As a Panthers fan these days, it’s easy to find out everything you need to know – new signings, injury news, real time score updates, instant match reports, even highlights within hours of a game. But it wasn’t always like that. Before the age of the Internet, we had to rely on the traditional media for our Panthers news and Mick Holland played a huge role in that. As the main hockey reporter for the Nottingham (Evening) Post, Mick’s articles and match reports in the local newspaper were absolutely vital for keeping us fans up to date.
Mick joined the Nottingham Evening Post in 1969 and was given the job of reporting on the Panthers when they started up again in 1980. Although he reported on the local football teams and indeed on other sports, hockey was where his true passion lay and he shared that passion with Nottingham’s sporting public for over three decades as a reporter and later in editorial roles before his retirement in December 2013.
With football and cricket dominating sporting coverage, Mick made great use of the limited column inches set aside for hockey to provide informative and always well-written Panthers news. As well as being a source of information for existing fans, especially in the early days Mick’s reports definitely helped to raise awareness of the team and the sport among the people of Nottingham, which was absolutely crucial in building the fanbase we have today. While maintaining journalistic standards, Mick was always conscious of the fact that he was writing for a local audience. His reporting on the Panthers was unashamedly biased in their favour, and opposition players or teams, and at times British hockey bureaucracy, often found themselves on the receiving end of a well-chosen Holland barb.
As one of those fans who relied on the local print and broadcast media for my Panthers news in my youth, I remember that I would spend Mondays looking forward to getting home from school to read the weekend match reports in the Evening Post. And I have fond memories of my dad bringing me the paper to show me news of the club releasing an import or, most exciting, securing a promising new signing. And every weekend, in addition to the match preview on Friday, the Football Post on a Saturday devoted an entire page to hockey, giving Mick the chance to write more in-depth articles, interviews and the like. For young Panthers fans today, the huge number of websites, social media channels and podcasts are all part of being a fan. For us fans back in the 1980s and 1990s, Mick Holland’s articles and reports in the Evening Post that fulfilled the same role.
We can’t list his goals, points or trophies won at the end of the article as we do for playing and coaching staff. But thanks to his decades of coverage and his role in promoting the Panthers and the sport of ice hockey in Nottingham, Mick Holland is a deserving inductee to the TCW Hall of Fame.
Words: Ian Braisby
thecatswhiskersonline.com 