For Jenni Taylor, Ellon Hockey Club is more than just a place to play sport, it’s a part of her life.
“I joined when I was 12,” the 39-year-old says. “There’s people there I’ve known for 30-odd years.”
But a battle that has pitched the might of football against the minority sport of hockey means her club is in danger of being squeezed out of existence.
If that happens, it will be a sorry end for what is already the last hockey club in Aberdeenshire.
But not entirely unexpected – the same football-led forces that have left Jenni fearful for her club’s future threaten to stamp out regional hockey across Scotland.
“I feel like football gets a lot of things,” Jenni says. “But then, it’s a bigger sport than hockey.”
‘I just feel it’s unfair’
This month, The Meadows sports complex in Ellon, where Ellon Hockey club is based, confirmed a years-long process to replace its sole 2G pitch with one made of next-generation 3G artificial grass.
But though 3G pitches are great for football, hockey cannot be played on them. The loss of the 2G pitch will leave Ellon Hockey Club with no surface to play or train on.
“There’s a high likelihood that we’re going to have significant attrition from the club and there’s a likelihood that the club will struggle to survive,” says Ellon Hockey Club treasurer Gary Blinkhorne, who sat through meetings with The Meadows and Aberdeenshire Council on the fate of the 2G pitch. The Meadows is run by a consortium of its members including Ellon Hockey Club.
Remarkably, Gary had been here before — the oil and gas worker played for Inverurie’s hockey club, which dissolved several years ago after its home pitch was turned from a 2G to 3G.
Determined not to let the same thing happen in Ellon, Gary was pleased when a compromise was agreed with the help of Aberdeenshire Council. The council would help build a new 2G field elsewhere in Ellon.
But the money failed to materialise. There are differing accounts on why.
The Meadows says the pitch fell victim to a council spending freeze, while the council says it was unable to find a suitable site.
Whatever the reason, Ellon Hockey Club lost out.
Why The Meadows is installing a 3G pitch in Ellon
As The Meadows prepares to rip up the 2G pitch, resentment festers.
“I don’t believe that they’ve really considered hockey and the potential loss of hockey,” Gary says. “They’ve made this decision in the full knowledge that we will be displaced, there’s absolutely no doubt about it.”
The Meadows says the decision is financial – the 3G pitch will help safeguard the centre financially. Those in charge of the sports centre, which is run as a registered charity, say they had no other options.
“The reality is that the vast majority of the usage of the 2G pitch is from sports that would prefer a 3G surface,” says Paul Vavangas, the chair of The Meadows trust.
“Obviously, it’s a difficult decision to have to make, but from The Meadow’s point of view, it’s the only decision we can make.”
The decision’s knock-on effects
Ellon Hockey Club is not the only team to be affected by the decision.
Police Scotland North Hockey Club, a team of local police officers, also face relocating to another site. The club plays and trains at The Meadows and recently hosted an international tournament there, featuring police teams from across Scotland and Ireland.
“We really hope we can support our teammates in getting to keep one of the only hockey suitable facilities in North Aberdeenshire,” says Karen Maxwell, Police Scotland North Hockey Club president.
And, as the only hockey club in Aberdeenshire, the team regularly pulls in players from outside Ellon. Gary says people travel in from as far north as Peterhead, Mintlaw and Maud. Others drive in from Methlick, Oldmeldrum and Kemnay.
“It’s not just affecting people in Ellon,” he says. “This is affecting the whole of the north-east.”
The threat to hockey from 3G pitches
There are wider implications to Ellon losing its 2G hockey pitch. What is happening there, and has already happened in Inverurie, is increasingly taking place across Scotland as sports centres turn to the more football-friendly 3G surface.
“People are being lost from sport when decisions like this are made, and it massively impacts the health and wellbeing of local communities across the nation,” a Scottish Hockey spokesperson says.
Gary puts it more simply.
“Football is a monster,” he says.
Is this the end of the story for Ellon Hockey Club?
There was a finality to the Facebook post put out by The Meadows this month confirming the installation of the 3G pitch.
Paul, chair of The Meadows trust, says the work is going out to tender and should be started by the end of the winter sports season next year. When Ellon Hockey Club’s current season ends in April, it will be pitchless.
Paul, who has a hockey player in the family and says he gets his “ear bent every dinner time” over the situation, continues to believe that a new 2G pitch will be built in Ellon under Aberdeenshire Council’s two-pitch solution.
“My understanding is that it’s still on the cards for the next financial year,” he says.
The spokesperson for Aberdeenshire Council said it is continuing to “help find a solution for hockey in Ellon”.
There are alternative venues. A 2G pitch sits just 10 miles away in Oldmeldrum, while there are a number of 2G hockey pitches in Aberdeen.
But club treasurer Gary fears moving the club away from its original home of The Meadows risks diluting the club.
“It could be that 50% of [our members] end up walking away because they don’t want to go to wherever we end up moving to,” he says.
‘We’re not like other sports’
Ultimately, this is a battle between the majority and the minority. Football is popular, so facilities are built for it.
But for Jenni, who grew up playing on the 2G at Ellon Hockey Club and made so many friends, it shouldn’t be that simple.
“It’s just tough because we’re not like other sports,” she says. “Other people have the choice of grass and artificial pitch. But we will have nothing.”