Hockey mourns passing of writer Graham Wilson

SJA member Graham Wilson, the chair of the Hockey Writers’ Club since last year, died in hospital yesterday morning after a short illness. He was 63.

Graham, who lived in Hornchurch in Essex,  wrote the last surviving national newspaper hockey column in the Daily Express, where he had worked as a sub-editor, then page editor, for more than 30 years before his retirement a year ago.

England Hockey posted a tribute to Graham on its website, saying that he “made a huge contribution to building the profile of hockey”.

Graham’s death is the second tragedy for his family in just a couple of months. In December, his 22-year-old son, Tom Wilson, died after a freak accident while playing hockey.

The SJA sends is deepest condolences to Lisa, Pippa and the rest of the Wilson family, his friends and colleagues.

A moment of silence will be held in memory of Graham Wilson and other sports journalists who have died in the past year at tomorrow night’s British Sports Journalism Awards dinner in London.

We will publish details of the Graham’s funeral arrangements once we have them.