This July we have thrown the collective weight of our wonderful volunteer team at an Olympic research project in support of Great Britain Hockey.

Across 35 days, 22 volunteers and staff researched and collated historical match statistics, photographs and anecdotal information. This related to each opponent nation that GB’s men’s and women’s hockey teams have and will face in the group stages of the Tokyo tournament, as well as each opponent they may eventually face in the knock-out stages.

We drew on the data from our developing GB player and match stats database. We utilised the magazines and books in THM library, as well as various online sources including FIH’s records within their Tournament Management System (TMS). We engaged the support of professional photographers to request Olympic imagery, as well as contacting former GB players for their memories of matches through the Hockey Internationals’ Club. We also mined the collections of former hockey magazine editors and scanned prints, negatives and slides which had not previously been digitised.

The information is now being used across GB Hockey and THM’s social media platforms (see above example) and in preview articles on the GB Hockey website in the build up to every GB match. Be sure to check them out as the Olympic tournament progresses. Our social media channels are linked to in the footer of this email.

All in all, a very strong piece of work by our dedicated volunteer team, with THM once again demonstrating the fascinating and inspirational value of history and heritage.

GB men vs India, 30 July 1992.		GB women vs Argentina, 12 August 2008.