Hockey

Hockey is a school team sport in the Lent Half. The school runs 17 teams (5 at senior level, 3 at U16, 4 at U15 and 5 at U14) and will play fixtures against Tonbridge, Wellington, Charterhouse, Radley, Bradfield, Marlborough, Epsom, Cranleigh, Harrow and Windsor Boys’ School in 2006. The Club has grown rapidly and now holds its own against all schools at all levels on this competitive circuit.

The School’s first long-haul hockey tour to South Africa took place July 2005 and was a great success. On the pitch, two squads of 14 boys won or drew 50% of the 16 fixtures played in Johannesburg, Natal and Cape Town. Off it, as well as enjoying the beauty of the country, the warmth of the hospitality and the spectacular wildlife to be found on safari, the tour party spent time visiting a community project funded by Starfish, an AIDS charity, for which they had raised £20,000 in the build-up to the trip. Short-haul tours for both U18 and U16 have also taken place in January 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004 to Spain, Holland, Gibraltar and Ireland respectively. There is no doubt that such trips have been instrumental in the raising of playing standards in the school. House competitions for both senior and junior boys, which run as leagues during the Lent half, have also been important.

Though hockey has been played on and off at Eton for a long time, it is relatively new as a serious school sport having been established with inter-school fixtures in 1991. The School’s first astroturf pitch was opened on Masters’ Field in the Michaelmas Half of 1999, and a second surface was added in January 2002. A pavilion with four changing rooms and some catering facilities was completed on Masters’ in January 2004.

It is therefore an exciting time for hockey at Eton as one can reasonably expect that the introduction of these top-class facilities will stimulate even greater boy-involvement. In particular, the first “home-grown” Eton hockey Blue in 2005 was a sign of boys being well-prepared for future success in the sport, and Eton’s first participation in the curtain-raiser to the Varsity Match against Loretto in 2006 is much anticipated.

Click here for details of this half’s fixtures

Click here for information about pitches.

Click here for directions to other schools for Away fixtures.