Does the existence of three antique silver cups with the Royal Navy HA have a ‘black lining’?

The Royal Navy Hockey Association is the proud owner of three silver cups that date back to the 1900 period. They were used for different competitions between ships and units that made up the Royal Navy. Bear in mind that the Royal Navy at that time was much bigger than the whole of our armed forces today.

One of the cups was for an inter ship competition for the Mediterranean Fleet based in Malta.

Another cup, dated 1902, was for the United Services Hockey League. This was a league between ships and units in the Portsmouth area and in season 1901/02 it was won by the Royal Navy College Portsmouth. We know this because the trophy is engraved as such and also records the record of the winning team, together with their names.

Now, why should all this information possibly have a ‘black lining’? The answer is because this period, only fifteen years after the formation of the Hockey Association in 1886, was one when competition in hockey was severely frowned upon. Indeed, as far as club hockey was concerned it was completely banned. Would these strict non-competition rules apply to the armed forces? Perhaps the answer to that question would be, only if the Royal Navy and Army Hockey Associations were affiliated to the Hockey Association. Well, they were not affiliated so presumably that solves the problem. However, it is an oddity that such disciplined and well organised bodies such as our armed forces associations did not affiliate to the national governing body. Indeed, they did not affiliate until the season 1908/9 – the London Olympic season.

So, did the two associations deliberately decide not to affiliate so as not to fall foul of the stringent non-competition rules used by the Hockey Association? Will we ever know? If you are able to shed light on this peculiarity, please contact THM Curator thorugh our contact form.