Britain's Gold Medallists:

1908 Team

BAILLON, Louis Charles
Born: 5 August 1881, Fox Bay, Falkland Islands
Died: 2 September 1965, Brixworth, Northamptonshire, England
Olympics Competed In: 1 (1908)
Olympic Medals:
1908 Gold - Field Hockey

Louis Baillon is the only person born in the Falkland Islands to win an Olympic gold medal.

His father emigrated there in the mid-1800s from Nottingham to become a sheep farmer. Louis returned to England and settled in the Northampton area and got a job as a manager with the Northampton Brewery Company later became a director.

He soon established himself as a good all-round sportsman, excelling not only at hockey but also at football and he played County tennis. His future wife Mildred was, like Louis, also an England hockey international.

They had four sons and a daughter. Two of their sons, Paul and Mark, were killed in action serving with the RAF in World War II. Their other two sons, Richard and Louis were both excellent county standard rugby players; Richard played for Northampton RUFC.

At the 1908 Olympic hockey tournament at the White City, Louis played as a full-back for the England team, which was one of the four hone countries representing Great Britain at the Games. He played in all three of England's games, against France, Scotland and Ireland in the final.

Louis joined the Royal Army Service Corps in 1914 and saw service in France before he left the Army in 1922. He continued playing hockey during his time in the Army and was till playing well into his thirties.

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FREEMAN, Harry Scott
Born: 7 February 1876, Staines, Middlesex, England
Died: 5 October 1968, Bourne End, Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England
Olympics Competed In: 1 (1908)
Olympic Medals:
1908 Gold - Field Hockey

Scott Freeman was the oldest member of the 1908 gold medal winning team at the age of 32 and like Louis Baillon, was one of the team's full-backs.

Although his first Christian name was Harry, this was unusual for the 19th century as Harold or Henry were the preferred choices. However, he chose to be called by his second forename of Scott.

Being born close to the River Thames at Staines, his first sporting passion was sailing but he later dovetailed it with that of hockey.

He played hockey for the successful Staines team at the turn of the century and captained them throughout the period when they where unbeatable. He made his England debut at the age of 27 in 1903 and by the time the 1908 Olympics came around he was asked to captain the team following his successas skipper of the Staines and Middlesex teams. Under his leadership England ran away with the gold medal at the White City,

He played for Staines for 28 years before retiring at the age of 46 in 1922. His son, Robert, known as R. Scott Freeman, followed his father into both the Staines and England teams as a full-back. He was also an Oxford hockey blue and was an excellent sprinter and long jumper. Sadly he was killed in a motorbike accident in 1933 when just 29.

Scott senior qualified as solicitor in 1899 and he held various posts within the Hockey Association. He was a treasurer fr many years and in 1919 became one of their representatives on the International Hockey Board.

He also held many sailing posts including Commodore of the Upper Thames Sailing Club and Captain of the Staines Boat Club.

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GREEN, Eric Hubert
Born: 28 August 1878, Letherhead, Surrey, England
Died: 23 December 1972, Stanford Dingley, Berkshire, England
Olympics Competed In: 1 (1908)
Olympic Medals:
1908 Gold - Field Hockey

The outside-left in the 1908 winning team, Eric Green was also a member of the successful Staines team. He played hockey for Kingston Grammar School, along with Olympic team-mates Gerald Logan and Stanley Shoveller.

He made his England debut in 1902 and played 16 times for his country, retiring after the 1908 London Olympics in which he scored one goal - the tenth and final goal in the 10-1 thrashing of the French team in the opening game..

After his playing days he was, for many years, a much respected hockey correspondent for The Times with the ability to never underrate the present and overrate the past. He was also an accomplished author, writing several books on the sport,

The son of an advertising agent, Eric was originally an orchestrelle (type of piano) salesman before finding his true professional as a journalist.

Eric was the last surviving member of the 1908 team when he died in 1972 at the age of 93.

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LOGAN, Gerald
Born: 29 December 1879, Wimbledon, London
Died: 29 April 1951, Folkestone, Kent
Olympics Competed In: 1 (1908)
Olympic Medals:
1908 Gold - Field Hockey

Gerald Logan was one of the best inside-rights to have played for England and he scored in each of England's three games iat the 1908 Olympics including the first two of their three first half goals in the 8-1 demolition of Ireland in the final.
Playing alongside him that day was Stanley Shoveller a former team-mate of Logan's at Kingston Grammar Schol, and later they played together at Hampstead and Surrey. Logan also played for Surbiton and Canterbury, occasionally as a centre-forward. Between 1906 and 1909 he made nine England appearances.
The son of a Wimbledon florist Gerald was a bank clerk as a youngster before getting involved with the rubber trade which involved him living in the Far East for many years from the 1920s. He later settled in Malaya with his wife Alexandra before returning to the UK when he was 62.
The gold medal won by Gerald Logan was left to his great nephew Nigel Bates by Logan's wife when she died as he was the only member of the family who followed in Gerald's footsteps and played hockey.

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NOBLE, Alan Henry
Born: 9 February 1885, Loughborough, Leicestershire, England
Died: 30 November 1952, Chatswood, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Olympics Competed In: 1 (1908)
Olympic Medals:
1908 Gold - Field Hockey

Alan Noble was one of the wing-halves in the 1908 gold medal winning tea,. At club kevel he played for leading Huyton, Formby, Southport, Bebington and Alderley Edge. He was also captain of Lancashire.

He played in all three home internationals, against Wales, Ireland and Scotland in 1908, before appearing for his country on three more occasions at the Olympics.

The son of a Leicestershire bank manager he was educated at the Derby Public School, and went on to follow his father into the banking profession and later emigrated to Australia wee he worked as a secretary for the Union Bank of Australia.

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PAGE, Edgar Wells
Born: 31 December 1884, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England
Died: 12 May 1956, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England
Olympics Competed In: 1 (1908)
Olympic Medals:
1908 Gold - Field Hockey

Edgar Page was an outstanding hockey player, footballer and cricketer and 1908 was to be a memorable year for him as he won an Olympic hockey gold medal and was also part of the Staffordshire team that won the Minor Counties cricket championship.

The centre-half of the 1908 gold medal winning team, Edgar played for England 15 times. He played hockey for Staffordshire and also played for the county at cricket from 1905 to 1927 and won six Minor Counties Championships with them, He was a playing member of Wolverhampton Cricket Club for 25 years. He made just one Fiurst Class cricket match plating for the Minor Counties against HDG Leveson-Gower's XI in 1924.

As a footballer he played for Old Reptonians and was in their team that won the 1911 Arthur Dunn cup, the senior trophy for public schools old boys' teams

Page served with the South Staffordshire Regiment during World War One and was one of thee sons of on Samuel Wells Page to serve in the Great War. His father Samuel was a solicitor and was the Wolverhampton Official Receiver. Edgar Wells was a chartered accountant.

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PRIDMORE, Reginald George
Born: 29 April 1886, Handsworth, Birmingham, England
Died: 13 March 1918, Treviso, Italy
Olympics Competed In: 1 (1908)
Olympic Medals:
1908 Gold - Field Hockey

Reggie Pridmore was the top scorer in the 1908 Olympics with 10 goals and he scored a hat-trick in each of England's three games at the White City, including four in the final against Ireland. This later haul was an Olympic record until India's Balbir Singh, Snr. Scored five in the final goals against Netherlands at Helsinki in 1952,

Educated at Bedford School Pridmore played cricket for the first XI in 1901-02 and then played for Hertfordshire in the Minor Counties 1902-03. He joined Warwickshire in 1909 and played 14 matches and scored 315 runs in four years with them. His top score was 49 against Derbyshire in 1909, ironically in his hometown of Coventry.

