Jim Shepherd Hockey Archive

Documents, reports, press cuttings, fixture and player lists, programmes all relating to hockey.

Taken from a piece written by Alan Veitch of the Scottish Hockey Heritage Group.
Jim Shepherd, Mr Hockey from Broughty Ferry, Dundee: player, umpire, administrator, journalist, broadcaster and hockey collector. These are just a few of the titles which describe a man involved with hockey for over 60 years. Jim’s first taste of hockey was in 1954 at the Boys Brigade International Camp at Eton College, but it was in 1958 that his hockey journey really began. Jim was working in the Drawing Office of Bonar Long & Co. in Dundee when a work colleague began trying to recruit hockey players. Jim agreed to go along to practise and was soon playing his first match for Dundee Wanderers Hockey Club (DWHC) against HMS Condor at Arbroath. Jim describes himself as a “hockey enthusiast” – he played for Dundee Wanderers 1st XI, then their 2nd XI when they started one, then their 3rd XI when they started one. After his playing days drew to a close, he joined the umpiring ranks.
Jim’s administrative skills were soon captured by his club. He assumed the roles of DWHC Secretary, Match Secretary and Treasurer at various stages, all in the era of postcards and telephone calls. Club administration was obviously not enough to sustain Jim, and he was soon involved in the Midlands District and then Scottish Hockey committees.
For almost 40 years up till around 2018, Jim almost single-handedly ran the Midlands Men's Indoor Leagues, creating all the fixture lists, setting the pitch times to ensure every team had a worthwhile slate of matches on the days they were to play, running the technical table, arranging umpires and generally making it a smoothly oiled machine.
Around 1980, via his friend Scott Smith of Grove Academy Former Players (another Dundee hockey club), Jim got involved in match reporting for the Dundee Evening Telegraph, covering both Midlands and Scottish Hockey. The newspaper provided very good coverage of hockey at least twice weekly for 40 years. Jim was very meticulous to ensure all scores and local hockey points of interest were published. Again, he didn’t stop there. Local broadcaster Radio Tay invited him to do a weekly summary. Another of Jim’s interests is photography and the camera was always at his side for hockey matches. Many of his photos appeared in both the Dundee Evening Telegraph and Dundee Courier. Clearly, Jim’s training as a draughtsman wasn’t wasted at home as he started to draw together an amazing hockey collection, all filed in chronological order. Many of us can relate to being ‘hoarders’; Jim was more than that – a full-on hockey collector. His study at home along with his loft and cupboards capture 40 years of hockey material. There is no Scottish Hockey Museum in place (yet), but Jim’s house is as good a starting point as any!
Among some of the historical gems are weekly hockey press cuttings from all Scottish newspapers (all marked with dates), international hockey team lists, match programmes, hockey posters and photographs, hockey books, and those Radio Tay broadcasts are all stored on cassette tape. As Jim says, he has material that no one else will have.
Looking back on his hockey career, Jim recalls DWHC’s first Scottish Cup win in 1973 and their subsequent journey into Europe as a particular highlight. He has enjoyed, too, seeing his son Gordon carry on the family hockey tradition at DWHC. “He was better than me”, says Jim – Gordon went on to win many Scotland caps, playing both outdoor and indoor. He then followed the coaching path going onto to be Head Coach of the Scotland women’s side until recently.
Jim is a truly amazing servant of Scottish hockey.
https://www.hockeymuseum.net/index.php/newsitems/news-2023/137-news/n-2022/640-jim-shepherd-collection-genesis

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Taken from a piece written by Alan Veitch of the Scottish Hockey Heritage Group.
Jim Shepherd, Mr Hockey from Broughty Ferry, Dundee: player, umpire, administrator, journalist, broadcaster and hockey collector. These are just a few of the titles which describe a man involved with hockey for over 60 years. Jim’s first taste of hockey was in 1954 at the Boys Brigade International Camp at Eton College, but it was in 1958 that his hockey journey really began. Jim was working in the Drawing Office of Bonar Long & Co. in Dundee when a work colleague began trying to recruit hockey players. Jim agreed to go along to practise and was soon playing his first match for Dundee Wanderers Hockey Club (DWHC) against HMS Condor at Arbroath. Jim describes himself as a “hockey enthusiast” – he played for Dundee Wanderers 1st XI, then their 2nd XI when they started one, then their 3rd XI when they started one. After his playing days drew to a close, he joined the umpiring ranks.
Jim’s administrative skills were soon captured by his club. He assumed the roles of DWHC Secretary, Match Secretary and Treasurer at various stages, all in the era of postcards and telephone calls. Club administration was obviously not enough to sustain Jim, and he was soon involved in the Midlands District and then Scottish Hockey committees.
For almost 40 years up till around 2018, Jim almost single-handedly ran the Midlands Men's Indoor Leagues, creating all the fixture lists, setting the pitch times to ensure every team had a worthwhile slate of matches on the days they were to play, running the technical table, arranging umpires and generally making it a smoothly oiled machine.
Around 1980, via his friend Scott Smith of Grove Academy Former Players (another Dundee hockey club), Jim got involved in match reporting for the Dundee Evening Telegraph, covering both Midlands and Scottish Hockey. The newspaper provided very good coverage of hockey at least twice weekly for 40 years. Jim was very meticulous to ensure all scores and local hockey points of interest were published. Again, he didn’t stop there. Local broadcaster Radio Tay invited him to do a weekly summary. Another of Jim’s interests is photography and the camera was always at his side for hockey matches. Many of his photos appeared in both the Dundee Evening Telegraph and Dundee Courier. Clearly, Jim’s training as a draughtsman wasn’t wasted at home as he started to draw together an amazing hockey collection, all filed in chronological order. Many of us can relate to being ‘hoarders’; Jim was more than that – a full-on hockey collector. His study at home along with his loft and cupboards capture 40 years of hockey material. There is no Scottish Hockey Museum in place (yet), but Jim’s house is as good a starting point as any!
Among some of the historical gems are weekly hockey press cuttings from all Scottish newspapers (all marked with dates), international hockey team lists, match programmes, hockey posters and photographs, hockey books, and those Radio Tay broadcasts are all stored on cassette tape. As Jim says, he has material that no one else will have.
Looking back on his hockey career, Jim recalls DWHC’s first Scottish Cup win in 1973 and their subsequent journey into Europe as a particular highlight. He has enjoyed, too, seeing his son Gordon carry on the family hockey tradition at DWHC. “He was better than me”, says Jim – Gordon went on to win many Scotland caps, playing both outdoor and indoor. He then followed the coaching path going onto to be Head Coach of the Scotland women’s side until recently.
Jim is a truly amazing servant of Scottish hockey.
https://www.hockeymuseum.net/index.php/newsitems/news-2023/137-news/n-2022/640-jim-shepherd-collection-genesis

Description by Caroline Brown 18/07/2023

Good

18/07/2024

Reproduction is available subject to preservation requirements. Charges may be made for this service, and copyright and other restrictions may apply; please check with the Duty Archivist

Photographs and recordings currently remain with Jim Shepherd.

Kept by Jim Shepherd in his house.

Potential accrual of photographs

https://hockeymuseum.org/jim-shepherd-collection-genesis/

Published

Full

Final

MS 424

GB 254