On 3 March 2021 The Hockey Museum (THM) celebrated the 70^th anniversary of the first England women’s hockey match at Wembley Stadium in 1951. In partnership with Talk Hockey Radio, we produced a podcast (The Special One – Epsiode 6) and video of the personal memories of Maggie Souyave, Anita White and Christabel Russell Vick. These received a fantastic response as other people – former players, umpires, spectators – got in touch with their recollections.

Frankly, they were too good not to share, so we have brought some of them together right here, alongside relevant gems from our archive, for your enjoyment.

Sheila Morrow

Former Wales and Great Britain Captain and current Great Britain President.

Sheila Morrow (front) in action for Wales against England at Wembley in 1981.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to Anita White, Maggie Souyave, Chris Russell Vick and Kate Richardson Walsh’s reminiscences about Wembley – it brought back lots of memories of the three occasions I was lucky enough to play there myself in 1969, 1975 and of course 1981 when I captained Wales and had the honour of presenting the Welsh team to the Queen as Maggie’s opposite number.

I could certainly relate to the stories about various aspects of the day although my memories were somewhat different;

• The wall of sound​ as you came out of the tunnel was really daunting for us as the few Welsh voices in the crowd were blotted out and all we could hear was “England, England”!
• We were impressed by the steak served at the pre-match lunch in 1969 but we missed the lunch altogether in 1975 as our coach got lost getting to Wembley from central London and we arrived really late. In fact, it was a miracle we arrived at all as the traffic on Wembley Way was chock-a-block and we had to have a police escort up the wrong side of the dual carriageway to get through.
• I share Maggie’s pride at meeting the Queen and again, remember our brief conversation although mine was all about the weather and her hope that the rain would hold off!I can relate also to Kate’s mind-freeze over names – I did get one wrong, forgetting that Sue Crowley had been married for 2 years and introducing her to the Queen as Sue Board, much to her annoyance (Sue not the Queen).
• I was also an IM Marsh College student – albeit a few years before Maggie! – and although Maureen Short (a former England international herself) congratulated me on my selection for Wales she did not offer to pay for my tracksuit. In 1969 I found myself playing against two of my lecturers (Hazel Feltwell and Kath Burrows) and in 1975 playing against Anne Whitworth (hockey captain at IM Marsh when I was there) together with both Anita (who was England Captain) and Maggie.

I was also very interested to listen to the comparisons between international hockey in my era and what happens today. I share Kate’s regret that there is little time today for spending social time with the opposition as we did through our formal dinners – even the after match teas were an opportunity to talk informally with the opposition albeit in Wales, it was often a case of ‘FBH’ (family hold back!) on the food as most teas were catered for by the host club!

Thank you all for bringing back these memories.

Vicky Dixon

Former England and Great Britain international player.

Vicky Dixon in action for England against the Netherlands in 1987.

I’ve just listened to the Wembley podcast and thought it was brilliant. Brings back memories doesn’t it? Maggie Souyave, Anita White, Chris Russell Vick and Kate Richardson Walsh were great. When Maggie spoke about me giving her the bouquet so that she could present it to the Queen, I was just relieved that she hadn’t realised I’d initially forgotten the bouquet and had to run all round the greyhound track back to the changing rooms and return with a rather ‘wind-swept’ set of flowers. Happy days!

Evlyn Raistrick

Former Scottish and International Hockey Federation (FIH) umpire.

I was selected to umpire at Wembley in 1980 and travelled down on the Scottish team bus – no neutral umpires in those days. The Wembley pitch I remember as being slightly domed so for a small umpire it seemed almost as if the game was above me. I umpired with Mary Harris, with Brenda Bradford on the klaxon. I did blow, the klaxon went, no one heard and Val Robinson scored a goal which was disallowed. That didn’t go down very well. Umpires wore white blazers – I borrowed one from Catherine Clarke – no way I was going to buy one for one appearance. We wore grey skirts of regulation length and white gloves – which I still have, using them to put on fine tights, occasionally!

