You don’t have to be a sports fan to know that Sheffield Wednesday are an English football club.

But ask people about Cheltenham Wednesday and it’s more than likely that you’ll get a quizzical look.

Those in the know, of course, will tell you that they are a hockey team made up largely of former Cheltenham players, a good number of whom have reached ‘veteran’ status.

They play every two or three weeks throughout the regular hockey season and, despite their name, can play on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays as well as Wednesdays.

Their games are all ‘friendlies’, although Mark Gayler’s appearance when this interview was set up would certainly back up the view that there is no such thing as a friendly in hockey.

The 54-year-old was sporting a pretty impressive shiner after being hit in the face by a ball, but unsurprisingly that didn’t dampen his enthusiasm for all things hockey.

On the contrary, he was almost counting down the days to the start of the new season.

“It’s good fun and it’s still a good quality of hockey,” he said, “we’re just a bit slower. But what makes it even better is that quite a few of us have got to the age where our sons are old enough to play as well.

“My son Andrew is old enough to play, then there’s Nick and Ali Parker, John Stott and his two boys Josh and Ben and Mike Huysinga and Max.”

The team have over 30 players they can call on, play their home games at Dean Close and take on sides such as Lansdown, Dean Close masters, Cheltenham College masters and parents, Pershore and Shrivenham.

So are there any problems?

“We don’t always have a goalkeeper,” chuckled Gayler. “Mind you, we’ve kept a couple of clean sheets when we haven’t had a keeper!”

For Gayler, playing hockey is a continuation of something he has done for much of his life.

The former Cheltenham Grammar School pupil joined Cheltenham at the age of 17 and only stopped playing for the club last year.

He remains involved – Cheltenham Wednesday is an offshoot of the club – and he said: “I played in every team from the 1sts to the 5ths and was captain of every team except the 1sts.

“I usually played at the back and I was in the team that won promotion to the national league in the 1990s.”

Hockey is a big part of Gayler family life because his wife Diana played for East Glos for 40 years. And son Andrew, a goalkeeper, has just helped Exeter University into the national league although as he has completed his studies he won’t be with them next season.

“He may play for Cheltenham,” said his dad, “although he’ll probably play out on the pitch. His body is a bit broken, he’s dislocated his shoulder six times.”

While Gayler senior considers himself quite lucky when it comes to injuries, Andrew isn’t the only member of the Gayler family to have sustained injuries playing hockey.

“My wife had a tooth knocked out and our daughter Amanda broke her fibula when she was at the University of Gloucestershire. She doesn’t play anymore,” added Gayler, who is also a qualified coach and umpire.

So how long does Gayler plan to keep on playing?

“As long as my body holds out,” he said.

And at least that shiner will be a distant memory come September!