Des Simon has reached his 100th birthday, today, Tuesday 20th September 2016. He made an immense contribution to Irish Hockey; he was presented with his FIH International Umpiring Badge in 1964 and was also an international and provincial selector.

He was an ever present member of the Irish Hockey Union Executive Committee in the early seventies and later went on to be President of the Irish Hockey Union in 1973-74, an honour he well deserved. He was also President of the Ulster Branch however he was best known for his role as Honorary Secretary of the Ulster Branch between 1970 and 1985. In recent years, Des duly received Honorary Life Membership in recognition for his services to Irish Hockey.

Des brought great stature to the game through his high standards of efficiency and integrity. He will be celebrating this magnificent milestone tonight at a special organised 'party'. We hope he has a super night - but not too much as we might need him this weekend!!

Welcome to the new season! Once again, marking your availability is crucial to the appointments process. A number of you are yet to update your availability for September. The deadline has passed but you can still change it by logging in to your personal area and clicking on the 'Change Availability' button. Please do this ASAP. In general, if marking yourself as available for IHUA appointments. you should also indicate that you are also available for provincial appointments. Please do not assume that by indicating availability for IHUA appointments that you will be automatically selected!