World’s oldest hockey player

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32957, 1 July 1972, Page 11

World’s oldest hockey player

An 80-year-old dentist from Newport, Monmouthshire, on the Wales-England border, claims to be the world’s oldest hockey player. Bill Hazell runs a private dental practice, drives himself 30,000 miles a year to treat thousands of schoolchildren, finds time to run four farms up to 100 miles apart—and still fits in a game of hockey at week-ends.

Yet in the First World War he was rejected by the Army as unfit for service. He had been playing for Newport Athletic since 1907 and had just been picked for Wales in an international against Scotland when the military classified him C3—the lowest grade. But Hazell went on playing hockey. In a recent match, when he played for New port Athletic A against Old Bristolians, his side lost 2-1 and his captain John Margenhi said afterwards “We would have done much better had the rest of the team been as fit as Bill Hazell. He has a keen eye and is a good hitter.”

Hazell claims he has never done anything special to keep fit: “Hockey is my only exercise but nowadays I tell the selectors that I only want eight or nine games a season. I don’t like to stand in the way of younger players but as long as I am good enough to be picked I’ll play.”

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