School Hockey

Northern History | History

 

SECONDARY SCHOOL HOCKEY

In 1977 Secondary School Hockey in conjunction with Onslow and Newlands College commenced. The teams grew to three in total under the Convenorship of Rex Manning assisted by Barry Ollerenshw, Kevin Joslin and Arthur Nattrass.

The objective was to allow a smoother transition into the open grade teams within the club and retain the investment made by Northern for the past 30 years nurturing Primary Schoolboys, only to lose a number of them at Secondary level.

Graeme Hunt was one of the first Onslow boys to play in the open grades making regular selection in the Senior A Team where he remained until the 1990's.

Other names of prominence to follow included Steve Millar, Willy Kennedy, Greg Jacobs all part of the winning 1980 Northern United Team coached by Rex Manning winning all 14 matches scoring 60 goals for with only 9 against - Greg and Willy scoring 19 each.

Northern continued to grow in strength and numbers with 4 teams throughout the 1980's including the introduction of an Under 15 side coached by Neil Holland.

This grade was his initiative from the Wellington Junior Advisory Committee because many secondary teams had only one or two teams requiring 3rd formers to play in 1stXI teams well above their ability just to make up numbers.

Many of the future Premier 1 & 2 players of the Club were now playing their entire youth hockey at the artificial surface on Wednesday or Friday nights increasing their skills and knowledge under effective umpiring and increased quality of competition.

Naturally the numbers of Wellington representatives selected increased markedly. Julian O'Sullivan, Paul Huxford, Graeme Hunt, Stephen Mills, and Richard Taylor all featured among the coaches over the 1980's and early 1990's.

Richard and Stephen lead the Newlands College Tour of Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney in 1988 and the Northern Secondary Team to Queensland in 1989.

By selling and making vast quantities of pizzas manufactured in the clubrooms the Queensland tour was a great success visiting Surfers Paradise, Tangalooma Island and Noosa Heads.

Matches were played against Merrimac State High School, an Oceanic XI comprising several state schools, and regional Under 17 teams at Gympie on the Sunshine Coast on a sand filled artificial surface.

In 1990 the Premier League Secondary Schoolboys Team won the Evening Post Wellington Championship and Phillips Knockout Tournament.

The Premier Reserve League Team in 1993 shared the Wellington Championship.

The Wellington Hockey Association decided to prohibit teams containing players from more than one school and as a result Onslow and Newlands Colleges were left to operate independently once again.

We were fortunate Sid Burrows, Lionel Chong and Warren Goff were able to coach until recently, however, we are now faced with depleted numbers of players in the schools and boys not being attracted back to hockey let alone Northern United on departure from Secondary School.

PRIMARY SCHOOL HOCKEY

Wellington Technical College Old Boys then Northern United was granted by the Wellington Hockey Association a region in which to develop and foster Primary School Hockey.

The area extended from Ngaio through to Johnsonville and later grew to encompass the newer suburbs of Crofton Downs through to Newlands and Churton Park.

Ken Mills and Rex Manning coached the first team of which Murray Down the current Premier 1 Men's Team Manager was a member and he continued on to play through the senior men's grades until recently and his son's have followed in his boot steps. Prominent Convenors of the schoolboy's section over the years have been Alan Mills, Warren Leckie, Rex Manning, Ken Wood, Stephen Mills, Doug Makinson, Willy Bartholomeusz, Alan Clarke, and Gavin Naftel. Under Alan Mills and Hugh Binnie the Eagles won the Championship in the early 1970's.

Judy Feary (later McIntyre) established the schoolgirls section in 1971 and was ably followed and assisted by Val Kennedy, Lynn Donaldson. Rose Sutherland, Dot Piner and Rachel Reid were other club members who contributed significantly to convening schoolgirls hockey in our region.

In the 50th Jubilee Year it was fitting that the Secondary Schoolboys 1st XI, Primary Boys Eagles and Primary Girls Tuis all won the Wellington Championship, a notable first ion the history of Wellington Hockey.

The Eagles went on to win 5 consecutive titles with many players making primary representative selection at B and Hatch Cup and several earning North Island and New Zealand Primary selection.

It is pleasing that a number of club members coached junior hockey while still playing at open grade. Graeme Wilson, Willy Kennedy, Dennis Hannah, Travis Wood, Suzanne Davies, Rose Sutherland, Margaret Kane and Rachel Reid being some of those.

In 1988 of our 6 mens teams 50% of the players could be traced to having come from the primary and secondary ranks. 2001 saw the Primary Schoolgirls win the Wellington Championship.

The Club is grateful for the many hours of work and assistance from players, official and parents transport, coach and guide the youngsters over the years. The Northern United Junior Hockey Club was formed in 2002 permitting Gavin Naftel and his team of coaches and parents to fund and develop junior hockey as a separate entity. Written by Stephen Mills

 

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