Russell David Ford (born 18 August 1983) is an Australian former field hockey player. His first national team appearance was in 2006. As of July 2011, he had 21 goals from 76 appearances with the national team.
Personal
Ford is from Victoria. He was born in
Eltham, Victoria
Eltham () is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 20 km north-east of the Central Business District, located within the Shire of Nillumbik local government area. Eltham recorded a population of 18,847 at the 2021 census.
Eltham is ...
and lived in the town while growing up. He attended
Eltham High School
Eltham High School is a secondary school in Victoria, Australia. It is located in Eltham, a suburb which is north-east from Melbourne. The school has 'free dress' policy and is the only non-uniform secondary school in the Eltham area.
Eltham ...
and was in Year 11 in 2000.
Field hockey
Ford started playing hockey when he was eight years old and is a striker. He plays his club hockey for the Melville City Hockey Club He played for the U18 Victorian team in the national championships in 2000, where he wore shirt number 6. He played in a June 2010 game for the Victorian against the Tassie Tigers in the
that Victoria won 5–4. He scored a goal in the game.
Ford's first national team international cap came in 2006 in a game against India. He did not compete at the 2006 World Cup and 2007 Champions Trophy. In 2006, he represented Australia at the Azlan Shah tournament in Malaysia. He competed in the 2007 Champions Trophy competition for Australia. In December 2007, he was a member of the Kookaburras squad that competed in the Dutch Series in Canberra. In January 2008, he was a member of the senior national team that competed at the Five Nations men's hockey tournament in South Africa. New national team coach
Ric Charlesworth
Richard Ian Charlesworth AO (born 6 February 1952) is an Australian sports coach and former politician. He played first-class cricket for Western Australia and international field hockey for the Kookaburras (the Australian national team), winn ...
named him, a returning member, alongside fourteen new players who had few than 10 national team caps to the squad before in April 2009 in a bid to ready the team for the
2010 Commonwealth Games
The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, f ...
. As of July 2011, he had 21 goals from 76 appearances with the national team. In December 2011, he was named as one of twenty-eight players to be on 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 ...
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
. In February during the training camp, he played in a four nations test series with the teams being the Kookaburras, Australia A Squad, the Netherlands and Argentina. He played for the Kookaburras in their 3–1 victory over the Australian A team in the first round of the competition. He scored the team's second goal of the game in the seventh minute. 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 ...
, he was part of the team that won the bronze medal. He has played club hockey in the
Netherlands
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, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
for
HC Bloemendaal
Hockey Club Bloemendaal (), commonly known as Bloemendaal, is a Dutch field hockey club based in Bloemendaal, North Holland. It was established on 26 April 1895, and is one of the oldest field hockey clubs in the Netherlands. Originally, the club a ...