Colin's Story
Colin Batch represented Australia at the Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988 Olympic Games. The Victorian forward made his international debut in October 1979 and, aged 22, was the youngest member of the Australian men’s hockey team selected for Moscow 1980. However, Australia’s hockey federation withdrew its teams amid the boycott of the Games, denying Batch the opportunity to make his Olympic debut.
Batch eventually made his Olympic debut at Los Angeles 1984. Australia won each of its five preliminary matches before losing the semi-final and bronze medal match, finishing fourth. Four years later in Seoul, Australia again completed the preliminary stage undefeated but suffered narrow losses in the semi-final and bronze medal playoff to place fourth for a second successive Games.
Across an international career spanning 1979 to 1990, Batch played 175 matches and scored 100 goals for Australia. He was a member of the team that won the 1986 World Cup and also collected World Cup bronze medals in 1982 and 1990. His other achievements included four Champions Trophy titles.
Batch subsequently built an extensive international coaching career. As an assistant coach of the Kookaburras, he helped Australia win its first Olympic men’s hockey gold medal at Athens 2004 and a bronze medal at Beijing 2008. He later served as head coach of Belgium and New Zealand before being appointed Australian men’s head coach in 2016.
Under Batch, Australia won Commonwealth Games gold medals in 2018 and 2022, secured international league titles in 2019 and 2023-24 and claimed the silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games. His final Olympic campaign as Kookaburras coach ended in the quarter-finals at Paris 2024, after which he stepped down following eight years in charge.
Batch was named the international men’s Coach of the Year for 2019 and was inducted into the Hockey Australia Hall of Fame as an athlete in 2021.
