Hockey on Hampstead Heath

The Hampstead Heath Hockey official winter season starts at the beginning of October and runs to end-May - though some of us now carry on playing till around mid-summer. Our game is mixed, the standard of play ranges from pretty good to not so good, it's great fun, spare sticks are available, and the best part is the 'apres-hockey' drinks in the Spaniard's Inn...

Directions: the pitch is now on the Heath Extension (see map link below)- adjacent to Hampstead Way near Welgarth Road. It is about 10 minutes' walk from Golders Green station and from the Spaniard's Inn. We meet around 3.30pm every Sunday from October to end May (2.45pm for 3 o'clock from Sunday 25 October) - though those of use who play in the summer tend to start around 3.45pm.

Who can play? Anybody! The players are a motley mixture of skills and ages, from students to pensioners, and from ex-club players to total novices. What unites us, however, is the desire to enjoy a good, reasonably competitive and informal game of hockey in the open air, whether to work off their Sunday lunch, to catch up with the gossip, or even to keep fit.

A hard core of around a dozen players tend to appear most Sundays, while others come either by word of mouth, or because they just happen to be passing by. Sticks are provided if needed.

The Sunday hockey games continue a tradition which goes back to before the War (2nd). One player has been taking part in the games on and off for the last 40 years; while another claims to be the third generation of his family to have played here (and some say he looks it!). 

We are always keen to attract new blood, and anybody interested in joining the group on a Sunday afternoon should get in touch.

How to get there - map of new pitch 

Interested? Email nprag (at) europe (dot) com