How David Goodfield Juggles Surbiton GB And Coaching Promotion Contenders Richmond

Richmond are on the cusp of winning the Men’s Conference East, reports Rod Gilmour of The Hockey Paper

“You never want to say that’s not doable for them as they are a good side, but the way we see it is that if we win our next two games we should hopefully win the league.”

So says England and GB’s David Goodfield, who is also coach of Richmond men in the Conference East. His side are level on points with local rivals Spencer but, with a vastly superior goal difference, Richmond are on the verge of the title and Division 1 hockey next season.

It is, however, far from a foregone conclusion given that this weekend’s opponents London Wayfarers beat the current table-toppers 7-1 earlier in the season - one of three defeats this season in 16 matches for Richmond - before a final day game at home to Indian Gymkhana.

“It was one of our worst results of the season. It will be a tough game, especially having had that result. They are always a team who have given us a really good game,” added Goodfield. “Gymkhana pose all sorts of threats. Give them any kind of momentum and they are more than capable of turning it around. The league we are in, everyone has the capability of beating anyone.”

Goodfield, 29, is into his second season coaching Richmond. He had previously coached London Edwardians for five years before a friend of Goodfield’s, men’s 1s goalkeeper Will Burns, mentioned that the coach had left and would he be interested. “It all materialised from there,” added Goodfield.

He does admit that his three-pronged hockey jobs can be “difficult to manage”.

He juggles Richmond training twice per week, alongside his Premier Division club commitments with Surbiton HC, as well as daytime training at Bisham Abbey with the GB men’s programme. It all means that Goodfield has largely trained on a Monday to Thursday evening this season. Coaching Surbiton on a Saturday also depends on whether Surbiton are playing on the same day or away, but he has been aided with matchday congestion.

“It becomes quite hectic but we have a brilliant manager [Ben Blake] who takes any of the stress away from me,” admitted Goodfield. “When the fixtures come out he moves them all to match up with Surbiton so I can do both, plus all the matchday stuff which means I can just focus on coaching which is how I want it to be.

“Richmond feels different to being in the programme and it’s a kind of a release for me being with a totally different set of lads.”

Not that he wasn’t thinking of Richmond while on Men’s World Cup duty in January with England. “With the amount of free time we had, I was thinking about tactics,” he joked.  

When Goodfield is away at tournaments, he hands over coaching duties to longtime friend Arjan Drayton Chana, his Surbiton team-mate.

Goodfield said: “When I joined Richmond, one of the big things was having a connection between the first and second team. That is invaluable and I have a lot of trust in Arjun, who I’ve known since I was 11, it means when I‘m at tournaments like the World Cup, he can lead the 1s and 2s and know that he will do a brilliant job.

“I can sit there and plug away [in India] and think how we will play in the second half of the season and Arjun can put it into action.”

Goodfield insists that to grow a club, it’s not all about focusing on the top end to find success. “I have a huge belief that you have to progress the whole club and not just have one team which kicks on,” he said. “Ultimately, that’s not sustainable unless you get all the teams moving in a similar direction. There is one night where the 1s and 2s train together and this bridges the gap for the players and everyone knows everyone.”

Richmond are captained by Scott Wall, while another key cog is former Reading player Jack Clee. “He is a very good leader and gets them going at the weekend,” Goodfield said of his skipper.

Wall, 26, is director of sponsorship sales at SportRadar, a sports data firm. He was with Reading colts until he was 17 before playing for MCC mens 1st in Melbourne, At University of Birmingham, he played in National League North for three years and, like Goodfield, signed for Richmond with a close friend at the club, five seasons ago.

“It's been a great season so far and one in which we are hoping to finish on a high over the next couple of weekends,” admitted Wall, into his second season as captain. “The squad is relatively young this year compared to previous seasons and so having Dave and Arjan both coaching the 1s and 2s and offering their expertise gained from their international and club experience, as well as aligning on how both teams want to play, has been fundamental to the success of both sides.”

Richmond 1s will now aim to follow in the 2s success after they secured promotion last weekend.

“We are excited about the possibility of finishing off two years of hard work under the coaching set up over the coming weekends and hopefully securing a great end to the season for both men's teams,” added Wall.

Saturday: Richmond v London Wayfarers, 5:15pm