John Harvey Whitehead goon but never forgotten.
Margaret, family and friends, the world of hockey umpires, vice presidents of Royston
Hockey club, players, followers of hockey – “Niddle noddle noo”.
I feel very humble but also proud as President of RHC to stand here before you all today
to celebrate the life of John Harvey Whitehead.
John & I have a great deal in common; we both love the Goons, that madcap radio show
from the late 50’s and 60’s.
We both love umpiring and have a lifelong passion for Hockey; obviously I am nowhere
near and never will be as good as John with the whistle or the signals. Also John is a
member of the FIH, the ERHUA & like me the CHUA.
We both spend a great deal, in fact probably far too much time wearing sandals.
So of these three things I wish us to celebrate today, the focus of course is Hockey &
sandals.
Doug Bruce, ex FIH umpire, who was a member of RHC who now lives in West Australia
had a great influence on John and encouraged him to join the CHUA. From this we first
met John when he arrived @ the car park near where Royston Morrison’s now stands in
the early 70’s, so only 40 years ago! He turned up in his white coat and of course
sandals. He travelled to Gorleston with Brian Gadsby in his car to umpire our match &
slept all the way there. According to Ron Barker he umpired excellently, as Royston beat
Gorleston 8-0 and John bought not one but two jugs of beer for the team as he was so
impressed with the Royston game and attitude on the pitch. He then slept all the way
back again to Royston, got in his car and drove home.
John has a great passion for festivals and would travel every year to Folkestone Hockey
festival with the Lady Killers, a team made up of ex England internationals, so a really strong
hockey side.
Wally Huckle, remembers, “What good times I shared with John on Ladykillers HC occasions.
I could never ever forget the inordinate amount of humour we had when we roomed
together in Holland (and I can, therefore, scotch the rumour that John slept in his sandals!
After all, his trademark sandals needed to get some rest!). His ability to observe good
umpires, and to pass on to them some of his wisdom and experience in such a way that they
never needed to feel slighted, was a great gift, and will be much missed. We have lost a good
friend and a fine man.
John’s love of umpiring also meant we were very fortunate as a club and he was always
first on the list at our annual mixed tournament held every year in May on what was then
one of the best grass pitches in the region, our very own “top pitch”, John would always
umpire the final.
Those of you here who have been lucky enough to umpire with John will well know all
the stories about international trips and some decisions made both right and wrong.
Every Saturday there was always a new story to tell and always a new joke to share.
I was very fortunate last week to umpire with Frank Lockhart from Crostyx HC and he
told me when John first discovered a real G&T on a trip in Barcelona. John was quite
surprised by the lack of tonic present in the drink and the little amount of room left in the
glass to actually poor the tonic. However hard John tried he still managed to consume
quite a few during the tour.
The stories from the pitch side are many and varied, but the one thing that John always
taught me, was about preparation, and to talk tactics with your fellow official before the
game. In fact only last month John took the time to print off and laminate this very tactic
card for me to use and I have done so at every game since, although I did show it to
Frank last week, we joked together and he preferred to tell me another story about
umpiring with John.
Come rain, come sun, come snow John was always in sandals and occasionally, once I
feel with a pair of socks – to this day no one has ever told me why John wore sandals,
and although I did once ask I never got a straight answer, perhaps Margaret you can
enlighten us later.
I have received tributes from all over London and the East of England from umpire
associations and clubs alike. ALL remember a gentleman, a professional, an ambassador
for hockey and for fair play and without doubt a man with a wicked sense of wit and
timing both on and off the field of play.
The Neville Brown Vice Presidents Decanter was introduced in 2002 and presented every
year @ RHC to a vice president that has supported the club not just financially but with
their time. Time was something that John always gave, so in 2005 we presented the
decanter to John. He has helped Royston develop a wealth of umpiring talent and we will
hopefully have a further new group of players that wish to improve their own umpiring
knowledge when we will attend the next course in November this year.
Only last year we were honoured to host and celebrate John’s 80th @ RHC, and so on
Saturday to celebrate John’s life and times with us, we held a sandals and G&T evening.
The event was well attended and the sound of joy and laughter rang around the room –
John would be very proud and I know amused by this, as most of the humour was
usually created from one of his many stories or jokes. I am sure I could hear him telling a
story to someone in the room about when he umpired a game in North London. We also
asked for donations from non sandal wearers and raised a substantial sum of money
(£250) which we handed to Margaret for Papworth Hospital Charity.
Can I please ask you all to be upstanding and please raise your glass and pay tribute to
John Harvey Whitehead. “Ying Tong Iddle I Po”