England hockey's oldest ex-international player

Normally when someone turns 100, what they can expect to receive is a telegram from the King.

But for Marjorie Daniel, who became a centenarian in May, there was been a second recognition. 

The former teacher has finally been presented with her honours cap for playing hockey for England - 74 years after she made her international debut.

Marjorie has just been discovered as the oldest surviving England hockey international as part of a project by The Hockey Museum to award caps to generations of players who never received one when they first represented their nation. 

Marjorie began playing hockey when she was a schoolgirl at Brentwood High School, Essex. She went on do teacher training at Nonnington PE College, now part of the University of London, and took up her first teaching role in the Midlands in 1944.

She moved to Surrey to take up a job at William Perkins School in Chertsey and for four years played for Woking Swifts, which later merged with the local men's club to become Woking Hockey Club.

She married Richard Daniel, a banker, and in 1951 moved to Essex where she taught at Loughton High School and played hockey for Brentwood Old Girls.

In 1952, Marjorie was selected to play for England against Scotland at Wembley Stadium, and although her name features in a programme for that game, she got injured and never played.

However, she regained her spot for  the last two games of the year and made her debut in a 2-1 win against Belgium in Brussels on April 19, 1952.

She was selected again in 1953 and finally got to play at Wembley as a left-half in an 11-0 win against Belgium, in front of a crowd of 43,000 on Saturday March 14.

Like many women of her generation though, Marjorie gave up hockey and also her job when she had children, raising two daughters Sarah and Elizabeth.

She returned to work in the 1970s, but is not known to have played hockey again.

Her daughter Sarah said: "Mum had to sit in the stands for the game when she first got selected to play at Wembley Stadium, it must have been awful and left her wondering if she would ever get to play for her country.
"But a year later and she was back and playing at Wembley. It was a wonderful achievement getting to play in front of such a huge crowd."

Marjorie was presented with her cap by former England international Pru Carter on Saturday, June 13.

Marjorie said: “I first heard that I’d been selected for England when I was listening to the radio at my in-laws house. The shorts (skirt) provided were far too long for the first match, they came down to below my knees so I had some made for subsequent matches”

“I remember going on to the pitch at Wembley before the match, but can’t remember much about the match except that we won! I am so honoured to receive this beautiful cap.”

The Hockey Museum, which is based in Woking,  has been embarking on a project to give every England and GB player an honours cap emblazoned with their unique player legacy number.

Since the first rules of organised hockey were laid down by the English men's Hockey Association in 1876, the sport has been amateur. From the earliest international matches it was agreed that awarding caps for appearing for England would be a reward, and as such not fitting for the sports amateur ethos.

Over the past 130 years there have been more than 1,240 men and women players to have represented England and 600 for Great Britain. 

Allocating caps and numbers has proved a major challenge because it means laboriously researching and identifying every player in every game - previously no single set of complete records existed.

Finding the players or, in many cases, their relatives, is another hurdle..

Katie Dodd, a former England international and Vice President of The Hockey Museum, said: "It is women like Marjorie who were responsible for whole generations of girls taking up the sport and later performing at the very highest level."

Marjorie, who would later become a good tennis player too, encouraged her daughters to play hockey.

Her daughter Sarah said: "I did eventually get a chance to play against her - it was in a mums and kids match when I was about 15 or 16. I played right half and she played left back. She hadn't picked up a stick in about 17 years. It was wonderful to share the pitch with her."