Scotland women’s hockey star Amy Costello has lost out in the prestige Hockey Writers’ Club (HWC) annual Player of the Year awards.
The former Inverleith player, who is in the Great Britain squad and played in the last Olympics, was short-listed along with Maddie Axford for senior player of the year but the award went to England’s Biba Mills Mills.
Scotland men’s player, Struan Walker, did, however, win the men’s award. Last year, Lee Morton became the first Scottish player since Alan Forsyth in 2018 to win the senior men’s award.
And, following the vote by HWC members, compatriot Walker beat English pair James Mazarelo and Nick Bandurak.
Walker, who now plays for Dutch clu,b side, Oranje-Rood, said: “It’s very nice to have the recognition of playing well and I am very appreciative of the award.
“But, really it’s about a tight knit hockey team, as well as training with Great Britain (GB). It’s always been about being together and to keep getting better and becoming a closer team.”
Walker started his career at Clydesdale and made the switch to Club an der Alster in Germany six years ago. He made his debut for Scotland in 2021. Two years later, he was called up for the GB team in the FIH Pro League where he scored twice in his first three games.
Over the last season in the Netherlands, Walker was one of the stars of the Dutch league campaign, scoring 24 goals.
East Grinstead’s Mills, 17, becomes the first player to win either a HWC junior or youth award, for under-16 or under-18 players, followed by a senior award back-to-back.
Meanwhile Walker, 23, becomes the second Scottish player to win the senior player’s award in succession following the HWC’s 42nd awards.
Mills, a former Brighton College student who will be playing in the Netherlands next season, is also the first player to win the HWC senior player’s award having yet to receive a full international cap.
She has already made history in her rising career when, in 2024, she became the youngest-ever goalscorer in the Euro Hockey League at the age of 15 when playing for East Grinstead in European hockey’s club showpiece.
In the 2024/25 season, she finished top scorer in the women’s Premier Division with 20 goals and top scorer in the indoor Super 6s.
At the indoor EuroHockey Club Trophy she also finished top of the goalscoring table before doing the same with England outdoors under-18 team at the European Championships in July 2025.
In the last three years she has notched more than 100 indoor and outdoor Premier Division goals indoors and outdoors.
EDGED OUT: Amy Costello (foreground) playing for Scotland against India under-21 at Peffermill this week. Picture Nigel Duncan. Below: Struan Walker (headband) in action. Picture courtesy of Hockey Writers’ Club.
