The Hockey Museum Moves To Woking: A Most Appropriate New Home, But Why?

The leafy Surrey town of Woking did not exist until the middle of the nineteenth century. The railway arrived in 1838 in the middle of the woods; not even a cottage in sight. At Woking Junction the railway turned left to Portsmouth via Guildford or went straight on to Southampton via Winchester. And so the town developed nestled between the Basingstoke Canal (that had passed through some 50 years before) and the railway. Being less than an hour from central London (and less than half an hour today) the area was ideally located.

This location was noted by Dr Leicher, a Victorian educationist who wanted to extend higher education to the increasing number of students coming to Britain from the East. In the 1870s he picked on Woking and set up a College for Oriental students. To achieve his aim of offering ‘higher education’, the degrees were granted through the University of the Punjab in Lahore, India. It is this association with the Punjab in the then India, that the thread of appropriateness for the Hockey Museum lies.

At that time, the late nineteenth century, northern India was heavily garrisoned by the British Army. We were fighting the first or second Afghan war, I cannot remember which, but you would have thought that we might have learned our lesson! A number of cities in the Punjab had sizeable garrisons, or cantonments as they are called. When they were not away fighting, the soldiers needed occupying and sport was a popular answer. However, for sport you need equipment and the supply line back to Britain was a long one; about six months.

In those days most of the world’s sports equipment came from Britain but it didn’t take the Indians long to spot an opportunity. In particular this happened in the city of Sialkot, about one hundred miles from Lahore and renowned for furniture production and woodwork. The skilled woodworkers started by repairing the rackets and bats and sticks for the British military, but it was not long before they started manufacturing. They may not have had access to the British ash and willow timber, but local wood was sufficient to keep the troops playing their sport. In the case of hockey though, the local wood was mulberry and in fact it turned out to be more suitable than the English ash. It was harder and when bent it retained its shape much better. So for the next few decades production of Indian hockey sticks grew, so that after WW2 and to this day, the majority of the world’s hockey sticks came from the Punjab, together with a lot of other equipment to support our sport.

So, Woking has had an association with the Punjab in its early days and that is retained through its association with The Hockey Museum where many of its exhibits were made in the Punjab.

Mike Smith, February 2012