Ben Barnes - Biography

Ex-England Hockey & owner of Game Set and Match

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for visiting Game Set and Match; our family run and owned specialists sport shop based in Chichester, West Sussex.

Above:  Richmond v Chichester - Ben in control!
Above Right:  Ben receives 'Man of the Match'

I have always been very keen on sport from a very early age, playing rugby, cricket, hockey and pretty much any sport I could try my hand at. I played county cricket and hockey at various junior levels.

Hockey is my major passion and from the age of 6 I can remember wanting to play for England.  At 19 I first played for the England Under 21’s and went to the Junior World Cup in 1993. 1997 saw my Senior England Debut against Spain in a 2-1 win in Barcelona. My last of 38 England caps was in 2003 against Belgium in a 2-2 draw and I scored one of the goals. I captained England against Czech Republic , June 23rd 2001 in a 4-1 win in Poland.

Club career saw me play for East Grinstead from 1992-1998, then Reading from 1998-2004, in the Premier League.  I was part of the Reading team that won the European Club Championship in 2003 taking the first of the penalty strokes as we beat RCP Barcelona 4-2 on penalties. During my time at Reading we also won the Premier League in 2000-2001 and 2001-2002, the National Cup 1999-2000-2003-2004 and the Premiership Play-offs 2002,2003,2004.

I am also a hockey coach and have coached Trojans Ladies to the National League Div 1 title in 2000-2001. Other coaching has seen me work with the England Under 18 Girls, winning the European Nations Cup 2007 as assistant coach, England Men’s A v Scotland 2008 and Head Coach of the Saxon Tigers in the GB Super League in 2007 where we came 2nd.

I am currently the Head Coach for Reading HC Men's 1st Team after 5 successful years as player/coach of my home club Chichester.

I look forward to seeing you soon,

Ben,

Ben Barnes