Murray ("Muz") John Richards (born 6 November 1976 in

Brisbane, Queensland Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

) is a former

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 ...

defender from Australia whose team won the gold medal at the 1997

Junior Hockey World Cup The Men's FIH Hockey Junior World Cup, formerly known as the Hockey Junior World Cup, is an international field hockey competition organized by the International Hockey Federation (FIH). The tournament was started in 1979. Since 1985 it has been ...

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

. Richards made his senior debut for The Kookaburras in 1998. He played in total 28 matches for Australia, including the 2000 Champions Trophy in

Amstelveen Amstelveen () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands with a population of 92.353 as of 2022. It is a suburban part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area. The municipality of Amstelveen consists of the historical villages o ...

, and was a member of the Olympic Squad for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

in Sydney. After missing Olympic selection he traveled to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

to play for the Royal Antwerp Hockey Club (RAHC) - where he remains as a player / coach today. Richards was recently named assistant coach to

Adam Commens Adam David Commens (born 6 May 1976) is the brother of Scott Commens, is an Australian field hockey coach and former player. He was born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales. Commens was nicknamed ''Billy'' by his teammates, and earned ...

with the Belgium National Men's Hockey Team.From Grafton to Belgian hockey
/ref> The Belgium team made history by qualifying for the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 by defeating world champions Germany at the 2007 European Nations Cup in Manchester, in the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

match. It was Belgium's highest ever finish in a European Cup, and their first Olympic qualification since 1976.

References

1976 births Australian male field hockey players Australian field hockey coaches Sportspeople from Brisbane Living people Field hockey people from Queensland Expatriate field hockey players Australian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium {{Australia-fieldhockey-bio-stub