Discover the inspirational history of the England women’s annual hockey match at Wembley Stadium between 1951-1991. Purchase The Magic of Wembley for only £10 plus postage (UK £3.00, Europe £7.00, rest of the world £9.00). Payment via PayPal using the email address shop@hockeymuseum.org or send a cheque. Please use our website contact form for further details: Contact Us | The Hockey Museum
“Incredible original photography and images alongside extracts from programmes, accounts from players and spectators make this a very special trip down memory lane. For any fan of hockey, Wembley or women’s sport, this is a book that simply must be read.”
– Sally Munday, former Chief Executive, England Hockey
For over forty years, the national stadium hosted the annual women’s hockey international. It was a sporting event quite unlike any other: from the austere 1950s, with the players in thick skirts and heavy blouses and a St Trinians army of girls on the terraces in full school uniform, through the pop culture of the 1960s and ’70s, when the players’ skirts got shorter and the girls also sported allegiance to Marc Bolan and Donny Osmond – the hot popstars of the time.
It was a cauldron of unforgettable, good-natured screaming loyalty, delivered in that combinaion of high-frequency and ferocious volume which only be produced by 60,000 schoolgirls.
The book shares personal memories from players, umpires and spectators to help give a sense of how special these days were. As social history mixes with nostalgia for a bygone era, see how things changed over the four decades in which the matches were played – the rules, the kit, the sticks – and the wonderful songs shared in the community singing before the match.
