Archie Young

Glaswegian Archie Young made his name with the Whitecraigs Hockey Club, but it was while he was stationed in Northern Ireland with the Royal Navy during World War II that he won his first trophy, the Ulster Cup, when guesting for Clintonville.

Young made his Scotland début in 1939 and in ten years won eight caps. His tally would have been more had it not been for a war-interrupted career. A forward, he was 12th man to the Great Britain squad at the 1948 London Olympics and, whilst he did not play, he still received a medal following Britain’s silver behind India.

Young later became a hockey umpire and in 1960 received his international umpire’s badge. He officiated at the 1968 Mexico Olympics and was involved in one of hockey’s most controversial Olympic matches. In the 20th minute of the second half of the match between India and Japan, Young awarded a penalty shot to India with the score 0-0. The Japanese protested and walked off the pitch. The match was awarded to India with a 5-0 scoreline. It was an unprecedented move by the Japanese players as no hockey team had previously walked off en masse at the Olympics.

Young was president of the Scottish Hockey Association from 1964-66. He later lived in Yorkshire where he was a bank manager.