Hockey's bully boys bid to copy Kerly's exploits of 1988

Then, when they struggle to get past Sean Kerly, gently make the point that their sport has not exactly made the most of past glories in terms of staying in the public consciousness.

Seoul-mates: Britain¿s hockey forwards James Tindall, Simon Mantell, Matt Daly, Jonty Clarke and Stephen Dick are aiming to emulate the exploits of 1988

The names suddenly rattle off with machine-gun rapidity. 'David Faulkner, Imran Sherwani, Stephen Batchelor, Ian Taylor, Richard Leman, Stephen Martin, Kulbir Bhaura, Paul Barber, Kerly. Obviously.'

Cue raucous laughing and more than a couple of 'you can't catch us out' looks. For the record, the names of Jon Potter, Richard Dodds, Martyn Grimley and Robert Clift would have been recalled, too, had there been time before getting back to the serious business of training for the biggest competition of their lives.

Fortunately, forwards Jonty Clarke, Matt Daly, Simon Mantell, Stephen Dick and James Tindall don't mind being asked about the golden generation of 1988. It's just that they are simply too young to remember much about them.

'I was seven at the time,' said Clarke, the oldest of the group at 2 7 . 'The only two things I remember from that Olympics were Ben Johnson and the hockey gold and I can only just recall that.

'But whenever you meet someone out and about or through work they can always remember the name of Sean Kerly.

'Maybe it's about time we change things a little bit. That's not the reason we want to win a gold medal, but it would be nice as well.'

It would also be an achievement to surpass that famous afternoon two decades ago in Seoul when West Germany were despatched 3-1, to the delight not only of Britain's hockey playing minority but also, for once, the nation.

The current squad qualified for Beijing the hard way. Having failed to make it through their expected European qualification route, they were reduced to travelling to Chile in March for a second and final shot. Six teams, winner takes all.

Britain beat India 2-0 in the final. Tindall, whose five goals in that competition drew comparisons with Kerly, said: 'We dealt with the pressure quite well beforehand. Our attitude and personalities helped us.

'Afterwards, there was so much relief, the players were all quite drained by it. To think finally we'd done it. But then it was straight on, thinking about our next target.'

However, as they all acknowledged around the breakfast table at their Bisham Abbey training base this week, even tougher tests face them next month.

Britain, ranked No8 in the world, have been drawn in Pool A and will play Pakistan (No7), Holland (No3), South Africa (No13), Canada (No15) and Australia (No1). The top two make the semi-finals. Four years ago, Britain got nowhere near.

On the plus side, however, is the undeniable sense that these guys really want it. As they insisted, you don' t combine a normal working life with Olympic-intensity training if you're not playing it for real.

Tindall explained: 'I work for a friend's dad, labouring at a construction company. But I'll be qualifying as an electrician in the next nine or 10 months, so that will give me a trade flexible enough to combine it with my hockey.

'I worked in a bank for three or four years. When it came to the Commonwealth Games, I needed two months off and they gave me it paid for one month and unpaid the next.

'But the World Cup was in the same year and when I told them I'd been been picked for the World Cup, I thought they'd think "brilliant!" but it didn't quite work out like that and I left before I was pushed.'

Great Britain's Sean Kerly shows off his gold medal, following Britain's 3-1 win over West Germany in the final hockey game at the Seoul Olympics 1988.

Although one or two play professionally on the continent, the majority of the others tell a similar story. Hockey doesn't pay the bills.

They need to work, to live, to play. Clarke, an accountant, added: 'The situation is getting better: hockey as a sport has taken on people to help us find employers.

'But while it would be great to get a bit more money for playing, there is a potential landmine there of being full-time then getting to 30 and having to start again in the working world.'

But the future is not the priority. The present is what counts - upsetting the form book and winning what many feel is an unlikely medal in Beijing.

The final word fittingly goes to the first name on everybody's lips whenever hockey gold is mentioned. The legendary Kerly, who now runs a marketing company.

'As a group we planned how to win, but not for what would happen after we did win,' he recalled.

'The administrators wanted the game itself to be the important thing, but we know from the experiences of other sports that you have to build your game around the personalities that kids want to emulate.

'If our guys do well I'm sure they have plans to promote them. TV coverage - so vital - is different now and there's a new broadband service, so that's a start. I'd be delighted if people could recall some new names. In a way it's quite sad for the sport that the one people always think of is some old crony who played 20 years ago.

'The current guys do all the hard work we used to do. Now all they have to do is win the tournament. That's all, the easy bit.'

GB MEN'S SQUAD

R Alexander (Surbiton), J Bleby
(Loughborough), J Clarke (Reading),
MDaly (Surbiton), S Dick (Inverleith),
B Hawes (Surbiton), A Jackson ,
G Kirkham ( both E Grinstead),
R Mantell, S Mantell (both Reading),
B Marsden (Surbiton), A McGregor
(Loughborough), B Middleton (HGC),
R Moore (Surbiton), J Tindall (Surbiton),
A Wilson (Beeston).