Old Wulfrunians' Hockey Club News Articles

Mike Mann

Luke Archer — Sun, 01 Jan 2023 12:05:35 +0000

It is with great sadness that we have to report the passing of Mike Mann on Boxing Day, aged 89, President of Old Wulfrunians Hockey Club.

Mike, a former pupil at WGS, was at the forefront of OWHC from the early 1950’s. He fulfilled various roles within the club with great foresight and distinction, being Chairman, 1st XI captain, Hon. Secretary and latterly President.

Mike was a left hander but always played hockey right-handed so he was always strong on his reverse stick side. He was a tenacious left half, inside left and occasionally centre half. During Mike’s play career he was captain of OWHC when league hockey started in 1975/76. He was the prime mover in starting the first indoor hockey tournament in Staffordshire and Shropshire at Compton Park.

Mike used his civil engineering skills to repurpose the land at Castlecroft so that we could play hockey on the cricket outfield. In addition, he organised all four trips to the Barbados International hockey tournament and one in Hong Kong/ Malaysia/ Maldives. Furthermore, he started the OWHC veterans team playing on Sunday mornings and was a member of ‘The Hangmen’ and ‘LX’ veterans hockey clubs.

Mike played in the inaugural England O70’s team that won gold in the European Championships against The Netherlands. In more recent years, Mike’s commitment was next to none with him volunteering to play in goal for the 4th team, at the age of 86, and becoming the club’s oldest goal scorer at the age of 84!

We all remember his kind words when presenting the annual Presidents Rose Bowl award to the club member who he considered had done most for the club. A lovely man, a true gentleman and we shall all miss his wise council and encouragement . Thank you Mike for everything you did for OWHC.

Finally, as a club, we send our deepest condolences to Angela and all of Mike’s close family especially Russell at this sad time.

Masters success for Ray Jeff!

Luke Archer — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 18:02:21 +0100

Our very own Ray Jeff has been away, in Germany, with England 075s!

They lost to the Netherlands in the first game but were weakened as their captain, and chief playmaker, Brian Perryman, suffered a hamstring injury after just 3 minutes and was unable to play again in the tournament.

However, they re-grouped the next day and beat Germany O70 'B' team 3-0. On the last day they beat Germany O75 also by 3-0.

In the tournament they finished in second place behind the Netherlands who won all of their games.

All of us, from OWHC, congratulate Ray on last week's achievements and we cannot wait to ask him for an autograph!

22/23 Season Update!

Luke Archer — Sat, 30 Jul 2022 11:21:01 +0100

Training restarts on Tuesday the 16th August. We will be hosting an inter-club tournament and social on Saturday the 3rd September, with friendlies on the 10th and 17th. League games will commence on the 24th so captains will be in contact over the new few weeks! If you have been inspired by England's dominat display at the Commonwealth then do get in contact - we are always welcome to new players!

Family News

Colin Pearson — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 19:46:57 +0000

Many congratulations to Matt Griffiths and Danielle on their new arrival, little Olivia.

All club members are encouraged to create new future players in this way!

First New Area Adult Fixtures Available Now

Nobody — Fri, 03 Sep 2021 19:48:56 +0100

There are a few features of note for clubs:

All Area leagues will on 18 September or 25 September (with exception of a few smaller divisions)
The fixtures generated aim to balance home and away fixtures for clubs to optimise pitch space and make club administrators lives easier.
For the handful of smaller divisions (e.g. 8 teams) around the country teams will play to slightly different fixture patterns. The Area league organisers will confirm arrangements for these fixtures directly with those clubs involved. They are not currently in the fixture list in the link beneath.
At Area level October half term and February half term have league break weeks with the EH Club Championships running these weeks. Information on how to enter the EH Club Championships will be shared by England Hockey soon. This is based on feedback from club surveys and will be reviewed after the first year.

You can find the fixtures here: https://fixtures.englandhockey.co.uk
Select your area and choose from the filters at the top of the page to find your fixtures.

Clubs that have queries are encouraged to get in touch with their new Area League contacts.

The fixtures will be supported by a new Game Management System that will mean all fixtures and results are held in one place. The requirements for use of this system will be made available over coming weeks along with new regulations for adult league hockey.

Much is changing for next season so clubs are encouraged to continue to closely monitor communications from the new Areas as the new structures establish themselves. England Hockey is hugely grateful for the outstanding commitment and support of volunteers from the new Areas and at club level in working up the proposals in readiness for next season.

Hockey's Back

Nobody — Mon, 21 Sep 2020 07:48:43 +0100

Hockey is now moving towards at Step 5 of our Return To Play Guidance. With the right steps, competitive activity can resume - both training and matches – from late September 2020. Read the links below for full details and requirements as published by England Hockey;

England Hockey Covid-19 Club Support

Here's What to Remember

At Home
- Sign a player agreement (only the 1st time you play)
- Bring hand sanitiser
- Wear your playing kit
- Self-assess for Covid symptons
Outside of Play
- Follow the Government travel advice
- Check in with your organiser for track & trace purposes
- Socially distance at 2m in groups of 6 max
- Clean your hands during breaks
- Follow the facility rules when accessing indoor spaces
Durinig Play
- Respect your opposition & umpires
- Take penalty corners and free-hits around the D promptly
- Only touch the ball with your stick/GK equipment
- Use your own PPE or disinfect before use
- Socially distance when play stops
- No handshakes with other player or close contact during goal celebrations
- Avoid shouting excessively and spitting
- Avoid running exercises that involve overly repetitive close contact
After
- Clean your kit or leave fro 72 hours
- If you display any symptons after playing, contact our Covid-19 officer immediately (Richard Cartwright)

John Nightingale

Nobody — Mon, 02 Mar 2020 17:56:54 +0000

Many of our longer-serving members will remember John who, for many years was an enthusiastic and committed member of this Club. During his time with us he regularly stepped up to the plate, taking on captaincy and committee roles and even after he finished playing, he continued to maintain a keen interest in Club matters and liked to attend events. His hockey legacy lives on in his son Chris who is also a long-serving and well respected member of the Club, his grandson Callum who was a regular player for us in his younger years and his granddaughter Cassie who has also on occasions donned an OWHC shirt. Multi-generational involvement of this nature is relatively rare and both OWHC and the sport of Hockey are all the better for it.

