POPULAR British forward Tony Redmond had no hesitation in returning to the Herd last summer to once more pull on a Bison shirt.

The 29-year-old said: "I never chose to leave Basingstoke, so living in the town I was more than happy to return and liked the ideas and direction that Mark Bernard had for the team."

This season has seen Redmond set a new club record of league appearances as he passed the previous record of 312 held by fellow Brit Anthony Page.

Redmond admitted that setting a new club record had not been his aim when he joined as a 17-year-old. He said: "It is a nice thing to achieve and pass 'Pager', who seemed to have been around forever. If I am able to come back next season it will be my 10th, so hopefully I will get a testimonial."

With so many seasons playing for the team, the all-time top-scoring British forward for the club has a lot of good memories, with his top picks all coming in one city - Sheffield.

In his first season with the club, when the team were known as the Beavers, he remembers one game in particular from the Heineken division one championship-winning campaign against runners-up Sheffield.

Redmond takes up the story: "That game was billed as the Clash of the Titans and Dave Simms of Sheffield had been saying it was just our Canadians that won games for us.

"We played the game minus Kevin Conway, one of our imports, and beat them 9-5. I scored a hat-trick and six of the nine goals were scored by Brits.

That was during Redmond's first spell with the club from 1992 to 1997, a season at Slough Jets followed before he returned to Basingstoke for three more years between 1998 and 2001.

Once again he helped the team - now called the Bison - to some more silverware, winning two Benson and Hedges Plates. Redmond is the only player to have three winner's medals, having won one with Slough.

He said: "The sweetest of those three wins was beating Guildford in the last one as they turned up expecting to win. I also set up two of the goals in the 3-2 win.

Three seasons at Guildford followed before he returned to Basingstoke this term, and he is currently playing on an all-British forward line alongside teenagers Greg Wood and Shaun Thompson.

Redmond said: "They are a joy to play with and I am passing on my experience to them as they both have a great attitude and it keeps me feeling young!"

Redmond himself made his own debut at the age of 14 for his home town team Glasgow, having started playing hockey at the age of six.

His older brother Kenny, another former Basingstoke player, was already playing, and he now lives in Ireland.

The younger brother said: "Kenny and his two sons Conor and Anthony came and watched me in Belfast, which was really nice."

Redmond has seen many changes in his time during the sport, and commenting about the way forward he said: " I have heard they are talking about 10 imports for next season, which I think is a good idea. After all, we are playing in Britain and I think the fans like watching the Brits by the reception they receive."

Another issue which looks set to dominate the headlines as the season comes to a close is the formation of next season's league, as the British National League has been invited to join the Elite League in which the Bison play.

The Bison forward said: "I would like to see one big league where we play every team home and away twice, but that's my personal opinion."

Behind every good man they say there is a good woman, well in Redmond's case there are two in wife Emma and three-year-old daughter Lucy.

The family are expecting another child in the near future.

The proud father and husband said: " Lucy enjoys watching me play and we are all now looking forward to another addition to the family."