Claire Middleton recalls missing out on England Hockey’s last major trophy a decade ago

The 2009 EuroHockey Championships left me seriously peed off.

A decade or more covering England and Great Britain, with their high hopes and false dawns, and as soon as I move 10,000 miles away, they actually go and win something.  I was in Perth, Australia, which is totally beautiful and mainly tranquil. England’s men were in Amstelveen, that pulsing, thriving home of Dutch hockey, silencing the Oranje hordes and coming home with European gold for the first time. Typical.