Hockey: Time to pick up sticks once more

By TERRY MADDAFORD

Mark Pearn sees the Great Britain hockey team in the same light as the British Lions rugby team.

Most of his hockey is played for England but come the Olympics he must swap shirts to represent Britain.

"It is hard in the sense you spend three years preparing a team then bring in a new group of guys," said 26-year-old Pearn who played his 183rd international (140 for England, the rest for Britain) in Hong Kong en route to New Zealand.

There are no Welsh players this time but five Scots are in the expanded British squad, of which three are here.

Unlike many international players, midfielder Pearn can claim to be a fulltime player.

"There are 10 of us in this squad who have no other employment," said Pearn, who made his debut at the 1995 Champions Trophy and played his 100th international against Holland at the Sydney Olympics.

"We are paid by the international body not to play club hockey, which allows us to concentrate on internationals. Like New Zealand, our focus is on the Olympic qualifying tournament in Madrid in March and beyond that, we hope, the Athens Olympics.

"Those qualifying tournaments are the most stressful. You don't win anything no matter how well you do."

But, he can point out, hockey has something other British teams since the 1966 soccer World Cup can only dream of winning. They still dine out on their 1988 Seoul Olympics gold.

Clive Woodward take note.