:48I'm going to fire a question at you.
08:49OK.
08:50And you're just going to tell me the stadium that you think of.
08:52OK, so first of all, furthest trip.
08:54What do you think was one of the furthest trips you took?
08:58So of the 92, probably Barrow or Newcastle.
09:03OK.
09:04Yeah.
09:04What was the unexpected good stadium?
09:08Was there one you didn't think it'd be great, but it turned out to be very good?
09:15Obviously, the Premier League grounds are pretty good.
09:19I think when you get into the championship, some of those, you know, I went to a game at Middlesbrough
09:24earlier in the season and actually enjoyed that as an atmosphere.
09:28It was a Friday night game and then we're playing Ipswich and it was a top of the table clash.
09:32I really enjoyed that one and thought it was a good stadium.
09:37So one, perhaps not at the top tier.
09:39I mean, I think if you talk about the Tottenham Hotspurs and the Evertons and the Anfields, they're all what
09:46we would call, you know, the gold plate, if you like, that other teams should aspire to.
09:52OK.
09:53Whereabouts had the best atmosphere?
09:58Yeah, over the years.
09:59I mean, you know, bear in mind, some of these go back a long time, but certainly recall a game
10:05at the Den, the New Den, where Jules beat Millwall, which was a pretty exciting atmosphere.
10:12Again, at the top clubs, some have been very good, enjoyed the atmosphere at Newcastle and Anfield.
10:20A bit disappointed with Old Trafford, actually.
10:23I thought Man United, I saw them play Brighton and was a bit disappointed in that one.
10:28But yeah, following the Jules, you know, I'd say that one at Millwall.
10:33I always enjoy a game at Portsmouth, Charlton, you know, where there's a bit of local rivalry of some sort
10:39there that makes it quite exciting as well.
10:42Amazing.
10:43And we haven't got much time, but with ticket prices increasing over the last few years, have you experienced that
10:49since you started watching football in the 70s, has it gotten harder to go and see these games?
10:54Do you think it might be harder in the future for younger fans?
10:56Absolutely. Yeah.
10:57I mean, as I mentioned earlier, when I got to the start of this season and we're looking at the
11:01grounds I had left to go to, it is very difficult to get tickets for some of the top premiership
11:07clubs.
11:08You know, and there are a number that we've had to do as away supporters.
11:13So I've already mentioned Newcastle, Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool and Manchester United did all of those as away supporters because it
11:23was pretty much impossible to get tickets to go as a home supporter.
11:27And quite fortunate, as I mentioned earlier, you know, I've managed to secure tickets for Liverpool against Barnsley by virtue
11:34of having watched Horsham play at Barnsley in the FA Cup a few seasons ago.
11:38So I was on their database and managed to get a ticket via that route.
11:43But the price is, again, that's another aspect.
11:46I mean, it was 50 quid, I think, to go and watch Man United play Brighton in the Cup.
11:50Sorry. So sorry, Kevin. That's about all the time we have.
11:53But thank you so much for joining us.
11:56OK, no problem. Thank you.
15:20Hello.
15:21No, 30,000.
15:22Oh, apologies for that technical difficulties there.
15:24Hello and welcome back to Invictus Sport live here on KMTV.
15:29Now today marks the start of Mental Health Awareness Week
15:32with a growing focus on practical steps that you can use to support your mental health.
15:36And in Herne Bay, one charity is encouraging people to talk more openly about mental fitness
15:40and the small steps that can help build resilience or through table tennis and other low-impact sport.
15:45Nayla Mohamed has the report for us now.
15:48Around 30,000 adults have been referred to mental health services across Kent and Medway
15:53between April 2025 and January 2026.
15:58And this number is only increasing year on year.
16:01And so one charity is calling for more open conversations around mental fitness.
16:07When we think of physical health, the word, you know, the first words that might pop to our head
16:12is like running, going to the gym, walking, you know, doing all those positive activities.
16:17When we talk about mental health, people often go to anxiety, depression, all negative things.
16:24But these are just two of our hells, yet we talk about one so positively and one negatively.
16:30So if we're going to talk about it negatively because of the stigma around mental health
16:33or people even saying, I don't have mental health, I would rather not use the word
16:38and just say, well, let's talk about our mental fitness.
16:40Head in the Game is centred around prevention rather than crisis support.
16:44Using sport to help build resilience and better manage stress and anxiety over time.
16:49And the aim is to ease pressure on frontline services like the NHS.
16:54And here in Hen Bay, table tennis is a sport of choice.
16:59Providing a space for exercise, social connection, time outdoors, or for simply taking time to pause and rest.
17:06It's nobody's forcing anyone to say anything.