As a hockey player his club side was Coventry and he played for England 19 times between 1908 and 1013. He was also a good golfer and rugby player.

Pridmore served with the Royal Field Artillery, signing up at the start of the Great War in 1914. At the time of signing up Reggie was a stockbroker with his own firm R.G.Pridmore & Co of Coventry.

In October 1916 he was awarded the Military Cross for his bravery as a forward observation officer. He made the rank of Major but was killed in action on 13 March 1918 near the Piave River, Arcade in the Italian Province of Treviso just two weeks after moving to his new battery. The inscription on his original wooden cross erected by his comrades read: "A most Gallant Sportsman and Comrade." Reggie's cousin Percy Pridmore was also killed in action six months earlier.

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REES, Percy Montague
Born: 27 September 1883, Camberwell, London
Died: 12 June 1970, Wonersh, nr.Guildford, Surrey, England
Olympics Competed In: 1 (1908)
Olympic Medals:
1908 Gold - Field Hockey

The son of a cloth merchant, Percy Rees was one of eight children and was educated at Dulwich College.

He played hockey for Barnes hockey club, London, the South, and in 1906 he played the first of his 14 matches for England when he made his debut against Wales.

for England on 14 occasions since 1906 when he made his debut against.

He was an outstanding right-wing and was the best in that position until the arrival of Thomas Dashwood in the 1930s. Rees played in all three matches at the 1908 Olympics, scoring just one goal in the opening 10-1 win over France.

During World War I he served as a Captain with the 10th Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers and won the Military Cross.

Rees qualified as a accountant qualified in 1905 and worked in the city, He also worked abroad in The Hague for a while before taking up the post of sole chief accountant at Unilever in 1931, a post he held until his retirement in 1948. In his work as an accountant he was involved with draft recommendations that led to the brining in of the Companies Act in 1947.

Percy Rees died at home in 1970 aged 86.

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ROBINSON, John Yate
Born: 6 August 1885, Catford, Kent, England
Died: 23 August 1916, Roehampton, Surrey, England
Olympics Competed In: 1 (1908)
Olympic Medals:
1908 Gold - Field Hockey

John Yate Robinson was one of the finest right-halves of his day. He was one of seven children, all boys, born to a Church of England vicar. He was educated at Radley College before graduating from Oxford with honours. A Varsity hockey blue on four occasions 1906-09, he was also the captain and later president of the Oxford University Hockey Club. He made his England debut in 1907 and played nine times up to 1911.

Two of his brothers, twin brother Laurence, and Hugh both captained the Cambridge University hockey team.

Before serving in the First World War, John spent a short time as a schoolteacher in Kent, But he then joined the 7th Battalion of the Princes of Wales's North Staffordshire Regiment serving as a Captain and Adjutant. His brother Hugh also saw service with the Staffs.

John served in the Gallipoli campaign and was mentioned in dispatches and also won the Military Cross in 1916 but a few months later he died back in England from injuries received while fighting in Mesopotamia .

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SHOVELLER, Stanley Howard
Born: 2 September 1881, Kingston, Surrey, London
Died: 24 February 1959, Broadstone, Dorset, England
Olympics Competed In: 2 (1908, 1920)
Olympic Medals:
1908 Gold - Field Hockey
1920 Gold - Field Hockey

Stanley Shoveller is the only Briton to win two Olympic hockey gold medals. He was firstly a member of the England team that won the tournament at London in 1908 when he was the second highest scorer with seven goals. Eight years later at Antwerp, he struck gold again and was top scorer when he scored 10 of Great Britain's 17 goals. He was 39 years of age at the time.

Educated at Kingston Grammar school and one of the pioneers of hockey at the school and in 1897-98 was a member of the team that beat many of the top London club sides. He joined Hampstead Hockey Club at 18 and was selected for Surrey a year later. He won the first of his 29 England caps in 1902 and captained the side for more than 10 years until his retirement in 1921 at the age of 40. He scored 76 goals for England.

Shoveller, known as "Shove", was known as "The Prince of Centre-Forwards" and was widely regarded the 'W G Grace of hockey'.

The son of a civil servant, Stanley became a successful City stockbroker probate records from 1959 show that he left £98,000 - equivalent to around £2 million in 2014.

Stanley served as a Captain with the Rifle Brigade 33rd London Regiment during the first world war and in 1915 was awarded the Military Cross.

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WOOD, Harvey Jesse
Born: 10 April 1885, Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire, England
Died: 18 December 1958, Tynemouth, Tyneside, England
Olympics Competed In: 1 (1908)
Olympic Medals:
1908 Gold - Field Hockey

A railway clerk with the North-East Railway Company, Harvey Wood was the son of a butcher who was a former Mayor of Beverley, East Yorkshire.

Wood was the goalkeeper in the 1908 England Olympic team but he only got a regular first team place at West Bromwich shortly before the Olympics. And after some excellent performances for Staffordshire he got his international call-up and made his debut in 1 4-2 win over Wales at Bath in March 1908.

He played for England in just seven games it total, and all were in his Olympic gold medal winning year.



NB: There were two other members of the 1908 squad who did not play. They were Cambridge hockey blue Ellis Edge-Partington (later Canon Edge-Partington), and Arthur Leighton. The latter played and won a gold medal in 1920 (see below)                 

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1920 TEAM

ATKIN, Charles Sydney
Born: 26 February 1889, Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire (now part of South Yorkshire), England
Died: 9 May 1958, Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1920)
Olympic medals won:
1920 Gold - Hockey

Charles Sydney Atkin came from a wealthy background and was from a family of Sheffield doctors. When his father, also Charles, died following in an accident in 1934, he inherited a huge sum of money. His father, grandfather and great grandfather were also doctors before him. His great grandfather was the Mayor of Sheffield in 1851 and was the man who started the family medical practice.

Charles junior was educated at a Derbyshire preparatory school and then Marlborough College before going up to Cambridge where he became a hockey Blue in 1909 and 1910. He qualified as a doctor in 1913 and later became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons.

His senior hockey career saw him play for Beckenham and Kent before winning his first international cap for England against Wales at Cardiff in 1913. His eighth and final game was against Ireland at Beckenham was in 1921 when the legendary Stanley Shoveller played his 29th and final match in a game watched by HRH King George V.

A fine full-back without being an outstanding player, he had the honour of taking part in the first ever inter-divisional hockey match in December 1908 when he played for the East against the West, and he also played in the first official recognised international hockey tournament, in Brussels in 1910, when England, Belgium, France and Germany played in a four team tournament.

He played in the first match against Denmark at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics but was replaced by Colin Campbell in the 12-1 win over Belgium.

During the First World War Atkin served with the Royal Army Medical Corps - as did his father and grandfather before him.

Following Charles' death in 1958 his son Charles Phillip became the fifth generation of the family to head their Sheffield medical.

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BENNETT, John Hadfield "Jack"
Born: 11 August 1885, Didsbury, Manchester, Lancashire, England
Died: 27 May 1973, Littleham, Exmouth, Devon, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1920)
Olympic medals won:
1920 Gold - Hockey

Coming from a family of wealthy Manchester timber merchants, Jack Bennett was educated at Bilton Grange School in Warwickshire before going to Harrow and then on to Oxford from where he qualified as a barrister in 1911.

At school he established himself as a competent footballer, cricketer and rugby and hockey player and he was a hockey blue in 1907 and 1908. And whilst at University he played Minor Counties cricket for Berkshire. His best score was 63 made in his very first innings for the county against Oxfordshire at Oxford in 1906. By contrast his ninth and final match for Berkshire against Surrey Second XI in 1908 saw him dismissed for a "pair".