Please find details below for the funeral.

Date - Wednesday 18th March 3pm Bushbury Crematorium - West Chapel, Underhill Ln, Wolverhampton WV10 8NS - all are welcome

The family also wishes you all to come afterwards to Fordhouses Cricket Club Jack Threlfall Memorial Ground, Wobaston Road, Wolverhampton WV9 5HH for refreshments.

Flowers - we have chosen family flowers only

We will have a donation box between British Heart Foundation, and Dementia UK at the service or you can make a donation via the Funeral Directors via cheque. A.J. Sellman Funeral Directors St.Michaels Square, Clay Street Penkridge, Stafford ST19 5AL

Our thoughts are very much with Chris and all of his family at this difficult time.

Safeguarding Update

Colin Pearson — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 20:58:06 +0000

Safeguarding & Welfare

OLD WULFS HOCKEY CLUB, SAFEGUARDING and WELFARE OFFICER.

I'm Peter Prescott and have the pleasure of being the above club officer. I started playing for our club in the mid 1970's, while for the last few years I regularly umpire on Saturdays. I've been the club Safeguarding and Welfare Officer for over 10 years. I know the importance of the whole area of safeguarding, as in a former life I worked in schools for over 40 years, with 18 of those as a Primary School Head-Teacher.
The main aspects of my role are:-

to work with others in our club to ensure a positive and safe child centred culture and environment exists,
to assist the club fulfil its' responsibilities to safeguarding children, as stipulated by England Hockey,
to be the first point of contact for coaches, captains, children and young adults (up to the age of 18) and their parents, if concerns about child welfare, poor practice or abuse are identified,
to record and report any child protection concerns or allegations,
to ensure all our coaches, team captains and other officers of our club have an up-to-date DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) certificate.

I can be contacted by phone : home - 01902 746316, mobile - 07944830036, or email: peteprescott2002@yahoo.co.uk

Ben makes Midlands Masters Over 35s

Nobody — Thu, 07 Nov 2019 19:23:30 +0000

Congratulations to first team stalwart Ben Humpherson on selection for the inaugural Midlands Masters over 35 squad during the summer. Ben was fortunate to be selected to attend the first ever tournament run by England Hockey for the masters over 35 regions in preparation for the up and coming masters tournaments next year.

The tournament was held in Sheffield on the old Olympic hockey Astro turf used in the Olympic final in London. Over two days in the scorching sun the midlands team were in attendance with only 13 players on day one and 12 on day two. This was in comparison to the other regions who attended with a full complement of 18 squad members, coaches/managers and physios.

With such a close-knit hockey community within the country, the Midlands knew the other regions had had many games and training sessions together and so they were the under dogs after having no training sessions or practise. This made them more determined to achieve something over the course of the weekend.

Ben said, “With teammate introductions out of the way, we settled down to discuss how we wanted to play and the calls we would make during the first game. It wasn’t long before we were all in agreement and headed off to warm up. Before we knew it, the whistle went to start the game and that was it, no going back.”

Game 1 was against the hosts, the North, with a 3-1 loss. Justified win for the North but we were not happy as the score did not reflect the effort that had been put in or the sway of the game. Onto game 2 against the South. Same result and same disappointment. An entire Midlands team realising that had we been able to train together before hand we could have potentially won those games.

Day 2 arrived following a tournament 3 course dinner on the Saturday night and the Midlands squad were fresh and raring to go. First up were the West. This resulted in a 2-2 draw and we could now start to see the team forming into something that was capable of winning and on another occasion beating all of the other regions. Ben said, “we had lost a player overnight so with only 1 sub we had to be smart in how we played”.

The final game for the Midlands was against the East. Ben continued, “We threw all we had into this game, as the win was the trophy we wanted. A gutsy team performance against a 17 man squad resulted in a 4-1 win for us and a real sense of pride in what we had achieved. A real underdog story”.

During the post-game discussion, it became clear that Midlands over 35’s had a future and a few days later Midland Hockey confirmed they were happy to continue developing an over 35’s squad.

For Ben, this was a real test of commitment and wanted to prove something to himself having not played at that level for many years and mentioned that he would definitely encourage club members of any age to push themselves and have confidence to achieve more than what they thought they could on a hockey pitch.

Well done to Ben for his achievement.

A Historic Saturday!

Colin Pearson — Mon, 14 Oct 2019 11:52:39 +0100

If you played for Old Wulfs on Saturday 12th October 2019 then you enjoyed a win. We know this because every side won their game!

At the time of writing, the 5ths result hasn't been posted but we are reliably informed they beat Wolverhampton (nice). Most games look like they were pretty close-run things so well done to everyone involved for making it a moment in club history never to be forgotten (till next week anyway).