Barry John Middleton (born 12 January 1984) is regarded as one of the greatest British

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

players in history. He played as a midfielder and forward for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

and is the most capped British hockey player in history and captained his country for many years. Middleton was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to hockey.

Club career

Middleton plays club hockey in the

Men's England Hockey League The Men's England Hockey League is a field hockey league organized by England Hockey that features men's teams from England and Wales. Format Regular season There are 62 teams in the league, the top tier consists of a Premier Division of twelve t ...

Premier Division for Holcombe. He has previously played club hockey for

East Grinstead East Grinstead is a town in West Sussex, England, near the East Sussex, Surrey, and Kent borders, south of London, northeast of Brighton, and northeast of the county town of Chichester. Situated in the extreme northeast of the county, the civ ...

, Dutch club

HGC HGC can stand for: * Human Genetics Commission *Hercules Graphics Card * H.O.C. Gazellen-Combinatie, a Dutch field hockey club * HGC Global Communications, an internet service provider in Hong Kong * HGC (field hockey) H.O.C. Gazellen-Combinatie, ...

Cannock Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolverh ...

and

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

. On 28 June 2021 he was appointed Director of Hockey for Holcombe, whilst continuing to play for them.

International career

He made his international debut, aged 19, in April 2003 against Belgium and was a member of the

squad that finished ninth at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

in Athens, fifth in the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

in Beijing, and fourth at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

in London. He was part of the England squad that won the 2009 Eurohockey Nations Cup. He captained the England squad that won bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. On 24 May 2014 he became the most capped English hockey international when he played his 308th international game. (203 for

, 105 for

). The match was against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

Bisham Abbey Bisham Abbey is a Grade I listed manor house at Bisham in the English county of Berkshire. The name is taken from the now lost monastery which once stood alongside. This original Bisham Abbey was previously named Bisham Priory, and was the trad ...

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

. The previous record holder was Russell Garcia with 307 GB/England caps. He was named in the International Hockey Federation's All-Star team in 2008, 2009 and 2010, and was shortlisted for 'Player of the Year' in those three years. On 4 December 2017 he played his 400th international match. (255 for

, 145 for

). The match was against Australia in the

2016–17 Men's FIH Hockey World League Final The 2016–17 Men's FIH Hockey World League Final was the final stage of the 2016–17 Men's FIH Hockey World League, 2016–17 edition of the Men's FIH Hockey World League. It took place between 1 and 10 December 2017 in Bhubaneswar, India. Au ...

Bhubaneswar Bhubaneswar (; ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Odisha. The region, especially the old town, was historically often depicted as ''Ekamra Kshetra'' (area (''kshetra'') adorned with mango trees (''ekamra'')). Bhubaneswar is ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. On 19 December 2018 it was announced that he is taking a break from international hockey in 2019. On 8 April 2019 he announced his retirement from international hockey. On 2 February 2022 it was announced that he would be an Assistant Coach for

for some of the FIH Hockey Pro League matches, in the coming months.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Middleton, Barry 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Doncaster English male field hockey players Cannock Hockey Club players East Grinstead Hockey Club players Der Club an der Alster players Holcombe Hockey Club players HGC players Men's England Hockey League players English expatriate sportspeople in Germany English expatriate sportspeople in India Olympic field hockey players of Great Britain Field hockey players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games 2006 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2012 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games 2014 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2016 Summer Olympics 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup players Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in field hockey Members of the Order of the British Empire Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games