Sean Kerly

Sean Robin Kerly MBE (born 29 January 1960 in Whitstable, Kent) was educated at Chatham House Grammar School in Ramsgate and is a former English field hockey player, who was a member of the golden winning Great Britain and Northern Ireland squad at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Four years earlier, at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, he secured the bronze medal with his team. Kerly scored the winning goal in the bronze medal match in LA against Australia (2-1), and a hattrick in the semi final against the same opponent in 1988. The striker played for Southgate and Canterbury.

After scoring seven goals for Britain’s bronze medal winning team in Los Angeles in 1984, Kerly went one better with eight goals at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. Kerly also won silver medals at the 1986 World Cup and the 1987 European Cup and was a member of the Southgate team which won the English Club Championship in 1987 and 1988. In his 74 matches for Great Britain he scored 57 goals and also played for England in 58 outdoor and nine indoor internationals.

Extensive television coverage focused attention on his scoring feats and, unusually for a hockey player, he became one of Britain’s best known sportsmen. The strictly amateur nature of the game precluded Kerly from benefiting financially from the publicity and shortly before the 1988 Olympics he lost his job as a buyer for a fashion chain due to demands made on his time by training and competition. The necessity of earning a living, coupled with a certain loss of form, eventually obliged him to take a break from international hockey, although he continues to play for Southgate in the National League.

He has three girls who play for Canterbury also.

ee also

*Hockey at the 1984 Summer Olympics
*Hockey at the 1988 Summer Olympics

References

* [http://www.olympics.org.uk/athleterecord.aspx?at=1870 British Olympic Committee]
* [http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ke/sean-kerly-1.html sports-reference]