Introducing James Tindall – EC Champion

Hi all, James Tindall here. I thought I’d drop in to shed some light on my recent European Championship’s experience. It was all-time, so please read on…

Preview

The build up to the Euros was a mixed bag for England. We had played the Aussies and found we were still a long way away from the quality and standard we all strived. It was a bit of a wakeup call for me and I imagine the team. But after the tests against the distant rivals we soon started to build up a head of steam by playing the likes of Pakistan, India and France as well as a great confidence boost against the Dutch. The biggest sign that we were slowly getting towards the standard we knew we were capable of was when we beat the Dutch at Bisham Abbey. Suddenly we realised that we were all good enough to potentially do well in the tournament at Wagner Stadium.

Wagner Stadium

My first cap for England was at Wagner Stadium and fond memories will always be there for that reason. However the setup and the whole venue around the stadium were fantastic. The Dutch were never going to organise a tournament without it being a success and they did not disappoint. Everything was taken care of down to the last details. But what made the tournament special were the local volunteers and the Dutch public. Apart from the semi final, they were backing the English and this was a massive surprise and help to the team. Even after we played them they were so generous and kind to us and complimentary about us and our hockey.

Going into the tournament itself we knew that we were striving for the automatic qualification to the World Cup in 2010. We knew this would require us to make the semi finals at least. We started the tournament well with a comfortable victory over the Austrians and this helped to settle our nerves slightly. Our biggest test in the group was against the Olympic Champions and being comfortably in the lead (so the scoreboard showed) we possibly relaxed and suddenly we found that we were drawing 4-4 to them. It must be one of the only times I have come off a pitch annoyed that I had only drawn with the Olympic Champions! Well before the tournament we would have easily taken a point from this game and that then led us to the crunch game in the group.

WC Qualification

The Belgium game had been hyped up and thought of by the team so much as we felt we had a point to prove against the Belgians. Going a goal down in the 5th minute was a total shock. This was not how the game was meant to go. Suddenly the English Lion had been woken and then decided to play hockey. Full time of the game and I looked at the scoreboard, had we honestly just gone from one nil down to winning 8-2. Suddenly team mates were congratulating each other; we had done it and progressed to the semi finals.

43 Seconds

With qualification complete, the pressure was off but expectations weren’t met. The realisation of playing Holland in the semi final dawned on us and as a team we realised we had beaten this Dutch team in the last meeting and confidence started to sweep through the group, could we do it again? The Friday arrived and we started well in what was a superb atmosphere (playing the Dutch in Amsterdam is hard to beat, especially in a semi final). We went one nil up, what a goal! (Have to say that as I scored it! ha), then half time. Can we really hold on for another 35 minutes against them? We were getting bombarded by Taeke Taekema but our GK James Fair was on fire and he matched everything they could throw at him. Taeke Taekema then breached Fair’s goal but a conversion rate for the best pc flicker of 1 in 9 or so shows the magnitude of the task Fair had achieved. Next thing I knew it was golden goal extra time. It felt as if we were pressing really hard searching for that elusive goal but when it all seemed like everyone accepted strokes, Ashley Jackson popped up on the far post with a deflection goal, only 43 seconds left until strokes! Celebration as we had won a medal… but which one?

Trust

WOW we were in the final! England were last in the final of the Euro’s in 1987 and they had lost so already we had achieved our best ever finish! The final seems a bit of a blur to be honest but the goals by Ashley Jackson, Barry Middleton and Richard Mantell are all etched in the memory now! We knew that we could score and provided we learnt from our group games we could beat the Olympic Champions. All the English players played hard and knew what was needed and trusted each other that we could win the final. This trust accompanied by some great hockey meant that we had learnt how to keep the lead against them and some heroic defending from Rich Mantell and Richard Smith meant we had to play out the last few minutes with a two goal lead. The clock was ticking so slowly then suddenly the klaxon sounded. Final score 5-3. We had won the Gold. Jubilation was seen from the players, management and the travelling fans as everyone had put in sacrifices for the result.

The after party!
As you can imagine we were all in bed by 9pm as we are professionals. Only joking really! The team decided to occupy the stadium and the surrounding venue and enjoying the celebrations with friends and family. Such a massive effort from all the boys and it was time to let all the emotions out. Again everyone that was still around the ground was so complimentary about us and congratulated us on winning. Drinks were enjoyed at the ground and then there was a party in a marquee for everyone. After this party the team decided to venture into the city itself and this is where the story ends… for now anyway!

- Cheers, Tinds