Ann sticks at it

IN 1963 Britain was collectively hiding behind its sofas as Dr Who invaded living rooms across the country.

At the same time, 16-year-old Ann Bough from York was making her debut for York Women's Hockey Club first team.

Forty-one years later and Dr Who is still terrorising the nation after announcing another comeback - and that 16-year-old is still playing hockey for York's premier women's team.

Many of the details have changed - grass pitches have long gone by the wayside in favour of redgra, Astroturf and now state-of-the-art water based pitches, dragging with it the rules, sticks and competition-levels. And even the names have changed - York Women is now City of York Ladies - but there has been one ever-present throughout.

Step forward Ann Robinson, who has just completed her 40th season in the first team.

"I have always enjoyed playing hockey," she said.

"It has always been fun and the people I have met and the girls I play with now - even the youngsters who I'm old enough to be their mother, no, grandmother, and maybe even great-grandmother - they are all still great lasses.

"I have made so many friends. It's fair to say it has been a very big part of my life."

Robinson - known to her team-mates as Robbo - has had an illustrious hockey career that has seen her keep pace with the ever increasing speed and standard of the sport with club, county, regional and international matches featuring in that time.

In the 1970s, she made her mark on the international scene, working her way through the Welsh ranks to the first team after qualifying through her Welsh-born father.

Unsurprisingly, her first full international against bitter rivals England in 1973 is one she will always remember.

She said: "I got write-ups in the Guardian and The Telegraph which was rare because they never used to cover hockey much. But the reason they wrote was because during the match, my skirt came undone and fell off so I grabbed it and threw it off the pitch.

"I had big knickers on so you didn't see anything, but the umpire stopped the game and told me to put it back on."

Landmarks in Robinson's career to date include twice helping York to promotion, two long spells as captain and numerous appearances for Yorkshire and the North East. She is also a qualified umpire and is regularly seen keeping control of second team games minutes before taking the pitch herself.

But things have changed dramatically since her first team debut. Robinson said: "Hockey is a great, smashing game, but it has changed completely.

"The rules have changed, the skills have changed, the surfaces have changed, the sticks have changed and although there is still that enjoyment and fun in playing with other people and doing well and winning, the thing I dislike is the leagues.

"When I used to play we always wanted to win but if we didn't win it didn't matter. Now it's three points lost and it's relegation fears. It's not as fun as before."

Robinson now plays at left defence having played at centre-half, right-half and right-wing at varying points of her unwavering 40-season first team service, although she generously suggests that her team-mates make allowances.

"The trouble now is that it's hard in the first team because all the youngsters are so much faster than me," she said. "I can't do it all - I can't do the speed now but the others help me out and I've still got some idea where to position myself."

So where do you go after 40 seasons in the first team of York's best women's hockey team?

Retirement is finally an option, says Robinson, who turned 57 in December.

"Yes, I am looking at retiring - probably this year. I wouldn't mind having a go in the second team but they might be a bit too quick for me. We'll see."

Updated: 10:40 Saturday, April 10, 2004