England Hockey officials honoured by British sports writers

TWO senior England Hockey officials have been recognised for their work by the British Sports Journalists' Association.

AWARDS: England Hockey's David Faulkner and Philip Kimberley received by award from the British Sports Journalists' Association (hockeyimages.co.uk)

Chairman Philip Kimberley and performance director David Faulkner were awarded the trophy for outstanding contribution to sport off the field of play at the SJA's annual awards in London.

Kimberley and Faulkner were recognised for their work behind the scenes in helping to steer England's men to gold medal success at this summer's EuroHockey Nations Championships - just six years after the organisation was declared bankrupt.
 
"What I have done is lead a team at the governing body that has rebuilt itself over the last few years; it has really been a team effort," said Kimberley.

"It's nice for the sport to have some recognition for the work that has been done.  It has taken six years of hard work to get to a place where we should have been when I arrived into a bankrupt organisation in 2003.

"The work is far from done.  It is a continuous journey at both grass roots level and the elite end of the sport."

David Faulkner, who joined England Hockey as performance director four years ago, played credit to Kimberley, despite sharing the award.

"I'm pleased for Philip because he has laid the foundations for our recent success and hopefully more going forward," he said.

"When he came in he had to restructure the organisation to put it on a more professional footing and that has given us the platform to build on.

"I'm equally pleased for hockey as this award just serves to demonstrate the journey on which we have come. It's a great reflection of where the sport stands, not just in hockey but among other sports and the media."