17:08But I think that the environment and the feeling that it brings just enables people to relax and feel that
17:15they can open up.
17:16And then they've got a route.
17:18If they don't want to open up in here, they've met people that they can contact outside.
17:25In the last couple of years, I've had my own sort of challenges with things.
17:28So I found it's been really beneficial to me to come along, like, sort of break the cycle of sort
17:34of loneliness,
17:35get out of my head a little bit and sort of be a bit more sociable.
17:37So I've really found that beneficial as well.
17:40Now, these sessions, they happen all across the county, ranging from badminton to tennis, even going on walks.
17:45It's not just table tennis.
17:47And that's what's fun about it.
17:49It ranges from low impact to higher impact sports, so everyone can feel included and no one is left out.
17:56And having a go now, I can see why this is such a fun thing to do.
18:00But I must say, I am absolutely terrible at table tennis and definitely needs some more practice.
18:05And with tens of thousands reaching out for help across Kent and Medway,
18:10Head in the Games say talking openly about mental fitness is a vital first step in reducing these numbers.
18:17Nayla Mohamed for KMTV in Herne Bay.
18:21Now it's time to remind you, you can keep up to date with all the latest sports news, interviews and
18:25features from here on Invicta Sport
18:26by heading to our website, kmtv.co.uk and clicking on the Sport tab.
18:30There, you'll see videos like this one, about a 50-year-old trying his hand at baseball in the village
18:34of Hadlow.
18:37At 50 years old, I like to imagine the most exercise I'll be getting is lifting up the TV remote.
18:42But for one Kent baseball fan, he stepped up to bat at the Kent Baseball Club in Hadlow,
18:47near Tunbridge, despite his age, to play the sport he always dreamed of trying out.
18:51If you speak to my wife, you say I've got the mental age of a 16-year-old anyway.
18:55But the body, it doesn't keep up.
18:57I'm on my third pacemaker, which I had when I was 26.
19:00But it didn't stop me.
19:03You know, you've only got one life, and I wanted to give it a go.
19:07And baseball is one of those things that I've always found passionate.
19:11I'm not one for going to the gym all the time.
19:13I do go to the gym, but who really enjoys that?
19:16I want to get fit on doing something I really love.
19:17And I felt I would love baseball.
19:19I thought I'd give it a try.
19:21And yeah, I fell in love with it.
19:23He's calling himself the 50-year-old rookie, and he's been documenting his experience so far.
19:28He originally fell in love with the sport after visiting family in Canada in the 80s
19:32and watching the Toronto Blue Jays.
19:34The Kent Baseball Club play in Division 3 and Division 5 of the British Baseball Federation,
19:39fielding two teams, the Kent Buccaneers and the Kent Mariners, respectively,
19:43who used to be separate clubs, the latter being from Medway and the former from Tunbridge,
19:47until they merged to help player numbers.
19:49Now, unlike Simon, I've never seen a game of baseball, so I felt a bit out of my league.
19:54So I took some time to make sure I've covered all my bases.
19:59Now, baseball is a pretty simple sport when you're watching it,
20:02but it's a little different when you're playing.
20:04Now, the aim of the game is to get more runs than the other team.
20:08And the way you get those runs, well, that's mainly by batting.
20:13Once you bat, you can then start to make your way around the diamond,
20:17and you get one point once you reach the home plate.
20:19And reaching the home plate gets you that one run,
20:22trying to get more than the other team,
20:24and you take turns between batting and pitching.
20:29Once my catching practice was over,
20:30I learnt a bit more about the curveballs that trip up beginners the most.
20:35First hurdle is having a ball coming towards you
20:38that's not the lightest thing in the world
20:39that you've got to try and stop from hitting your face, I think.
20:42That's probably the hardest thing for a rookie,
20:45to kind of teach them to not be scared of the ball,
20:47to put your glove in front of your face, and you will be fine.
20:50That is probably the hardest thing to get through to people,
20:52especially when they haven't played a kind of batting ball sport before
20:55or one that involves kind of hand-eye coordination.
20:58That's probably the biggest hurdle.
20:59In terms of hitting the ball, people find that relatively easy
21:01when they first come to practice,
21:03so I think it's more about getting over that kind of nervousness
21:07of that ball coming towards you by someone who's been playing a lot longer than you.
21:10With that in mind, I thought it was time to try out hitting.
21:15Well, it wasn't a home run, but I was happy with my hits.
21:18But next time, I think I'll bring gloves.
21:27For years, Chatham Snow Sports Centre has stood out as home to the UK's longest toboggan track.
