How a midweek league has helped Firebrands to continue their growth

Rod Gilmour of The Hockey Paper reports on one Bristol club's continued rise in membership.

There are no players from the fire or police service at today’s modern Bristol Firebrands, a club formed during the Second World War to keep service people active during respites from air raids.

Yet, over 80 years on, the club is still serving active members by running a successful midweek Corporate League. Meanwhile, women’s membership has seen an upward trajectory across the age groups in the last few seasons, led by Firebrands’ place in the National League at high performance level.

The Vitality Women’s Conference West side currently sit eighth in a tough division this season, with Team Bath Buccaneers and Oxford Hawks currently slugging it out at the top of the table.

Firebrands have been a Conference side since 2020 after previously dropping to the West League in 2016, yet are rightly seen as a forward-thinking club. In recent years, Ross Opie, current treasurer, held the Chairman role for six years. Ben Roberts then became, aged 25, one of the youngest chairs in the UK during his three-year tenure before Paul Langford took over and is now into his second year.

Firebrands has its own pitch and clubhouse (shared with Bristol Cricket Club) overlooking the astro, with access to a second pitch thanks to a tie-up with Bristol Grammar School, who have also partnered with Bristol Bears rugby.

The club has around 460 members all in, with 11 adult teams and 200 plus juniors. “The two pitches all in one space is brilliant for us. We got really lucky,” admits Opie. 

Meanwhile on the women’s side, Firebrands could move from five to six teams after seeing an influx of new members. Opie adds: “We have had lots of women join us post-Covid. We aren’t struggling to get teams out and we’re seeing a lot of players into their older years.”

Firebrands have also run a thriving business league for several years featuring teams from the police and student medics. “We call it the Corporate League, to get people playing hockey who haven’t got time to commit to playing for a club at the weekend,” says Opie. “We run it on a weekday evening to offer more hockey to those who can’t commit to joining full-time.”

Further down the membership, Firebrands aim to get their juniors playing adult hockey as soon as possible. Their standout former member is Lily Owsley, who became the first female Firebrand to be capped by England. Now, there’s a second who aims to follow in her footsteps.

Lilly Holmes’ aunt and uncle played for the club and now she is also forging the same path at the club, with a place in Firebrands' women's 1s this season. 

You may recall the 14-year-old making waves on social media following her exploits during the first lockdown. In 2020, she was nominated for the Sunday Times Young Inspiration Award when the Redmaids’ High School schoolgirl posted daily skills videos – for closing in on 150 successive days.

Lilly’s mum Carolyn said her daughter - who first started playing aged seven - was ‘unstoppable’ during hockey’s first lockdown and was usually seen outside practising for hours into her garden net; firstly to keep up her fitness via daily challenges before it turned into a months-long ‘Covid diary’.

She is now trialling with England under 16s after spending the last two years at Bath Buccaneers and moving to Firebrands this season.

“I’ve really enjoyed the intensity of training with the women's 1s,” she says. “The experience is great and it is a different level of hockey and a lot more physical. They are very welcoming, supportive and it is a really friendly social scene."

Holmes made her debut against Cheltenham last month in a 2-1 home win. “I didn’t really feel nervous or pressured to make a mistake,” she added of the experience.

The Bristol teen is currently on a sports scholarship at Millfield School, while her dad is the ‘dedicated driver, supporter and sandwich maker!’ 

She says she looks up to Owsley - being a fellow Bristolian and former Firebrand - and knows the steps she has made in her own fledgling career. “It’s a great opportunity for me and I just really love playing hockey,” she added.

The addition of Holmes suggests that the future is bright at Firebrands for the long term. "I really believe this group of players can go further, maybe not immediately but certainly in the future," said coach Peter Attwell.

"They all have the appetite for working hard in training and I can honestly say this is the strongest player group we have had at Firebrands women, both for the 1s and 2s. A couple of our aims are to also increase our indoor hockey playing level and endeavour to progress the 2s to be in a higher league supporting the 1s."

Saturday: Bristol Firebrands v Isca & University of Exeter 2, 2pm