One has to feel for Great Britain’s hockey players. They qualified for the Olympic Games in Rio di Janeiro next year with a third place finish at the Hockey World League semi finals in Antwerp, and only lost one game in the process, that being against eventual Champions and World number one side, Australia. Yet did this team receive any publicity in the press back home?
Not only did their tear India apart in the third place play off and show the ability to execute coach Bobby Crutchley’s tactics to the tee, but their captain Barry Middleton played his 350th game for England and Great Britain. No mean achievement in any sport.
In Australia, when Jamie Dwyer beat Jay Stacey’s appearance record for the Kookaburras that at least warranted a mention amongst many of Australia’s media outlets. Middleton, would probably say that he prefers no fuss, as he is relatively shy and certainly very modest individual. Yet it seems sad that such a servant to the game and such a great leader should have such a milestone given such scant recognition.
In fact in many ways like their football Great Britain lives on reflecting about their one gold medal at the Olympic Games in the modern era, at Seoul in 1988.
This Great Britain side showed glimpses that with hard work in the next 12 months they could well force their way onto the podium in Rio. Whether they can match Australia and the Germans we will have to wait and see, but Bronze is a distinct possibility.
Great Britain will host the Eurohockey Championships at Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park from 21-30 August. This will give locals the ideal chance to see the team and how far they have come. It will also be a great test as to how far they have come as they take on the strong teams from Europe, such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Hopefully during the event Middleton’s milestone will also receive some recognition, as few can have represented Great Britain and England so many times in any sport.
