THE PELE OF HOCKEY
Born Valerie Walsh in Accrington, her mother was Doris Kay, a weaver in a cotton mill and her father was Bill Walsh, a polisher.
Val first played hockey at Accrington High School for Girls when she was 14.
She was a superb all-round athlete but initially her interest wasn’t hockey – it was football.
Val played for Accrington Ladies as a teenager, moving to Preston Ladies. There, the Manchester United manager Matt Busby, saw her play and declared her the best female footballer ever. However, there was no professional career in football for a woman in those days.
Nevertheless, she did win the Preston Ladies player of the Year award.
In 1961, Val went to Chelsea College of Physical Education in Eastbourne to train to be a PE teacher. It was whilst she was there, that she decided to abandon football and concentrate on hockey.
Val got her first teaching job at Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, and it was whilst she was there that she won her first cap for England (1963). She was the first working class girl to represent the country in hockey.
In 1965, Val married fellow PE teacher, Welshman Gywn Robinson (who was only interested in Rugby) and soon they moved south to Bedfordshire. Val became Head of Girls’ PE at Stratton School in Biggleswade. She joined the Parkside Hockey Club in Bedford.
It was only then that Val truly established herself in the England side, becoming a regular. She missed only one game for the national team between 1966 and 1984.
She was an attacking midfield player, known for her impressive speed and dribbling skills and was renowned for her ability to set up scoring opportunities for others – ‘assists’ they would be called nowadays.
This was all the more remarkable as Val was a chain smoker who also liked a drink.
In those days, there was one hockey match televised a year – an England international at Wembley with crowds of around 60,000: many of them schoolgirls. Journalist Nancy Tomkins called the game, ‘A combination of pilgrimage and jamboree’. Val became a big hero to the fans and earned the nickname ‘The Pele of Hockey’.
She was part of the England team that won the World Championship in Edinburgh in 1975 ,not to be confused with the World Cup. In 1978, Val was selected for a provisional Great Britain team, preparing for the1980 Moscow Olympics, where women’s hockey was to be introduced for the first time.
In 1979, Val went on the BBC television show ‘Superstars’ where various sports stars competed against each other in a variety of sporting challenges. It had viewing figures of millions. By now, Val was in her late thirties – but she was a convincing winner, beating athlete Tessa Sanderson. Val won five out of the six events and celebrated with a beer and a cigarette.
So comfortable was Val’s victory that the producers refused to let her enter the 1980 competition, for fear it would be boring for the watching public. It caused a national outcry.
Val did not get to go to the Moscow Olympics, as the hockey team withdrew as part of the boycott, protesting about the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan. She remained convinced Great Britain would have won the gold medal.
Val never got to participate in the Olympics as Great Britain failed to qualify in 1984.
The producers of ‘Superstars’ eventually relented and invited Val back for the 1981 edition, now aged 40.
Just before filming commenced, there was an industrial accident near her home and Val was taken ill after being exposed to poisonous gas.
Nevertheless, she did take part in the programme, having eaten nothing for three days – and won it just as comfortably as in 1979. She beat the likes of Suzanne Dando, Sharron Davies and Donna Hartley. Again, the celebration was a beer and a cigarette – but it was her last ‘fag’ as she promptly gave up smoking.
Val retired from international hockey in 1984, with a then record 149 caps (38 goals), plus 21 Great Britain appearances (8 goals). She had played in five World Cup tournaments.
The following year, she was awarded an OBE and a place on the Hockey Walk of Fame.
At the same time, both Val and Gwyn left teaching and moved to Lancashire.
There, Val set up a residential hockey centre near Accrington, called Foxhill Bank House. Gwyn was in charge of catering and hospitality.
Val continued playing club hockey for Great Harwood and Blackburn Northern until 1998, when she was well into her fifties.
Thereafter, she continued coaching and running hockey courses at Foxhill Bank.
Val participated in a reunion of the 1975 World Championship side in London, to celebrate Britain hosting the 2018 World Cup.
Gwyn died in 2020. Around the same time, Val was diagnosed cancer and it was this that eventually led to her death.
Former player and current coach Kay Hanham said, “She was a legend and a super star…the ultimate teammate.”
Val’s England record of caps has been broken by Kate Richardson–Walsh (375 caps), although there are many more internationals played nowadays.
Kate, who became captain of the British Olympic gold medal winning side, paid her own tribute. “Val was a legend who blazed a trail for so many people in our sport. With her ability in both hockey and football, today she would have been a professional sportswoman and it’s because of people like Val that I got to play hockey full time…We stand on her shoulders. What Val stood for and what she achieved as a sportswoman is an inspiration to me. Her name and her legacy will live on forever.”
RIP – Record International Performances
