History

The First Decade – 1955 to 1964

In 1955, Central Hockey Club entered a single team in the senior competition of the Australian Capital Territory Hockey Association (ACTHA) and played their first competition match on the 7th May 1955 against Old Canberrans.

The Canberra Times write up of the game read:

NEW CENTRAL HOCKEY CLUB OPENS WELL

The newly formed Central Hockey Club showed promising form in its first match to defeat Old Canberrans by three goals to one on Saturday. The winners led three nil at half time. Old Canberrans showed improved combination in the second half and Barnard penetrated Central’s defence only to see his drive deflected. Poor ball control deprived Old Canberrans of other opportunities even though Brill and Holmes for Central were generally sound in defence. Old Canberrans eventually scored in the last few minutes of the match when Barnard netted a free hit. Scores: Central 3 (Schumack 2, Coppin 1) Old Canberrans 1 Barnard.”

The Club was formed when the Northern Suburbs Club folded at the close of the 1954 season and a meeting of Richie Brill, Kevin Day and Ted Holmes, decided to approach other players who they considered may be interested. It was at this meeting that our life began. The name of the Club was taken from a Newcastle Club and the colours, navy blue and white, were from the Newtown Rugby League Club.

The players in the first match were: Ted Norton goalie, Ted Holmes and Kevin Day backs, Brian Bissaker, Jim Cuthbertson and Richie Brill halves, Col Barnard, John Coppin, John Schumack, John Crisp and Graham Walker forwards. There were two reserves: Lyall Craft and Jim Chapman, but they were only used in emergencies.

The Club began with a win, and in their first season went on to come in second in the minor premiership points. They were defeated in the preliminary final of the ACTHA 1st Grade competition.

However the Club did win a premiership in their first year when an under-sixteen team was undefeated in winning the Martin Cup. This team came from Queanbeyan High School and was trained by Nick Lewin, a teacher and first grade player for another club. Known members were: Alan Brown, Albert Coppin, Bob Harrigan, David Evans, Ross Jones, Jim Muir, Peter Lopez, Robert Hill and Dan Couch.

The next year the Club entered in the A and B grade competitions. Once again the A grade was beaten in the preliminary final after finishing the rounds as minor premiers. The B grade team met the same fate, being minor premiers, but beaten by St. Patricks in the grand final.

In 1957, the Club won its first A grade premiership when they defeated Presbyterians 2-1 after finishing third at the end of the rounds. By this time the team had added three new players to the initial run-on team: Ross Jones and David Evans, both from the 1955 under-sixteen team, and Keith Woodward from Tasmania.

The Canberra Times reported a crowd of one thousand watched Central defeat Waratah 3-1 in the grand final in 1958 in a year when we entered three teams in the ACTHA competition.

Central continued its success in 1959 when they were minor premiers scoring 90 goals for and 24 against, and defeated St. Patricks 6-3 for the premiership. During the first ten years Central won six A grade premierships, five minor premierships, an under sixteen and one B grade final, and by 1964 had three teams playing in the navy blue.

Over this period the A grade team retained a good number of the original players but added in latter years Olympians Glen Jobson and Errol Bill, and NSW player Dave Lowrey to the first grade team.

The Second Decade - 1965 to 1974

The second decade was Central’s growth period. Ray Brown moved from Goulburn in 1960 and Albert Viney, his brother’s, brother in law, had him filling in as a reserve in the lower grades from 1962 on. Ray approached the Club in 1965 asking if they were interested in entering a junior side the following year and, if they were, could they help financially. The answer was, sure we would like some junior teams but as to help moneywise, well, that was a different matter. However, as Ray already had a nucleus, with his son Tony, Tony’s mates, friends from Lyneham Primary, and Jim Cuthbertson’s three boys, he proceeded with a plan for an under 10 team, nearly all under eight, for 1966. Mike and Tim Page came to town over the summer and were added to the ranks. Ray also recruited from Lyneham High School and picked up enough boys for an under-sixteen team. The under-ten side never won a game in 1966 but did win the premiership in 1968 and members of that team only lost one premiership over the next six years. Mike and Tim Page are still playing with Central.

A system of going to four primary schools with registration notices was established and in 1968 Ray Brown and Mark Keyworth fronted at Southwell Park for registration day and were confronted with over one hundred kids, with their parents. They were a little overwhelmed to say the least but managed somehow, to field eleven boys’ teams. There was great backup to fill teams in the early years when Max Badham was Head Master at Turner Primary and we managed to recruit those few extras through Turner School. Within five years we were fielding twelve boys’ teams.