[Exerpt from The Magic of Wembley book.]

Pru Carter nee French

Former England International player.

Pru Carter arriving at Wembley Stadium in 1975. Image courtesy of Pru Carter.

My first experience of Wembley was when my Mum took me to watch in 1968 when England played the Netherlands. I played club hockey after my Dad had taught me some skills and talked through how to play the game. He and my brother both played, so I was keen to follow suit. Our trip to Wembley was by train and I can remember the walk along Wembley Way passing the mass of coaches filled with schoolgirls waving various banners and flags and the community singing with Ed ‘Stewpot’ Stewart when inside the stadium. We had a wonderful day and Mum and I went together for a couple more years until I was at Chelsea College of PE. I then went on one of the College coaches filled with students – all in our College Cloaks! For years after I took school parties in our own hired coaches and it was always an excuse to get out the cloak for the Wembley match and meet friends from all over the country.

It was an amazing experience when I eventually played at Wembley against Wales in 1975. Mum and Dad were watching with my husband, and also a coach party from the school where I taught. The match was shown on TV. It always stated on the back of the spectator’s tickets that “The holder thereof shall not take a camera or photographic apparatus of any description into the stadium, nor shall the holder take any cinematograph picture or photograph of any kind.” It further stated that any photographic apparatus would be confiscated, so I only have a few press photographs of the occasion. No wonder photographs of these games are so difficult to track down. I can’t remember us doing a lap of honour but I do remember consciously not allowing myself to show signs of celebration when I scored a goal in my debut match – it wasn’t the ‘done thing’ to celebrate in those days! However, I remember the goal to this day, a brilliant cross from Maggie or Val on the right, for me to sweep in on the left post, finishing on my back!

We had to hire the cardinal red skirt, making sure it was professionally cleaned and the pleats tacked before returning. We had to purchase our white shirt, cardinal red socks, and in our year it was black pants which were most important! The white blazer with the England badge and tracksuit were other items we could buy. It was all so different from what I had been used to with Great Britain and England Athletics where we were given our kit and tracksuits on an annual basis and we could ask for extra if necessary! Sponsorship was obviously so different back then, although looking at the prices, it seems so little nowadays.

Listening to the wonderful interview, it brought back some extra memories:

• Before the game, listening to requests on the Ed Stewart Radio Show and opening the good luck telegrams and cards.
• The umpires having to wear white gloves so that the person working the klaxon could see the hand signals.
• The ball girls were England B players who obviously knew exactly where to place the ball, thus very little rest when the ball went off the pitch.
• The Wembley bath – a good bit of fun.
• I can remember looking at the carved signatures of Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton and all the 1966 England World Cup-winning football team on the back of the toilet doors in the changing room.

Such great memories for so many of us.

Jean Fitch

Schoolgirl spectator.

I went to the England vs Ireland international match in 1984. I still have the banner. England were beaten 1-0 by Ireland.

My lasting memory of the day was the ear-drum thundering noise, which completely erupted when an England player had the ball. 37 years later, I am still playing hockey, mainly walking hockey but I do still step out as a goalkeeper for veterans matches and club games, if needed.

A schoolgirl’s eye view of the England vs Ireland international at Wembley in 1984. Images courtesy of Jean Finch.

Neil Durden-Smith

Sports commentator.

It was quite a small commentary box [at Wembley]. I say noisy but of course one had to get there early to rehearse … but I think we went up in a lift to the commentary box and the noise level then slowly mounted as they all arrived. By the time the match started it was deafening … I had to ask for the effects to be turned down all the time. I had to say every year, “For goodness sake, turn the effects down” because, wearing the cans, the headphones, you got the effects in one ear and the director in the other ear and you had got to be able to hear the director and you had got to be able to talk to him so that he could hear you. I had to say, “Please turn the effects down”. And the noise? It was continuous noise, it didn’t go up and down it was just continuous. But it was marvellous really, they were just fantastic occasions, they really were very exciting.