Jack's older brother George played first class cricket for Cambridge University and also played in the same Berkshire team as his Jack.

Jack played hockey for Hampstead and Surrey and won 34 England caps between 1911-24, captaining the side from 1921 until his retirement from the international game. He was a full-back in both of Great Britain's games against Belgium and Denmark at the 1920 Olympics.

During World War I Jack served with Royal Warwickshire regiment. He signed up in 1914 and served until 1921, reaching the rank of Lieutenant and he won the 1914-15 Star after serving on the Western Front in France.

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CAMPBELL, Colin Herbert
Born: 4 November 1887, Rocester, Staffordshire, England
Died: 25 August 1955, Stafford, Staffordshire, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1920)
Olympic medals won:
1920 Gold - Hockey

Colin Campbell was a half-back who played hockey for Stafford, Wolverhampton, Staffordshire and the Midlands before gaining international honours and subsequently being selected for the 1920 Olympics. Originally chosen as a reserve he was, however, selected to play in Britain's second game, the 12-1 win over hosts Belgium in Antwerp.

Campbell was born into a wealthy family and when he died in 1955 left nearly £123,00 which is the equivalent to nearly £3 million today. His money came from being part of the two family Staffordshire businesses; The Campbell Tile Company and Mintons Chinaware. Mintons was later incorporated into the famous Royal Doulton Company in 1968.

In the 1920s he donated valuable gifts of pottery to the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Colin was born in Rocester near Uttoxeter in Staffordshire which is the home to the famous J C Bamford company's headquarters. He served in the Royal Field Artillery I in World War One.

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Harold Cassels was born in China where his parents were missionaries. His father William Wharton Cassels was consecrated the first Bishop of Western China in October 1895.

Harold junior was sent to England for his education, originally at a Church Missionaries Children's Home in Surrey and then at St Lawrence College, Ramsgate, where he proved himself as an excellent all-round sportsman making the first XI at football, cricket and hockey.

He then went to Queen's College Cambridge and, whilst he was a fine footballing wing-half, it was at hockey that he became a Blue on two occasions, in 1920 and 1921.

As an outstanding half-back he played regular club matches for the University hockey team that beat most of the top sides in the early part of the 1920s. He also played for Wimbledon and divisional hockey for the East. He never won an England cap and his sole international selection was for the 1920 Olympics.

Originally selected as a reserve in Antwerp he missed the first game against Denmark but was chosen as right-half in place of Harold Cooke in Great Britain's only other game, the 12-1 win over Belgium.

Harold married nurse Hattie Arnold in Shanghai in 1936 and the pair of them lived there while Cassels was working as a school teacher. They then lived in Australia for a while before returning to England after the second World War when Harold obtained a post at the famous Millfield school which has spawned many great sportsmen and women over the years.

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The son of a railway worker, Harold Cooke's father George had the honour of being the station master at the tiny Shacklestone station in Leicestershire when King Edward VII visited the area in 1902, just four months after his Coronation.

Harold, who went on to claim his own notoriety as a hockey player, attended Market Bosworth Grammar School and graduated from Birmingham University with in 1920 with passes in metallurgy, chemistry, engineering, accountancy and German.

Interestingly he failed German in 1915 with just 5%. However, as he passed German for his finals it indicates he was making some sort of protest at the start of the War!

He played hockey for the University and for Worcester Hockey Club. He also played for Warwickshire and the Midlands before winning the first of his four England caps against Wales at Barry in March 1920.

Four months later he was selected for the Great Britain squad to compete in the Antwerp Olympics and he played at right-half in the opening 5-1 win over Denmark. He was replaced by Harold Cassells in the second game.

He continued playing in the Midlands until he moved to Yorkshire in late 1921 when he then played club hockey for Saltburn and later for West Hartlepool Caledonians and Redcar. He won County honours with Yorkshire and the North and in 1933 he was elected on to the Yorkshire Hockey Association selection committee who he served them many years.

Special thanks to Martin Killeen, Rare Books Librarian, Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham for his invaluable help with Harold Cooke's biography.

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Eric Crockford was, along with Cyril Wilkinson and Jack MacBryan, one of three first class cricketers to win a hockey gold medal at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics.

Educated at Eastbourne College Eric and his older brother Leslie were both articled to their father's Birmingham law practice. Eric qualifyied in 1913.

Eric joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment at the start of the war in September 1914. He ended up as a Lieutenant and served in France in 1916 and 1918. Brother Leslie also served in the Roywal Warwiockshire Regiment and was honoured with the Military Cross.

As a hockey player he was a half-back for Sutton Coldfield and Warwickshire before winnng the first of his 17 international caps on the England tour of France, Belgium and Germany in 1910. Two of his international appearances were for the Great Britain Olympic gold-medal winning team at Antwerp.

He played first clsss cricket for Warwickshire between 1911 and 1922. However, he played only 21 matches for the county, 10 of them being in the 1913 season when he recorded his highest innings of 55 against Lancashire at Old Trafford.

He continued playing cricket for Sutton Coldfield until 1933 when he was 45. He was still playing hockey for the Midlands side Bacchanalian Hockey Club at the age of 48.

Eric had the honour of captaining both the Suton Coldfield cricket and hockey teams, an honour that was replicated with the Warwickshire cricket and hockey county sides.

Crockford died in 1958 a few months before his youngest daughter Gwendolen got married.

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A great all-round sportsman, Rex Crummack was a member of the 1920 Olympic hockey squad but only went to Antwerp as a reserve and never played in either of Britain's two matches,

Born in Salford he was the son of a wealthy Lancashire brewer, Henry Crummack - a partner the Simpson & Crummack brewery. Rex inherited a fortune when his father died in 1924.

Rex was educated at Rossall School in Fleetwood on Lancashire's Fylde coast and after finishing his education he moved to London to train for a career in the cotton industry where he later became a successful cotton broker. In London he played football for the Casuals (later Corinthian-Casuals) and was also selected for Middlesex.

He returned to Lancashire in 1908 and joined the St Anne's Hockey Club, soon winning Lancashire county honours. He also joined the Lytham & St Anne's golf club (now Royal Lytham & St Anne's) and in a short time played to a single-figure handicap. He was to eventually become captain of the club.

He was the Lancashire Amateur champion in 1911 and 1912 but then the War years curtailed his sporting activities and Rex was commissioned into the South Lancashire Regiment serving as a captain and seeing action in France in 1915. He was awarded the Victory and British medals and the 1915 Star

After the War he moved to Cheshire and continued playing hockey, for Alderley Edge and Timperley, cricket for Stockport and golf - still at Lytham.

His younger brother Edward played hockey alongside him for Alderley Edge.

Three weeks after his Olympic hockey trip to Antwerp in 1920, Rex won his third Lancashire amateur championship in a match that was decided at the fourth extra hole, which was believed to be a record number of extra holes required to decide a senior tournament in Britain at the time. His younger sister Frances was also an excellent golfer and it was a family double in 1920 because she was the ladies' Lancashire Amateur champion.

Rex played in the British Amateur championship many times between his debut in 1909 and 1946 when he appeared for the final time. Remarkably, he appeared before the start of World War One and after the end of World War Two. His best finish was in losing 2 & 1 to R H Hardman of Birkdale in the quarter-final in 1925 but his best individual performance was in beating the defending champion John Ball 4 & 2 in the fourth round 1911. But Ball's Royal Liverpool team-mate Harold Hilton imposed a 6 & 5 defeat on Crummack in the next round, the last 16. Hilton went on to win the title,

However, Rex continued playing competitive golf well into his 60s and in 1952, at the age of 65, he played for Old Rossallians in the final of Halford Hewitt Cup at Deal. The following year he was appointed a member of the general committee of the Royal & Ancient Golf Club

Rex is reputed to have won "a fiver" off the legendary American golfer Bobby Jones when he returned to play at Lytham in 1944.

