When one-time Wales international hockey player Lucie Archer spoke to The Local Answer earlier this year the name Roy Smith came up in conversation.

“Absolute legend” said Archer without a moment’s hesitation.

The 25-times capped Welsh star was referring to the amount of work Smith has done to develop hockey in Gloucestershire since he moved to the area in 1980.

Smith has played and coached hockey all over the county – he still coaches today – and is also a past president of the Gloucestershire Hockey Association. He is currently vice-president of the GHA and the evidence of the hard graft he has put in over the years is plain to see.

His achievements are many but when told of Archer’s comment he said modestly: “I’m not a legend.”

Born in Birmingham, the father-of five played much of his hockey while he was in the Royal Air Force.

His job took him all over the world – Germany, Cyprus and Singapore to name a few countries – and it was while he was in Cyprus that he first showed an ability to innovate, an ability that has shone through for many decades.

“I started a hockey league for mixed teams in Cyprus,” he said. “There were 13 teams but I introduced one simple rule – only ladies were allowed in the D.

“It was such an important rule because when you watched men playing mixed hockey they never passed to the ladies, they always wanted to do it all themselves.

“But by allowing only the girls to go in the D it meant they had to pass otherwise their team wouldn’t score goals.

“It also meant you didn’t have the men smashing the ball against girl goalkeepers.”

Smith was very much still playing hockey in those days – “I started off as an inside left and ended up at left-back,” he chuckled – and he continued to play when he moved to Cheltenham.

“I played for Lansdown,” he said, “I played for fun. My son Stuart played alongside me and now coaches in New Zealand.

“I was very proud to play with him in the same team, it was great to wear the same shirt as him.”

Pretty soon Smith senior was coaching as well as playing.

“I started coaching at Richard Pate School in 1983,” he said. “My wife Cass was teaching there and she was in charge of hockey so I took over from her.”

And, unsurprisingly, he was very good at it – future Scotland rugby wing Simon Danielli was one of his players – and his impressive work meant he was soon in demand elsewhere in the hockey world.

“The school got to the under-11 county final in the mid or late 80s and we played Charlton Kings Junior School,” said Smith.

“They had Ben Marsden in their team who went on to play for England and Great Britain at the Olympics and coached Wimbledon to many national titles.

“I spoke to his dad Peter after the final and he said there was nowhere for the players to play hockey – unless it was at school – until they were aged 16.”

Marsden senior was absolutely right of course and, what’s more, he and Smith decided to do something about it.

“Peter Marsden, myself, Malcolm Glenister and a couple of others started Cheltenham Junior Hockey Club,” said Smith.

“Ben Marsden was one of the original junior players. We had just six players at the start – three from Richard Pate and three from Charlton Kings Junior School.

“Now there are well over 200 and junior hockey in Gloucestershire has since flourished.

“All round the county there are junior hockey set-ups for both boys and girls.”

Smith also helped launch a junior set-up at Lansdown but by now he was becoming more and more involved on the county scene.

“I was involved with Cheltenham Juniors for about five years and once they got going I started coaching the county under-13s and under-14s,” he said.

“Peter Marsden and I were part of the Gloucestershire county committee and we coached the junior county teams.”

And while Smith’s coaching skills were obvious, his administrative skills were just as impressive because he ran county tournaments for under-11s and under-13s for boys and girls for 20 years from 1990.

“Schools and clubs would compete in the same tournament and we’d have over 500 boys and girls taking part every year,” he said with pride.

“It was a lot of fun. We had hotdog vans and photographers and we always held the tournaments on a Sunday so that all the parents could be there and they made a lot of noise! It was a great atmosphere.”

These days the schools and clubs play in separate tournaments.

“There were arguments about whom players should play for, school or club,” explained Smith, who handed over the tournament reins to Angie Atherton.

“She’s done a great job over a number of years and the county owes her a huge thank you,” added Smith.

And Smith, who was presented with a lifetime award by the county – an engraved decanter – for services to hockey a few years ago, has done a great job too over many decades.

It is a period which has seen him coach some very talented sports people in addition to the aforementioned Ben Marsden and Simon Danielli.

One of those is ex-Gloucester rugby player Tom Beim – Lucie Archer’s brother – who played hockey for Wales Under-18s and these days is a professional polo player.

“He’s great at hockey on horseback,” chuckled Smith. “And Tom Scudamore, the jockey, is another.”

There are others too. Jacob Peyton has been capped by England Under-16s and Ben Marshall has been in the England Under-18 squad. Both now play for Cheltenham 1sts.

Smith remains actively involved in coaching today through The Puffins – a ladies’ team formed by mums of pupils at Richard Pate School and friends.

“I coach them every Monday during the hockey season,” said Smith. “They’ve been going for 21 years and we’ve just had a dinner to celebrate.

“They have about 24 playing members and only play friendly games but it’s great fun. Past captain Linda Creed and current captain Claire Gleeson have done so much work to keep The Puffins going.”

Lucie Archer also plays for The Puffins and talk to either Archer or Smith and their passion for all things hockey shines through.

“A good little’un will always beat a bad big’un in hockey,” said Smith. “You can be as big as you want in hockey but it won’t do you any good. That’s not the same in other sports.

“I’m a great believer that hockey levels the playing field.”

To be fair, Smith is a supporter of all team sports.

“If you go to university and play team sport you have 20 friends straight away,” he said.

And two of his grandchildren – Sebastien, 11, and Sienna, 13 – are making giant strides in their chosen sports.

“Sebastien is in the Cheltenham Town football academy and Sienna has been selected for a satellite England netball squad,” said Smith.

They are obviously pretty good at sport and although it’s not hockey in which they are excelling, Smith couldn’t be more proud.