On the 27 August, over 40 Scottish former Great Britain (GB) players came together at Uddingston Hockey Club to be presented with their GB honours caps. Scottish Hockey, with the support of The Hockey Museum (THM), Hockey Internationals Club and GB Hockey organised this special event, which took place as part of the men’s EuroHockey Nations Championship Qualifier. The players received their GB caps from Sheila Morrow (GB Hockey President); the event was hosted by Colin Fraser (Scottish Hockey President) and Kaz Cuthbert (Scottish Hockey Vice President) and the Museum was represented by Katie Dodd (THM Vice President).
The event was an opportunity for former teammates to reconnect but also an occasion for long-overdue recognition of their GB achievements. Some players had not seen each other for 30 years: friendships were rekindled, old stories exchanged, and memories jogged. There was much laughter. Above all else, there was an overwhelming sense of pride.
Sue MacDonald wrote:
“It was fantastic to receive our GB caps, and really lovely to catch up with so many familiar faces! Having the presentation in Scotland was also lovely to enable family members to join, which was really appreciated.”
Vishal Marwaha added:
“Thanks to everyone involved in making this happen. It was very special to get acknowledged in this way and amazing to meet up with so many players from the past. I know it must have taken quite some time and effort which I really appreciate.”
The presentations opened with GB Hockey marking the achievements of four very special cap recipients who are no longer with us: George Black, Helen Weir, Joyce Hunter and Margaret Brown.
- George Black was Scottish Hockey’s oldest member at 95, when he passed away earlier this year. He played for GB in the 1960s and continued playing until late in life. His son David was presented with his honours cap.
- Helen Weir was the long-time Scottish GK in the 1950s & ‘60s and was selected to play for the very first GB women’s team that toured to the USA in 1965. As the GK, Helen Weir also has the distinction of holding the GB player no. 1. Helen’s niece, Helen Johnston, was presented with her GB cap by Sheila Morrow.
- Joyce Hunter was a distinguished Captain for both Scotland and the very first women's GB team in 1965. She was a talented athlete, also representing Scotland at javelin. When Joyce died, she had no close relatives so left her estate to The High School of Dundee where she had developed her love of all sports. Lise Hudson, the Rector of The High School of Dundee, attended the ceremony to be presented with Joyce’s GB cap.
- Margaret Brown, known to all as ‘Broon’, played for Scotland and GB in the 1970s and her cap was received on behalf of the family by former colleague, Mary Murphy.
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| Left: GB President Sheila Morrow with Lise Hudson, Rector of The High School of Dundee. Right: Sheila Morrow with Alison Ramsay, GB’s most capped Scottish player. |
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| All photographs courtesy of Scottish Hockey and Mark Pugh. | ||
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Left: Chris Sutherland, Dennis Hay, Billy McLean, Sheila Morrow, David Leiper and Dougie Potter. |
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Other notable presentations were to:
- Alison Ramsay, GB’s most capped Scottish player. Ali earned 107 GB caps and is a double Olympian winning bronze in 1992.
- Rhona Simpson, a double Olympian and Scotland's highest GB goal scorer with 34 goals in 80 appearances.
- Pauline Stott a double Olympian and Scotland’s only GB Captain.
- Dennis Hay who played at the 1972 Olympics and was coach of the GB women’s bronze medal team in 1992.
- David Leiper, who not only played for GB but went on to umpire at two Olympic Games in 2004 and 2008.
- Jenny and Chris Grassick in a unique double presentation: the only mother and son GB players.
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| Left: Sue Macdonald, Pauline Stott, Sheila Morrow, Diane Renilson, Janet Jack, Sue Fraser, Rhona Simpson and Mary Coutts. Right: Jenny and Chris Grassick, the only mother and son GB players. |
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Scottish Recognition for Umpires and Officials
Colin Fraser, the Master of Ceremonies (MC) for the event, took advantage of the occasion to also recognise the considerable contributions made to GB Hockey by Scottish umpires, officials and administrators. Particular mention went to Wendy McLean and Lee Cousins.
- Wendy McLean played a role in the inclusion of a GB women’s team for the first time at an Olympic Games, at Seoul in 1988. Wendy went on to be the Chair of the Great Britain Women’s Hockey Olympic Committee from 1986 to 1996.
- Lee Cousins was the Scottish representative on the Great Britain Hockey Board from 2005 to 2013 and played a key role in the instigation of the GB Framework Agreement for Hockey, signed in 2006, that brought together the three Home Nations in a binding agreement.
Colin also said that Scottish Hockey was immensely proud of the contribution Scottish umpires and officials have made to world hockey at GB level. Six women and five men have umpired at Olympic Games:
- Margot Barr
- Jean Robertson
- Janice MacDonald
- Jean Duncan
- Anne McRae; and
- Sarah Wilson (who umpired the bronze medal match at Rio 2016 and the gold medal match at Tokyo 2020).
- Craig Madden
- David Leiper
- Andy Mair (the bronze medal match at Beijing 2008)
- Ged Curran (the gold medal match at London 2012); and
- Martin Madden (the bronze medal match at Rio 2016).
As a senior official, Evlyn Raistrick had officiated at three Olympic Games (Barcelona 1992, Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000), and more recently Scottish Technical Officials Anne Wotherspoon and Barbara Morgan had been Judges for the FIH Pro League.
The Scottish Hockey Heritage Group
The event was also an opportunity for Jenny Grassick to tell everyone attending about the recently set up Scottish Hockey Heritage Group for which she is Chair. With the support of THM and Scottish Hockey, the group are currently defining the scope of its activities as well as looking to identify where significant archive material is currently held and how this can be best preserved and made available to the wider hockey family. Jenny said that more information would be available soon but that if anyone wanted to get involved in this exciting project they should get in touch.
Discover more about the Scottish Hockey Heritage Group and their work to identify collections: The Jim Shepherd Collection: The Genesis of a Scottish Hockey Museum? | (hockeymuseum.net)
