Sixsmith's centenary special

A milestone for women's hockey is celebrated with pomp and circumstance . Julie Welch reports from Sheffield

THE All England Women's Hockey Association was formed in a Brighton tea shop 100 years ago. To celebrate this historic bully-off over the Earl Grey and macaroons, England and Germany met yesterday in Sheffield for a friendly international which ended satisfactorily for Our Girls in a 1-1 draw.

This event might have been the main attraction but the whole of this weekend in Sheffield is devoted to the centenary celebrations. Matches have been taking place all over town. There is under-11 mini hockey, club and schools games and a veterans section, of which Evergreens versus Winceyettes sounded particularly compelling.

The England-Germany fixture was a bit of a crunch match for England who, according to their forward Jane Sixsmith, have had a difficult 12 months, culminating recently in the loss of a three-Test series in Holland. It took place on a blowy Yorkshire afternoon, with bums on every grandstand seat around the all-weather pitch of the Concord sports centre.

There was a brass band, and weather-beaten ladies in baseball caps toting six-packs of jam tarts and joining in the national anthem in swooping sopranos.

The first part featured a somewhat nervous display by England. Mandy Nicholls and Sixsmith look good going forward but not often enough to prevent the crowd getting fractious.

The Germans were always dangerous in attack, and as half-time approached Jo Thompson, the goalkeeper, spent a demanding five minutes, culminating in a moment of almost comic brilliance when she kept out a centre from Britta Becker, thrashing around on her back in her white helmet and pads like an upended crustacean.

Five minutes into the second half, Germany went ahead through Nadine Ernsting-Krienke, who scored close in from the right before swapping celebratory high-fives with her team-mates. "We'll see that several times on the telly tonight," said a lady in the crowd gloomily. "It will be just like when David Seaman let in that goal."

Meanwhile, the Germans were on the attack again and Becker was lying flat after being toppled accidentally by Thompson. Germany were awarded a penalty corner. "In my day we used to get up and get on with it," sniffed the lady disapprovingly.

Suddenly, though, England found their touch. Sixsmith made her first Big Run of the match, along the left, bringing an excellent save from Alexandra Schmidt. With 20 minutes to go and Our Girls stoking up the pressure again, the wooden floors of the grandstands began to wobble under the stamping of hundreds of female feet.

Sixsmith took a corner, Karen Brown produced a flip-it which she clearly thought was headed for goal; Schmidt scrambled it away and Tammy Miller dipped forward with her stick extended, almost as though it was a snooker cue, and jabbed the ball home for the draw. The Germans didn't look terribly happy but England were well pleased.

"We need to have this fixture every year now to keep our profile up," Sixsmith said. "It's amazing what TV does for a sport." It could make Tammy Miller famous at last, maybe.