Rachel Heyhoe Flint [co-commentator for Wembley matches] – the unique and only Rachel Heyhoe Flint, or Flinters as I called her – we were very good chums for a long, long time because I knew her when she was playing cricket for England … This particular year, I think it was 1982, we were playing against Holland at Wembley and she sat next to me on a chair in the commentary box on a platform for the two of us. We had what was called a lazy talkback microphone on, with which you could talk to the director without the viewer hearing you – it was just between him and you – and after about ten minutes of the match I said to Scrim [the director], “Can you give me a close up of the Dutch goalkeeper when there is a bit of dead play next?” And somebody got injured five minutes later and play stopped and he said, “Coming up Admiral, a close up of the Dutch goalkeeper” and there she was in the middle of the screen. I said, “She’s a marvellous, absolutely marvellous servant to Dutch ladies’ hockey for all these years. She is a nursing sister at a big hospital in Amsterdam and what’s more she has got 47 Dutch caps”. At which stage Flinters fell off her chair onto the floor and she was in total hysterics. She couldn’t get up for about ten minutes, she had the serious giggles and I had to just carry on with this wreck down on the floor. Later she used to tell the story at dinners and lunches.

[Exerpt from The Hockey Museum’s oral history interview with Neil.]

Janet Turner

Huntingdonshire PE teacher.

I have spent the most enjoyable morning for some time watching THM’s 70^th Anniversary Wembley film. It brought back memories of each March from 1958-1963 when I took a party of girls to Wembley for the hockey.

At that time Hunts was Marjorie Pollard territory and a very agricultural area. There was always great excitement as the Hockey Field magazine arrived with its call of “Are we going to Wembley?” and the notice to sign up was posted on the notice board. This day out became a very ‘big deal’ for these children – some gave me money in instalments, as and when they could afford it, and I would look after it for them. I used to run an indoor hockey tournament at lunchtimes through the winter and players and spectators paid 1d (old money!) to participate. It was amazing how the total mounted up and the funds went towards the cost. The First XI players were paid for by the school!

We always had a coach full of keen youngsters. Some of the younger girls were a bit nervous at the huge numbers in the Stadium and the noise, but all thoroughly enjoyed the day and came back for more each year. Some of those ‘girls’ are now nearly 80 and turned out to be very good hockey players. Those still in touch remember the hockey with fondness.

Thank you for then and thank you for now.

Wendy Justice nee Fraser

Scotland and Great Britain international player.

Wendy Justice (nee Fraser) and Alison Ramsay still turn out for Scotland Masters.

I loved watching the 70th Wembley podcast as I have so many great memories of going to Wembley as a schoolgirl and later as a Scottish player.

I have to confess that my recollections of the Wembley occasion when attending as a schoolgirl includes very little of the game incidents themselves. My lasting memories are the banners that we made, the singing, and the chaperoning of us as a group so as not to lose anyone… and me cheering for England – what an admission! I did not travel down from Scotland to spectate as my father worked in London from 1969 to 1978 and we lived in Kingsbury, not that far from Wembley. I attended Fryent Primary School, Kingsbury and Claremont High School, Harrow. My early representative hockey was with Middlesex U14 before moving to Glasgow as a 14 year old.

Watching the video, I was strangely deflated to discover that in fact the largest attendance crowd was in 1976 for the England v Scotland fixture. I’d always delighted in informing family and friends that I was once in the Guinness Book of World Records as I was one of the attending schoolgirl spectators in 1978 at the largest attendance for a women’s game (65,165) for the match between England and the USA. It is possible that I attended the 1976 fixture, so I’ll just have to change my story slightly!

Playing for Scotland at Wembley in 1985 will forever be etched in my mind as one of the best ever hockey spectacle experiences and for me at that time was the pinnacle of what I aspired to achieve. I’d been there and experienced the atmosphere as a child so knew how great it would be to be there as a player and perhaps my old PE teacher would get along to watch? I’d also enjoyed watching the video footage of the 1972 Wembley match where Marietta Craigie scored twice as a 19 year old (I believe) to secure the Scotland their famous 2-1 win over England – it was easily my most signed out archive from the college library! I aspired to emulating, if not surpassing, her feat. When I eventually got to play in 1985 – what a day!

