Morpeth Hockey Club officially the best in England

Posted by The Journal on Jul 3, 10 10:02 AM in Sport

When it comes to the poor relations of English hockey, the North East are embarrassing relatives who rarely get a mention in polite conversation.

With a national scene which barely sneaks past the Midlands it is barely considered a sport for northerners, least of all the blokes.

Morpeth Hockey Club men's first team

So for the most northerly men's team in the country to be celebrated as part of England's best club is a huge honour. Now, at last, Morpeth Hockey Club have something more than a geographical oddity as their claim to fame.

The honour - for the club as a whole, not simply the men's section - is another sign of the strides the country's least fashionable corner is making on the hockey field.

Durham University - where local talent is reclaiming a side traditionally dominated by outsiders - and Sunderland Ladies have scrambled on to the national stage, only a play-off defeat keeping the university's women from next season's Premier League. And the sport's end-of-season awards provided proof hockey is thriving beyond its varsity circuit and urban centres.

"It's nice because the sport is not as huge in the North East as the South East or North West," says Will McLean, captain of Morpeth men's first team. "There were probably some people thinking, 'Oh, do they play hockey there?'

"Sadly, there's no funding or prize money, but what's important is the prestige. Before our only title was the most northerly men's hockey club in the country (there are women's teams further north). Now we can approach people as England's club of the year, so it gives us a phenomenal help with things like getting sponsors."

Morpeth won 21 of 22 games in the men's North East Division Two (only Northumbria St George's beat them), falling one short of a century of goals. The women comfortably won the Northern League's Division Two East, while their seconds took the Northumberland Plate on penalties.

"Our regional England Hockey contact said we should think about applying for the club of the year award," McLean recalls. "I just clicked 'submit' on the online application and forgot about it until our secretary told me we'd been shortlisted for the top three.

"We thought we might as well go to the awards dinner in Nottingham because it's basically the hockey version of football's PFA awards. We thought it would be great to rub shoulders with all the top players. We only found out the winner when they pulled the name out of an envelope. We couldn't believe it."

North East success higher up the ladder has rubbed off.

"Three years ago we struggled to get two men's teams out, now we've got four men's teams, two female, juniors and vets," McLean says.

"Some of Durham University's players are future national heroes. For the youngsters it's great for their skills and progress if you can get results against their teams.

"One week you can be playing average teams having a good laugh, the next week it's a university team who are well organised with training-ground drills. Our player-coach Bruce McPate is also a coach at Newcastle University so his knowledge is a big help. Bruce started at Morpeth and has come back. The men's national team had great success at the World Championships, and that helps too.

"If kids can see hockey as an upcoming sport hopefully we can get more involved."

Newcastle-based Adrian Starr made it a double North East success with the club umpire of the year award.

Morpeth has a thriving junior section and will showcase itself in a summer festival featuring teams from Liverpool, Hull and Scotland. Go to www.morpethmhc.com/ or call Martyn Bott on 07737 817 416.

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