Hockey

[Deleted member 15344]

Been a big hockey person for a couple of decades - playing hockey around the country and a bit for the RAF and then being a qualified umpire and coach. My future wife is a national league player as well as an international player for Ireland and also a qualified coach - but over the decades its a forgotten sport ( despite it being the third most pplayed team sport in the country ) and there is never any coverage of the sport bar the Olympics and Commonwealth, mainly watch games via internet sites.

The majority of national league players also hold down full time jobs and actually need to find sponsership to be able to afford to play - my HID trains twice a week after work then is away weekends around the country. Winning the league gets the team about £1000 - player of the season gets a couple hundred.

The top international players are now full time players and get money from the lottery to allow them to be able to train every day etc.

But finally i believe a corner maybe being turned - both leagues now have good sponsership and very well supported playoffs and now the big thing is the Hockey World Cup is being broadcasted on Sky Telly for the next couple of weeks.

Hopefully that exposure to a great competitive and friendly sport player in the right way will lead to an increase in participation - if anyone would like their kids to start up a team sport where team and fair play is very prominent in the thinking then have a look at their local clubs and see the differing coaching sessions they have for kids going on.

 

[fundy]

Cant say its a sport thats ever really appealed, its pretty hideous as a spectator sport on tv too imo, hard to see it overly succeeding in terms of air time in an ever more competitive area compared to soccer/rugby x2/cricket etc which it needs to if it wants more exposure. Destined to remain a minority sport, at least from a spectator perspective imho

 

[Beezerk]

One of my customers plays for England men over 40's, travels around the world to play for them the lucky blighter.

 

[richart]

Calum Giles was a member at my Club. Played with him a few times, and understand he was quite good with a stick.

 

[Hobbit]

Mad!

I played it once. I hit the ball and it smacked an opposition player right in the jewels, and we got a free hit. He got a visit to hospital. A free hit?! Crazy, Mad and stupid!

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Calum Giles was a member at my Club. Played with him a few times, and understand he was quite good with a stick.

He was a brilliant drag flicker - they brought in a new rule to combat the likes of him

Was still playing for Teddington last time i saw him

 

[c1973]

Enjoyed playing hockey when I was younger, sadly, like most sports in this country the lack of funding means it's not readily accessible to many people. We seem to throw money at national football associations (I'm assuming they still get the lions share, May be wrong though) with little discernible impact on the standard of the game.

That, for me, is a crying shame when there are so many other sports that with better funding (and coaching infrastructure naturally) could go from strength to strength. We do seem to be better at many sports on the international stage than we are at football, yet they do not receive funding anywhere near the levels of football.

 

[Foxholer]

Played for 35+ years and Umpired for 25 years as well - including a couple of TV and International games and 4 National Tournaments

Bit of a shock coming to UK and finding that while there were 3 synthetic pitches in NZ when I left, there were 30+ within 40-50 mins drive - mainly at private schools (and top class ones at Reading and Bisham Abbey - even without watering!).

Paddy Osborne (Reading in early 90s) was the best I remember at drag-flicking. Saw him several times launch game-changers from left defensive 25 to right attacking one!

Had the pleasure of watching Bill Waugh develop into a fabulous player, from a mere 'star', at Wellington College in the very late 80s/early 90s!

My golf swing is still influenced too much by the old Sticks rule - 3/4 back-swing, on a rubber-band and not enough follow through!

 

[harpo_72]

I dropped football in the second year of secondary school and played hockey from there on out. I dropped football because my ankle was shagged, and seemed to always be prone to the chop from defenders in their last ditch effort to stop me. Hockey was and is brilliant, the rule changes in my time were quite difficult to get used to. I started my hockey career on grass, I played for a small town called Herne Bay, Canterbury was 8 miles away and had one of the first astro turfs, we used to stuff there under 16s .. But they played league and one of their first team players was our hockey team coach and P.E. Teacher.
At some point I went to the home of English hockey which was Milton Keynes at the time, it was so sad the place was so poorly looked after. The game is great to watch its great for fitness and fun to play, people should try it.

