| England Hockey | |
| Sport | Hockey |
| Formation date | 2003 |
| Affiliation | International Hockey Federation |
| Regional affiliation | European Hockey Federation |
| Location | Bisham Abbey, near Marlow |
| Replaced | England Hockey Association |
| (founded) | 1996 |
| Official website | |
| www.englandhockey.co.uk | |
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 2005. [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. It runs a number of competitions, including the English Hockey League.
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.
Until early 2009, England Hockey was based at the former, purpose-built, 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. The ground was leased to Wimbledon (later Milton Keynes Dons) football club in 2003 and has not been used for hockey since then. On 17 December 2009, demolition of the stadium began, the site is to be used for a new national HQ for Network Rail.[2]
Main England hockey organisations
Regional Hockey Associations