Milford and Maples: Reflections on Marlborough Hockey December 2021, on the stunning blue hybrid Astroturf pitch known as Milford, Marlborough Girls’ 1st XI beat Malvern College 4-0 in England Hockey’s Tier 1 School Championships. David Walsh (C1 1960-65) looks back at what led to this moment.
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ebruary 1961, on Level Broadleaze’s grass hockey pitch, David Milford (CR 1928-65), 56 years old, his shorts down to his knees, still using the long English head stick and playing for the Common Room, slots a goal against the 1st XI. Sixty years of evolution, not only in Marlborough as an institution but in the game of hockey and Marlborough’s place within it. David Walsh (C1 1960-65) looks back at the huge successes of Marlborough on the hockey field.
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The Marlburian Club Magazine
David Milford epitomised an era of outstanding amateur schoolmasters, a sporting legend during 35 years of teaching at Marlborough from 1928-65. He held the world rackets title for 10 years and won the amateur doubles 10 times with John Thompson (CR 1946-88), his Marlborough colleague. In hockey, he won three Blues for Oxford and became an automatic choice for England and Great Britain in the 1930s as a goal-scoring forward. To add to his credentials, he also played both cricket
and tennis for Wiltshire. At Marlborough, he was a shy, reticent figure, teaching Latin and Geography to the lower sets, and, like many great games’ players, was more interested in his own game than coaching lesser folk. In the 1960s, he could occasionally be seen surreptitiously opening a copy of Sporting Life in the classroom, marking his winners for the afternoon trip to Newbury races. Marlborough hockey has always been strong right through to the present day,
