Mark McGeoch

1974 - 1980

Brief History

I did my degree in Quantity Surveying between 1974 to 1978 at what was then called Glamorgan Polytechnic and the Polytechnic of South Wales when I graduated. Goodness knows what it is called now, but all I recall is that Treforest was a dump, which is why I lived in Cardiff on Cathedral Road.

As a member (not a legend) of Cardiff HC, I spent my time between the first and second elevens playing on the wonderful Sofia Gardens grass. That was a bowling green compared with some of the other pitches I have played on.

Whilst at Cardiff, I managed to be chosen for the SE Wales under 21’s (1976 I think) and in 1977 was part of the Cardiff HC squad that won the Welsh Indoor Hockey Cup (see photo of medal).

I also recall playing in the second eleven semi final against Whitchurch where Martin Gallivan (can he really be a club member?) blew four minutes early and with most of us in the changing room celebrating. As per Channi Kaler’s bio (“4 minutes cost us a final”), we lost the replay.

I also recall being on a couple of the pre-season weekends to London, where we played the likes of Beckenham and Tulse Hill.

However, my undying memory was of Howie Williams, well, being Howie. Yes, he was a great talent (GB etc….), but…. picture the scene, an indoor match at Sophia Gardens and Howie gets blown by David Gale (a well-respected umpire) and given a green card. Well Howie loses it…… drops his stick, applauds David and says “great decision David. Why not make that a yellow?”. Well…. David did and no matter how much we shouted for Howie to be quiet …. Well …. Howie then said “oh great David, tell you what, why not make that a red as well?”. The ever-obliging David did and we lost that match. Never seen 3 cards of different colours given to one player since then in such a short space of time ….. or ever!.

People I remember include Tony Rhys Jones, Peter Jeanes, PKS, Phil Horsfield, Peter Mills, Rod McKerlick, Channi, Nuni, Sparks, Howie, Mike Cornish, Shri Sharma, Simon Humphries, Chris Fooks, Mike Giddy, Jeff Cocks, Rod Wildblood, Duncan John, Nigel Rees, Mike Chin, Mike Wigg, to name a few.

After Cardiff, I moved on to Harborne for 2 years, then Abu Dhabi HC (ADHOC), Singapore Cricket Club (SCC 1983-85) back to the UK where I captained PHC Chiswick then moved to Sunbury HC where I had a successful coaching (and some umpiring) period with my daughter’s age group between U13 to U18. I then played for Sunbury then Surbiton Vets before coming back to Singapore in 2010, where I now play for the SCC vets as well as umpire in the National League.

As a now older player, I had the pleasure of playing for the Singapore over 55’s in the International Masters Classic in 2011 held in SGP and then the Asian cup held in KL.

In November 2023, I am going to umpire in the Asian Masters tournament being held in Hong Kong.

ABOUT Cardiff & Met HC

Cardiff & Met Hockey Club is based at the National Hockey Centre, Sophia Gardens near the city centre and at Cardiff Metropolitan University. We have 6 Mens Senior Teams, 5 Ladies Senior Teams, 7 British Universities & Colleges Sports (BUCS) student teams and Junior Teams from U8 to U18.

JUNIORS: hockeyacademy@cardiffmet.ac.uk

WOMEN: cardiffhockeyladies@yahoo.co.uk

MEN: cardiffandmet.sec@gmail.com

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