Hockey Player elected England Hockey President
24.03.2010:
Triple Olympian Simon Mason, former goalkeeper of England & GB, has been elected president of the England Hockey in the crucial phase when the Great Britain will be playing home Olympics in two years time.
Thus, the celebrated goalie joins proud legacy of some of the European countries which had players at its top post. Juan Angel Calzado of Spain and Present FIH president Leandro Negre are some of the former players to head their national federation.
Simon was acting President since Martin Gotheridge became President of the European Hockey Federation in July 2009, has an impressive sports background. He has got nearly 300 votes.
Except Pakistan, no other Asian country elected a player as its chief. Akhtar Rasool in the past and now Qasim Zia have this rare honour in Pakistan.
Interestintly, even since electoral college of Hockey India was officially put on online, triple Olympian Pargat Singh’s name is going around for the top post in India.
Simon was in India recently, and this writer had an opportunity to interact with him, along with his business mentor Smith.
Simon was awarded a television set in 1995 for being Man of the Match at the National Stadium in New Delhi, where the recent world cup was held. When asked to compare the stadium then with now, he quipped: “Did I ever play here? I can’t believe both stadiums are same!”
On the television set he recollected; “We sold it here, and shared the money between all of us in the team, each got about 5 pounds!
Simon represented England and Great Britain 197 times (making him the most capped British goalkeeper) and competed at Atlanta, Athens and Sydney Summer Olympics. He is maintaining his involvement with the Olympic movement today as he sits on the Athlete Committee for the London 2012 Olympics, which gives hockey a valuable voice within the organization. His position as President, he says, will permit him to : “continue to represent the whole of England Hockey in a manner that reinforces we are a professional, progressive and dynamic organisation pursuing hockey’s best interests at every level.”
However he doesn’t just focus on the performance end of the sport. Mason plays for Guildford in the England Hockey League Men’s Conference West.
Sally Munday, Chief Executive of the England Hockey Board said : “I think it is a really positive reflection on hockey that we had four strong candidates standing for election to the President’s position. Over the last few years Simon has been a pro active Vice President and I look forward to working with him in his new role as President”
Away from the hockey pitch, Mason is MD and co-owner of the successful sports equipment manufacturer Mercian Sports Company and in July last year was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Leeds, the University from which he graduated with an economics degree in 1994.
On receiving confirmation of his election to the Presidency, Mason said: “I am delighted to win the election given the quality of the other three candidates. Campaigning has given me the opportunity to contact a huge number of hockey people directly and I look forward to staying in touch with those people and others, to listen to their concerns and help inform them of all the positive things that are happening within England Hockey.
We have a fantastic sport that is entering a really important phase with London 2012 on the horizon and I really look forward to representing hockey at all levels during my time as President.”
Note: With additional input from England Hockey website