England Hockey

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England Hockey is the national governing body for the sport of hockey in England. There are separate governing bodies for the sport in the other parts of the United Kingdom. It was formed on 1 January 2003 to replace the English Hockey Association (EHA) which had had to suspend operations 2002 because of significant financial problems. The English Hockey Association had in turn been formed in 1996 to combine the function of the separate governing bodies for men’s, women’s and mixed hockey.

Following the demise of the EHA, England's international hockey was for a time managed through a separate limited company called World Class Hockey Limited, which was funded entirely by Sport England. These operations were merged back into England Hockey on 1 July 205. [1]The second tier of hockey administration in England consists of six Regional Associations – East, Midlands, North, South, West and the Combined Services, and below that there are county associations.

England Hockey is affiliated to the European Hockey Federation and International Hockey Federation.

While UK hockey is organised by separate bodies for each of the home nations, the United Kingdom is required to enter a combined team in the Olympics. This has created tensions between the governing bodies and those responsible for the Great Britain teams, which have performed disappointingly since Great Britain's men's team won gold at the 1988 Summer Olympics.

England Hockey is based at the National Hockey Stadium in Milton Keynes, but the cost of running the stadium was one of the factors that led to the demise of the English Hockey Association, and it is presently leased to Milton Keynes Dons football club and is not used for hockey. International games held in the UK are now located around the country either at the facilities run by member clubs or at other sports stadia.

[edit] External links

Main England hockey organisations

Regional Hockey Associations

[edit] References

  1. ^ England Hockey (2005-6-27). News: England Hockey to take over International responsibilities of World Class Hockey Limited (website). England Hockey official website. England Hockey. Retrieved on February 27, 2007.