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| Click the image to watch the film. |
The Hockey Museum (THM) is pleased to be have been a contributor to The Surface, a new hockey documentary from Level Films. It charts hockey’s artificial turf transformation from grass players to turf-natives.
As the only museum of hockey, we feel a duty to respond to initiatives that can help to spread the gospel of the sport and to make available the amazing historical resource that is held at THM. Our Chair, John Willmott and Curator, Mike Smith were interviewed for their expertise and personal recollections, and the museum provided an array of digitised collection material to support the storytelling.
We are conscious that having been commissioned by turf manufacturers Polytan and Astroturf this film will have a commercial angle, but nevertheless, the result is a valuable, interesting and highly professional documentary.
Alongside our own contributions to the film, THM is beginning a journey to research the history of artificial turf drawing on our own contacts and the archives held at the museum.
Click the image above to watch the film, The Surface.
More About The Film
In The Surface, directors and producers James Dean and Matt Crocker explore some of the most pivotal moments in hockey’s 45-year transformation since the first turf at the Montreal Olympic Games in 1976. From Montreal ‘76, to the skills explosion in the 2000s, to London 2012’s famous blue turfs and the launch of hockey’s sustainability journey at Tokyo2020, The Surface gives a voice to hockey’s 4,000-year history and its astonishing 45-year turf story.
Featuring Jamie Dwyer, Luciana Aymar, Tayyab Ikram, Ric Charlesworth and an enviable cast of other hockey legends, the film tells hockey’s unique story through the stars and leaders who helped to transform the game.
Luciana and Jamie, who between them have 13 World Player of the Year awards, ignited the skills explosion and give a first-hand perspective on what it took to take the game to new levels.
Tayyab Ikram, CEO of the Asian Hockey Federation covers so much ground from elite coaching to youth participation and provided an insight into the golden age of India and Pakistan hockey.
Sue Catton who was the driving force for two major innovations – London’s blue turfs which have changed hockey’s colours forever and ‘Big Stadium Hockey’ which made the game available to more fans – offers a first-hand insight into these pivotal moments.
Created by Level Films and supported by Polytan and Astroturf, The Surface is a film about innovation that required an innovative approach. COVID-19 necessitated completely reimagining the process of documentary filmmaking. All interviews outside of the UK had to be conducted remotely and much of the film was directed through video link to local film crews.
The result is a film about the making-of modern hockey that is totally original and told from a number of important perspectives from across the global hockey community.
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| Jean Arnold receives the British Empire Medal for services to hockey and education. | ||
On 5 November 2021, Jean Arnold received the British Empire Medal for services to hockey and education from Mark Blundell, Lieutenant of Merseyside, at a ceremony at Liverpool Town Hall.
She has been inspirational in promoting and encouraging children and young people in the sport of hockey. It would be impossible to count the number of hours that Jean has devoted to hockey for the benefit of others.
Jean attended Nonington College of Physical Education (PE) in Kent between 1960 and 1963, going on to teach PE at La Sagesse High School in Grassendale, Liverpool. Her students remember her as an inspirational and dynamic teacher who was instrumental in encouraging her pupils to follow in her PE-teaching footsteps.
Today, aged 82, Jean is still the driving force of junior hockey in Liverpool. She established the City of Liverpool Junior Hockey Club in 2015 as an extension of Liverpool Ladies’ Hockey Club, the oldest hockey club in Liverpool. Jean’s energy and enthusiasm is unrivalled. She coaches at least three times every week and runs holiday hockey camps. She organises competitions and runs teams from Under 9s to Under 19s.
Jean has previously donated a collection to THM relating to women’s hockey in Liverpool and including the Lord Mayor's Cup. Click here to discover more.
John Scrini retired this year after numerous years serving Lancashire Hockey Association and as the President of the North Hockey Association.
One of John’s last acts was to donate Lancashire HA minutes dating back to 1895 to The Hockey Museum. In his final address at the North’s final Annual General Meeting (ahead of this season’s national re-structure), John gave praise to the work undertaken by The Hockey Museum and to one of our volunteers James Ormandy. James had discovered a report in an 1897 issue of Hockey magazine that had a reference to his grandfather Alexander George Scrini playing for West Derby HC in Liverpool.
The 1897-98 volume of Hockey was recently digitised by the museum and as a result we are now able to search the volume by word or name. This has provided unparalleled ease of access to rare source material and the unlocking stories which further inform our understanding of hockey in Victorian Britain.
James found numerous references to John’s grandfather’s playing career including one referring to how he had organised West Derby’s Easter 1898 tour of North Wales. There they played Rhyl twice, Llandudno, Colwyn Bay and the touring Newport team from South Wales. Obviously, hockey administration is in the family genes.
John informed us that his grandfather Alexander was an importer of oranges to the UK and was known as the ‘Jaffa King’, which now has us wondering whether the tradition of half-time oranges started at West Derby HC.
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| Example references to John Scrini's grandfather, Alexander Scrini from Hockey magazine, 1897. |
Future Digitisation Plans
THM has ambitious plans to digitise vast swathes of its collection, including further volumes of magazines as a priority.
Our magazines are a treasure trove of stories and digitising them will mean we can share the information they hold with our researchers far and wide. Increased access to research material through our intended digitisation programme will better and more quickly inform our understanding of hockey and bring the history of the sport to life; but it costs time and money.
If you would like to support THM’s digitisation project financially, please make contact through our website contact form.
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The Hockey Museum (THM) is delighted to announce its participation in MuseumWIDE, a new training programme from South East Museum Development. It will guide THM on its journey to become more welcoming, inclusive, diverse and equitable, building on the values and strengths already evident in hockey and within the museum’s heritage collections.
The Hockey Museum has created an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee led by Trustee Tochi Panesar. Also represented on the committee are fellow trustees, staff members and volunteers ensuring input from across the museum’s operation. The committee’s initial ambition is to create a series of EDI commitments that would permeate throughout THM ensuring consideration of EDI principles in future activity. MuseumWIDE was identified as a vehicle through which we can achieve this successfully. In addition to a programme of webinar-based learning, as part of the project THM will work with expert consultant Isilda Almeida to self-assess and reflect, and to shape our EDI commitments.
