On a sweltering Saturday in South Korea, an unprecedented event in our sporting history took place. The medals worn around the necks of the Great Britain hockey players represent the only time in the modern Olympics that Great Britain has won gold in a team game of real standing. Once the final whistle blew, from the touchline we journalists were as close as it gets to knowing how much it meant to the players, their management, and the wives and girlfriends who made it across the world. My report in The Sunday Times the following day, October 2, began:
“Of all 237 gold medals at these Olympics, none has been more honourably come by than that won yesterday by Great Britain’s men’s hockey team. They beat West Germany by three goals to one, but the performance is hardly the point. The essence of our hockey players is that they are Olympians. They are amateurs. They made personal sacrifices — of time, money and business opportunities — to compete.”
The squad, coached by David Whitaker and managed by Roger Self and Bernie Cotton, had been together for eight years. Some of them knew this would be their final playing year because they could no longer afford to put careers on hold. Stephen Martin, the Ulsterman who has risen to be deputy chief executive at the British Olympic Association, is organising the second reunion of the 1984-88 British hockey Olympians, which will take place in Belfast around the 15th anniversary of Seoul. “We’ve moved on,” he admits, “but there’s not a man among us who has not been shaped by that experience.”
For the record, the shape of Britain’s lineup in Seoul, in 2-3-5 formation, was:Taylor; Faulkner, Barber; Potter, Dodds (capt), Grimley; Batchelor (sub 60min Bhaura), Leman (sub 70min Martin), Kerly, Clift, Sherwani. [The numbers refer to a photograph, which is not carried on the website.]
1 Ian Taylor (Slough)
England’s keeper for 12 years, his early penalty corner save denied the Germans in the final. Taylor moved on from teaching to public relations and then became chief executive of Ice Hockey Superleague. Currently between jobs, Taylor was outspoken even before he finished his playing career and remained rebellious about hockey’s failure to build on the triumph.
2 Russell Garcia (Havant)
A gifted and eager substitute, the 18-year-old prodigy of the squad is now a hockey coach.
3 Jon Potter (Hounslow)
One of the nine double Olympians who maintained the thread of continuity from 1984-88. Versatile and a model of concentration, he worked for Nestlé in eastern Europe before becoming a global brand director for Guinness.
4 Stephen Martin (Belfast YMCA and Holywood ’87)
A substitute in the final, but no substitute in the sport that took him to three Olympic Games, he went on to become involved with the development of hockey, first in Northern Ireland and now with the quest to bring the 2012 Olympics to London. “You don’t live on the past,” Martin observes, “but whatever else anyone says about the Olympics, it’s still the thing most athletes want to do well in.”
5 Veryan Pappin (Hounslow)
Reserve goalkeeper to Taylor, Pappin is a man of restless spirit. Born in Henley and educated in Scotland, he was an RAF physical education officer and parachuting trainer at the time of the Olympics. On the day of the final, he said: “If we’re going to compete against the Germans, we’ll need every ounce of mental toughness.” Now runs his own diving business in the United Arab Emirates.
6 Imran Sherwani (Stourport)
Left the police force in Staffordshire to become a newsagent, the only way he could make sufficient time to follow his ambition. Sherwani twice darted in off the left wing to score goals while the German defenders were drawn out of position. “A wonderful day,” he agreed at the first reunion, held in Guernsey five years ago. “But it’s not the only high, is it? Holding your first child, and in my case more than one, certainly compares.” Sherwani, the Stoke-on-Trent newsagent, was awarded an honorary degree by Keele University.
7 Martyn Grimley (Hounslow)
Began his hockey career as a striker, but by the time of the games had fitted in as an attacking left defender. He also adapted to a career switch, forced on him when he was a teacher and his headmaster told him: “If you go (on tour to Australia in 1985) I’ll sack you.” Grimley turned to the financial sector and is now a director of his own company dealing in insurance and investment.
8 Jimmy Kirkwood (Lisnagarvey)
The second Ulsterman at the Olympics, Kirkwood was a solid squad player. He now holds a senior management position with a major bank in Northern Ireland.
9 Kulbir Bhaura (Indian Gymkhana)
Years before Nasser Hussain gave English cricket a subcontinental presence, Bhaura was converting his cultured and versatile striking skills, either from the wing or centre-forward, into promoting the sport at grass roots level. He remains involved in hockey as a supplier of sportswear and a coach.
10 David Faulkner (Havant)
Full-back Faulkner was outstanding in turning defence into attack. Now operations director for a sports leisure company, a decade after Seoul he said: “When we came home, people started comparing what we did in Korea to what England’s football team did at Wembley in 1966. I felt you can adapt what you learn in teamwork to business, and as individuals we coped with the medal, but hockey as a whole didn’t cope with it so well.”
11 Paul Barber (Slough)
An imposing defender who was ferocious at penalty corner strikes. He was serving his apprenticeship as a quantity surveyor in 1988 and now runs his own construction company.
12 Richard Leman (East Grinstead)
Developed an almost telepathic understanding with Sean Kerly. He was also a crucial stopper in corner routines, and is now managing director of Olympian, his own computer personnel recruitment company.
13 Richard Dodds (Southgate)
A gifted man in orthopaedic surgery and in captaincy. Worked his surgical career around short-term contracts. Dodds was asked after the final if he realised this was Britain’s first defeat of Germany in 20 years. “They can keep them all,” he responded. “We have what we came for.”
14 Sean Kerly (Southgate)
Kerly’s nose for goal, the near certainty that he would score in the final, was augmented by his retreat to the flanks or midfield, acting as a decoy to German man-to-man marking. After working for years as marketing manager for a Kent school, he is as elusive in life as he was in the goalmouth. Martin is trying to track him down in time for the reunion.
15 Steve Batchelor (Southgate)
Once a tennis player on the satellite circuit, he excelled as the flying winger whose intuitive runs and flicked passes helped lay on many a goal for Britain. He, too, runs his own company, coaching in sports.
16 Robert Clift (East Grinstead)
Tall, lean and deceptive in midfield, he was the man in possession of the ball when the final was counted out in Seoul. On the pitch, he did the selfless work in midfield, off it he pursed a banking career from Hong Kong to a top job back in England.
