I completed a three year part-time degree in the summer of 1969 and so, by the Spring Term of 1970, I had time on my hands.  Someone was needed to coach the under-14 XI hockey and I volunteered.  I did not have a great pedigree, considering myself as just an average sportsman.  I had not played serious hockey for some years and in fact, apart from a few games for the Old Bordenians in 1963, my only regular hockey was in 1959 for the School 2nd XI.  Of course I was a regular player in House matches throughout my time at Borden but, although they were regarded as serious competition, the standard of hockey could at best be described as approaching something that appeared to adhere to a few basic principles of the game – a bit like a Staff versus Prefects match really.  I was nearly beheaded by David Rigden in one match, and that was in the days when sticks were not allowed above shoulder level.

Thus with more experience in playing football and no coaching experience in any sport save lifesaving, I embarked on a career as coach in the hope that sooner or later a staff member would come along who knew a bit about the game and who could provide a more professional approach.  In the meantime it was up to me, and I set about training in games periods and after school using the methods of the footballer.  Needless to say this meant the use of brute force and a more physical approach rather than artistic stick play.  Nevertheless this did remove most of the fear of the hard ball and helped to cope with the unnerving sight of opposing teams with large players who were supposed to be under 14 yet had healthy stubble growth on their chins.

This call for bravery was heeded, in particular, by a fine succession of goalies who, without exception, provided a final line of defence that gave me a good deal of pride and admiration and the team the confidence that they could overcome the smartest of forward lines.  Thus the likes of Nye, Yetman, Gibbs, Carrington, Breeze, Bond and Hemmings were the targets for that hard ball travelling at speed and their behaviour under fire was heroic.  Remember that at this time goalies had only the basic protection of pads for the legs, boot covers and of course a box.  (Not that the school had enough to go round sometimes) There were no helmets or face masks, no body protection and quite often, little protection from the umpires.  Hence my instructions to all these lads were that the ‘D’ was their territory and it was their duty to clear everything out of it.  Thus if a one-on-one situation arose they should attack the ball, head down to prevent the ball going under their feet, and boot the ball and anyone or thing attached to it as far up the field as possible.  If this could be achieved early in a match, then the opposition would get the message that he meant business. After all is said and done, there would be no mercy shown if a forward had the chance to belt the ball at the goal. Thus I had some gratifying moments watching these lads follow their instructions to the letter and see the ball flying out of danger followed by the odd stick and shin pad.

For a number of years I used a 4-3-3 system. This had the advantage that lads were used to this system from the previous football term and also it gave me chance to have a sweeper in defence to mop up. In addition, having four forwards meant that they were less likely to get in the way of one another in the ‘D’. The back three were as fearless as the goalies and usually were only beaten by the lumpy pitch that saw a roller no more than twice a term. It took me a few years to work out that to be sure of preventing the ball getting past the back line and leaving the goalie exposed, the best way to stop the ball was to place the stick in front of the legs. Again, this takes courage and gritted teeth but all the backs were prepared to make the sacrifice. 70 goals conceded in 54 games is a testament to their play.

It worked pretty well if the centre half was keen to attack and, in 1972 in particular, Woods was one of those. He captained the team and gained their respect by his skilful stick work and was top scorer with 15 goals from eight games. Over the years I was fortunate to be able to use Champion or Hales, Spain or Swift, Calver, Cooper, Elgar and Bishop in this role. All of these lads went on to acquit themselves in later years in the 1st XI and many in Old Bordenian teams.

Finding goal scorers was critical. Some lads always stood apart from the others with their natural talent of a good eye for the ball and/or their ability to get into the right place at the right time. The top scorers in this period were – Woods 15, Chapman and Ritchings 11each, Foster 5, Goodhew 8, Calver and Delves 4 each, Collins 18 and Taylor 11, Willis 6, Marshall and Revell 4 each, Lewis 11, Crombie 6, LeBrunn and Chapell 4 each, and Davis 8.

The teams:

1970 – Kite, Nye, Brownridge, Yelland, Reynolds, Stapleton, Miller, Martin, McCline, Dickinson, Dutnall, Clack, Pinnington, Palframan, Newbury, Wood.

1971 – Dutnall, Jackson, Roalf, Wood, Edmonds, Johnstone, McCree, Paterson, Davies, Woods, Fotheringham, Ball, Fletcher, Carney, Jeffery, Connor, Maloney, Bore.

1972 – Woods, Longley, Smith, Hall, Fotheringham, Blakeley, Ivory, Whitnell, Ritchings, Murphy, Chapman, Mileham, Forster, Jeffery, Robinson,

1973 – Chapman, Yetman, Page, Bolton, Swift, Champion, Hales, Mount, Lott, Barnett, Ford, Ritchings, Robbins, Elgar, Blore, Stent.

1974 – Spain, Gibbs, Faulkner, Ellis, Steady, Hunt, Freeman-Horne, Carrington, Wood, Barton, Swift, Middleham, Colville, Foster, Ashworth, Barry, Luckhurst, Rousell, Heppell, Jordan.

1975 – Calver, Carrington, Lane, Atkins, White, Hampshire, Patz, Barry, Blore, Goodhew, Delves, Bonner, Khan, Parker A, Parker S, Mallaby, Cummins, Ford.

1976 – Willis, Breeze, Parrish, Maggs, Parker, Benzie, Packham, Barley, Cooper, Rigden, Marshall, Revell, Taylor, Collins, Lambkin, Stiles, Angus.

1977 – Elgar, Bond, Stevens, Rowland, Chainey, Watson, Hollands, Vedamuttu, Armitt, Barney, Vincent, Pattenden, LeBrunn, Lewis, Chapell, Sloan, Crombie.

1978 – Bishop, Hemmings, Sansom, Hale, Ibbotson, Vincent, Bell, Miller, Tapp, Davis, Jordan, Cullum, Petts, Kennett, McAndrew, Patz, Turner, Petts, Crowne.

I apologise for not using first names. I know a fair number of them of course but not all. So it would be unfair to list them here. As far as my memory goes, the first named was captain followed by goalkeeper(s), full backs, half backs and forwards. Substitutes are also included.

As the title of this piece states, these were good years for the under 14 XI. The teams grew stronger as years progressed. In the last two years no matches were lost and only one drawn. In 1975 the team won the Kent U 14 Tournament handsomely with 7 out of 8 points with the runner up scoring 4 out of 8. In 1977 the team reached the final and drew 1-1 after extra time against King’s Rochester. They were just beaten in the end on sudden death penalty flicks.

1978 was a good time for me to relinquish my task. During those years Borden was fortunate to recruit on to the staff keen hockey players with excellent skills and a good knowledge of the game and the coaching techniques. Thus the work of Bob Sutton was continued by John Grinham, Arthur Hack and Simon Robbins (one of “my boys”!) to good effect and the lads from those under 14 years went on to make Borden a force to be reckoned with in Kent hockey.

I feel privileged and proud to have had the opportunity to work with these lads and watch them grow in experience and enthusiasm for the game of hockey. They were not all angels, I have to admit, but getting them to expend energy on the games field and face challenges together certainly made it easier for us when we met in Physics lessons.

Unfortunately I have no photographic evidence of any of these teams. If any reader does happen to have this evidence, or other memorabilia of this period, I would be grateful for a copy to add to the archive.

John Macrae