We were delighted to learn on 11 November that we had been one of the 11 successful candidates across the South East of England. For a small, independent museum we are in very good company!
Through our participation in MuseumWIDE we hope to become a more relevant and inclusive museum for volunteers, staff, and in-person and online visitors. It is an opportunity to draw on external expertise to continue our organisational growth. This EDI project will build upon previous work undertaken to review THM’s strategic direction and learn new digital skills, all in the name of making THM a more sustainable and engaging museum.
The MuseumWIDE project begins on 18 November 2021 and concludes on 26 May 2022. Below is an overview of the itinerary.
The MuseumWIDE Programme
The programme will consist of a total of 6 live online group training sessions, as well as 4 recorded sessions for participant museums to watch and return to at their convenience. Regular online coffee mornings will provide a relaxed space for participants to discuss their ongoing work, the programme content and speak openly with Isilda Almeida. Isilda will also be providing 1-2-1 sessions with each participating museum.
For more information on the MuseumWIDE programme, visit the South East Museum Development website: click here.
THM’s EDI Committee hopes to engage as many trustees and volunteers as possible in this programme.
Our thanks to Helen Derbyshire, our South East Museums Development Officer, for her support and encouragement to pursue this programme.
Friday 22 October 2021 at The Hockey Museum, Woking
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The Great Britain hockey team that toured Australia in 1966 looking Standing (left to right): Geoff Nott, Mike Crowe, Richard Oliver, Tony Ekins, |
On 22 October, The Hockey Museum (THM) hosted an event for the Great Britain (GB) men’s squad that toured Australia in 1966.
For the squad of originally eighteen players, it was the reunion of a tightly knit group who have been held together over the past half century by their amazing captain David Prosser. David had organized several reunions over the intervening years, but very sadly he passed away in January. This event was also, therefore, a commemoration of the squad’s much-loved skipper. Thankfully the organisation mantle was taken up by Jeremy Barham, who did an amazing job of bringing the squad together and contacting those who were unable to attend.
The occasion served as an opportunity to present GB honours caps to the squad, twelve of whom were able to attend – a remarkable achievement fifty-five years on. THM had presented David’s cap last Christmas, to his great joy. Another member, Howard Harrison, passed away in the summer, but his son Henry attended to receive his father’s cap.
Of the remaining four players, two were unable to travel: Denis Hay in Scotland and John Knight in East Anglia, so they were visited at home and presented with their caps. The final two have long since emigrated: David Gaffney to Australia and John Forster to the USA, but even with them being so far away THM managed to arrange their presentations. John received his from Sharon Taylor, past President of the United Stated Field Hockey Association, who drove some 900 miles each way between Idaho and Arizona to do the honours.
The cap presentations at the museum were fittingly made by David Prosser’s widow Amanda, followed by the drinking of a toast to his memory. This completed the extraordinary achievement of the presentation of caps to all eighteen squad members (albeit one to family) who toured Australia – and clearly had a very enjoyable time doing so – fifty-five years previously.
Watch the short film below for more insight into that day itself and the GB cap presentations that preceded it.
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| The Great Britain hockey team prior to setting off for Australia in 1966. | ||
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| All aboard the BOAC aeroplane to Australia. | GB forward Colin Whalley in action during the tour. | |
October 2021 marks the 150th anniversary of the start of modern hockey.
In the intervening century and one half, many momentous happenings have occurred, a lot of which are worthy of being recorded with a blue heritage plaque.
The Hockey Museum is now able to offer clubs, schools, universities, indeed anyone within our sport, the opportunity to celebrate appropriate landmarks by installing a hockey heritage blue plaque.
There are countless reasons for creating a plaque. Some suggestions:
- One of your club members who played internationally.
- A significant match that took place on your club or school's ground.
- To celebrate the age or a milestone anniversary of your club.
The plaques have a very traditional appearance, stylistically similar to those created by English Heritage. They are cast and painted blue and include wording agreed with the purchaser.
Every plaque is unique. The cost is £70 plus carriage or collection.
To enquire about a hockey heritage blue plaque, please use the website contact form.
My name is Ana Brown. I am a third year Modern History student at Royal Holloway University, hoping to go into a career in museums. Since August I have been volunteering at The Hockey Museum (THM) to gain some experience and insight into the field.
I have been assisting Dr Jo Halpin with her research into women’s hockey in the 1920s. This has involved going through The Hockey Field magazines for coverage of the United States Field Hockey Association’s (USFHA) women's tour to the UK in 1924 – how the matches went, where they stayed, any dinners or sightseeing that they did, and so on. THM museum team have been a brilliant help guiding me in searching through the collections. The most exciting moment was the discovery of a collection of items from this 1924 tour previously belonging to one of the USFHA players, Marjorie Taylor. Her collection includes photographs, event tickets, dinner invitations and receipts giving a wonderful snapshot of the social side of the tour.
Having these items to look through has been a rewarding experience. After spending so long reading their names and the descriptions of the matches, I was able to put faces to names, see informal photos (alongside the official ones) and get more of a sense of the players’ personalities.
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Photographs from the Marjorie Taylor collection held at The Hockey Museum. Left: The USFHA touring team at Edinburgh Castle in 1924. |
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I don’t have a hockey background and don’t know much about the sport, but I love social and cultural history and particularly its impact on women. Researching the tour was very enjoyable and rewarding. Seeing these pioneering women relaxing with friends or just seeing what they felt was worth photographing while sightseeing, increased the sense of connection I felt with them – a feeling of familiarity with a group of friends on a tour, having an exciting transatlantic trip and playing the sport they love. I felt so fond of them. Moreover, I don’t have much experience in research projects like this one, so to have tangible objects from the tour felt precious and exciting. Matching photographs to descriptions of the events was gratifying and I felt like a proper historian!
