Worthing Hockey Club stalwart, Andy Allan, heads down to Auckland, New Zealand, towards the end of October to skipper the O60’s England B side.
It’s a long road from his days as a stylish 70’s prep school lad, where the only masters he would have been familiar with were those teaching at school! It was at Broadwater Manor school, across the road from WHC’s old home, where Andy first picked up a hockey stick.
Having joined the club as a young man, he forged his reputation as a club man and all round nice guy with many years service across his peak years in Worthing’s 4th team. In 1995 this side was rebranded the Hooch XI after the release of the popular alcoholic lemonade drink. It witnessed many promising youngsters passing through, with Andy prominent in passing on his journeyman wisdom before waving them goodbye to higher teams.
It wasn’t until his 40’s that he started taking his hockey seriously and eventually made his 1st XI debut. He still holds the record for oldest first team player to score a hatrick.
He progressed from here into age group international hockey, initially via Scottish heritage, then onto a gold medal at the Cape Town, South Africa Masters in 2022.
With his wife Lisa playing on the club tennis circuit with Storrington and two very talented daughters, Holly & Nicole, Andy has become very driven in his later years, not wanting to be the worst in his family. He can be found regularly park running, taking on huge mountains in the Alpine air or completing triathlons in competitive times.
Now a VP of Worthing Hockey Club, everyone connected with this great institution wishes him well on his latest journey. His family are super proud to see him head off to New Zealand as captain of his country.
Andy has family members out in New Zealand, including a twin sister who was born the day before him. Those of us that have played with Andy for many years will recognise this trait of arriving later than everyone else, though on that occasion absolutely no way was he at the Washington roundabout !
Good luck Andy, we will all be watching. x