I was a fourth-year university student at the time and a good percentage of my fellow PE students had bused and trained it down to Wembley to be there for the occasion. We players were just given just the one complimentary ticket, so Mum got to be a ‘VIP’ while Dad and the rest of the travelling support had to tough it out amongst the hordes of English schoolgirls. My personal memories of that day were:

• The photo shoot in the stadium before the crowd were allowed in.
• The walk out in our blazers to the deafening noise.
• The claxons being used so the umpires’ whistles could be heard.
• Going down with cramp late on in the game.
• Being applauded round a lap of honour!
• Our corner injector having to try and wrestle a ball off a ball girl who was waving to her family in the crowd (that ball girl later went on to achieve a wealth of caps for both England and Great Britain).
• The near expulsion from the stadium of my dad following his decision to forcibly remove a large banner from group of schoolgirls in order that he could see and applaud Scotland, and particularly his daughter, on their lap of honour.

Despite the disappointment of losing 3-0, the defeat inspired us to strive to better ourselves in order to dream of exacting revenge on our Auld Enemy.

A huge well done to The Hockey Museum for all the great work done to retain the history of this fabulous sport and to Talk Hockey Radio for this great Podcast.

Alison Ramsay

Former Scotland and Great Britain international player.

My memory of the one and only game I played in at Wembley in 1985 is primarily around the experience itself rather than the result … not surprising given Scotland were beaten by England 3-0 that day. Walking out onto the pitch down the famous Wembley tunnel was amazing. By the mid ‘80s the number of schools making trips to visit the stadium had reduced – it was still over 40,000! – but the noise level from the school children was still ear-splitting! I can’t remember (or maybe have chosen to forget) much about the game itself apart from the fact that the grass was quite long and thick and not ideal to play on. And even with a klaxon rather than a whistle it was almost impossible for the umpires to make themselves heard. Immediately after the game (no lengthy warm downs or ice baths back in the ‘80s) we went back down that famous tunnel again and there was much singing and general hilarity amongst the players in the huge bath that held a whole team in it. Great memories.

Jenny Cardwell

Former England international player and former England and Great Britain Coach and Manager.

The 1972 England women’s team. Jenny Cardwell is standing third from left.

My first chance of playing for England at Wembley was in 1970. I was only a reserve so I wasn’t likely to play because substitutes were not allowed in those days. How different to when I later coached and then managed the national side. As it turned out we never got to Wembley that year. The surface was so bad after the annual Horse of the Year Show that the game was transferred to the White City Stadium. I sat next to the Australian reserve Janet Beverley and we have been good friends ever since.

I was picked as reserve the next year for the game against Wales. On our way back from practice on the Friday afternoon Barbara Harvey fell down a step injuring her ankle. Pam Edwards took Barbara and I to A&E at University College Hospital. The ankle was too swollen to diagnose the damage. Barbara and I shared a room and it was quite obvious the next morning that she would not be able to play. It was a tragedy for Barbara, a fellow East player, particularly as her father was coming to Wembley in an ambulance to see his daughter play, but an exciting opportunity for me.

After the match I had a problem with my contact lens. In my normal routine I took the lens out to clean it, but when I went to put it back in the wind blew it off my finger. I was searching for it in the grass and a police constable came over to help me. “You go off, love, and do your lap of honour with the other girls and I will look for it.” he said. “No chance” I thought but I followed his advice. I was in the changing room with the rest of the team when there was a knock at the door. “Jenny, it’s for you” somebody called out. It was the policeman with my lens! He had shone his torch on the grass and saw the lens sparkle. How lucky was that and how grateful was I! Ever since then I’ve always taken a spare set with me.