You may have heard of GMS, the England Hockey Game Management System, but until now it has limited use for most participants. It currently is used for administrators, captains and neutral umpires.

Well, that is about to change. England Hockey needs all players to be registered on the system.

Why: The plan is that for every match administered by England Hockey (i.e. U14s and above), a team sheet will be submitted, which shows who took part, who scored the goals, who got a card, etc. This will be your own personal record of your involvement with hockey in England, not just for this season, but over your whole playing career. Don’t worry, you won’t need to enter your details on the team sheet as this will be done by the team captains/admins.

So, what do you need to do? Go here https://www.englandhockey.co.uk/play/gms-player and follow the instructions. It should be straightforward, but please do not close your browser until you have received your verification code as you will not be able to register. As always player details for an Under 18 will need to be done by a responsible adult (parent/guardian). Make sure you select Fleet and Ewshot Hockey Club, so you appear to us. Once you have we will add you to the correct ‘Pool’ from which teams are selected.

Ideally, we would like everyone to be registered for the start of next year, i.e., Jan 1, 2022. Not that we will need to complete match sheets then, but it means that if we have problems, we have time to fix it before we do need to.

Remember you only need to register ONCE and after that all your hockey records will be in the same place.

FAQ:

Q: Why am I doing this when I’ve already registered on Pitchero?
A: Pitchero is the club management system, while GMS is run by England Hockey and does not have most of the features we need as a club. There is no way of simply uploading all the data in Pitchero to GMS

Q: Why is England Hockey doing this?
A: Most National Governing Bodies (NGBs) have similar systems in place, hockey is behind them in this respect. It does mean that England Hockey has a clearer idea of what hockey is taking place, numbers, etc. As an NGB, they need to provide data to the UK Government, and this should make it a lot easier. The previous systems were very fractured, split by county, region and gender. In the old Southern Counties set up there were around 10 separate systems used to manage hockey.

Q: If I don’t register, can I play league fixtures.
A: No. We will need to submit match sheets for each team, so everyone needs to be registered.

Q: If I play for two cubs (e.g., FEHC and a University team) do I need to register twice.
A: No. You register once and link yourself to each club you play for.

Q: I’m a non-playing hockey parent. What do I do?
A: Unlike the Club Pitchero system, only players need to register. However, you will be responsible for registering for your child(ren).

Q: I’m a team admin/captain – what do I need to do?
A: If you are managing a team in Pitchero (U14s and above) then you should have already registered with GMS. If you are also a player then you should not need to register again. But login to GMS (https://gms.englandhockey.co.uk/) and check that you are linked to FEHC as a player.

Q: I’m an umpire registered in GMS and player– do I need to do anything?
A: Don’t know. Along with team sheets in GMS the umpires’ details also need to be entered, so all umpires must be a member of EHO (England Hockey Officials). As an umpire you will have registered which club you are associated with so hopefully there should be no further changes.