Especially rewarding is the fact that Marjorie Taylor wasn’t mentioned in The Hockey Field much, but suddenly her keepsakes became such a valuable part of the research and she became a significant figure. This is exactly why I enjoy studying history and why I love museums; every single person has stories worth telling, and it is wonderful to be playing a part in keeping that alive.
I loved the experience of putting this research together, and I’m looking forward to doing more.
Ana Brown
What Will Come From Ana's Research?
The Hockey Museum is working with the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and the United States Field Hockey Association (USFHA) to celebrate the centenary of the latter in February 2022. Research into the women’s tours in the 1920s – both the USA team to the UK and the UK Home Nations’ teams to the USA – is revealing connections between the nations that were clearly influential in the founding of the USFHA in 1922. We are working to deliver digital storytelling around this anniversary in 2022.
You can help by assisting us with tracking down copies of The Eagle magazine. Click here to find out more.
For many people, mention of The Eagle magazine will bring back memories of the boys all-action comic from the 1950s & ’60s. But for a generation of women hockey players in America, The Eagle was the official magazine that covered hockey in the USA through the middle part of the 20th century. The Hockey Museum (THM) has several copies of this publication, but we are looking for more.
Can anyone help us to locate more copies to add to our collection?
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| These copies of The Eagle magzine came to us in the twelfth collection THM ever received, but we have had very few since. |
We found some back copies of The Eagle in the National Library for Scotland and with the help of Sharon Taylor, former President of the USFHA and THM Ambassador and others, we have located a few more editions. As you may have read in previous editions of THM's mailshot Hockey Shorts (sign up by clicking here), the first ever Great Britain women’s team toured the USA in 1965. This story was pulled together using information from back copies of The Eagle as well as from the memories and archives of the women who played. Click here for the full story.
We now have an additional reason for wanting to acquire further copies of this magazine. In 2022, the United States Field Hockey Association (USFHA) will be celebrating its centenary. The women’s association was founded in 1922 by Constance Appleby and the men’s association came into being six years later in 1928. THM is in touch with the USFHA and has offered our help in their efforts to tell the story of those early years. If anyone has information about the early years on US hockey, please get in touch using the contact form on THM website.
Discover some of the exciting research being undertaken as part of this centenary by clicking here.
Friday 15 October 2021 at Cottrell Park Golf Resort, Cardiff
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The Great Britain & Ireland Touring Team to the USA in 1965 were awarded their In the left photograph: Front row: Janice Lang (nee Mitchell) , Ellen Jenkins (nee Toulson), Eirianwen Thomas, |
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At a very special ceremony at Cottrell Park Golf Club, Cardiff, the surviving members of the very first women’s GB Squad to be selected in 1965, were presented with their GB Honours Caps by the current GB Hockey President, Sheila Morrow. Six members of this trailblazing team, Helen O’Boyle (nee O’Neill) (Ireland), Eirianwen Thomas and Janet Hopkins (nee Morgan) (both Wales), Janice Lang (nee Mitchell) and Valerie Crombie (nee Sinclair) (both Scotland) and Ellen Jenkins (nee Toulson) (England) came together again for the first time in 56 years. Listening to them sharing great memories of the tour to the USA, their other stories and the laughter, it seemed like it had only happened yesterday. These former players were joined by the relatives of Jennifer Braham (England) and Mary Hyland (Wales) who are sadly no longer with us.
The event was hosted by the Welsh Women’s Hockey Golf Group at their annual lunch. THM was represented by Katie Dodd and Sue Lane. Sue, along with Steve Ellis, have been the two museum volunteers responsible for the majority of work to pull together the complete the GB match records.
When The Hockey Museum started the work to compile a complete and accurate record of every GB match and the players who played in them, the commonly held view was that the first GB women’s team was selected in 1978 ahead of the entry of women’s hockey into the Olympic Games in 1980. The discovery of a 1965 GB & Ireland Touring Team (GB&ITT) blazer in the Dublin City Library Archives that had been donated by Joan Horne, changed all this. Further research confirmed the existence of a GB tour to the USA and the names of all the players – but was this an official tour and could the two matches played against the USA team be counted as capped games? After much research by the museum’s volunteer sleuths and contact with many of the squad members and hockey colleagues in the USA, we were able to confirm that the team was selected by an official GB committee and it played against the USA in two matches that the United States Field Hockey Association (USFHA) considered as full international matches.
The members and relatives of the first GB women’s team had come together from all over the UK. There were emotional reunions as they met in the bar to begin the reminiscing, carrying on during lunch which was then followed by the GB honours cap presentation ceremony itself. At the end, the tourists were serenaded by all the Welsh players who, led by Janet Morgan (now Mrs Hopkins) on the ukulele, gave a special rendition of “This land is your land” which had been the tour song back in 1965.
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| Great Britain & Ireland Touring Team in the USA in 1965. |
Janice Mitchell (now Mrs Lang) relayed:
“A very big ‘Thank You' to The Hockey Museum team who were responsible for pulling together all the information which enabled the presentations of the GB&ITT honours caps to be made … It was obviously a mammoth task but one for which I, as a player in that first GB&ITT team, am extremely grateful. Never did we think that 56 years on we would be receiving our hockey caps for playing in that 1965 Touring Team to the USA. It was a very emotional day and I would not have missed it for the world – the cap is really fantastic and I am so proud to have received it. Having the caps funded was much appreciated and a big thank you to GB Hockey for arranging this.”
Giles Stokes who attended to receive his mother’s GB cap added:
"It was an honour for my sister Angela and I to represent our Mum, Jennifer Braham, and receive her GB cap from the 1965 USA tour. A special event, meeting some of the players from that very first GB squad who had fond memories of our Mum."
THM managed to contact all seven surviving squad members, five attended the presentations in Cardiff. Sadly, Joan Horne was taken ill the day before the event so was unable to travel and Thelma Hopkins, who now lives in Canada, is currently in hospital and we have not yet been able to speak to her.
