Put the Twin Towers in my back garden

WHEN the Twin Towers came tumbling down a lot was made of Wembley's great footballing moments.

But another sport which used to be a regular user of the hallowed turf, until 1985, was hockey.

Former England player Val Robinson, from Blackburn, has her own special memories of the national stadium.

She played there for both Great Britain and England and has at least 170 caps to her name.

Her lasting memory of the national stadium is her first game there -- which didn't quite go to plan.... What happened?

I was selected for England to play in my first international against Wales at Wembley when I was about 20.

I remember coming out into the noise and the atmosphere. There were about 65,000 people watching, a lot of them school girls, so they were very high pitched cheers. You could hardly hear the whistle!

We were also playing in front of the Queen, to add to the occasion. It was just phenomenal.

England had never lost at Wembley -- until this game, my first, when we lost 1-0 to Wales. I was the new face and think I was something of a scapegoat really as I wasn't picked for the next game!

But I always enjoyed playing at Wembley and I 'm so sorry to see the Twin Towers go.

It's a shame they can't be transferred to the new stadium. I've got a space in my back garden where I could put them up!

What happened to the hockey internationals at Wembley?

They used to have one every year, against countries like Wales, Scotland, Ireland and every fourth year, a country further afield like South Africa or Germany.

Then in 1985, they decided to give them up. I think it was because of the ground and the astroturf. I retired in 1984, and they played the last one there in 1985. It was such a shame to see the Wembley internationals go.

Hockey does have a national stadium in Milton Keynes now which is very nice but there's nothing like Wembley.

How did your hockey career begin?

I started at around 15 at Accrington High School.

I was actually outstanding at football but they wouldn't let girls play then!

I wanted to be a PE teacher and so I went to teaching college -- Chelsea College at Eastbourne, quite far away!

I taught all the sports but hockey was my main sport, and gradually it took over.

It was in the 1960's when I got my international call up.

It was a bit different then to how it is now.

I was playing for the south at the time, mind you I think I played for the north, east and west as well at some stage of my career depending on where I was teaching at the time!

And that call-up was for the Wales game....

What sticks out in your memory of playing international hockey?

As well as Wembley, other things include winning the first ever World Cup in Edinburgh.

And how many goals did you score?

As I 'right inner' I tended to run up and down the wing a lot but I never really kept a record of how many I scored. There wasn't the same interest in keeping statistics as there is now. I started counting when I played for England against Wales, got dropped, and never counted caps or goals again!

Any hockey regrets?

I suppose with watching hockey at the Olympics in Sydney, one is that I never played in an Olympics.

In 1980, I was part of the Great Britain squad when hockey was included in the Olympics for the first time ever. But because it was the Moscow Olympics, which were boycotted, I never got the chance.

Then in 1984, the Olympics were in Los Angeles. The team needed to have a good track record to get into the Games. We had a good track record as Great Britain, even matching the likes of Australia and New Zealand.

Then they split it, in 1982, into England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and, as England, we had a bad record for the following two years and never qualified which was disappointing.

I think in 1980, we stood a good chance of getting the gold medal so for officialdom to get in the way was frustrating.

But it is not something I have dwelt on really though.

But you are still heavily involved in hockey.

I still enjoy playing competitively for Blackburn every weekend. I liked playing at the top level but now I enjoy turning out every Saturday locally.

For a long time, I suppose opponents, thought 'there's Val Robinson she used to play for England' but that was ten years ago, I don't think they fear me too much now!

And I'm still involved in hockey in my job. When I retired from hockey and teaching, my husband Gwyn and I moved back north in 1980 and started a residential sports centre at Foxhill Bank in Oswaldtwistle.

There we took children from all over to coach them. They spend a week with us, we were not elitist but just gave encouragement.

And now we also deal in hockey equipment, selling it all around the country, from our base in Oswaldtwistle. So I've certainly kept involved with hockey.