Whilst golf was his main sport he won five international hockey caps between 1913 and 1926 and in 1931 he was appointed an international hockey selector.

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Harry Haslam started playing his hockey in the Midlands before moving to Essex in the early part of the 20th century. He spent two seasons playing with the Guildhall team in Essex before joining Ilford in 1911. He was to stay with the club for 18 years until returning to Guildhall in 1929.

He won his county cap for Essex in the 1911 and was appointed Honorary Secretayry of te Copunty Association the same year. He later went on to captain the county and he never missed a game for Essex for over 12 years from his debut. He also played for the East and Eastern Counties and in 1920 made his Emngland international debut before going on to keep goal for Britain in both their matches on their way to winning the gold medal at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics. Altogether he won nine international caps, the last being against Scotland in March 1921.

Midway thrugh his playing career he carved out a professional for himself as a hockey correspondent for the Chelmsford Chronicle and then the News Chronicle. He was also the regularly hockey expert on BBC radio and in 1922 his book "How to Play Hockey" was published by Ward Lock.

He announced his retirement from playing at the age of 48 in September 1931 but he continued to be active within the sport in various administrative capacities as well as being a prominent umpire.

During World War One Harry served as a Chief Inspector with the Metropolitan Special Constabulary and in 1920 he received an OBE for his services to the Constabulary.

Harry died in his sleep at his Ilford home on his 72nd birthday.

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Arthur Leighton was educated at Bishop's Stortford College and played cricket for the town's team. He then went to Cambridge where he attended the same college, Caius, at 1920 Olympic team-mate Charles Atkin. The pair were both Hockey blues in 1909 and again in 1910, when Leighton was the captain.

Leighton won his first blue in 1908 and that year was one of the reserves for the England squad at the London Olympics, although he did not play.

He made the first of his 29 international appearances for in England's 6-0 win over Wales at Swansea in 1909. He played for his country for 12 years.

After University he taught at the at St Andrew's Prep. School, Meads, Eastbourne before joining the Army in 1915 when he served with the 147th Army, Royal Field Artillery during the War, seeing service in France that saw him win several decorations including, in 1919, the Military Cross. He rose to the rank of Captain before the end of his military service in 1920.

He then resumed his hockey career and played on the left wing for Great Britain in both their matches at Antwerp on their way to winning gold at the 1920 Olympics.

He was equally at home playing on either wing or, in his latter years at centre-forward for Walsall for whom he played his last match in 1927. He was elected onto the selection committee of the Hockey Association.

Leighton died at his Walsall home in 1939 at the age of 50 but is buried in Bishop's Stortford and his funeral service was held at Holy Trinity Church Stortord where his father was once the curate.

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Jack MacBryan only played a handful of international hockey matches but is an Olympic gold medallist. However, it is not for his hockey achievement that MacBryan achieved sporting notoriety because he is uniquely the only person to have played Test cricket without batting, bowling or dismissing a man.

For the fourth Test against South Africa at Old Trafford in 1924 he was called in to replace the regular number three batsman Jack Hearne. Sadly the match was ruined by rain and lasted just one day with just 66.5 overs in less than four hours being bowled on the first day with MacBryan standing at second slip without being involved in any serious action. Hearne recovered from injury and was back in the side for the fifth Test and MacBryan was never played for his country again but in his one Test he played alongside such greats as Herbery Sutcliffe, Andy Sandham, Frank Woolley, Patsy Hendren, Johnny Douglas and George Duckworth.

The son of an Irish-born psychiatrist Henry Crawford MacBryan, Jack was the eldest of six children and was born at Kingsdown House, Box, Wiltshire which was a private lunatic asylum of which his father was a partner. It was known locally as the 'Box Mad House'.

Educated at Cheltenham College and then Exeter School wherem, I 1911 he became captain of the cricket first XI. That same year he made the first of his 206 first class matches for Somerset.

He continued playing for the county after moving to the Sandhurst Military Academy and in 1912 he passed out from Sandhurst and joined the Prince Albert's Somerset Light Infantry but resigned his commission 18 months later. He studied at St Bartholomew's Hospital in London for a shot while before the outbreak of World War One when he returned to the Somerset Light Infantry but shortly afterwards he was wounded and captured during action at Le Couteau in September 1914 and was held as a prisoner of war, mostly in Holland, until repatriation in November 1918.

He passed his time in captivity in Holland playing cricket and also teaching the guards to speak English, taught Russian officers how to do mathematics and became an expert in butterfly-breeding.

After the War he went to Cambridge University and in 1920 won a Blue at cricket. He was also a very good hockey player. He also had the honour being the secretary of the Hawk's Club, the club for the elite sportsmen of the University.

He resigned his commission with the 3 rd Somerset Light Infantry in May 1920 but retained the rank of Captain. He continued playing cricket for Somerset whilst at Cambridge and have played hockey for both the University and Somerset, he was selected as one of the three reserves for the Great Britain hockey squad at the 1920 Olympics. When he heard about his selection, his Somerset ccricket aptain John Daniell said to his opening batsman: " What the blazes do you want to do a weedy thing like that for? Dammit, man, I've now got to find another player" . MacBryan played in Great Britain's second match against Belgium and was one of three first class cricketers in the England hockey team that won the gold medal at Antwerp; Eric Crockford and Cyril Wilkinson being the others.

Jack played for Somerset from 1911 to 1931 and was their top scorer six times in the eight years 1919-26. He played 206 first class matches, scored 10,322 runs and made 18 centuries. He was one of Wisden's five cricketers of the year for 1925, being described by them as a player with: "neat and polished in style."

He continued playing first class cricket until he was 44 making his final appearance for the MCC against Ireland in Dublin in August 1936. After his cricketing days 'Tetchy Jack' became a stockbroker. When he died, eight days short of his 91st birthday, on 14 July 1983 he had the distinction of being England's oldest surviving Test cricketer at the time.

In addition to cricket and hockey, he also played county standard golf and rugby to a high standard, playing for the Bath and Richmond rugby clubs.

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George McGrath was the son of a Camberwell post office worker who died when George was just five. McGrath's sister Emily was born eight months after her father's death.

George first played hockey for Wimbledon in 1912 and went on to become a stalwart of the club. He was responsible for reviving the club after World War One when he assumed the posts of Honorary Secretary (which he held for 11 years) and Honorary Treasurer. At the same time was captain of the first XI, when he skippered for four years. He also served as a lieutenant at the Royal School of Artillery.

His former experience as an assistant secretary for the National Association for the Employment of ex-Soldiers and then as secretary of the Wimbledon Park Golf Club were good schooling for his administrative capacities at Wimbledon Hockey Club.

An inside-forward he won representative honours for Surrey and the Souh but despite playing for Great Britain at the 1920 Olympic Games he never won an England cap, the nearest being in 1920 when he had a trial for The Rest against the England team.

He was one of the British inside-forwards at Antwerp and played in the opening win over Denmark but lost his place to Jack McBryan for the second game against Belgium.

McGrath later became a writer and broadcaster, teaching people how to play hockey on the radio!

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MARCON, Charles Sholto Wyndham
Born: 31 March 1890, Headington, Oxfordshire, England
Died: 17 November 1959, Leigh Green, Tenterden, Kent, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1920)
Olympic medals won:
1920 Gold - Hockey

Sholto Marcon was, like his father and grandfather before him, an ordained vicar. He was also probably the finest inside-forward to play hockey for England in his 23 appearances between 1912 and 1929 when he played his final game against Ireland aged nearly 40.