21:33The 750-metre ride carries visitors uphill before handing them full control,
21:38allowing riders to pick up speed or slow down using a lever.
21:41But its title as the longest could face a challenge,
21:44as proposals in Scotland aim to create a new attraction billed as the longest and the tallest.
21:49Maisie Walker has the story.
21:51For decades, Chatham Snow Sports Centre has been sledding ahead of the competition
21:56with the UK's longest toboggan run.
21:59Stretching 750 metres, riders are pulled to the top before taking the controls themselves,
22:04pushing the lever forward to speed up or pulling back to brake.
22:08But could Chatham's crown be starting to slip downhill,
22:11with plans underway for a new longest and highest toboggan run in Scotland?
22:17It's all done by gravity.
22:18So once you reach the top of the run, then you get released from the cable
22:22and then you just release the brakes from the track and then you control the speed.
22:28If you want to go slower, you just pull the brakes back a little bit and that slows you down.
22:32The centre opened in 1986, but the company that owns it now bought it in 1996.
22:38So we've operated it for the last 35 years.
22:40There are other toboggan runs in the country, but there aren't of this particular type.
22:45So I'd be really surprised if there was another one being opened of this type, really.
22:49It's not going to be competition.
22:51And it's going to be of a different sort to this.
22:53So we've just heard all about the toboggan.
22:55So I think it's only right that now I get a 10.
23:04Now here's something I didn't tell anybody at the centre.
23:07I'm terrified of heights.
23:10I think you can probably see me trying and failing to keep my nerves from going off the rails.
23:15Once I reached the top of the hill, my nerves disappeared almost instantly.
23:20Sporting little bunnies definitely helped as well.
23:28It felt strange but exciting, being able to control the speed myself.
23:32But with the Snow Sports Centre confident its title is still on track, it remains one of
23:38Kent's hidden gems.
23:40Maisie Walker for KMTV, Chatham.
24:09Canterbury has plenty of history inside its walls.
24:12But one group is fighting to bring ancient sword techniques into the modern day.
24:17Canterbury medieval combat train across many different disciplines, including dagger, German
24:22long knife, staff, pole arms and sword and buckler.
24:26They like to say that history is decided by the winners.
24:29But what exactly makes a winner?
24:31Well, throughout most of history, it tended to be how good you were with one of these.
24:35Now this doesn't look exactly like a longsword would have.
24:38Back in the days of Norman sieges, Viking conquests or peasants' revolts.
24:43This one is intended for training.
24:45And here at St Dunstan's churchyard, that's exactly what they do.
24:48While the weapons might not look 100% accurate, the training they're taking comes straight from
24:52the manuscripts.
24:53So I've travelled down here to see if I can learn from the best about how to sharpen my
24:58sword skills.
25:00I watched a sabre class, then had a go at the longsword, which was a dulled blade without
25:04a pointed tip.
25:06The footwork was the main thing that I struggled with, and remembering whether to swing, reset
25:10or step in combinations.
25:12The class mainly use a German system, and study manuscripts of the martial art to inform
25:17what they'll do during the sessions.
25:19We study the German system, which is a little bit more complicated to do, because we have,
25:25in the early period, we have a poem.
25:29Basically the poem, the zettel as it's called, is a handout that was given to people that attended
25:34a workshop.
25:36We have a 400, 500 year gap in some instances, where people are finding these things and they're
25:41thinking, well, what does that mean?
25:42How does it, what does this, what do we do with it?
25:45So these are interpretations.
25:47We're not correct in everything we do, and we say that from the start, but we're trying
25:51to do it in the right spirit.
25:53There's also a competitive scene that focuses on the technique of sparring.
25:57So I'm partaking in my first competition this Sunday.
26:01So that's going to be applying what we've learned here, the manuscript stuff, to actual
26:05combat.
26:05And it's going to be a real difference, because eventually it all turns into Olympic-style
26:09fencing.
26:10It gets a lot faster, you see less flashing moves, it's very much a, you know, back and
26:15forth.
26:16So it's going to be a real test, I think, of, is what I've learned any good, basically.
26:21It's not about brute force, but using the blade to attack and defend, which for me would
26:25take some getting used to.
26:26If I was a squire instead of a journalist, and this was 11.26, not 20.26, I don't think
26:32I would have made a very good night.
26:34Finn McDermid for KMTV in Canterbury.
26:40Well, that marks full time on today's episode of Invictus Sport.
26:45And if you want more from KMTV, you can head over to our website, kmtv.co.uk, where our
26:50special shows are available to watch back on demand.
26:53Thank you so much for watching, and we'll see you soon.
26:55Goodbye.
26:56Thank you so much for watching, and goodbye.
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