Ice-hockey

To continue in the icy, snowy theme ... Mom kept an entire album of photos and newspaper cuttings from Dad's ice-hockey days in Johannesburg. (Dad also played ice-hockey in Switzerland and England.) These are from 1950 -- I used the news on the back of the cuttings to date them.

Dad and his brother Ron played for the Blackhawks team in Johannesburg. That's where Mom and Dad met, at the ice-rink. She was a fan! In this team photo, Dad is second from right in the back row; Ron is third from left in the back row.

In this newspaper photo, Dad is fourth from right. Ron is third from left. The article should be legible (click on the photo to enlarge it).

Here are some action shots of Dad. In the second photo, he's the player third from left.

Some more posed team shots. In the top photo, Dad is second from left; in the second photo, he's sixth from right; in the third photo, second from left. In the third photo, Ron is fourth from left.

This is a lovely little article on the cosmopolitan nature of ice hockey in 1950. And yes, that's Dad posing on a front porch somewhere!

It's taken a bit of imagination, but here's my attempt at ordering the clippings that Mom kept. First the match against the Mohawks.

At some point there was a match against the Lions.

 Then the match against the Wolves.

And then ... the match against the Tigers. You can sense the excitement building.

The Blackhawks won the final and here is the team with the cup. Dad is second from left in the back row; Ron is fourth from left.

Here are some articles about Dad being in a representative side: the Green Mambas.

Rather confusingly Dad was also a member of the Lions team at some stage. I think he looks younger here.  (He's second from right.) In Dad's words: The pic is of the very early days of hockey, before helmets, with a number of stitches in the cranium. The Lions team players included Hans Liedtke (German), Johnny Desilets, Billy Ward, “Eggie” Yeo, etc. These were the days when Wembley Stadium was a big  attraction next to the Speedway stadium and dog racing every Friday evening. (Heidi and I remember going ice-skating at Wembley Stadium every Saturday when we were little girls.) 

I love this photo of the Blackhawks fans. Mom must have been part of this crowd, but sadly I can't find her in this photo. We can imagine, though!