Educated at Lancing College where he played in the cricket first XI he then went to Oriel College, Oxford where he became a hockey Blue as a Freshman in 1910. He played in his fourth Varsity Match in 1913 as captain of the side.

After University he moved up north and played club cricket for Oxton and also represented Cheshire and the North. He continued his international career and played for England in the 1912 Hamburg tournament and scored five goals against Austria.

When war broke out in 1914 Marcon was commissioned into the 4th regiment of the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry as a second lieutenant.

After the war he resumed his international hockey career and continued to be a prolific goalscorer which led to him being selected for the Great Britain squad for the 1920 Olympics. He was the only player from a Northern club in the squad.

He played in both Britain's wins in Antwerp and scored a hat-trick in the 12-1 win over the Belgian hosts.

After the Olympics he played club and county hockey in Sussex where he was the co-owner of a Prep School in Bognor. He then taught at Cranleigh School until 1936 when he left to be ordained. He had by then became an established member of the Hampstead Hockey Club who he served for seven seasons. He continued playing representative hockey until 1935 when he was aged 45.

He became vicar at Kennington, Ashford, Kent before before World War II when he served as a Chaplain in the RAF. He attained the rank of Squadron Leader.

After the War he became vicar of Tenterden in Kent, one of the Cinque Port towns, and remained there until his death.

His first wife Bessie, whom he had been married for over 40 years, died in 1957. The following year Sholto married second wife Margery but it lasted only one year due to is death in 1959.

The year before he died, Marcon played cricket for Canterbury Clergy against Blackburn Clergy in the final of the Church Times Cup at the age of 68. Blackburn won.

As well as being an excellent hockey player who captained his country, Sholto Marcon was a first class coach and wrote several tutorial books about the sport he loved. He also wrote for the Boy's Own Paper.

Sholto's father Charles Abdy Marcon died at home in February 1953. He lived at No.256 Iffley Road, Oxford a place not many people had heard of at the time, but just over 12 months later the whole world had heard of Iffley Road because, half a mile up the road from Rev. Marcon's home was the running track where Roger Bannister first broke the four minute barrier for the one mile.

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SHOVELLER, Stanley Howard
See 1908

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William Smith, or Jerry as he was known by close friends an family, not only won 24 England caps and won an Olympic gold medal, but he served his sport for many years as an administrator.

Educated at Marlborough College he then went to Cambridge and became a hockey blue in 1909 before going on to play for Blackheath. He won his first England cap against Wales in 1911 and went on to become an outstanding outside-right.

After University he joined the family firm of women's and children's clothes manufacturers in Cromer, Norfolk where he played hockey for the County.

Selected by Great Britain for the 1920 Olympics he played in the two wins over Denmark and Belgium in Antwerp which won him a gold medal.

He was appointed the fixtures secretary to the Hockey Asociation in 1920 and two years later became the general secretary of the Association, a post he held for 15 years up to the time of his death in 1937. He was also one of the Association's international selectors.

His 10-year international playing career ended in the match against Scotland at St Andrews in 1921 and he the n ended his senior club career with Beckenham in 1924.

His last official engagement at the Hockey Association was to attend the England trial at Bromsgrove in March 1937. He was taken ill on the way home and died shortly afterwards at the age of 50.

When he died he left around £130,000 in his will, a sum equivalent to around £8 million in current money.

In addition to being a partner in the family clothing business, he was also a partner in a firm of insurance brokers and was also an underwriter at Lloyds.

His father, Sitr Henry Smith was a former vice president of the Hockey Association.

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Cyril Wilkinson's early sporting years were spent playing cricket and in his final year at Blundell's boarding school in Devon he captained the first XI. After his school days he joined his family in Surrey and he made his first class cricket debut for Surrey in 1909. He played for the county up to 1920 and was appointed captain in 1914 when they won the 25th official County Championship. He also captained the side in the first two years after the War, 1919 and 1920,

He was also playing hockey locally, notably as a half-back for Hampstead and Surrey and in 1920 he won the first of his four England caps at the age of 35. That same year he was selected for the Great Britain team to go to Antwerp and he returned home with a gold medal - one of three first class cricketers in the successful team - Eric Crockford and Jack MacBryan being the other two.

He continued playing cricket at a high level and his final senior game was for the Civil Service against the touring West Indians in 1928. Wilkinson was aged 43 at the time but still managed to scored 52 runs in his only innings.

In all he played only 54 first class matches and scored 1,773 runs but it was his quality as a leader where he excelled. His highest innings was 135, achieved in less than two hours. He continued playing occasional local cricket and in August 1953, he turned out for Sidmouth and scored 50 runs and took all ten wickets against the Nondescripts - he was 69 at the time. Wilkinson's Barrister father Anthony was also a country cricketer with Middlesex and Yorkshire - although he was not born in the county!

Despite not starting his international hockey career until late in life he went on to serve the sport in various capacities over the years as an international umpire, a member of the International Hockey Board and as vice-president of the Hockey Association, amongst others. For his services to field hockey he was awarded the CBE in 1954.

In the early part of the 20th century he got a job as a third class clerk in the Civil Service Probate Office but the war years intervened and he joined the 8th London Regiment, serving in France as a Captain and he won the Victory and British nedals.

After the war he returned to the Probate Office and moved up the ladder from clerk to hold the post of Registrar of Probate and Divorce from 1936 to 1959.

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1988 TEAM

Having won a bronze medal for England at the 1978 Eurohockey Nations Cup, Paul Barber hit the headlines in the 1986 World Cup semi-final against Germany.

With one minute of normal time to go he scored the equaliser, and then in the second period of extra-time he scored the winner as England won 3-2. Unfortunately they lost to Australia in the final.

Having missed out on playing at the 1980 Moscow Olympics because of the British team boycott, he won a medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Games when Great Britain were last-minute qualifiers after the Soviet Boycott of the Games. Four years later he was vice-captain of the British team when they struck gold. As a defender, he scored in every one of Britain's five group matches in Seoul as they went on to beat Germany in the final.

It was the highlight of a career that lasted more than 25 years and saw him win 99 England caps and a further 68 for Britain. He retired from international hockey after the 1988 Olympic triumph but continued playing club hockey for another 10 years, for Slough, and then Newbury Hockey Club.

Paul had the honour of being the very first Hockey Writers' Club UK Player of the Year, in 1983.

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Having won a bronze medal with the England team at the 1986 World Cup, Kulbir Bhaura followed it up with another silver at the Eurohockey Nations Cup a year later. But then came 1988 when he won his Olympic gold medal.

He played in all matches in Seoul, with the exception of the game against his country of birth, India.

Kulbir came to England to settle ag the age of 13 in 1968. He was educated at Khalsa School, Jalandhar, at Featherstone School, Southall and at Isleworth Polytechnic in London. He soon showed his considerable hockey skills, and became a member of the London Indian Gymkhana Hockey Club, and also Hounslow, he made his England debut against Belgium in 1979 and played his 145th and final international match in November 1988, two months after his Olympic triumph. In total he won 84 England caps, and 61 Great Britain caps.

A former computer systems analyst he then started developing his own brand of hockey equipment, and later became the CEO of a London sports retailer. Bhaura was also very good badminton player.

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Steve Batchelor played field hockey for Southgate and made his international debut at the age of 19 for England in 1980. He played a further 47 games for his country during which he managed to win silver medals in the 1986 World Cup in London and the 1987 European Cup in Moscow.