In 1970, a women’s club, previously the Wanderers, joined with Central and the women’s side of the Club commenced. The school contacts, and the siblings of the boys, helped fill the women’s and girls’ teams from 1970. Central was also fortunate to pick up several good administers from Wanderers; Pat Bill (Brick), Carol Garnett, Joan Noble and Eva Bros to name a few. Three women’s teams and two girls’ sides were fielded alongside five men’s teams and the twelve boys’ teams. This was a growth, in five years, from three teams to twenty-two, making Central the largest Club in the ACT.

In 1973 our women’s team won our first A Grade women’s premiership. The women also won the A2 grade and were joint premiers in the A3 and B1 grades. There was no women’s club championship awarded at the time but there is no doubt we would have added it to the men’s and boys’ champion club trophies that year, if there was. The members of our first women’s premiership team were June Osland, Carol Weaven, Joan Noble, Lyn Biddle, Leanne Jobson, Lesley Wise, Julie Abrahams, Leanne Hutch, Lyn Rippon, Glenys Hutch, Margie Exton, Pat Bill (coach).

In 1974 Central fielded twenty-seven teams and won eleven premierships. They were Club Champions in both boys’ and women’s competitions.

What years they were. Central commenced a newsletter in June 1969. For a number of years it was distributed fortnightly, even over the summer months, when juniors dropped them into members’ letterboxes. There is great reading in these old journals.

In the seventies the Club was very social. One hundred and seventy two people attended the 1970 presentation night and numerous barbeques, cricket matches, bowling, theatre nights and Christmas parties were well attended and enjoyed.

Carnivals were a big thing in the early days and the Club was a keen contestant, having many successes. Teams played at Canberra, Goulburn, Crookwell, Cowra, Bega, Albury, Tamworth and several other places.

Annual matches against Goulburn Colts commenced in 1962 and had expanded to a major event by 1974 when Central were playing both Men’s and Boys’ teams. The Women played against the Colts’ sister Club, Ajax. The Colts team held an edge over the early years but all the matches were a great contest, played in the right spirit with the hospitality in an even better spirit.

Matches against John Cox’s old Club, Ryde, were commenced in the seventies and were also keenly contested - for The Cup, The Other Cup and The Other Other Cup.

In 1973 the junior boys ventured on their first tour when five Coaches and managers loaded 39 boys, aged from nine to sixteen years, into a coach and headed to Redcliffe, Queensland, playing matches at Parramatta, Taree, Murwillumbah, Commercial Club Brisbane, on the way there. Games were played against Redcliffe and Valleys at Redcliffe before returning via Lismore and Newcastle. It was ten, tiring but great days and the forerunner of many successful tours in the future.

The tour came about when Mark Keyworth, who had been introduced to our sport when he was in Canberra in 1966-1968, returned home and organised his town’s local club to tour to Canberra. With Central as hosts, it was enough to get Ray Brown, and Nugget O’Brien started and with Ted Norton, Graham Walker and Merv McInnes as our umpire, the trip was made. These tours have always been the conduit that has enabled the Club to have such great success with our junior teams.

The Third Decade – 1975 to 1984

If the first decade was formative and the second growth, then the third was a mixture of innovation and consolidation.

The Club’s first innovation was in 1973 when three teams of boys travelled north to Redcliffe. This was followed with a repeat of the Queensland trip in 1976. In 1978 the Boys’ Committee, led by Cec Martin, resolved that a car raffle should be held to enable the tour to fly to Queensland. The raffle was a great success raising $9,534 however the flying idea did not receive similar support from the players and the trip did not take place. The boys did make a couple of smaller tours but the next long tour by them was in 1983 when they went south to Victoria having their first taste of playing on synthetic surface pitches.

In the meantime, in 1980, the Girls’ Committee resolved that funds were required for possible tours or other development projects and a second successful car raffle was held which raised $9,609. This was supported by several mothers, Monica Jones, Lesley Galvin and Lorraine Brooks, to name a few, who attended the local drinking holes selling tickets. The girls made small tours to Baulkham Hills organised by Kerry Stuckey, and St Georges Basin before a major tour, replicating the boys’ earlier tours, to Redcliffe in 1983.

The Club also welcomed visiting teams from other cities including The Raffelbery Men’s Hockey Club from West Germany in 1977 and Ngaruawakia girl’s team from New Zealand in 1982.

