Ian Taylor (field hockey)

Not to be confused with Ian David Taylor.

Ian Taylor

Personal information
Born	(1954-09-24) 24 September 1954 (age 70) Bromsgrove, England
Height	185 cm (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	78 kg (172 lb)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Senior career
Years	Team
1977–1982	Slough
1982–1988	East Grinstead
National team
Years	Team	Caps	Goals
	Great Britain
	England
Medal record Field hockey Representing   Great Britain Olympic Games 1988 Seoul Team 1984 Los Angeles Team Champions Trophy 1978 Lahore Team 1984 Karachi Team 1985 Perth Team Representing   England World Cup 1986 London Team European Championship 1987 Moscow Team

Ian Charles Boucher Taylor (born 24 September 1954) is a former field hockey goalkeeper who won a gold medal at the 1988 Summer Olympics. ^[1] Taylor carried the flag at the opening ceremony of the 1988 Olympic Games and served in a director capacity at multiple companies since retiring from playing.

Biography

Taylor was born in Bromsgrove, England, and was a student at Borough Road College, Isleworth, London. He has played club hockey for Slough Hockey Club in the London League but represented Worcestershie at county level. He made his England debut in 1977 at the Nehru tournament in front of 47,000 in Jabalpur, India. ^[2]

Taylor cemented the goalkeeping position for England and played at the 1978 Men's Hockey World Cup ^[3] and was part of the bronze medal winning Great Britain team that competed at the inaugural 1978 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy, in Lahore, Pakistan. ^[4]

He was selected for the Great Britain team for the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, but subsequently did not attend due to the boycott. ^[5]

After the 1982 Men's Hockey World Cup, he switched clubs for the 1982/83 season, opting to join East Grinstead Hockey Club. ^[6] While at East Grinstead, Taylor was considered the world's leading goalkeeper and helped Great Britain win a bronze in the hockey tournament at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. ^[1] He was part of the bronze medal winning Great Britain team that competed at the 1984 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy, in Karachi, Pakistan and the silver medal winning team the following year at the 1985 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy in Perth, Australia. ^[7]

In February 1985, Taylor was selected for the England men's training squad at Bisham Abbey that remarkably contained three goalkeepers with the surname Taylor. The others being Nick Taylor and Steve Taylor. ^[8]

Taylor also won silver with the England squad at the 1986 Hockey World Cup and in the European Cup with the England squad he won silver in 1987 and bronze in 1978. ^{[9] [10]}

Taylor was a member of the gold winning Great Britain squad in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, during which he was a teacher at Bromsgrove School and had the honour to carry the flag at the opening ceremony. ^[11]

Taylor has held a number of honorary roles within sports administration including Minister's nominee on the Sports Council (with a UK remit), director of the GB ice hockey Board and a director of the British Olympic Association. He was also a commentator for BBC Sport between 1988 and 1996. He was previously the chief executive for sportscotland, following the departure of Ian Robson in July 2004. ^[12] He was also the short lived CEO of the Greyhound Board of Great Britain but resigned over a policy introduced under his tenure that saw the pooling of samples. ^[13]

References

1. "Biographical Information". Olympedia. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
2. "Kop-type debut for Ian in India" . Birmingham Mail. 14 December 1977. Retrieved 19 June 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
3. "England select Taylor but Mallett waits" . Birmingham Daily Post. 15 February 1978. Retrieved 22 June 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
4. "Gregg gets G.B. Call-up" . Belfast Telegraph. 24 October 1978. Retrieved 24 July 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
5. "Moscow 1980 Olympic Games: Great Britain Team". Sikhs in Hockey. Retrieved 26 July 2025.
6. "Relegation worried disappear" . Sevenoaks Chronicle and Kentish Advertiser. 9 October 1982. Retrieved 19 June 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
7. "Champions Trophy". Sikhs in Hockey. Retrieved 24 July 2025.
8. "Nick keeps a Taylored look" . Reading Evening Post. 5 February 1985. Retrieved 17 June 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
9. "Ian Taylor Bio, Stats, and Results - Olympics at Sports-Reference.com". Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
10. "Remembering the boys of 86 - Sports Journalists' Association". 17 October 2006. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
11. "Hockey hero leads team at Olympics" . East Grinstead Observer. 22 September 1988. Retrieved 19 June 2025– via British Newspaper Archive.
12. "Hockey: From King Kerly to paupers - Sport - The Observer". TheGuardian.com . 2 March 2008. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
13. "Taylor resigns from GBGB; CEO departs in wake of row over sampling.15 Sep 2009". Racing Post. Archived from the original on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2018.

External links

• Ian Taylor at Team GB
• Ian Taylor at Olympedia