Strangely, after his first England cap, he wasn't called up again and had virtually quit hockey to return to his first love of lawn tennis. But in 1983 he got a surprise call-up to start re-training with the England squad

In addition to 48 England caps, Batchelor represented Great Britain 66 times and was a member of the team that won a surprise bronze medal in Los Angeles in 1984.

Batchelor appeared in all seven of Great Britain's games in Seoul in 1988 without scoring, despite being a striker, but he played a crucial role in the final match against Germany when his cross from the right wing set up Imran Sherwhani to score his second, and Britain's third goal, in a 3-1 win to secure their first win over the Germans in 30 years and their first Olympic field hockey gold in 68 years.

Steve Batchelor played in his third consecutive Olympics in 1992 but the team could only manage 6th place. Batchelor announced his retirement from international hockey at the end of the 1992 Olympics.

After his playing days Steve organised coaching tennis and hockey camps for youngsters before becoming a housemaster at Cranleigh School in Surrey.

Steve's eldest son Tom has played hockey for England under-18s and is showing great potential and as Steve says: "He scored more goals in his first season than I scored in my whole career!"

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Robert Clift attended Nottingham University and started blaying club hockey for Hampton-in-Arden Junior and Nottingham before joining Hounslow in 1984 before moving to Southgare in 1987 where e]he enjoyed three seasons with them including 1989 when they won the inagural Premiership title.

An inside-forward, he moved to East Grinstead in 1989 and he was the National Hockey League player of the season in 1989-90 for helping his club to second place in the League.

He won the first of his 75 England caps in 1982 an was in the team that won silver medals at the 1986 World Cup and 1987 European Cup.

He also won 52 Great Britain caps and made his Olympic debit in 1988 when the Britosh team returned from Seoul with the gold medal. He was honoured with the captaincy of the team in Barcelona in 1992 but Britain could only finish sixth,]

A banker, Robert worked HSBC before joining Barclays Bank when he became head of re-structuring of the bank.

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Richard Dodds was born in York but moved to the London area when he was five. He was educated at Kingston Grammar School before going to Cambridge and then to St. Thomas's Hospital Medical School in London. And after basic surgical training he became at Registrar at Reading and Oxford before becoming the Senior Registrar at St Mary's Hospital in London. He is now one of the leading knee surgeons in the country.

Like his older brother Alistair, Richard was a hockey Blue at Cambridge. Both brothers also capgained the Cambridge University team.

Richard went on to win 147 England and Great Britain caps between 1979 and 1988. He was a member of the team that won the surprise bronze medal at the 1984 Olympics when Great Britain were admitted into the competition by qualifying following the Soviet's withdrawal.

Four years later he was the motivational captain behind the Great Britain team's victory at the Seoul Olympics, and in between he captained England to a World Cup silver medal in 1986 and a silver at the 1987 European Cup.

After his international career ended after the 1988 Games, he served in various capacities with the GB Hockey, the British Olympic Association and between 1997-99 he was on the International Hockey Federation Medical Committee.

Awarded the OBE in the 1989 New Years' Honours list, he was the first person to be honoured specifically for his services to the game of hockey. Dodds spent most of his playing days with Southgate and after he finally quit competitive hockey he continued playing in veterans hockey matches.

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FAULKNER, David Andrew Vincent
Born: 10 September 1962, Portsmouth, Hampshire, England.
Olympics Competed In: 1 (1988)
Olympic Medals:     
1988 Gold - Hockey (men)

David Faulkner made his senior England debut against German in Hamburg in 1982. The following year he won his first Great Britain cap, against China in Hiong Kong. He went on to win 225 England and Great Britain caps (indoor and outdoor). He captained England 31 times and Great Britain on 13 occasions.

By the time the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics came around he was already an established member of the British team but he was overlooked for the Olympic squad.

He won a silver medal with England at the 1986 World Cup and another in the European Cup a year later before playing as full-back in all Britain's seven games on the way to winning the Olympic gold medal at Seoul in 1988.

A member of the Havant club throughout most of his career, he played for them from 1977 to 1991 but had one season away to play for Guildford in the early 1980s. He won the Hockey Writers' Club UK Player of the Year and also the National League Player of the year in 1989 after leading Havant to second place in the League and to the Hockey Association cup final. He later became head coach of Havant between 1992 and 1995.

A former sales executive, Faulkner was appointed performance director of GB Hockey in 2005, overseeing both the men's and women's game. He left the post in December 2012 to become the director of sport at Millfield School.

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When he played for Britain in 1988, hairdresser Russell Garcia became the youngest hockey player to represent Britain at the Olympics at 18 years and 103 days. and to this day he remains Britain's youngest gold medallist in any sport.

He played for England Under-21 at the age pf 15 and made his senior international debut at the age of 17 at the Barcelona Polo Club, where he later ended up playing, and was where tennis player Arantxa Sanchez Vicario used to practice. He went on to become England's most capped player.

An inside-forward he attended Portsmouth College of Art and played for the Havant club when he was called up for training with the British squad in 1987 and he was told on his 18 th birthday that he had been selected for the Seoul Olympics.

He appeared in three group matches at Seoul but did not play in the semi-final or final.

He appeared in the Bareclona Olympics four years layer while still a member of the Havant club, but he moved to the Barcelona Polo Club in 1994 when he became one of the first players to become a full-time professional, and that year he scored all Britain's four goals in their 5-4 defeat by Australia in the Champions Trophy in Lahore.

He stayed with the club for three seasons and appeared in his third Olympics at Atlanta in 1996. He was the only survivor of the 1988 gold medal winning team to play in the Games.

Garcia moved to HDM in Holland in 1997 before moving to Germany in 1999 where he played for the Hamburg club Harvestehuder. That same year he was banned for life for taking cocaine, but the ban was lifted in March 2000 and he was recalled to the Great Britain squad and was also selected for his fourth Olympics but subsequently withdrew. He also played in the 2004 Olympic qualifying campaign but was left out of the final squad.

He won his 300 th international cap against Poland in Madrid in 2004 and that same year he became the player-coach at Gross Flottbecker, Hamburg, before taking over as the head coach of the Scottish squad in 2010 but he re-located back to Germany in 2011.

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GRIMLEY, Martyn Andrew
Born: 24 January 1953, Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Olympics competed in: 1 (1988)
Olympic medals won:
1988 Gold - Hockey (men)

Martyn Grimley made his England debut in 1984 and went on to win 178 caps for England and Great Britain. He initially made his name as a wing-half and was a member of the England team that lost 2-1 to Australia in the final of the 1986 World Cup at the Willesden Sports Centre. It is the only time England has been in the final.

Martyn was playing for the Brooklands club in Sale, near Manchester at the time but moved south where he taught, firstly at Banbury school in Oxford and then at Dulwich College in London. With moving south he joined the Hounslow Hockey Club in 1987 and in a tournament in Malaysia in April that year he was switched from half-back to centre-forward for the first time for Great Britain and he scored a hat-trick in the 3-1 win over Japan.

However, by the time the 1988 Olympics came around he had reverted back to wing-half and he played in all seven of Britain's games on their way to Olympic gold. He was uniquely in those days, an attacking wing-half.

He helped Hounslow to the first division title and the Europan Cup-winners' Cup in 1989 but the following year he relinquished his post at Dulwich College and moved to the Cheshire area to be nearer his new job as a financial consultant and he joined the Wirral club Neston who were making their debut in the first division. But Grimley stayed just one season with the northern club before returning to Hounslow. That move also lasted just one season as he returned north in 1992 and rejoined his former club Brooklands, which was by then known as Brooklands Manchester University Hockey Club. He became their player-coach.

