Nickname(s) Wapping HC | Chairman Stuart Burnside | |
Captain Men's 1st XI: Dominic Graham
Ladies' 1st XI: Lucy Todd Home ground Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre
London, England
(Capacity 3,000) League England Hockey League
& East Region Hockey Leagues Official Website www.wappinghockeyclub.com | ||
Wapping Hockey Club (/ˈwɒpɪŋ/) is a field hockey club in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The home grounds are the national stadium for English Hockey, the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, where there are two international standard water-based pitches and the John Orwell Centre in Wapping. The men's 1st XI team play National League hockey in the East Conference, the second tier of the English hockey league system, and the ladies' 1st XI one division lower, in the East Region Premiership. The club fields a total of 23 sides including 11 men's and 8 ladies' sides.
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Olympic Legacy
The club was founded in 1988 off the back of the Great Britain men's field hockey team's success at the Seoul Olympics of the same year. The club secured anchor tenancy at the London 2012 legacy facility following its opening as Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre in June 2014. The facility hosted the 2015 EuroHockey Nations Championships. In 2014, the club secured over £300,000 of investment to designate its base at John Orwell Sports Centre in Wapping a hockey priority facility. By 2016, approximately £650,000 had been invested in the refurbishment, meaning among other things, both Wapping HC grounds have covered spectator seating.
Management Team
The club is chaired by Stuart Burnside, who also serves as a non-executive trustee director of the London Youth Games. He has been credited for introducing a business focus and was named England Hockey's Club Volunteer of the Season for 2013/14. Other key members of staff are Norval Scott (Vice Chair, Head of Performance) and Sandra Akinbolu (Vice Chair, Head of Community Affairs). In December 2014, the club released "The Lost Ball", a Christmas film produced by Anthony Day (Head, Digital Media & Production), indicative of the club's increased emphasis on online content.
Notable developments
England & GB Consultant goalkeeping coach John Hurst, and international goalkeepers for England (Maddie Hinch and Kirsty Mackay), Scotland (Allan Dick and Amy Gibson) and Wales (David Kettle) joined Wapping's set up for the 2014/15 season to coach at Wapping's Goalkeeper Academy.
100 new players joined the Club for the 2014/15 season after a facilities boost and successful participation in the England-wide Back to Hockey campaign.
In 2015, Stuart Burnside created "The Hockey Beer", a brand designed to raise funds for both Wapping and other hockey clubs, subsequently launching it with the help of other Wapping members. Three Wapping "hockey beers" were launched, Wapping Hoppy, Wapping Gold, and Wapping Cape. Wapping Hoppy and Wapping Gold were on sale at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre during the EuroHockey Nations Championship hosted there in 2015.
Recent Honours
Wapping's 2014/15 campaign, was their most successful season at that point, and concluded with a host of wins and seven promotions, with the club receiving congratulations from Mayor of London Boris Johnson for their success. Earlier that season, Wapping won the Men's East Division One indoor tournament at the first attempt in January 2015.
That season was immediately surpassed, with the 2015/16 season involving 10 promotions, 9 league titles and promotion to the National League.