The Museum has also managed to track down the relatives or friends of the remaining members of the squad who are no longer with us. Their GB caps will now find good homes. The families of Jennifer Braham and Mary Hyland received their caps during this presentation event and Bridget Cannell’s daughter, Tracy French, was presented with her mother’s GB Cap earlier this year (click here). The squad’s captain, Joyce Hunter (Scotland), had no living relatives so THM is in discussion with The High School of Dundee where she went to school and where other items of her hockey career are already on display. We have been in touch with the relatives of Helen Weir, the GB squad goalkeeper, and are planning a special ceremony for them to receive her cap in the coming months. Maureen Short (England) also had no relatives so we are arranging to present her GB cap to IM Marsh PE College at next year’s Old Students Reunion. Maureen was a long-time lecturer at the college and items of her England and GB kit are already in their archives. Barbara Stacey has also died with no close relatives, and we are using Welsh contacts to find close friends.
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The full 1965 squad as pictured in the above photograph:
Back row: Jennifer Braham (Mrs Stokes); Joan Horne (Mrs Priestman); Maureen Short; Helen Weir; Bridget Cannell (Mrs Parkes); Thelma Hopkins (Mrs McClernon); Valerie Sinclair (Mrs Crombie).
Sitting: Mary Hyland (Mrs Drake); Janice Mitchell (Mrs Lang); Joyce Hunter (Captain); Mrs Hopkins, (Manager); Eirianwen Thomas; Ellen Toulson (Mrs Jenkins); Helen O’Neil (Mrs O’Boyle).
Kneeling: Barbara Stacey; Janet Morgan (Mrs Hopkins).
Katie Dodd
Regular visitors to The Hockey Museum (THM) website or our Hockey Shorts emails (click here to sign up) will be aware of the very active project to present honours caps to current and former Great Britain (GB) players or, if deceased, their families. The project arose from our work to collate a definitive record of GB match and player statistics enabling THM to know who played for GB, for how many times and what their unique player number is.
If you’re a new website visitor, welcome; some of the project's success stories can be discovered by clicking here (re. Harry Haslam), here (re. Bridget Cannell) and here (re. 2021 GB squads).
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| Bridget Cannell's daughter, Tracy French, and son, Mike Cannell, received their mother's honours cap from former Great Britain internationals Jan Burrows (former England captain, second left) and Mary Eckersall (former England & GB captain, far right). |
The Presentation Of GB Caps
The majority of the GB honours caps will be presented in May and June 2022 at the Pro League matches in front of sizeable crowds, meantime THM is proceeding with some individual and group/squad presentations. Indeed, we have just ordered the 100th cap for presentation – quite the milestone for our entirely volunteer-led project!
THM is only ordering caps as and when required because we know that not every player or their ancestors will claim their cap. Our experience here has come from the British Lions rugby setup who ordered a 'full set’ at the outset and still have 300 unclaimed.
The 100th cap is for Anthony (Tony) Nunn (pictured during a visit to THM in 2019) who we believe to be the last surviving player from the 1952 Helsinki bronze medal-winning team. We have already presented John Peake with his cap after he represented GB at the 1948 London Olympic Games, so we are now looking to the Melbourne team from 1956. If you have any information about our ageing GB players, please do let us know. We have also made presentations to players who have sadly become unwell. Similarly, if you know of any GB players in failing health, we will do all we can to arrange a presentation.
We are also in the process of arranging two group presentations.
The first is for the GB & Ireland women's touring team to the USA in 1965 – for more information on this story click here. The survivors will be meeting in South Wales later this month to receive their caps.
The second group is the GB men's touring team to Australia in 1966. Of the 18 who made the trip, 16 are still alive and 12 are coming to the museum to receive their caps and enjoy a reunion lunch. The other four players, two of whom are overseas, will be receiving their caps in private presentations. Of the two deceased players, their captain David Prosser received his cap before his untimely death in January and the other, Howard Harrison, will be represented by his son at the reunion. 18 out of 18 can't be a bad result!
If you are a former player yourself interested in a group presentation and reunion, please do get in touch with THM via our online contact form.
Like What We're Doing? Please Donate.
If you're inspired by what we are doing, please consider donating to The Hockey Museum. We are a charity museum and we need your support. Click here to learn how.
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| A framed presentation of hockey ties from each of the member clubs of the London Hockey League, presented to Peter Boizot. |
This weekend, Sunday the 12 September, sees the last act in the history of the London League, the oldest men's league in England.
Formed in 1969, it has served London club hockey for 52 years. Things gradually changed when the National League came into being for the 1988/89 season when eight teams initially departed the London League to join. This still left a strong core of 16 teams in the London League before most were eventually absorbed in the early ‘90s.
Despite this, lower elevens and smaller London clubs continued with a very active league programme until this year.
With the reorganisation of the English Regions, league hockey throughout the land has been restructured. The old South Division or Region has seen the greatest change with the London League losing its identity altogether.
This coming Sunday sees the last event being organised by them: a finale at Southgate Hockey Club that involves a match on the League’s inaugural playing surface of grass; the teams will be made up from clubs throughout the League. It will be followed by a luncheon at which the London League's main trophy, the Robert Watson Bowl will be presented to The Hockey Museum (THM). It is also hoped that the London League archives will be deposited with THM to ensure that its history will not be forgotten.
Some material relating to the history of the London League is already part of the museum's collection thanks to former Chairman Rodney Rigby. Amongst these was a set of ties of all member clubs mounted in a frame. This had been presented to long-time supporter and sponsor of the League, the late Peter Boizot on the occasion of his 60th birthday. The presentation was made at the League’s annual event at the Café Royale in Piccadilly after their traditional dinner of sausage and mash. Following Peter's death, the frame became unloved and was rescued, re-framed and presented to THM by Rodney.
If you have anything that could help to tell the London League story, do please consider THM for its future home. Visit our online contact form and select "collection donations".
Blasts From The Past: An Introduction
This features page includes articles from hockey's rich history. With the ever increasing activity of The Hockey Museum, our research is constantly coming across fascinating stories from throughout the sport's history and across the hockey world. These are not current news stories although some may have been when they occurred....