Sadly Martyn failed to make the 1992 Olympic squad with his place going to Havant's Robert Hill.

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KERLY, Sean Robin
Born: 29 January 1960, Whitstable, Kent, England
Olympics competed in: 3 (1984, 1988, 1992)
Olympic medals won:
1984 Bronze - Hockey (men)
1988 Gold - Hockey (men)

Sean Kerly is probably the best known British hockey player of the modern era, largely thanks to his goalscoring exploits at the 1984 and 1988 Olympics which helped Great Britain to a bronze and gold medal respectively.

He had all the attributes of a top class centre-forward; speed and acceleration, strength, great stick work and a powerful shot.

Born in Whitstable he was brought up in Herne Bay where he lived until moving to Reigate at the age of 18. Kerly was disappointed when he went to Chatham House grammar school as they did not play football, his first love. Instead he turned his attentions to hockey and the rest is history.

He joined his first hockey club, Herne Bay, at the age of 14 before moving to another Kent club, Cliftonville in 1978 and he made his England Under-18 debut that year. A year later he joined Beckenham and in 1980 he started a 10-year career with the famous Southgate club who enjoyed their most successful period during Kerly's time at the club, as they dominated the national league and cup competitions, including four successive HA Cup wins 1985-88.

It was shortly after joining Southgate that Sean made his senior international debut, against Poland at Crystal Palace in March 1981. It was to be the first of 172 outdoor caps for England and Great Britain in a career lasting more than 11 years. He also won 20 indoor caps and his tally of international goals was in excess of 110

Kerly made his Olympic debut at Los Angeles in 1984 when he was Britain's top scorer with seven goals, with the most crucial being the winning goal as Britain came from 2-1 behind to beat Australia 3-2 and win the bronze medal.

Having won the Hockey Writers' Club UK Player of the Yearin 1985 a silver medal followed at the 1986 World Cup and at the Seoul Olympics two years later Sean was again Britain's top scorer, with eight goals including an hat-trick in the 3-2 win against Australia in the semi-final. He scored the second goal in the 3-1 win over Germany in the final.

He played in his third and final Olympics at Barcelona in 1992 and scored one more goal to take his Olympic tally to 16. His final international appearance was in the 5 th /6 th place match against Spain. He was honoured with the MBE for his services to hockey in the in the 1993 New Years Honours list.

He spent three years at Canterbury 1990-92 and then moved to Bournemouth in 1993 before returning to Canterbury. He was appointed player-manager in October 1998 and the following year he guided them to the inaugural men's Hockey League Premier Division title.

He was still paying for the Canterbury 6th team into his 52nd year. His three daughters also played for Canterbury.

Sean gave up a lucrative position with the clothes retailer Next to concenatrate on his hockey prior to the 1988 Olympics. He is now a self employed consultant working mostly in web design and marketing. He has also commentated for on every Olympics since 1996 and he is also much sought after as an after dinner speaker.

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KIRKWOOD, James William
Born: 12 February 1962, Lisburn, Northern Ireland
Olympics competed in: 1 (1988)
Olympic medals won:
1988 Gold - Hockey (men)

At Friends' School in Lisburn, Jimmy Kirkwood was an all-round sportsman and eventually had to chose whether cricket or hockey would be his sporting career.

By the time he won the first of his Ireland hockey caps at the age of 18 in 1981 he was also an Irish Under-19 cricket international wicket-keeper at the time.

After playing for the under-19s and under-23s he made he senior international cricket debut on Ireland's tour of England in 1983 and played in all three matches against Gloucestershire, Wales and the MCC.

He could have given so much more to Irish cricket but he chose to turn his attentions to hockey

He started his hockey career at Belfast YMCA but spent the majority of his career with Lisnagarvey Hockey Club.

He made 130 appearances for Ireland and 40 for Great Britain and was first called into the British squad for the 1987 Champions Trophy in Amsterdam. He then made the Great Britain squad for the 1988 Seoul Olympics but only appeared in two games, as a substitute; in the draw with South Korea and the 3-0 win over India.

A banker with HSBC in Belfast, Jimmy was disappointed to be left out of the British squad for the 1992 Barcelona Olympics and then made the decision to play for Ireland but they never got beyond the qualifying tournament I n Auckland, New Zealand. It was the first time there had been an Olympic hockey qualifying tournament. He retired from international hockey in 1995.

Jimmy Kirkwood was elected into the Irish Hockey Hall of Fame in 2014.

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LEMAN, Richard
Born: 13 July 1959, East Grinstead, West Sussex, England
Olympics competed in: 2 (1984, 1988)
Olympic medals won:
1984 Bronze - Hockey (men)
1988 Gold - Hockey (men)

Richard Leman attended the 16th century Gresham's School in Norfolk between 1973 and 1977 and became captain of the hockey first XI. After leaving school he returned to his native East Grinstead and in 1978 joined the local hockey club. He was to spend 20 years with his home-town team and helped them to the league and cup double in 1983-84.

He soon attracted attention and was selected for Sussex at the age of 19 and shortly afterwards he won his first England cap. He went on to win 228 indoor and outdoor caps for England and Great Britain; a figure subsequently beaten by Jon Potter in November 1994.

Richard was in the Britain team that won bronze at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and in the England team that won silver at the 1986 World Cup at Willesden. But his finest moment came two years later.

At the Seoul Olympics in 1988 he started all seven of Britain's Games as they went all the way to win the gold medal.

In an interview after the Games, Richard said the team drank 171 bottles of Champagne as part of their match-winning celebration in the Seoul Hilton!

A great striker, and later midfielder, he was also an excellent leader and captained his club side and also skippered the England indoor and outdoor international teams.

The 1990 World Cup was his last major international tournament when he played his record 106th and last outdoor game for England against the Soviet Union in the 5th/6th place match. He did continue playing indoor hockey for England.

The winner of the Hockey Writers' Club UK Player of the Year 1984, Richard runs a very successful recruitment agency and also found time to maintain his connections with his sport as a board member of England Hockey and later as President of GB Hockey. He was also a director of the British Olympic Association.

His two brothers Michael and James also played hockey for East Grinstead and Sussex, but East Grinstead Hockey Club is in the family blood as their late father Dennis is regarded as the 'Father' of the club. He joined them in the late 1940s and was first XI captain from 1952-62. He also held the Royal Warrants to do the Royal Family's washing from 1960 until he retired in 1995.

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MARTIN, Stephen Alexander "Sam"
Born: 13 April 1959, Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland
Olympics competed in: 3 (1984, 1988, 1992)
Olympic medals won:
1984 Bronze - Hockey (men)
1988 Gold - Hockey (men)

Sam Martin attended Bangor Grammar School and excelled at both hockey and golf. In 1985 he graduated from the University of Ulster in Sport and Leisure Studies.

He made his Irish international hockey debut in 1980 and three years later won his first Great Britain cap. In total he won 229 International caps - 135 for Ireland and 94 for Great Britain. He also captained both teams.

The year after making his Great Britain debut he was in the British team that won the bronze medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. He came on as substitute for Bob Cattrall in the final group game against Pakistan and, with Catrall out for the rest of the tournament, he kept his place at full-back in the semi-final defeat by Germany and the bronze medal match against Australia.

Martin ended 1984 by winning a bronze medal in the Champions trophy in Pakistan and in 1985 he went one better when Britain won the silver medal.

Sam retained his place in the British team for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul but did not play in any games until brought on as a last minute substitute against Germany in the final so he could get his gold medal.

