I got into the Ashford 1st team in 1982 at the age of 19, I remember I had just got into the 4th team the year before and then was dropped back down, to which I went off and complained to the club captain Sherpa and gave him some stick.
Something went well the following year, as I progressed through all the sides that season to make my first 1st team appearance against Old Creightonians, Tentelow Lane, Southall (long gone now) on a bouncy plowed field of a pitch. I was playing right wing in those days (evolving into a bit of a utility player over the years and ending up as left half / inside) and remember Johnny Tompkins (Handbag),clouting the ball down the right, to which I ran as fast I could after it, with the pitch doing all the work I ran into the D and managed to thrash it into the back of the net. I remember Jeff Meers bringing the 1st truly class player to the club in Stewart Collins, who had won the European Cup with Slough a few years earlier, he made an impression on me and some other younger players and made us think about how to play the game properly.
As we went into the 90's, the return of Bruce Cotton from University and the arrival of the Borough Road Boys greatly strengthened the side / club and competition for places became immense. Ashford then recruited Colin Stewart (Bacchus) as player coach and all of a sudden we were a force to be reckoned with, a very fit well drilled side, with some good skills and importantly all at the right age to execute the coaching / formations. The culmination of this was the 1994 season, which saw us win promotion to South Premier A, lose 2 - 0 to a very good Hampstead & Westminster side in the Middx Cup final at Dukes Meadow and of course the HA Trophy win 3 - 2 against Bowdon at Birmingham University, which was lucky enough to be covered by SKY TV that year and with just about the whole club making the journey to watch, it was a fantastic end to a fantastic season. As the end of the 90's approached we got relegated due to a league restructure, I think if memory serves we had to finish in the top 9 places and didn't, so we went down to Premier B League. My last 1st team season was approx 1999/2000 season and the club had pretty much a whole new young very talented team that Martin Smith was shepherding, I was I think the last of the old guard to go down because I think they needed someone who was just willing to run around breaking down play at left half. I rejoined basically the old 1st team in the 2's, who were actually playing a higher level of hockey having climbed into South Premier A of the 2nd team league. (top level regional hockey outside of the London league at that point).
I took up umpiring in 2002 / 03, I always enjoyed club umpiring and just seemed to be a natural / move, I wanted to play and umpire but that wasn't really an option back then, so I took the plunge and took to it well, progressing quickly and climbing the ladder through Middlesex, South and into National League in 2006 .
My National League assessment game was strangely enough back at Birmingham Uni (Birmingham Uni v Havant) so some nice memories came flooding back when I arrived at the ground. Mark Burns was playing in the game , having just left Ashford to go to University and begin his studie., so nice to have a quick chat with him. I remember my assessor making me sweat after the game, before giving me the pass mark and I was off and running. I am currently umpiring in both Men's and Ladies outdoor programmes and received my Indoor Level 3 accreditation (NL) this season.
In the Ladies outdoor programme, I am now on the A* rung of the ladder, having umpired 3 Ladies Premier National league games this season, as well as a GB V Italy International practice game at Bisham Abbey, what this basically means is that as long as I get the correct marks in the coming season, I may get my National Badge on the Ladies side.
In the Men's programme, I am at A panel, but having had some very good marks this season I am hopeful of progression to A* at the next meeting (fingers crossed), all being well this will guarantee me at least 2 Men's Premier games which again I need to hit the pass marks to secure the National badge. My 200th game was due to be Bath Buccaneers (Bath v Teddington) 8th March with my great friend Pritpal Sihota and it was great to catch up with Phil Lewis (Ashford HC old boy and Teddington captain) but this became my 201st game, as I had to double up the day before due to umpire shortages
Dave Howell and I volunteered to double up umpiring on the Saturday 7th, first doing Trojans v Sevenoaks at 12pm and then my 200th game at 4.30pm became Reading v Wimbledon Ladies (decider for the league title), a great game with Wimbledon running out 3 - 0 winners and sealing the league. Dave has been my mentor for a great part of my NL career, having umpired over 450 NL games, the majority of these at Premier level and still going strong, so it was really nice that I got to do my 200th (impromptu) game with him
My favourite club to umpire has to be Indian Gymkhana, in the days when they were in their pomp you had the best seat in the house, with fantastic skills and always a challenge, your concentration had to be 100%, whether on the pitch or with the crowd (crowds would comfortable be 150 - 200 some Sundays) and you would just be enveloped in a fantastic atmosphere.
Neil Smith
