Irish Caps presented at Club Dinner

It was a very special and proud occassion at the club presentation dinner on 4th June for Ivan Steen and his wife Gemma, as he formally received his international cap from Hockey Ireland President, Ann Rosa.

Having missed out when he first won his international cap in 1998, the club reached out to Hockey Ireland to see if the error could be rectified and a cap be provided for Ivan and the other two former Olympic players who won international caps while playing for the club.

Hockey Ireland fully supported the request and sent caps to the club for Ivan, Erroll Lutton and Bob Poots.

'Fantastic achievement'

In making the presentations, Hockey Ireland President Ann Rosa, said "I'm delighted to be able to make these presentations to the Newry Olympic players. It's a fantastic achievement to play for your country and it's important to receive a cap to mark the feat, both for the individual and for their family in years to come."

Ann highlighted the great history of international hockey players from Newry. Newry Grammar/High School has provided eleven men's senior hockey internationals over the years, four of which captained the Irish team. There were also two women's internationals from the school, Glynis Taylor and Glenda McKee (nee Major). The vast majority all played for Newry Olympic in their early days, but apart from the three men's players mentioned above, they all moved on from the club for various reasons before gaining their full Irish caps.

Ann added she had fond memories of the High School in schools competitions in the past and hoped that hockey would return as a mainstream sport once again within the school. She commended the club for all the great work, particularly with the youth teams,  in building for the future.

'Don't want to be the last'

On receiving his cap, Ivan thanked Ann and the club for the award. He remarked that he is the most recent player from the club to receive an International cap, and he didn't want to be the last. He hoped that all the young players at the dinner would see what's possible and make their own way up the interprovincial and international ranks very soon.

'First annual club dinner'

Unfortunately Erroll Lutton was unable to make the club presentation dinner as he was in Copenhagen coaching Lisnagarvey in the Men's EuroHockey Challenge Cup tournament. However, his nephew Corrie Large did the honours and received an Irish cap and a special 50th Irish cap for Erroll from Ann.

On declining his invite to the dinner, Erroll wished the club well and wrote "I can still remember the first dinner I went to in 1987 when playing for the 4s under Aubrey Toombs. A great time I have to say and that season was the start of my club career and a very enjoyable one it was too. Unfortunately we’re all a bit older now!

I do appreciate the invitation and looking back there’s no doubt that playing hockey initially at Newry High School and then for Newry Olympic, contributed greatly to me being very fortunate to play for any of the representative teams I was selected for."

Erroll was too modest to highlight that at his first dinner in 1987 he won the '4th XI Player of the Year' and in the next season, 1987-88, he was the club's 'Young Player off the Year'.

'65 years wait'

Bob Poots was also unable to attend the dinner as he divides his time living between England and France.  He was delighted however to receive his cap in the post, albeit 65 years after he played his International matches.  He thanked the club for their thoughtfulness in organising delivery of the cap and noted "It looks very impressive and has done much for my reputation in the eyes of my 12 year old grandson!"

For the record...

Ivan Steen

Ivan won 27 caps in total for Ireland scoring 5 goals. Ivan played for Ireland from 1998 to 2000 while at Newry Olympic, earning 18 caps. After moving to England, he played another 9 times between 2001 and 2003 while playing for Surbiton.

Erroll Lutton

Erroll won 85 caps in total for Ireland, 12 as captain and scored 3 goals. He won 52 caps while with Newry between 1993 and 2001. He played a further 33 times between 2001 and 2003 while at Lisnagarvey.

Robert (Bob) Poots

Bob won 4 caps for Ireland in 1957. He was the youngest player to win a full Irish cap at the time as he was 19 years and still attending Newry Grammar School.

NOTE - International statistics courtesy of Steve Hiles and Hockey Ireland