Ernest Wall OBE, 1924-2020

Edinburgh Hockey Club is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Ernie Wall OBE and our thoughts are with his family and friends.

Ernie’s contribution to hockey was huge and spanned more than 70 years. Ernie was the founding member of Edinburgh Civil Service (ECS) in the 1950’s.

Ernie and some fellow players at Inverleith took advantage of the new Civil Service playing fields at Muirhouse and formed a brand new club, as a way of expanding the sport in Edinburgh.

Kicking off with only 12 or so players, ECS went on to become the pre-eminent men’s hockey team in Scotland and one of Europe’s leading teams, both indoor and outdoor. Roll-on 20 years and the merger with Royal High Gymnasts created Edinburgh Hockey Club. EHC is now one of the largest clubs in Scotland with over 300 players and more than 200 at our satellite schools.

We possibly would not have existed at all without the foresight and drive of Ernie and others at Inverleith Hockey Club.

Ernie was not finished, however, and continued to drive the sport forward internationally. He became an international umpire in the 60s. In the early 70s, Ernie was the first umpire to be appointed to an international indoor event and was a driving force behind indoor hockey not just in Scotland or Europe, but worldwide. Ernie was also a regular official at Olympic Games.

In 1982, Ernie was awarded the OBE by the Queen in recognition of his services to hockey.

Ernie remained very fond of both Inverleith and EHC, still attending the Edinburgh Hockey Club reunion lunches until recent years. He also engendered a love for hockey in his children and grandchildren, some of whom remain significant contributors to the continued success of Inverleith.

Ernie is definitely a role model for the Edinburgh Hockey Club ambition to give people a lifelong love of and opportunity to participate in hockey.

Hopefully, we can live up to his high standards and emulate his commitment to encourage friendship through sport worldwide.

You can read Ernie’s own description of the formation of ECS in our history pages.
https://www.pitchero.com/clubs/calaedinburghhockeyclub/a/club-history-50959.html?page=1

You can also read more about Ernie in some tributes from around the world, below.

Ernie Wall OBE, rest in peace.

https://eurohockey.org/2020/11/20/ernie-wall-obe-rip/
https://www.scottish-hockey.org.uk/ernie-wall-obe/
http://fieldhockey.com/index.php/comments/52541-ernest-wall-obe-1924-2020