On Wednesday 3rd October, Confetti Magic were back at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre on Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the special anniversary match between Great Britain and Belgium.
The match was taking place to celebrate 30 years since Great Britain beat Belgium to win gold at the Seoul Olympics in 1988. Amongst the spectators were a number of gold medal winners as special guests from the original 1988 team.
To entertain the crowds throughout the match, England Hockey and their sponsor, Toshiba, gave away T-shirts to the crowd. Our Confetti Magic technician was at the stadium early to pre-roll the T-shirts, train the ‘Hockey Makers’ T-shirt cannon operators and oversee the safe firing of the cannons throughout the game.
The Hockey Makers headed onto the pitch during the quarter breaks along with GB Hockey Mascots Jasper & Jess to fire T-shirts into the cheering crowd. With only 2 minutes between quarters the small and light Micromini T-shirt cannons allowed the Hockey Makers to move quickly around the venue to cover the whole crowd.
To prevent the T-shirts flying over the back of the stands, we loaded the rolled T-shirts into the T-shirt cannon barrels without elastic bands. The T-shirts then unroll in flight and fall safely down into the audience.
The match saw Great Britain repeat their victory of 1988 to come from a goal down to win 2-1.