Emily Rogers will be leading from the front for Gloucester City Hockey Club this season, just as she has done for more than a decade.

The 32-year-old is a centre-forward and will once again be one of the team’s main focal points as they look to maintain their position as one of the leading teams in the country.

Gloucester play in Division 1 North of the England Hockey League, which is just one level below the elite clubs in the land who make up the 12-team Premier Division.

Last season, Gloucester finished eighth in their 10-strong division – there is an equivalent strength Division 1 South – which means they go into 2023/24 comfortably inside the top 30 teams nationwide.

They begin the new campaign at home to Leicester City on Saturday 23^rd September and Rogers said: “We play some really big teams.

“Buckingham have just been relegated and Swansea came down from the Premier the season before last, there are a few decent teams.”

And Gloucester have been rubbing shoulders with them for a long time now.

“I’ve been with the club for 12 years, they won promotion to this level the season before I joined,” said Rogers, who captained the team last season – her third stint as skipper – and remains the club captain.

“It’s a pretty high standard, it’s quite a significant achievement.”

Indeed it is and the club are certainly looking to improve on their finish last time out.

“It was a satisfactory season,” said Rogers. “We were cruising at Christmas but then we tailed off a bit.

“The aim was always to stay up, last season was one of transition and we achieved our aim.”

Trevor Done took over as club coach at the start of the 2022/23 campaign and brought with him a longer term vision.

“We had almost a brand new squad, seven or eight under-18s played for us last season and four or five of them were core members,” said Rogers.

“Hopefully this season we’ll be pushing for the top half.”

Rogers readily admits that Gloucester are not ready for the Premier Division, but she does believe it’s something that is attainable in years to come.

“It does feel as though it is something that is closer because two teams are guaranteed to win promotion,” she said. “If you win the division you go up, that wasn’t always the case.”

And in Rogers’ time at the club Gloucester have finished second, albeit in the days when three divisions made up the second tier.

That was, nevertheless, a very impressive achievement and new captain Chloe O’Donoghue would love to be pushing towards the top end this season.

O’Donoghue, a centre-back or left-back, was Rogers’ vice-captain last season and Rogers, who is also assistant coach, is looking forward to playing under her this season.

“She’s a very good player, she’s one of the best defenders in the division,” said Rogers, a mum of three young boys who lives in Hereford with husband Andy, a former Gloucester player himself.

“She’s very hardworking both on and off the pitch, she does a lot of volunteer work around the club.”

O’Donoghue will be leaning on Rogers’ experience, of course, and she’ll also be hoping that she can chip in with a few goals.

“I got six last season,” Rogers said. “My target is one in two which would have meant I’d got nine if I’d hit my target but it’s a pretty hard division.

“I’ve not broken double figures yet – my best in a season is nine – but I’m quite happy to be a cog in the machine.”

And Gloucester Hockey Club is certainly a very big machine with five men’s teams, four ladies’ teams and a vibrant junior section.