England Hockey is the

national governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken g ...

for the sport of

field hockey in England Field hockey in England is usually referred to simply as "hockey" instead of field hockey, whereas other variants of hockey, such as ice hockey, are referred to by their full name. The sport is played on astroturf pitches. The sport is played ...

. There are separate governing bodies for the sport in the other parts of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

History and organisation

England Hockey was formed on 1 January 2003 to replace the English Hockey Association (EHA) which had had to suspend operations in 2002 because of significant financial problems. The English Hockey Association had in turn been formed in 1996 to combine the function of the separate governing bodies for men's, women's and mixed hockey. Following the demise of the EHA, England's international hockey was for a time managed through a separate limited company called World Class Hockey Limited, which was funded entirely by

Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded partners, ...

. These operations were merged back into England Hockey on 1 July 2005. The second tier of hockey administration in England consists of five regional associations:

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

Midlands The Midlands is the central region of England, to the south of Northern England, to the north of southern England, to the east of Wales, and to the west of the North Sea. The Midlands comprises the ceremonial counties of Derbyshire, Herefor ...

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

and

West West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...

, and county associations below. England Hockey is affiliated to the

European Hockey Federation EuroHockey is a European sports federation for field hockey, based in Brussels. It is the umbrella organisation for all European national federations, and organises the Euro Hockey League. The president of the league is Marcos Hofmann. In reactio ...

and

International Hockey Federation The International Hockey Federation, commonly known by the acronym FIH, is the international governing body of field hockey and indoor field hockey. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland. FIH is responsible for field hockey's major int ...

. It runs a number of competitions, including the English Hockey League. While UK hockey is organised by separate bodies for each of the home nations, the United Kingdom is required to enter a combined team in the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

. This has created tensions between the governing bodies and those responsible for the Great Britain teams. However the women's team have been performing well, winning a bronze at the Olympic Games in London 2012 and most recently the gold at the Olympic Games on Rio in 2016.

Current England Squad

The current England Men and

England Women England women may refer to: * Women in England National sports teams * England women's national basketball team * England women's cricket team * England women's national field hockey team * England women's national football team * England women' ...

Hockey teams train at Bisham Abbey National Sport Centre just outside Marlow.

Clubs

Over 841 clubs across England and the Channel Islands affiliate to England Hockey. The Hockey seasons for clubs are split into the Winter season running from mainly from September to April and the Summer season running from May to August.

National hockey stadium

Following the success in London 2012, the new national stadium for Hockey relocated 500 yards to the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis centre. The facilities at the £30million Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre include two hockey pitches capable of seating 3,000 and can be scaled up to 15,000 with temporary overlay. Lee Valley hosted the European Hockey Championships in 2015 and the Women's Champions Trophy Event in 2016, The Men's World League Round 3 in 2017 and the Hockey Women's World Cup in 2018 will also have been staged here. Until early 2009, England Hockey was based at the former, purpose-built,

former England National Hockey Stadium The National Hockey Stadium was a sports stadium in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England, with a nominal capacity of around 4,000 seats: this was temporarily increased to 9,000 between 2003 and 2007. It was used by England Hockey as their nat ...

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of Milton Keynes urban area, its urban area was 264,349. The River Great Ouse forms t ...

, but the cost of running the stadium was one of the factors that led to the demise of the English Hockey Association. The ground was leased to

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

(later

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club, usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football leag ...

) football club in 2003 and has not been used for hockey since then. On 17 December 2009, demolition of the stadium began, the site is now used for a new national HQ for

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and railway infrastructure manager, infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. ...

Competitions

England Hockey runs a series of senior competitions over the course of a year: * Leagues **

Men's England Hockey League The Men's England Hockey League is a field hockey league organised 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 ...

Women's England Hockey League The Women's England Hockey League is a field hockey league organised by England Hockey that features women's teams from England. From 2011–2020 it was sponsored by Investec and was referred to as the Investec Women's Hockey League. Format ...

* Women's Outdoor **

England Hockey Women's Championship Cup The England Hockey Women's Championship Cup is a field hockey cup competition organised by England Hockey that features women's teams from England. The competition was initially known as the Women's National Clubs Championship. The Chelsea Coll ...

** Investec Women's Trophy ** Investec Women's Vase ** Women's Second XI Cup ** Women's Second XI Plate * Men's Outdoor **

England Hockey Men's Championship Cup The England Hockey Men's Championship Cup is a field hockey cup competition organised by England Hockey that features men's teams from England. The competition was originally known as the National Clubs Championship. The inaugural competition w ...

** NOW: Pensions Men's Trophy ** NOW: Pensions Men's Vase ** Men's Second XI Cup ** Men's Second XI Plate * Mixed Outdoor ** Mixed Trophy ** Mixed Plate ** Men's Senior County Championships * Indoor ** Maxinutrition Hockey 5s Championships In addition to these, there are also several indoor and outdoor junior competitions for both schools and clubs, as well as masters' competitions for over 45s.

Board of directors

* Chief Executive Officer - Nick Pink * Commercial Director - Jonathan Cockroft * Development Director - Richard Beer * Finance & Administration Director - Ian Wilson * Performance Director - Ed Barney

References

External links

Great Britain Hockey Field hockey in Great Britain is governed by Great Britain Hockey. The organisation focuses on international competition only. Governance GB Hockey administers the National Men's and Women's hockey teams for both Great Britain and the home nati ...

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Main England hockey organisations
Official site for England HockeyOfficial site for England Hockey Junior PagesNational Programme Umpires Association
{{Sports governing bodies in the United Kingdom Field hockey governing bodies in England, National members of the European Hockey Federation Organisations based in Buckinghamshire Sports clubs and teams in Berkshire Sport in Milton Keynes Sports organizations established in 2003 Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead 2003 establishments in England