A third Olympic appearance followed at Barcelona in 1992. He was the only Ulsterman in the squad and as it turned out he became the last Ulsterman to play for Great Britain because players from the combined North and South teams, as run by the Irish Hockey Union, would no longer be eligible for the GB team after the Barcelona Games.

Sadly it was a memorable finale for Sam, for the wrong reason.

He made his 199th international appearance in the final Classification match against New Zealand. Captain Robert Clift was taken off at half time and Sam was given the captaincy - it lasted just five minutes because he received a red card and missed Britain's last match of the tournament - the 5th/6th place match against the hosts Spain.

He spent most of his club rugby playing for Belfast YMCA and Hollywood '97 and he was honoured with the MBE in the 1993 New Years Honours list. In 2006 he became CEO of Olympic Council of Ireland.

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PAPPIN, Veryan Guy Henry
Born: 19 May 1958, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England
Olympics competed in: 2 (1984, 1988)
Olympic medals won:
1984 Bronze - Hockey (men)
1988 Gold - Hockey (men)

Veeryan Pappin was the reserve goalkeeper for Great Britain at both the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games.

He won a bronze medal in 1984 and was called into action in the fine minute of the 1988 final against to secure a gold medal despite playing for just 27 seconds..

Educated at Kelly College in Devon before going gto Exeter University where he obtained a B.Ed (Batchelor of Education) in Geography. He later joined the RAF as a physical education instructor and gained the rank of Flight Lieutenant before leaving the service in 1989. He played hockey internationally for Scotland and won 27 caps, as well as 17 for Great Britain. He also played for the RAF and the Combined Services, and at club level he made his name at Hounslow.

He had his Olympic gold medal stolen from his car in 1989 when he was coaching children at Bisham Abbey. He bought a replica from the IOC - it cost him £100...

He later went to live in the United Arab Emirates and was CEO of an adventure company specialising in scuba diving and 4 x 4 sand dune rides.

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With 234 international appearances, Jon Potter is the most capped British hockey player. His international career spanned 12 years and he was one of the greatest midfielders of his time. He was also to captain his country on many occasions.

As a schoolboy he won county honours at football, hockey and cricket and played Minor Counties cricket for Buckinghamshire. He graduated from Southampton University with a geography degree in 1986, and then went to Aston University.

At club level Jon spent most of his outdoor career with Hounslow and was their captain during their glory years in the latter part of the 1980s and early 1990s. He helped them to win four HA Cups and two National League titles, including the League and Cup double in 1993. Hounslow also won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1990.

He also played indoor hockey for East Grinstead and won further trophies. He also captained the England indoor team.

He made his international debut in 1982 and at Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 he won a bronze medal. A World Cup silver followed in 1986 and in 1987 he won a European Championship silver in Moscow.

Jon was recognised as the Hockey Writers' Association Player of the Year for 1987-88 and a few months later he enjoyed his greatest moment when he played in all seven matches as Great Britain won gold at the Seoul Olympics. He scored Britain's third goal in the 3-0 win over India in the final group match.

He added to his medal collection with a bronze at the 1991 European Championship in Paris but could not add to it further when he made his third Olympic appearance at Barcelona in 1992 as Great Britain could finish only sixth.

He played his last game for Hounslow in March 1995 before taking up a three year business contract in Prague, but returned to the side in 1998 on comletion of his contract.

He announced his retirement from international hockey in June 1995 having played his final tournament the previous December when he captained England in the World Cup in Sydney during which he broke Richard Lehman's record for the most British international caps. Jon's final tally was 106 England caps and 128 Great Britain caps. He scored 41 goals.

Following his retirement from international hockey he worked in the marketing departments for many large international organisations such as KP Foods, Guinness, United Biscuits and Nestle before moving to the United States after being appointed the Global Brand Director for international drinks company Diageo. He stayed in the United States where he enjoyed other senior positions, including Executive Vice President of Brands for Moet Hennessy-USA.

He was a director of English Hockey Ltd 2003-2007, and in 2007, at the age of 44, he took part on both the London and New York Marathons.

Jon is a Staunch West Ham United football supporter.

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The son of a former Pakistani international hockey player, Imran Sherwani is best remembered for his two goals in the final against Germany in the 1988 Seoul Olympics final that helped secure Great Britain's first Olympic gold for 68 years.

He had been selected for the 1984 Olympics but was forced to withdraw because of a knee injury just two weeks before the team was due to fly to Los Angeles. But four operations later Imran was back on international duty and was to play on the left wing for England in the 1986 World Cup where he won a silver medal.

A European silver followed in 1987 and then it was on to Seoul to that gold medal.

He defied medical advice on his knee injury to play in Seoul and after winning gold he said: "I will probably end up with arthritis but it will be worth it." He played in all seven matches in 1988 and was a key member of the squad. He was honoured with the Hockey Writers' Association Player of the Year of 1987-88.

Born in Stoke-on-Trent his father was a local businessman but Imran joined the local police force. His first club was North Stafford HC, which he joined at the age of 14 and played alongside his father and brother. He later played for Stone before spending many successful years at Stourport.

As his training programme for the Olympics got heavier, Imran as forced to leave the police force and he became a local newsagent in Stoke-on-Trent, like his father, in order to get some much-needed income as there was little in the sport.

An England Under-21 international he was first called into the senior squad in 1983 when he was just 21. He won 49 England and 45 Great Britain caps before retiring from International duty in 1990. However, he continued to collect representative honours with Staffordshire and the Midlands and in 1993 he helped Staffordshire to their first County Championship for 22 years.

In 1997 he joined Leek as player/coach and was still playing in the National League beyond his 40th year.

He had a change of business interest from newsagent to financial advisor and in 2010 had another change when he was offered the post of Director of Hockey at Denstone College in Staffordshire where he also taught maths and PE.

Imran's three sons all played for Cannock Hockey Club.

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One of the best known members of the Great Britain gold medal winning team in 1988, Ian Taylor was also probably the least recognisable because, being the goalkeeper he was mostly seen padded up and wearing a protective face mask.

He made his international debut against Netherlands in 1977 and was one of the calmest and finest goalkeepers seen in British hockey and was widely regarded as the best in the world for many years. He won 171 England and Great Britain caps before retiring from international duty after the 1988 Olympics. He was the most capped British goalkeeper until his total was surpassed by Simon Mason in 2003.

Taylor was the 1985-86 Hockey Writers' Association Player of the Year, and he was also honoured with carrying the flag for Great Britain at the opening ceremony for the 1988 Seoul Olympics. The 3-1 win over Germany in the final was to be his last ever game as he had quit club hockey some months earlier to concebntrate on his new job, and spend more time with his family.

His international career saw him win a bronze medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, silver at the 1986 World Cup in Harlesden and a further silver in the 1987 European Championships in Moscow, having previously won a bronze in 1978. Only the boycott of the Moscow Olympics prevented him appearing in three Games.

He started his club career at Slough and in 1980 he helped them to win the National Championship, and also the European Club Championship for the first time. He joined East Grinstead in 1983 where he taught at a local junior school. With Taylor in goal, his new club went on to win every honour nin the game, except the European title.

Away from hockey, Ian was originally a teacher at Tiffin School, Kingston upon Thames and then moved to Bromsgrove School in 1988 where he was head of junior science in the lower school and he also helped with the school's hockey programme.

He later became an established and respected businessman holding some senior positions. In 1997 he was appointed the chief executive o the British Ice Hockey Superleague having previously been a director of the British Olympic Association and a member of the Hockey Association Executive Committee for 12 years.

In October 2004 he was appointed the Chief Executuve of SportScotland but quit after six months and then he spent three years as the CEO of the London Irish Rugby Club. He was also used by the BBC as a commentator from 1988 until 1996.

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