AWRE Hockey Club: Explosive Hockey Played in 1950s Berkshire
Last weekend saw the release of the much-anticipated biographical film Oppenheimer, which tells the story of the American nuclear physicist J Robert Oppenheimer, often recognised as the ‘father of the atomic bomb’. Situated in a remote part of New Mexico, USA, the secret Los Alamos Laboratory was established by the...
An ‘Anglo-Welsh’ hockey honours cap
A recent addition to our ever-increasing collection at THM, a beautiful Welsh honours cap, has come to us from the family of William Richard Edwards who played for Wales between 1929 and 1931. William was born, lived and died in England but with Welsh ancestry he played hockey for...
A postcard home … to France in 1906
Whilst looking at this picture, consider that the first ladies’ hockey in England – indeed the world – began less than twenty years before this photograph was taken. This really was at the dawn of women's hockey! The postcard is from a French girl writing home to her...
Sikhs, Lord’s and Hockey
The following article was written and researched by former trustee of The Hockey Museum Dil Bahra for fieldhockey.com. It is reproduced here for posterity. Dil is author of the website sikhsinhockey.com which highlights the contribution and achievements of Sikh hockey athletes. The names of Sikh players are emphasised in bold...
The hockey story of Shalford church’s ecclesiastical cloth is not fabricated
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Core of 'The Apple' reflected in Hampshire church window
If you ever have cause to visit St John the Baptist Church in Burley, Hampshire, in the UK, be sure to look out for the hockey sticks! For among its many memorials is a stained-glass window dedicated to Constance Applebee, the British woman credited with popularising hockey among women in...
Len Smith’s Sportswear and designs on further clothing research
Royal Ascot Hockey Club's Royal Stewart tartan skirt, produced and sold by Len Smith's. From The Hockey Museum's collection. Following on from mention of Len Smith’s Sportswear Ltd. in a recent article about the introduction of VAT in 1971, several volunteers at The...
Maurice Turnbull: Britain’s most complete all-round sportsman?
August 2024 will mark the 80th anniversary of the sad death of a long-forgotten Welsh sportsman, the unique Maurice Turnbull, who was killed in action in France at the climax of World War 2. Why unique? Maurice has the distinction of having been a ‘quadruple international’ gaining honours for...
Eustace E White: Hockey Field’s Educator Editor
Eustace E White. The life of Eustace E White Mr Eustace E White was the Editor of Hockey Field and Lacrosse magazine (aka Hockey Field). The magazine was shocked to learn his sudden death on 8 December 1922, due to a second heart attack whilst in Nottingham during...
How the introduction of VAT impacted club hockey in the UK
Len Smith’s was a renowned shop in Twickenham, Greater London, which sold women’s sporting attire to hockey clubs. It is perhaps most famous for its skirts (pictured), even fitting out the England national team. The introduction of Value-added tax (VAT) into the UK on...
Women’s History Month 2023: Biddy Burgum’s fascinating life in hockey
Biddy Burgum's scrapbook which chronicles England women vs Belgium at Empire Stadium, Wembley in 1953. March 2023 is the 70th anniversary of England women’s thumping 11-0 victory over Belgium at Wembley Stadium – a match played in front of an impressive 50,000-strong crowd of mainly schoolgirls....
The British and the Origins of Hockey in Italy
This article is inspired by the research of the writer and journalist Pier Angelo Rossi, whose work was shared with The Hockey Museum by our Italian friends at HockeyLove.it, Riccardo Giorgini and Luciano Pinna. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the region of Liguria in north-western Italy witnessed an influx...
50th anniversary of the introduction of substitutes
The International Hockey Rules Board minute book. The book is held in the collection of The Hockey Museum on loan from the International Hockey Federation (FIH). In March 1973 at its third meeting held in London, the International Hockey Rules Board approved a new rule introducing up to...
The creation of umpiring structures for women in 1923
“Men have helped us in the past … until we are able to stand on our own legs, and we now look to them to encourage women to umpire. There is no doubt … that women will not trouble to learn to umpire as long as there is a man...
Kingston Grammar School 7-5 Staines Hockey Club
“Kingston School maintained their unbroken record on their own ground by defeating Staines. During the first half, Staines pressed continually and scored three goals. The School forwards, on the other hand, did not seem able to play together, and only succeeded in getting one goal (Shoveller). At half time the...
A Fashion Faux Paus? England vs France, 1923
An action shot of England women vs France on 3 February 1923. Image from the Marjorie Pollard collection, The Hockey Museum. 100 years ago on 3 February 1923, England women played their first international match against France. The game was played at Merton Abbey, Battersea and Chelsea Polytechnic...
'Combination' in Hockey: the Difference between English and Irish Styles?
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Overcoming the Elements: Hockey during the Big Freeze of 1962-‘63
In these days of global warming and only occasional flurries of snow in winter, it perhaps seems unbelievable that it could start snowing on Boxing Day and for the frost and snow to remain for nearly three months! That is what happened in the (real) winter of 1962-‘63. Today, water-retaining...
The Astonishing Role of Hockey Boots During WW2
There are few things in everyday life that could be described as ubiquitous hockey items. However, one exception are the canvas and rubber hockey shoes that were widely worn in the ladies and school game from the 1930s onwards. Men’s hockey of the era preferred the more substantial football or...
The History of I M Marsh College of Physical Education, Liverpool
The I M Marsh campus of Liverpool John Moores University has a long history. The college was founded in 1900 by Irené Mabel Marsh under the name of Liverpool Physical Training College. From small beginnings the college grew over the years and by the 1960s I M Marsh College of...
“Get Off My Pitch”: A Memoir of Don Gallacher
In August 2022, The Hockey Museum (THM) featured a piece about Wembley Head Groundsman Don Gallacher and his son Colin’s efforts to document his father’s memories in a new book. Don oversaw the Wembley pitch between 1974 and 1985 when hockey crowds were at their highest. The vibrancy and the...
Centenary of Australia and New Zealand's First International Matches
27 September 2022 is the centenary of Australia and New Zealand men’s first international matches. It is unusual for two nations to have their first international matches occur simultaneously, but the geographical distance of Australia and New Zealand from other hockey-playing nations of that era led to this exceptional first...
