Imran Sherwani Obituary

Imran Sherwani, who has died of Alzheimer’s disease aged 63, was a star of the Great Britain hockey team that won Olympic gold in 1988 with a 3-1 win against West Germany in the final, a match in which he scored twice.

Sherwani’s second goal, which took the game beyond the opposition, came when he ran in behind the defense and whipped in Stephen Batchelor’s cross – a breathless passage of play that led to a lots of repeated TV commentary from the BBC’s Barry Davies. Referring to the lack of markings on Sherwani, Davies asked: “Where were the Germans?” before abandoning any pretense of impartiality by adding, “But honestly, who cares?”

Davies’ brief deviation from objectivity was understandable as Sherwani’s decisive goal led the British men to their first Olympic hockey gold since 1920. In nine subsequent Olympic Games, they have been nowhere near repeating that performance, with their best position being fourth.

In Seoul, where Sherwani played in all seven matches, Great Britain struggled in the early stages before pulling together under the leadership of their powerful coach. Roger Himselfa man who pushed for new levels of professionalism in his amateur charges and who was able to instill great self-confidence in the squad.

In the final, Sherwani scored the first goal of the match after surrounding the goalkeeper to put the ball past a defender on the line. His second came after a crushing run from the halfway line to meet Batchelor’s brilliant cross from the halfway line, which had left the German goalkeeper in no man’s land and Sherwani with an open goal – although he still had to keep his wits about him as a defender snapped at his heels.

The victory, watched by millions of British TV viewers over breakfast, briefly brought hockey to the nation’s attention, with Sherwani and fellow striker and goalscorer Sean Kerly taking center stage. On their return they were met by cheering fans at Heathrow, given an audience with Queen Elizabeth II and Sherwani appeared on A Question of Sport, where Ian Botham asked for his autograph.

With typical modesty he brushed off his part in the drama. “The fact that I scored two in the final and got the famous commentary puts me in the spotlight, but above all it was a team effort,” he said.

He was born in Stoke-on-Trent and was the son of Asrar, who had moved to Britain from Pakistan at the age of 19, and his English wife June (née Hassell). Asrar had played representative hockey in Pakistan and became a top player at Stoke with the North Stafford club, coaching the young Imran on the concrete back garden of the family property in Newcastle-under-Lyme.

There was no hockey pitch at Marshlands secondary school in Wolstanton, so Imran learned the game at home and at North Stafford, where he played his first competitive match as an 11-year-old. While studying at City of Stoke-on-Trent’s sixth form in his late teens, he progressed through the provincial and national age groups until winning his first cap for the full England team in 1983 at the age of 21, by which time he had been snapped up by a much bigger hockey club, Stourport in Worcestershire.

Scoring eight goals on the left wing in his first eight internationals, he quickly became an automatic selection for England and was included at short notice in the Great Britain squad for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. After receiving his team blazer and tracksuit, he suffered a serious knee injury two weeks before the games and had to withdraw, although in his bitter disappointment he still flew to the USA to urge his teammates to secure a bronze medal.

After four separate knee operations, Sherwani returned to action to play a key role for England as the country finished as runners-up at the 1986 World Cup and then at the 1987 European Cup.

After the gold medal win in Seoul, Sherwani continued his international career, having made 45 appearances for Great Britain and 49 appearances for England, scoring a total of 24 goals. Away from hockey he had initially worked as a police officer in Tamworth on the Staffordshire staff, but in 1984 he had moved to his father’s newsagents in the Cobridge area of ​​Stoke, and after the Olympics he found he needed to devote more time to that venture.

He continued to play club hockey at the highest level with Stourport (with a break at Bristol’s Firebrands club) until 1995, before moving down a level to join Leek as player and coach, guiding them to promotion to the National League in 2003.

At his various clubs, which included Stone (1984-87), Sherwani was always a popular team man, known for his warmth, selflessness and loyalty. In addition to his great hockey talent, he was an excellent cricketer, but also an experienced squash and tennis player. In 2012 he was chosen to carry the torch of the London Olympics as it passed through Stoke-on-Trent.

After leaving his newsagents, he worked as an independent financial adviser for more than a decade before becoming a maths teacher and director of hockey at Denstone College, a school in Staffordshire. In 2019, he was diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

Sherwani married Louise Nadine, who he met when they both worked for Staffordshire Police, in 1988, shortly after he won his gold medal. She survives him, as do their sons Aaron, Zac and Joshua.