Bobby Crutchley

Bobby Crutchley

Personal information
Born	24 May 1970 (1970-05-24) (age 55) Wirral Peninsula, England
Senior career
Years	Team
1986–1992	Neston
1992–1995	Hounslow
1995	Canberra Lakers
1995–1999	Cannock
1999–2006	Team Bath Buccaneers
National team
Years	Team	Caps
	GB & England	80
Medal record field hockey Representing   England Commonwealth Games 1998 Kuala Lumpur Team

Robert Crutchley (born 24 May 1970) is a performance coach developer at British Gymnastics and former male English field hockey coach & player. He was the coach of the Great Britain team at the 2016 Summer Olympics. ^[1]

Biography

Playing career

Crutchley was born in the Wirral Peninsula, England and was educated at Calday Grange Grammar School. ^[2] Crutchley played club hockey for Neston in the Men's England Hockey League and became part of the England U18 and U21 set ups before gaining full senior honours with the club. At the beginning of the 1992–-93 season Crutchley signed for Hounslow. ^[3]

While at Hounslow he played for England at the 1994 Men's Hockey World Cup. ^[4] Crutchley starred in the 1994 World Cup in Australia and this led to him playing in Australia during 1995. ^[5]

After his Australian adventure he joined Cannock for the 1995-96 season. ^[6] While at Cannock, he represented England at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, ^[7] where he won a bronze medal in the men's hockey. ^[8]

Crutchley announed his international retirement after winning 80 international caps for Great Britain and England. He took up a coaching position at Bath University. ^[9]

Coaching career

He was Assistant Coach for the England & Great Britain men's teams from 2005 to 2012 and Head Coach from 2013 to 2018. During this time he coached at 3 Olympic Games, 3 World Cups, 7 European Championships and 4 Commonwealth Games. ^{[10] [11]}

He was appointed Performance Coach Developer at British Gymnastics from 2018 until 2025. ^[12] In 2025, he then took the role of performance Director for England and Great Britain Hockey.

References

1. "Biographical Information". Olympedia. Retrieved 7 June 2025.
2. "Hockey" . Liverpool Daily Post. 7 January 1986. Retrieved 8 June 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
3. "Bobby Opts for Hounslow" . Birkenhead News. 12 August 1992. Retrieved 8 June 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "Bobby's call Down Under" . Hoylake & West Kirby News. 3 August 1994. Retrieved 8 June 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "Record trio" . Birmingham Mail. 5 April 1995. Retrieved 30 May 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
6. "Hounslow's England winger" . Middlesex Chronicle. 20 July 1995. Retrieved 8 June 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "Three more for England" . Reading Evening Post. 5 August 1998. Retrieved 7 June 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
8. "1998 Athletes". Team England.
9. "Crutchley bows out" . Daily Express. 31 July 1999. Retrieved 8 June 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
10. "Meet the hockey squads heading to Rio 2016!". Team GB. 28 June 2016. Archived from the original on 5 August 2016. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
11. "Bobby Crutchley quits England Hockey men's coaching role". The Hockey Paper.
12. "Bobby Crutchley appointed Performance Coach Developer". British Gymnastics.