David Longstaff (born 26 August 1974) is a British

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He is the Head Coach of the

Whitley Warriors Whitley Warriors are an ice hockey team based in Whitley Bay in the north east of England. Founded in 1957 as the Bees, they changed their name to Whitley Warriors in 1964. Warriors played at the highest level of British ice hockey for much of ...

of the

National Ice Hockey League The National Ice Hockey League (NIHL) is a set of professional ice hockey leagues administered by the English Ice Hockey Association. It is currently the second tier of British ice hockey, below the Elite Ice Hockey League. Formerly called the ...

. After starting his career with his hometown club,

Whitley Bay Warriors Whitley Warriors are an ice hockey team based in Whitley Bay in the north east of England. Founded in 1957 as the Bees, they changed their name to Whitley Warriors in 1964. Warriors played at the highest level of British ice hockey for much of ...

, Longstaff moved to the Sheffield Steelers in 1995, enjoying several victories and success in a variety of league and play-off games. Longstaff has previously been awarded Young Player of the Year and Superleague Player of the Year. Longstaff then moved to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in 2001, spending one season in the

Elitserien Elitserien (literally, "the Elite League") is the name of several Swedish nationwide sport leagues. In many sports, Elitserien is the highest league, with the second highest named Allsvenskan. Elitserien leagues at present: * Elitserien (badmint ...

with

Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is named ...

before returning to the UK, signing with the Newcastle Vipers in 2002. He also had brief spells with the Manchester Storm and in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

with

HC Sierre-Anniviers HC Sierre is a professional ice hockey team, in Switzerland currently playing in the Swiss League (SL). Sierre has played in each of the top Swiss hockey leagues the National League (NL) and Swiss League (SL). It has also played several years in t ...

. He returned to the Vipers in 2003 before joining the Guildford Flames prior to the 2010/11 season. Longstaff became the first man to reach 100 caps for Great Britain on 10 November against Romania in a 3–0 win in the qualifiers for the Winter Olympics. David has since left the Guildford Flames, and returned home to the North East in 2015, where he is now head coach for the Whitley Warriors. David is the father of

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

footballers

Sean Longstaff Sean David Longstaff (born 30 October 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays for Premier League club Newcastle United as a midfielder. Career Longstaff began his career with the youth team of Newcastle United. He moved on loan ...

and

Matty Longstaff Matthew Ben Longstaff (born 21 March 2000) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. He is currently a free agent, having most recently played for Newcastle United. Club career Newcastle United Longstaff made his first-tea ...

, and a cousin of former

England international The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affiliat ...

footballer Alan Thompson. Longstaff was one of three Ice Hockey figures inducted into the

British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame The British Ice Hockey Hall of Fame was founded in 1948 and is the third oldest ice hockey Hall of Fame in the world, behind the Russian and Soviet Hockey Hall of Fame (also founded in 1948) and the International Hockey Hall of Fame (founded in 19 ...

in 2022.

References

1974 births Djurgårdens IF Hockey players English ice hockey forwards Living people Manchester Storm (1995–2002) players Newcastle Vipers players Sheffield Steelers players Guildford Flames players Whitley Warriors players British expatriate ice hockey people English expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden People from Whitley Bay Sportspeople from Tyne and Wear English expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate ice hockey players in Switzerland {{England-icehockey-bio-stub