Hockey began at Radley in the 1850s on College Pond: ‘How many times on the hard winter days did the ice re-echo to the cries of hockey! I see W. with his cheerful face aglow struggling with both hands to get the ball from between his skates.’ Ice hockey continued whenever conditions allowed into the 1930s but from 1879 there were calls for hockey on grass during the Lent term just like other schools: ‘At Marlborough there are foreign matches … and the sensible rules about raising the stick above the shoulder, &c, seem to prevent any bad consequences.’ Both Robert Wilson, who came to Radley as Warden in 1880, and Ernest Bryans, who arrived in 1882 and became one of Radley’s most influential dons, had previously taught at Marlborough and it is possible that this helped to promote hockey at Radley. The connection continued when in 1901, the Bishop of London, Old Radleian Rev. AF Winnington-Ingram, established an annual match between Radley and Old Marlburians at Fulham Palace: the only condition was that the bishop played centre forward. He scored his last goal in 1937, aged 78.

Throughout the 1880s and 1890s hockey struggled to gain a foothold between rowing, cricket and soccer. The Rules of the Game of Hockey were first published in The Radleian in 1887. Although it was described as ‘discouraged’ there were regular ‘foreign matches’ against scratch teams and Oxford colleges, with the Captain of Hockey listed among the school officials, and fixtures in the calendar. Increasing numbers of Old Radleians played for Oxford, culminating in a captain of England, Monty Barker, in 1897-98 and John Yates Robinson, MC, who won Gold for England in the 1908 Olympics. He was killed in Mesopotamia in 1916. Other internationals followed in later years, most notably full-back Robert Scott Freeman tragically killed in a car accident in 1933.

Internally, Inter-Social Sixes was started before WW1 (Radley’s earliest photos of hockey teams are Sixes) but it was not until 1920 that the heading R.C.H.C. appeared in The Radleian, with the Old Boys Club (later the Galleons) in 1923. Showing that it was now a serious sport, the school library was given The complete hockey player by White in 1929.

The first printed fixtures list was 1934 but there is no record of a score or whether all the matches were actually played. No doubt about it in 1935, though, when the team were awarded colours and an official strip for the first time.

For most of the next century, hockey has been recognised as the primary sport for Lent Term at Radley, battling through snow, ice and mud. The first all-weather pitch was built in 1990 and hockey on grass gradually acquired the name ‘grockey.’ The last match on grass was played in 2016.

Clare Sargent, 2025