A Brief History of Women’s Headwear in Hockey
At a recent event at Great Comp House & Gardens in Kent, we presented Sue Chandler (former Great Britain (GB) Captain with 25 appearances) with her GB honours cap alongside a group of ladies from Sevenoaks and Teddington hockey clubs who were re-enacting hockey as it was played in the...
Correcting Hockey History: The Hunt for Harvey Wood
Harvey Wood, England men's 1908 Olympic gold medal-winning goalkeeper. The Hockey Museum volunteer James Ormandy spent a large part of 2019 researching hockey in Yorkshire to produce an article “When Hull Got Hooked on Hockey” for the Playing Pasts website. When Hull Got Hooked on Hockey | Playingpasts.co.uk...
Unearthing a Groundsman’s Special Memories of Wembley Stadium
The Hockey Museum (THM) regularly receives interesting enquires from the public and sometimes even an exchange of information. Back in April 2022 there was one such enquiry from Colin Gallacher. His father Don was Head Groundsman at Wembley Stadium between 1975 and 1985. Colin is planning to publish his...
The First Mixed Hockey International Tour by a British School: Australia 1997
International touring has a long and distinguished sporting history. Within British hockey, Australasia has been an attractive location to tour to as far back as the early twentieth century. An England women’s side travelled to Australia and New Zealand in 1914, in an era before UK women had the vote...
Whistle While You Work: Researching Umpiring Whistles From The 1920s
Mike Smith, Hon. Curator and President of The Hockey Museum (THM), describes the process of uncovering hockey’s history as being like a jigsaw puzzle: “Putting together the history of hockey is like doing a jigsaw puzzle where many pieces are missing. Ultimately, we hope to find enough pieces to make...
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II Attends The Women's Hockey At Wembley Stadium in 1981
Following the Platinum Jubilee last weekend to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen’s record breaking 70-year reign, we look back on what is arguably her most iconic hockey moment: the visit to Wembley Stadium in 1981. The Queen made an appearance at the England vs Wales women’s international match at Wembley,...
Discovering Vera Cox's Missing Scrapbook
Joyce Hatton, Vera Cox (wearing her AEWHA blazer) and Frances Heron-Maxwell.This photograph was colourised for Frances Thompson's talk at The Hockey Museum. Last Wednesday 4 May, Frances Thompson travelled from Australia to The Hockey Museum (THM) for a rather personal research visit, and we asked her to give...
Peter Johnson: The Great Britain Hockey Player With Only One Cap
A total of 581 players (men and women) have represented Great Britain (GB) over the years. Many of these players have enjoyed illustrious international careers with seven men and 13 women having exceeded 100 appearances – yet this piece is about those players who only made one single appearance. To...
Echoes Of The Moscow Olympic Hockey Boycott 42 Years Later
The Hockey Museum recently received a 42-year-old document that has a particular resonance with contemporary events that are consuming the world’s media today. The document in question is a copy of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s letter of 19 February 1980 to Sir Denis Follows, CBE, Chairman of the British Olympic...
A Mother's Pride
The first England women's hockey team (1896).Mary D’Oyley is seated middle row, right of centre next to the lady holding the ball. Mary has her cap on her stick. When England’s Mary D’Oyley (nee Piper) lined up against Ireland at Alexandra College, Dublin, on 2 March 1896, she...
Hockey: A Political Symbol In The Punjab
Punjab Lok Congress Party symbol The image shown above is being used by a political party as its logo (see here). This may seem a rather strange adoption, yet it has occurred in the Punjab in Northern India. Not only is hockey the national sport of India...
The Evolution of Hockey Honours Caps
The ongoing series of Great Britain (GB) honours cap presentations to current and former GB players is a direct outcome of THM’s Playing Statistics Project. These presentations are really a 'bolt on' to the stats project, perhaps triggered by THM's small collection of various historical hockey...
The First Ever "Hockey" Magazine
"Hockey" magazine, 15 December 1893 – the first magazine for hockey? The Hockey Museum (THM) has over 80,000 items in its growing collection. We receive another two collections most weeks. These are sorted and catalogued by our brilliant volunteers and occasionally we come up...
Jordi Alumà: Hockey
Hockey, Olympic Suite No.2 by Jordi Alumà The Hockey Museum (THM) holds in its art collection a limited-edition print of a female hockey player by Spanish artist Jordi Alumà (pictured). After a long and distinguished life, Alumà passed away earlier this year on 8 June 2021. The...
How Great Thou Art: Religious Hockey-like Games in Ethiopia
© The Trustees of the British Museum How are Orthodox Christianity and sport linked within Ethiopian culture? Created in the late 1940s by an Ethiopian priest, this watercolour painting from the British Museum’s collection depicts two teams of men playing the native stick-and-ball game Genna. Traditionally played at Christmas,...
The Longest Olympic Matches
As we approach the quarterfinals (QF) of the Tokyo 2020 hockey tournament, we reflect on a momentous QF back in 1960: Kenya vs Great Britain (GB) at the Rome Olympic Games. On 5 September 1960, the QF match in Rome became the longest match in the Olympic history (until this...
Tracing The Match Ball From The Australia And New Zealand Tour of 1914
An archival document recording an All England Women’s Hockey Association (AEWHA) tour to Australia and New Zealand in 1914, leads The Hockey Museum (THM) Archivist on a journey of discovery to trace a very special match ball with an intriguing social history. The match ball from Canterbury...
Louis Charles Baillon: The Only Falkland Islander Olympic Champion
The England hockey team from the 1908 Olympic Final. Louis Baillon is seated furthest left. Louis Charles Baillon is the only Falkland islander to have won an Olympic gold medal. He achieved this feat as a member of the England hockey team that won gold at the 1908...
Alan Turing: WW2 hockey-playing hero features on £50 note
After the 2014 feature film The Imitation Game and other publicity most people are now aware of the amazing contribution made by Alan Turing and the remarkable team at Bletchley Park during World War 2. It is often said that their efforts helped the Allies to win the war and...
