WHEN 79-year-old Dominic Bann went into Basildon Hospital for a heart bypass last December, the final thing he said to his surgeon was “take it easy, I’ve got to run around after this”.

And running around he was, barely three months after major surgery, playing the sport he can’t live without.

Hockey has been in Bann’s blood since he was a small child growing up in Iraq.

He has played around the world, won medals for his country and is Great Britain’s all-time leading masters scorer.

In fact, the young-at-heart grandad is so dedicated to the sport he has even converted his garage into a practice area.

“My wife doesn’t like it because she can’t park the car in there,” laughed Bann, whose story is an amazing tale.

Echo:

Dominic in his practice area...the garage!

He first picked up a hockey stick aged 10 in his birthplace of Iraq.

His father was in the Royal Air Force (RAF) stationed in the Middle East and would play hockey at weekends for the Air Ministry team.

“One day, when I was 15, my father’s team were short of players and I was asked to play,” recalled Bann who lives in Shoebury.

“I was put on the left wing because my dad didn’t want me to get hurt. I was this bandy, skinny-legged player but I did score a goal!”

The Bann family were soon on the move, heading to Cyprus when his father was transferred to the RAF base in Nicosia.

“I played for the RAF team there,” he said. “I was the only civilian playing for them and I scored a lot of goals.

“The other teams didn’t want me playing and said I was not part of the RAF, but the generals would say ‘if he is not playing, we are not playing’.”

Echo:

Dominic (centre right) as a young man playing in the RAF v Army game in Cyprus

After enjoying much success in Cyprus, Bann moved to Southend in 1959 and one of his first missions was to find a hockey club.

But hockey in England would prove to be something of a culture shock for Bann.

“I was used to playing hockey on Tarmac,” he said. “In Cyprus I used to have to put cardboard into my RAF-issue plimsolls because they didn’t offer any protection.

“I joined Southend Hockey Club and turned up for my first game in my nice, white tennis shoes and saw all of my team-mates putting boots on.

“Everyone looked at me and said ‘have you never played on grass before?’ I hadn’t!”

It didn’t take long for Bann to adapt to the new surface, however.

He made it into Southend’s first team after his first season and, now an attacker, became one of the most feared players around.

“I scored 156 goals in on year,” he said. “I had got used to playing on grass by then and there were some good players around me.”

Bann switched to Westcliff Hockey Club and had many more years of success before that club folded in 1997 because they did not have an Astro-Turf pitch.

By this point, however, Bann was a world champion.

He was called up to the England Masters team for the over-60s and helped his team beat the old enemy Australia in the 1997 World Cup final.

It sparked a long run of international caps for Bann, with his most recent coming in the Hannover Masters tournament last August, just eight months after his heart bypass.

“I’ve had some wonderful times,” he said. “I’ve scored 166 goals for England which is a record and I’ve been all over the world.

“I’ve beaten Australia in the World Cup final and in 2004 played a World Cup on the Olympic pitches in Athens when we lost to Germany on penalties in the final.”

Given his passion for his sport, it was no surprise that Bann wanted to make sure his heart operation was not the end of his playing career.

“As soon as I had the operation I was determined to get back fit again and play.”

Incredibly, he was back playing for his new club Eastcote, in north London, just three months after his operation.

And south Essex hockey fans may have seen him playing recently too.

He is also registered with Old Southendians and when his team haven’t got a game or when they are short of players, Bann is only to happy to help out – even if it does mean playing against rivals old enough to be his grandchildren.

“When I come out to play I do hear some saying ‘who is this little man playing?’ But a lot of people know me. We played Crostyx the other week and and they were swarming around me like a pack of wolves from the start.

“I looked to the touchline and realised I had played against most of their fathers! They must have warned them to watch me.”

Despite nearing his eighth decade, Bann has no intention of packing it in just yet and even when he eventually does decide to call it a day, he will have left a legacy.

“I have two daughters, Dominique and Jasmine, who both played hockey and my grand-daughter Helen, 14, also plays for Harrow.

“I love the sport and don’t really think of my age. It’s like they say, age is nothing but a number.”