Having said that,
back in my younger days - when I was carving out a minor career at right
defence on the third line of the local rec club’s b-team, I was often compared
to Tony Hand. People kept saying to me: “How is it that Tony Hand is such
a gifted young British player and you are so useless…” But, enough about
me – and Tony Hand – for now.
When I first
started watching ice hockey in the early 1980s, the Murrayfield Racers were one
of the biggest teams in the country. They had already been the top team
in the Northern League throughout the late 1960s and 1970s and the depth of
their British born talent was very impressive. In fact, Murrayfield were such a
top team in the 1980s that, when the Heineken sponsorship came in and nobody
was allowed to carry any conflicting booze advertising, Murrayfield were so
influential that they were allowed to carry sponsorship by Smirnoff vodka on
their shirts.
It was only once
the big arena teams kicked in during the early 1990s and the dynamics of
British game changed that Murrayfield lost their prominence in the game and
even Tony Hand (there he is again…) – who chose not to ply his trade in North
America when given the opportunity – finally opted to jump ship and join
Sheffield Steelers.
And the good news
is that the whole fascinating story of ice hockey in Murrayfield – the Racers
and various incarnations under the names of Royals and Edinburgh – are all
covered in Stuart Latham’s new history book.
It’s a massive 320 pages in length and has
profiles of lots of players from the old days - such as Jack Dryburgh, Red
Imrie and Johnny Carlyle – and player memory articles from people such as
Moray Hanson, Jock Hay and – you guessed it… Tony Hand!
There are load of
players stats, league tables and photos and this book would be perfect for
anybody who is interested in the history of the game of ice hockey in
Edinburgh, in Scotland and in the UK in general.
Stuart has produced
quite a few ice hockey club histories in this series including Slough, Bristol,
Deeside, Altrincham, Cardiff and he has yet more on the way. You find out
more about his ice hockey books and other interesting things on his sales
website here: https://www.sandtsales.co.uk/online-shop
