Club News

Ian Russell has been part of Guildford Hockey Club for far longer than most current members have been alive, 55 years. Most recently, Ian has served as President and then co-President along with Maggs Kyte.

Ian has given up his role as President; he is moving away from the Guildford area to Romsey in Hampshire. Not too far but far enough that we are unlikely to see him coming to the club on a regular basis to support matches and speak with members as he has done on so many occasions.

When our Under 12 Boys won the National title in 2013, Ian posted each teammember a personal, handwritten letter of congratulations - the first (and maybe only) time these boys have received a handwritten letter in the post. It was this attention to detail that Ian brought to Guildford along with his passion for the sport and the club. In his own words, below please find a few farewell thoughts from Ian...

The Under 12 Girls medalled in the National Finals.

Well done to all Juniors whose teams' won end of season awards and/or who played in post-season league events...

Having come top two in the Surrey County Cup, the Under 12 Girls had their place in the South Cup, the top two teams of which would progress to National Finals...

The EH Club Championships began in October with about 80 teams competing for a place in the Regional Play-offs. GHC Under 16 Boys won their Local pool to progress to the Regional event that took place in February. Coming first in the Regional event gave them a place in the final eight teams competing over two days at the Home of England Hockey, the Lee Valley Hockey & Tennis Centre in the Olympic Park...

From early February until the end of the league season Guildford HC have had the pleasure of hosting a young lady player from Junior FC in Barcelona. Junior FC and Guildford HC are building bridges, working to build a partnership that includes players exchanges and club members having a home club away from home. More about that as we move forward. Our first exchange player was Gabriela...

GHC hosted the Surrey County Cup competitions on Sunday 20 March. All teams did well - two teams in the boys' competition and three in the girls' competition...

The Under 12 Girls competed in the Surrey County Plate Competition on 13 March and came out winners....

England Hockey run national competitions in the U12, 14, 16 and 18 age groups. The Under 14 and 16 competitions start with a Local regional pool of five teams ('Tier 1') with matches running from October to February. The top two teams in Tier 1 go on to a Regional pool of four teams in 'Tier 2.' The winner of Tier 2 goes on to the National Finals ('Tier 3').

The International Hockey Federation (FIH) has announced changes to the Rules of Hockey, specifically rule 13.2 which relates to the taking of an attacking free hit within 5 metres of the attacking circle. These changes came into effect in the international game on 16th February 2016 and will be applied from 26 February in England across all levels of the 11-a-side game...