Charles Newham

Charles Newham’s long association with hockey started when he worked as a journalist in India in the 1920s, writing for well-known English-language daily newspapers in Lahore and Allahabad. He was one of the founders of the Punjab Hockey Association and played a big part in the formation of the Indian Hockey Federation and the Board of Control for Cricket in India. Newham also played a large part in getting the Indian team’s trip to the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics funded, despite a failed attempt at getting funding from Mahatma Gandhi.

Newham was involved in every Olympic Games from 1932-52. He was an umpire in both 1932 and 1936 and was deputy manager of the Great Britain team in 1948, as well as being a member of the organising executive committee, responsible mainly for hockey. He was an umpire again at Helsinki in 1952 and was also Chef de Mission of the Nigerian hockey team. He had been responsible for developing Nigerian hockey in the post-war years, and was president of their National Olympic Committee from 1951-53. In 1958, despite being an Englishman, Newham was appointed the Director of Organisation of the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff. He was awarded the OBE.