At the recent Hockey World League event at Chiswick the International Hockey Ferderation (FIH) CEO, Kelly Fairweather, visited the The Hockey Museum (THM) stand and was clearly impressed with what he saw. In brief discussions, at a very busy event, Kelly said he would like to visit the Museum as soon as possible.
This pledge was kept when Kelly, accompanied by Melanie Wilmore, Head of the FIH Executive Office, visited Woking on 16 July, only a fortnight after Chiswick.
In their half-day visit they were shown round the many aspects of the Museum by Katie Dodd and Mike Smith. They spent a long time looking at the many and different collections. They were clearly impressed and perhaps one comment in particular summed it up: “Thank goodness somebody was motivated enough to ‘just do it’ rather than lament it not being done”.
In some three hours of discussion it was clear that there is much common ground. The FIH are clearly committed to the heritage and history of our sport. We discussed several areas of potential co-operation and it is likely that THM will be providing a permanent historical display in the FIH offices in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is also hoped that we can help with the Hockey Display at the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Olympic Museum which is also in Lausanne. As a matter of historical fact the original hockey display at the Olympic Museum was set up by our Curator, Mike Smith, some twenty years ago, long before THM became a reality.
Many other topics were discussed, although one area of real common interest was the compiling of complete and reliable records of international hockey. We could be working very closely on this. When asked what the FIH could do for THM we replied, “Help us create a greater awareness of what we are doing and stop the constant haemorrhaging of valuable material”.
This meeting could prove to be one of the most important we have had in our short existence and it is truly reassuring to know that our world governing body is clearly supportive of what we are doing.
Mike Haymonds, July 2013
