Family support made Daly dream possible

With his grinning expression and sponsored Team GB t-shirt, Olympic hockey player Matt Daly looks like he has the sporting world at his feet.

Daly, who moved to Cippenham from Canada at the age of 14, has been one of the stars of the Great British team’s bid for their first Olympic medal since they beat West Germany 3-1 to take gold in Seoul in 1988.

Twenty years ago Sean Kerly was the talisman with eight goals but this year Daly has taken the plaudits with three goals as Great Britain narrowly missed out on a medal match-off as they finished third behind tournament favourites the Netherlands and Australia.

If Daly was a footballer he would command a multimillion pound annual contract and have a collection of sports cars resting in his drive way, but his sport is hockey and as a result he gets £6,000 from British Sport and his first car was a 1985 Volvo that his engineer father had to frequently maintain.

The 25-year-old former Desborough School pupil, lives with his girlfriend and has to supplement his meagre earnings with a part-time job as a hockey coach at Kingston Grammar School in Surrey.

He gets paid nothing to turn out for his club side Surbiton and receives some small sponsorship from Gray’s sport manufacturer.

Daly’s story is not surprising as the Olympics was original founded on the ideals of amateur sport but not many people realise that the majority of the thousands of competitors giving their all in pursuit of medals in Beijing, are living a near hand to mouth existence.

This was a point that Matt’s father John Daly wanted to put across just days before he himself spent thousands of pounds to fly out to see his son in China a fortnight ago.

“It’s not as glamorous as it looks,” he said. “I think the money he gets is awful, but then the funding for hockey is just not good enough full stop. There are lots of sports out there that get much more, but maybe that’s because they don’t think it is worth spending too much money on hockey.”

In terms of Olympic success, Daly senior has a point. While the rowers have the golden years of Redgrave and Pinsent to take to the funding negotiating table, hockey have to hark back to the team of 1988 for their last medal.

Daly’s financial predicament means that despite his talent his future as a international hockey player is uncertain.

“The problem is what is he going to do when he calls it a day,” added Nigel. “He’s planning to do a teaching course this year but not many employers are going to take on someone who has been playing sport all their lives.”

John’s fears are those of any loving parent but he also believes that not even the lure of playing in front of home crowds at the London Olympics in 2012 could be enough to keep his son in the sport.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he said enough was enough. I’m sure it can’t be easy for him when friends of his start becoming successful in their jobs and he’s still struggling to make ends meet.”

There is an undoubted pride in the Daly household and his family have travelled first, the length of the country and now the breadth of the world, to support their boy - but at a price.

“Any parent who is planning to support their child’s dreams to compete at the Olympics should be warned - it’s going to cost you. On the Olympic website, it says that Matt’s favourite book is Birdsong, but it should really be his dad’s cheque book,” he joked.

John may be able to remain light-hearted about the money and hours he has spent nurturing and supporting his son’s talent, but Matt was lucky enough to have a father who had taken early retirement and had the funds and time to support his son.

Many families don’t have that luxury and there are scores of potential medallists that have surely fallen by the wayside. Obviously there can only be funding for those very special chosen few but spare a thought for all those who had the burning ambition but never quite made the grade.

And for those that have become Olympians it is hardly surprising that the first people they thank are the families who, like the Dalys, have made their Olympic dreams possible.