During the 1970’s, the Club established a coaching and development committee, headed by Ross Jones, which set up training schedules for the juniors and organised a former Australian Captain, Mike Craig to attend as a visiting coach in 1980. He was followed by Barry Dancer, who visited in 1981 and 1982. Barry at the time was an Australian player and is currently the Australian Men’s Coach. These coaching visits were a great success and after Mike Craig’s visit the Club commenced a mini hockey program in 1980 which was a forerunner to the current Minkey program which is run in ACT today. The Club established the program on its own in 1980 and the ACTJHA decided to go with the format in 1981 in which Central entered ten mixed teams. The coaches of the 1981 mini hockey were John O’Brien, Fred Flanagan, Pat Price and Bruce Barnard. In 1983 we entered a high school girls’ team with a couple of senior men players in the senior mixed indoor competition and were successful in that and the following year.

In 1978 the Club donated a trophy to the ACTWHA for the Club Champion and commenced the organising and running of Central Canberra Women’s Carnival. This was to become a major fund-raising event until it finished with the advent of synthetic surfaces.

Our 25th year celebration dinner was held in 1979 and 208 people attended. Over this decade the annual presentation nights’ attendances regularly exceeded 200, with 221 people attending in 1977. During this time the Club’s social events were well attended by many stalwart members.

In 1976 the Club approached the then Department of Territories to acquire its own ground and requested that the Flinders Oval in Griffith be leased to the Club. A grounds fund was established and all fund raising was applied to that account for use when the ground was acquired. Although the negotiations continued for a number of years nothing positive was forth coming.

The Club then affiliated with Eastern Suburbs Rugby Club in their new clubhouse in Kingston. This became our meeting venue and many social activities took place there. Many members will remember the lovely big wood fire and impromptu dinners in the restaurant after a freezing afternoon on the field.

In 1983, Club jumpers and sloppy Joes became available for sale and a Club tracksuit was available for all members.

Lorraine Brook, our then secretary, organised our first sponsorship with a transport company Jetspress Ltd in 1980. This sponsorship continued for a number of years.

The success of the Club on the playing field over this decade was strong with Central winning many premierships and Club Championships. In 1976 Central was Club Champion in the Men’s, Women’s and the Boys’ Competitions. The Girls’ Association did not hold one.

In a way, an unhappy event which happened in 1980, galvanised the Club. In that year, due to an internal difference within the Club, eighty percent of the Women’s Club made the decision to leave and reform the Wanderers Women’s Hockey Club, which is now defunct. This left Central with one team and after recruiting from parents and partners, including those with no previous playing experience, we managed to enter two teams in the Women’s Competition - A4 and B3. These teams were coached by Mark Urquhart and Richard Black respectively. As team numbers grew over the next couple of years, Mark and Richard were joined by Charles Dooley, Bruce Howson and Peter Tozer to form a strong and successful coaching team to support of the overall recovery of the Women’s section of the Club. It took seven years to obtain A1 grading but in the intervening years Central had seven teams playing by 1984 and won the Club Championship for the third year in a row.

The Fourth Decade – 1985 to 1994

In the ten-year period 1985-1994, the Club reached its peak in registered players when there were 450 in the 1986 winter season. The Club fielded seven teams in each of the Men’s and Women’s competitions, fifteen junior teams and eighteen Minkey teams. Central fielded teams in the high twenties in the winter competition plus our Minkey numbers, which fluctuated between ten and eighteen. Central was also fielding large numbers in the indoor competition.

The Club was strongly represented in Associations’ committees. Winning the Captain Cook Trophy for the Club giving the greatest assistance to the Association on many occasions. In 1993 we won it for the thirteenth time from a possible twenty-two. Central members were predominant in providing coaches and managers for representative teams and in one year provided all the officials for the men’s and boys’ representative teams.

The Club was always well represented in the ACT teams, culminating in 1989 when thirty of our members donned the ACT colours.

The junior tours continued in 1986, 1989 and 1992 although with changes to the four-year school terms and age divisions they were becoming more difficult to organise.

The Club changed licensed club premises in 1986 when they affiliated with the National Tennis Centre due mainly to our north side base. This affiliation ceased in the early nineties when The Hockey Centre opened.

Jetspress was taken over by Mayne Nickless in 1985, which saw the end of five years of sponsorship. The Club managed to pick up a one-year sponsorship from Tooheys in 1986, and was then fortunate to have Dick Aubrey, a member of our girls’ committee, introduce us to Dennis McCurdy at Nubrik, who commenced sponsoring the Club in October 1988. This sponsorship continued until the company closed its Canberra plant in 1996 although a reduced final amount was received in 1997. Over these years we also had a minor sponsorship with Willow Park Nursery.

In 1993 the Gold Silver Bronze Awards for Club voluntary participation were introduced.