Christ’s Hospital's Jovial WW1 Charity Match
These photographs tell the story of a convivial charity match involving Christ's Hospital school (CH) during World War One (WW1). They were unearthed by staff at Christ’s Hospital Museum and shared with The Hockey Museum. Photographs of the hockey match fundraiser, 1917....
Kenya Hockey Olympians Conference
I was delighted and honoured to be invited as one of the Guests of Honour at a virtual conference for Kenyan hockey Olympians on Sunday 30 May 2021. The invitation was extended by Hilary Fernandes, Kenya’s triple Olympian, and Raphael Fernandes, a Kenyan Los Angeles 1984 Olympian. Raphael co-ordinated the...
The ‘Hockey Girl’ And The Pursuit of Love
Cartoon from the Punch Almanack, 1903. The caption reads:"We had a scratch game with the 'Black and Blue' Club yesterday, but had an awful job to get any men. Enid's brother and a friend of his turned up at the last moment; but they didn't do much except call 'offside'...
A Biography of Janet Macklin (née Smallwood)
When Janet Smallwood (later Mrs Macklin) was awarded her first international cap for Scotland in 1951 she was not the first member of her family to have an international sporting honour – her father, Alistair Smallwood, was selected to play for England Rugby in the 1920s. Alistair was born in...
The Festival of Britain’s Grand International Hockey Tournament 1951
Cover of the programme for the Grand International Hockey Tournament during the Festival of Britain, 1951.Click the image to download the full programme as a PDF.Credit: the AEWHA Collection at the University of Bath Library. Seventy years ago in May 1951, a very unusual sporting event was staged...
Harvey Wood: England’s Mysterious Giant Goalkeeper
[ Editor's note: A follow up article to this piece has since been published which corrects some aspects of the below. Please click here for the follow up article: Correcting Hockey History: The Hunt for Harvey Wood | hockeymuseum.net ] A piece of research on the 1908 Olympic Games together with...
Bandy In Shakespeare
Portrait of William Shakespeare, 1610. Possibly painted by John Taylor. There are several references to the word ‘bandy’ in the works of English playwright William Shakespeare, including one in Romeo and Juliet when Romeo, trying to stop a fight between Tybalt and Mercutio, declares: “The Prince expressly hath forbidden...
Hockey-Playing Thespians Of The Edwardian Era
Frank Benson, actor and hockey players, inWilliam Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. The Edwardian era would witness the peak of theatre going and its watershed moment as cinema arrived. It also witnessed a sporting boom – especially in hockey – and one club, Benson’s Hockey Club, had done...
It's A Date: Celebrating the First Scotland Women's International Match
By Katie Dodd The first Scotland women's team, 1901. The 13 April 2001 is the 120th anniversary of Scotland women’s very first international match, played against Ireland in Dublin. I was first made aware of this special date during a conversation with Evlyn Raistrick, former Scottish and International...
Easter Festivals in Years Gone By
Not that many years ago Easter festivals were the much-anticipated climax to the hockey season. Many hundreds of teams, certainly well into four figures, would travel to play in one of over fifty festivals that took place around Britain. The most popular venues were seaside ones, from Bournemouth to Bridlington...
An Amazing Find As The Hockey Museum Links Up With The British Museum
It’s not often that small, independent museums like The Hockey Museum (THM) have an opportunity to change the narrative of national history, but today we share some very exciting news concerning a highly significant archaeological collection – the Anglo-Saxon burial ship at Sutton Hoo. Sutton Hoo gained a lot of...
Welsh Honours Caps: A Tale of Interrelated Research
By Elton Riches I was researching in The Hockey Museum (THM) library reviewing the early hockey periodicals for photographs or illustrations of player-issued caps. I located a black-and-white photograph in an 1898 publication showing the Welsh men’s hockey team wearing honours caps. Clear evidence that the Welsh national teams were...
Remembering Wembley
On 3 March 2021 The Hockey Museum (THM) celebrated the 70th anniversary of the first England women’s hockey match at Wembley Stadium in 1951. In partnership with Talk Hockey Radio, we produced a podcast (The Special One - Epsiode 6) and video of the personal memories of Maggie Souyave, Anita White...
Wembley Was A Family Affair
By Christabel Russell Vick I grew up knowing that the Wembley hockey international was the biggest fixture in the women’s hockey calendar. When I talked to my mother (Mary Russell Vick) about her hockey career, I was amazed to discover that these matches at the iconic Wembley Stadium were entirely...
The First Ever Women's International Hockey Match in 1896
Action photo of Ireland vs England women, the first ever women's international hockey match in 1896. 2 March 2021 is the 125th anniversary of the first ever women’s international hockey match in 1896, between Ireland and England. Ireland beat England 2-0. The game took place on the Alexandra...
Unearthing Further Hockey Connections At Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo excavation, 1939. Still from film made by Harold John Phillips.Public domain. In a recent article (click here) we covered the links that exist between the Netflix blockbuster film The Dig and our sport of hockey. Following that piece, we received news of a further hockey connection. If...
Digging Hockey: An Excavation of Edith Pretty's Links to Hockey
by Dr Jo Halpin. Portrait of Edith Pretty by Dutch artist Cor Visser.© National Trust / Robin Pattinson Edith Pretty is famous for unearthing an Anglo-Saxon burial ship on her land at Sutton Hoo, near Woodbridge, Suffolk, in 1939 – an event that has now been made...
In Search of The Hull & District Hockey Register
In 1900 there were just twenty clubs from the North affiliated to the Hockey Association (HA) causing some historians have been misled as to the game’s popularity outside of the home counties. In most northern towns and cities at this time hockey playing was increasingly popular. For example: in Hull...
Never Defeated By Wine Or In A Game: A Secret Edwardian Gentlemen's Hockey Club
Cover of the Sticks Club Handbook, 1910 A fascinating item recently came into The Hockey Museum’s possession which threw an amusing light on a social activity in London hockey circles in the early years of the last century. It was the history of an exclusive gentlemen’s hockey club...
