Roly Brookeman

Roly Brookeman
Personal information
Born1952
Sport
SportField hockey
Positionmidfielder/winger
Senior career
Years Team Caps Goals
1971-1973 Loughborough Colleges - -
1973–1975 Slough - -
1975–1976 Hounslow - -
1977–1985 Southgate - -
1985–1999 Canterbury - -
National team
Years Team Caps Goals
– England & Great Britain 98 -
Medal record
Field hockey
Representing  Great Britain
Champions Trophy
Bronze medal – third place1978 LahoreTeam competition

Roland H. Brookeman (born 1952) is a former British hockey international.

Biography

In 1971 Brookeman was representing Leicestershire and the Midlands at county level and Loughborough Colleges. He was a teacher at Windsor Grammar School and joined Slough Hockey Club in the Men's England Hockey League, where he made his full England debut in March 1974.

While at Slough, he was selected by England for the 1975 Men's Hockey World Cup in Kuala Lumpur and the Great Britain squad for the 1976 Summer Olympics but the team failed to qualify for the latter.

Brookeman signed for Hounslow Hockey Club before joining Southgate Hockey Club where he won the 1977–78 league title and played in the 1978 Men's Hockey World Cup in Buenos Aires and was part of the bronze medal winning Great Britain team that competed at the inaugural 1978 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy, in Lahore, Pakistan.

Brookeman was selected for the Great Britain team for the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, but subsequently did not attend due to the boycott.

He played in his third World Cup at the 1982 Men's Hockey World Cup in Bombay. In 1985, after moving to North Kent he joined Canterbury Hockey Club.

Brookeman coached the England's U21s and then taught at Physical Education and English at St Edmund's School Canterbury.

In 2023, Brookeman was in the newspaper headlines, stating about his depression following a marriage break-up and subsequent sleeping rough.

References

  1. 1 2 "New caps will face Olympic champions". Birmingham Daily Post. 19 March 1974. Retrieved 26 June 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  2. ↑ "Three to play in anniversary game". Leicester Daily Mercury. 9 December 1971. Retrieved 26 June 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  3. ↑ "England's final trials". Wolverhampton Express and Star. 9 February 1974. Retrieved 26 June 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  4. ↑ "England name hockey squad". Liverpool Daily Post. 19 December 1974. Retrieved 26 June 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ↑ "Hat-tricks, hospitality and honour: recalling the 1975 men's Hockey World Cup". The Hockey Museum. 19 March 2025. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  6. ↑ "Gregg, carosn in Olympic panel". Belfast News-Letter. 10 April 1975. Retrieved 26 June 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  7. ↑ "England select Taylor but Mallett waits". Birmingham Daily Post. 15 February 1978. Retrieved 26 June 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  8. ↑ "Gregg gets G.B. Call-up". Belfast Telegraph. 24 October 1978. Retrieved 24 July 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  9. ↑ "Moscow 1980 Olympic Games: Great Britain Team". Sikhs in Hockey. Retrieved 25 July 2025.
  10. ↑ "England fail". Liverpool Daily Post (Welsh Edition). 7 January 1982. Retrieved 26 June 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  11. ↑ "Oaks keep grip on cup". Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser. 18 October 1985. Retrieved 26 June 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ↑ "Former England hockey star Roly Brookeman now living on the streets". Kent Online. 10 July 2018. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  13. ↑ "Ex England Hockey player slept rough on Canterbury streets". The Hockey Paper. 8 January 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2025.
  14. ↑ "Roly Brookeman: I went from playing in the World Cup to living on the streets". The Telegraph. 8 January 2023. Retrieved 26 June 2025.