 

[AmandaJR]

Couldn't believe it was on all day today and nice to see, although agree it doesn't make for a good spectacle and never really figured why not.

Played as a youngster for county and Midlands and on the fringe of the England set up when I discovered boys...

My dear old Dad was always convinced I could have been an international hockey player or pro golfer if I could have been bothered!

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Played for my school and loved watching the Britain teams at the Olympics especially the Kirly era. Who can forget that immortal line from Barry Davies "where was the German defence, and frankly who cares"

 

[Coatsy79]

I love hockey, but only the kind played on ice :thup:

 

[pendodave]

My kids play hockey to a decent standard. It's a great sport, and being a bit 'niche' it's one in which good players can enjoy the buzz of county/regional representation and national tournaments.

inVho, although the England teams (men and ladies) do pretty well, they are well short of what they might achieve. The reason being that even at under12 level, I reckon 75% of the top 100 players of both sexes are attending private schools. And once they get to secondary school the proportion goes up even higher. It's hard to believe that only posh people can play, so the missing 90% of the population who don't do private are a playing resource which is competeley untapped.

I reckon if you took a good coach, and picked up the u14 age group players kicked out of all the prem football team academies, you would have a national championship winning squad within a year. The athleticism, team sport skills and hunger would be sufficient with the right guidance.

To be honest, that approach would probably improve the standard of a lot of our minority sports - the way in which football hoovers up so much young talent and spits it out is not healthy for our nation's sport or sports people.

 

[rickg]

Represented the RAF back in the 80's and until a few years ago still played 1st team level as centre forward for Welwyn Garden City.

Knees and back couldn't take the strain of hockey, cricket (fast bowler) and golf, so jacked in the cricket and hockey to focus on the golf.
Played golf off 13 when I was playing hockey so it was a good decision although still miss it.

Will be watching a few games on Sky...

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Represented the RAF back in the 80's and until a few years ago still played 1st team level as centre forward for Welwyn Garden City.

Knees and back couldn't take the strain of hockey, cricket (fast bowler) and golf, so jacked in the cricket and hockey to focus on the golf.
Played golf off 13 when I was playing hockey so it was a good decision although still miss it.

Will be watching a few games on Sky...

Was the with Scarfy , Roger Bates and Peanut in the 80's ?

 

[Foxholer]

Represented the RAF back in the 80's and until a few years ago still played 1st team level as centre forward for Welwyn Garden City.

Knees and back couldn't take the strain of hockey, cricket (fast bowler) and golf, so jacked in the cricket and hockey to focus on the golf.
Played golf off 13 when I was playing hockey so it was a good decision although still miss it.

Will be watching a few games on Sky...

Forces Hockey was some of the most enjoyable to Umpire back home. Pitches were some of the best (grass) and the fitness levels of the players was superb. A couple played in the 'lower' section of National (County) Tournament, so high quality as well! We actually had a Wing Co in our Club Senior team, that I used to squeak into occasionally, and he was the inspiration for 'tracking back'. Our Centre-Half returned from 'Basic Training' once, to be awarded 'Player of the Week' from his efforts, made possible because of the level of fitness he acquired - pretty much single-handedly nullifying the core of the Olympic Gold Medal winning forward line!

 

[rickg]

Was the with Scarfy , Roger Bates and Peanut in the 80's ?

Definitely Roger Bates!!! How do you know him?

 

[guest100718]

It's a bit dreary and a bore to watch.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

Definitely Roger Bates!!! How do you know him?

He was my coach at Under 21's and also helped at RAF

 

[rickg]

He was my coach at Under 21's and also helped at RAF

Wow ..small world...he was an exceptional player..very canny..I learned a lot of tricks from him......he was an expert at sliding his stick into any opponents midriff that were marking him too close before leaving them for dead....umpires never ever spotted it.....