The Jean Arnold Collection: The Lord Mayor's Cup
The Jean Arnold collection was donated to The Hockey Museum (THM) during lockdown and is now helping to uncover more of the once-hidden history of women’s league hockey. Jean Arnold Jean Arnold, a well-known figure in Liverpool hockey circles, has donated a large number of items relating to the...
Baffling Brass Buttons
The Hockey Museum (THM) has recently acquired a set of blazer buttons that once adorned the England blazer of George Hardy. These buttons, emblazoned (ahem) with the HA logo of the Hockey Association, presumably made their way to Hardy’s fellow England player, Captain John Yate Robinson who passed them...
A Tale Of Principled Pilley
On 14 April 1935 (not 1938 as stated on this British Pathé YouTube clip), Germany women played England women in Berlin. The result was 6-4 victory for England. An unexpected tour given the precarious political situation in Europe. The England team line up: Eileen Arnold (GK), Mary Knott (Cptn), Marjorie...
A Rare Item In The Modern Hockey World
The Hockey Museum recently received a Winchester HC fixture card for the 2017-2018 season. This came as a bit of a surprise as we knew that many (most?) clubs no longer produce such a publication. With the availability of information on the internet and social media they have become virtually...
Old Creightonians Archive Arrives With A Suprise
Mike Smith, Curator of THM (left) discusses theOld Creightonians HC archive with Simon Lawton-Smith (right). At The Hockey Museum (THM) we receive at least one collection each week, but not many have a twist in the story like this one. A recent visit by Simon Lawton-Smith brought us the club records...
Terrific Trophies
Over the past couple of years, a considerable amount of material, including a large collection of trophies, has come to THM from Cannock HC. It was rescued from the former National Hockey Stadium in Milton Keynes by Laurie Alcock, affectionately known as 'Mr Cannock'. Had Laurie not saved it, the cabinets and artefacts...
The Work Of Preserving Hockey Heritage: Saving The AEWHA Scrapbook
The All England Women’s Hockey Association (AEWHA) Collection is looked after at the University of Bath by their Archivist, Lizzie Richmond. The collection contains many unique and irreplaceable items documenting the evolution of women’s hockey in the UK. Two items, the Hockey Jottings scrapbook and the very first minute book...
A Vintage Christmas Present? From India To The London Stage
Photo from Daisy Pulls It Off, showing at the Park Theatre, Finsbury Park, London.Photo courtesy of Tomas Turpie. One of our eagle-eyed supporters spotted this wonderful image taken by Tomas Turpie in The Times newspaper last week. It was from a review of Daisy Pulls It Off, a play that...
An Early Easter Hockey Tour
Programme (cover) of The Newport Centrals Hockey Club Fourth Annual Tour, Season 1913-14 Easter hockey tours and festivals have been very popular for many years, probably more so before the league systems were set up in the 1960s and ‘70s. A recent find, hidden amongst our postcard collection, gives...
Bullets Stopped Play
Yesterday one of our volunteers was going through a collection and found this newspaper cutting from Thanet International Hockey Festival, 1964. Anyone who has been to Thanet will know that three coats is a mininum and not just because of the flying bullets.
Hockey Played In Antarctica
"First game of Hockey played on ice near Ship", from The Atlantic magazine, 2013. The Hockey Museum recently heard of hockey being played in a most unlikely location: on the sea ice in Antarctica. We were contacted by an Antarctic history enthusiast who pointed out that the British Film...
Bringing History To Life With Juan Calzado
The Hockey Museum (THM) was very proud to receive a visit recently (28 March 2017) from Juan Calzado, former President of the International Hockey Federation (FIH), European Hockey Federation (EHF) and Real Club de Polo, Barcelona. We were honoured that on a holiday visit to London with family he took...
An Update On The English Cup
In 2015 The Hockey Museum received an enquiry from Alan Lancaster. He sent two photographs, one a team photograph, which Alan thought was Newhey Ladies’ Hockey team. One of the photographs featured his mother Doreen Howles and her two sisters, Vera and June holding a cup which was believed to...
Three Antique Silver Cups From The Royal Navy HA
Does the existence of three antique silver cups with the Royal Navy HA have a ‘black lining’? The Royal Navy Hockey Association is the proud owner of three silver cups that date back to the 1900 period. They were used for different competitions between ships and units that made up...
The Grand International Match
During the First World War, the War Office often used sporting references to try to persuade sportsmen to enlist and an amusing notice in the book Ireland’s Call (by Stephen Walker) recently caught our eye.
The Liberty Bodice
We recently came across an interesting advertisement in The Hockey Field magazine from 6 January 1916: "Physical Instructors and Games Mistresses are recommended to try the Liberty Bodice. It obviates the necessity for corsets and gives absolute freedom of movement to growing girls. It is ideal wear for all kinds...
Hockey And Football: A Comparison
We recently acquired copies of a rare early sports magazine dating from 1906 – The Cricketer, The Hockey and Football Player. It was only published for just over a year taking in two cricket and one winter season. The magazines contain a number of interesting articles that make comment on...
An Illegal Hockey Stick
New collections are, thankfully, arriving weekly and many of them create great interest when received. The hockey stick illustrated in the below images was a real example of this. It came complete with a copy of an advertisement from Hockey Magazine of 4 September 1908 extolling the virtues of the...
The Jet-propelled Hockey Stick That Didn't Take Off!
In response to the many enquiries that we receive at The Hockey Museum our volunteers are constantly trawling through hockey publications in search of information. These searches often take twice as long as expected because we find unrelated pieces that are very interesting. One such piece was discovered recently in...
Hockey On The Sand At Minehead
Hockey players on the beach at Minehead with North Hill behind. Photograph by Alfred Vowles. Unlike most of today's youngsters who learn to play on artificial pitches, Nan Williams, a former England international and volunteer at The Hockey Museum (THM), started her playing career on the sands of Minehead on the...
Have You Heard Of The English Cup?
I have recently joined the many volunteers working with the The Hockey Museum. As I live in the Manchester area I am quite away from all the action, however I have recently been forwarded a couple of enquires from the Museum in relation to matters from the North! My first...
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