Earnest Goodsir-Cullen

Who is Earnest Goodsir-Cullen?

Ernest John Goodsir-Cullen was an Indian field hockey player who competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics.

In 1936 he was a member of the Indian field hockey team, which won the gold medal in Berlin. He played in all five matches as halfback.

Goodsir-Cullen was born in Kerala, India and educated at St George's School, Mussoorie, and Madras University where he qualified as a medical doctor. During World War II he served as an officer in the Indian Army Medical Corps where he was attached to several different regiments and was posted to Iraq and Palestine on active service. In 1945 he married Captain Elsie Victoria Spratt, a QA officer in the British Army and their first son, Sean Patrick, was born in March 1946 in Poona. In 1947 the family went to live with Elsie's mother in Portstewart, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland and Ernest had to re-qualify as a doctor at Queen's University, Belfast.

Goodsir-Cullen continued playing hockey. At club level he played for Portrush and Queen's University. He also played for Ulster and was asked to play at the 1952 Olympics for Ireland, 16 years after representing India in Berlin. Preparations for the Olympics clashed with Ernest's finals in Belfast, however, so he had to decline the invitation.