Author: Purple Brolly

Robert Frederick Chelsea (Bobby) Moore (1941-93) was born in Essex during a German bombing raid and was to become one of England’s best footballers. He is fondly remembered as a cool, calm, charismatic captain with great vision, exemplified by his pass to Geoff Hurst who then scored England’s 4th goal in the 4-2 win against West Germany in the 1966 World Cup Final at Wembley. This has been England’s only World Cup Final success to date. The image above shows Bobby Moore receiving the Cup from the Queen.

At age 22, Moore remains the youngest ever captain of the England football team.  His natural talent as a leader was also recognised early by the management at West Ham United, who made him their captain in 1962 . He joined the club as an amateur in 1950 and then full-time after leaving school in 1957 and spent the next 17 years with them. He played for a few more clubs and tried his hand at management, but he became ill and died of cancer at age 51 in 1993. West Ham United named a stand after him and have ‘retired’ the no. 6 shirt in his honour, as that was his number.

(Imag picryl.com)

The team game of hockey, or ‘field hockey’, has been played in its modern form in British public schools, grammar schools and universities since the late 19th century. It  is played with a small hard ball and long sticks that have a curve at the bottom end. In the 20th century it was associated more with girls and women than with men. The gleeful exclamation “Jolly hockey sticks!” became an adjectival phrase for a privileged young lady.

Nowadays, men’s and women’s participation is roughly equal in a thriving league system and in international competitions. In 2016, the British women’s hockey team won Olympic Gold and this inspired thousands more people to join their local hockey clubs. There are separate governing bodies for the UK’s constituent countries, as follows:-

• England Hockey
• Hockey Wales
• Ulster Hockey
• Scottish Hockey

(Image: Kenneth Allen at geograph.ie / CC BY-SA 2.0)