Football may not be coming home after the disappointment of England’s defeat to Croatia but one of Gloucestershire’s finest ever hockey players most definitely is.

Ben Marsden, the one-time Great Britain and England star, is returning to Cheltenham to take up the prestigious job of director of sport at Cheltenham College.

The 38-year-old has been on the road for some 20 years since leaving the town where he was brought up to go to Brunel University in London at the age of 18.

It’s been a pretty remarkable journey since then – one that has seen him play full-time hockey in Australia and Spain and represent Great Britain in the Beijing Olympics – but the married dad-of-two said the prospect of returning to this part of the world fills him and his family with huge excitement.

He will meet the pupils at Cheltenham College for the first time in September and said: “I’m delighted to be going back to my roots.

“My parents live in Cheltenham and my wife Ellie’s parents live in Cheltenham. It was always part of the plan to come back at some time, I just wasn’t sure how it might happen.

“This is an incredible opportunity – the right job at the right time in the right place. I wanted a new chapter in my life, to broaden my horizons, a new challenge.”

And it’s certainly good news for the pupils at Cheltenham College who will soon learn that Marsden has a huge passion for all sports.

Although an elite hockey coach – he will coach the under-14 hockey boys and girls in the next school year – he will be responsible for all sports at the school ranging from polo and water polo to rugby, football and cricket.

“I want to see mass participation in sport,” he said. “I want every pupil to have the opportunity to play sport, that’s something I’m a big believer in.

“At the top end we will facilitate excellence and high performance but I will also be trying to bring an enthusiasm to sport at all levels.”

Marsden, who was educated at Charlton Kings Junior School, Balcarras and Dean Close, was certainly an enthusiastic sports player back in the day and it was soon clear he was particularly good at hockey.

He was playing in the national league for Cheltenham at the age of 15 and when he first moved to London as a student he played for Teddington and Surbiton.

So what sort of player was he?

“I was mainly a wing back – a bit like football’s Roberto Carlos! – but I could also play central midfield. I used to do a lot of running as a wing back and was expected to get up and down the pitch.

“I’d be expected to receive the ball when we played out but I was also expected to get forward when we attacked.”

He was clearly very fit and that fitness coupled with his obvious talent soon gave him opportunities that he could never have dreamed of when he was making his way through the ranks at Cheltenham Junior Hockey Club in the early 90s.

“I played full-time in Sydney for a year and for two years for FC Barcelona,” said Marsden. “The money wasn’t as good as the players can earn today in Germany and Holland but it was a great experience.”

And playing at Camp Nou for FC Barcelona – it’s not only a football club, they are also very good at basketball as well as hockey – certainly left a lasting impression on Marsden.

He was there just before the great Lionel Messi began mesmerising the footballing world but as warm-up acts go, there was a pretty decent Brazilian player there at the same time as Marsden.

“I was there from 2003 to 2005 when Ronaldinho was the star footballer,” he said. “I had my first physical assessment at the same time as him and our fitness levels were on a par which I was very pleased with.

“I was quite a good athlete. Hockey players have to cover a lot of distance, even more than footballers.”

And Marsden’s passion for all aspects of sport meant that he wasn’t one of those players who switched off once he left the field of play.

He’d done some coaching when he was at Teddington and Surbiton and he continued to coach when he was on his travels.

“I coached the ladies and juniors in Australia and Spain,” he said. “And I also picked up some good experience working with the director of sport at Camp Nou. He gave me an insight into other sports which was another string to my bow.”

Marsden loved it in Barcelona, of course he did, but when his country came calling he knew he couldn’t say no.

“I was asked to join the Great Britain Olympic programme for the 2008 Games,” explained Marsden, “so I went back to Surbiton.

“I came into the programme around 2005 and I played in two World Cups, two European Cups and two Commonwealth Games. It was a great experience.”

Marsden won more than 80 caps for England and Great Britain combined and while every match was obviously special, they don’t come any bigger than representing your country in the Olympic Games.

Not that Great Britain were one of the heavyweights of world hockey around this time, the memories of Sean Kerly and his pals thrilling the nation and winning gold at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 had long since faded.

“The group had had a disappointing tournament in Athens in 2004 and there were questions about the level of funding we should be given,” explained Marsden.

“There were relatively low expectations on us going into 2008 as we were ranked 12th in the world.

“But we massively exceeded those expectations and had a really good tournament.

“We finished fifth and beat Pakistan, drew with Australia and Holland who were two of the favourites, and beat South Africa and Korea.

“After that the funding improved and it was a real positive time for hockey.

“The men finished fourth in London while the ladies won bronze in London and then gold in Rio.”

Marsden is proud of the way the national teams have performed in recent times and is proud that he got the chance to represent his country as often as he did.

“Immensely,” he said. “Anybody lucky enough to represent their country and play at the Olympics, yes, I’m very proud.

“There was a lot of hard work and sacrifice but there were some amazing times. It was a great experience.”

And Marsden has also enjoyed some amazing times since he took on the role of director of hockey at The Wimbledon Club.

That’s the same club that hosts the All England Championships – Federer, Nadal and the like – but while the hockey may not enjoy the same profile, it has certainly been just as successful in its own way in recent times.

“When I started the club had about 90 juniors and the men’s team were in the backwaters of the London leagues,” said Marsden.

“It wasn’t so much that the club lacked ambition, it was just that they needed someone to oversee all of the hockey section.”

And Marsden was certainly the right man for the job because the club now have 750 juniors and more than 80 coaches while the flagship team have enjoyed a remarkable rise as well with five promotions, three of them back to back.

“It was the quickest rise in the history of the sport,” said Marsden.

“I’m very proud about the journey at Wimbledon, it’s been a huge team effort.

“We’ve won the Premier League twice and have been in Europe for the past four years.

“Our crowning moment was when we finished in the top four teams in Europe a couple of years ago which is the best performance by an English club for years.

“I was there for 11 years and it was a good chapter in the club’s history.”

Marsden loved every minute of his time at Wimbledon – when he spoke to The Local Answer he could see the stars of the tennis world playing at this year’s tournament from his office window – so it was obviously a big decision to make the move.

“I felt I’d achieved everything I’d set out to achieve,” he said. “I’d grown the juniors to a sustainable level and put the structures in place for continued success in the adult competitions.”

It’s not difficult to see why Marsden is an elite coach but one of the great things about him is that he is not all about elite performance.

While working in London he established Quick Start Hockey, a charity set up in partnership with Wimbledon Hockey Club to inspire boys and girls to be more involved in sport.

That of course comes back to his desire to increase participation in sport, making it accessible for everyone and anyone.

He’s a good bloke, Ben Marsden, the pupils at Cheltenham College are going to enjoy having him around over the coming years.