Sport
New chapter opens in amazing By Steve Keenan newsdesk@ blackmorevale.net
After 40 years as a top-flight hockey coach, Gavin Featherstone has written a thriller with a shocking secret, drawing inspiration from his south Somerset village. Gavin played for and captained England in 42 matches at all levels before becoming a coach and taking the US and South African hockey teams to the Olympics. His career took him to many countries in Africa and Asia which feature in the book – as does life in Penselwood, near Wincanton, the village he moved to 18 months ago. The book Rhesus Positive follows the lives of the Bristowes of Bermondsey, two brothers born into the Second World War. “One married above his station and ended up in a traditional English village,” he reveals. “In the book, it’s in Sussex but a lot of it is based on Penselwood, which I find is a very traditional but cooperative village. You can walk into the front yard, buy the veg and leave the money. “There’s the village hall, no pub and walks on a Sunday. There are fanatical gardeners and riding stables: it’s a very pleasant lifestyle.” Although moving here recently, Gavin is no stranger to the area. His career took in a spell as a coach at Sherborne School: Coldplay singer Chris Martin was in his First XI in 199394. He also worked at Millfield School for a spell and lived in Wells. He was born in London in 1953 and was on the books 74
STICKING AT IT: Gavin Featherstone in action for England and, below, badges from his time with South Africa during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and, right, with the US in Los Angeles in 1984
of Chelsea FC when he was 16. But studies got in the way and he later switched sports, reached the highest levels of hockey before a car accident prematurely ended his career, aged 27. “I made certain back then that I had some coaching qualifications,” he said.
He went abroad to learn, “to bring some fresh ideas back,” and worked in countries including the US, South Africa and Malaysia. “I wanted to see the game and major tournaments from an objective point of view. I knew playing wasn’t the same as coaching at that level. I lived like a hockey
nomad as well as coaching at junior levels.” After two years on the road, he got a phone call in 1982 from the US asking him to coach the men’s team in the run-up to the Olympics in Los Angeles in 1984. “Men’s hockey was nowhere in the States at that time – there were only 120 field
