ABOUT HIGH SCHOOL OLD BOYS-BURNSIDE HOCKEY CLUB

Born to compete..

The Men's Story...

The Christchurch High School Old Boys' Club was, at the time of the amalgamation, a successful men's club with open membership, a solid playing performance and a thriving social atmosphere based on its club rooms in Hagley Park. Its roots stretch back to 1944 when a group of keen staff at Christchurch Boys' High School had the vision to create the club in post World War II times to provide an outlet for old boys of the school, keen on hockey, to continue playing after leaving school. The club was very successful during the 50's and 60's, winning eight successive senior competitions on the local Christchurch scene. During this period the club produced seven New Zealand representatives. At the 1964 and 68 Olympics, club member Alan Patterson was the captain. In the 70's club membership was opened up to non-Old Boys in order to build up the club and maintain its competitiveness. During this period one of our star players of the golden era of the 60s Ernie Barnes became national coach. Two more players became New Zealand representatives, Jeff Gibson and Graeme Sligo. The University Club in Christchurch was always among the club's top rivals during this period consistently edging out Old Boys from the top competition slot. The 1980's saw the clubrooms develop, joining in with the High School Old Boys' Cricket Club in what is now known as the Hadlee Pavilion (named after the famous cricketing family of old boys from the school). The 1980's also saw the introduction of the modern "turf" game which had a drastic effect on the "Saturday afternoon" concept on the old grass fields around the city. The club fielded up to 6 grass teams in its heyday.

The Women's Story...

The parallel development of the Burnside Ladies Hockey Club is also a story of early vision and success - initially by Dorothy ("Dot") Mouat who founded the club in 1956. The origins of the club were based on the Burnside Primary School girls' hockey team, which Dot had coached for 3 years prior to 1956. Once again the desire to be able to carry on playing hockey after leaving school was a big motivation. After 4 years the club had been built up to 4 teams, with Dot coaching 2 of them at Burnside Park after her school duties at Burnside Park. Other early contributors were Joy Loredo and Gwitha Shankland and the club grew rapidly to field 11 teams by 1970 and 15 teams by the 1980's. A characteristic of the club has always been the nurturing of young hockey players who have been groomed and guided by the tremendous coaching effort lead by Dot who was President from 1957 to 1978 and Club Captain until her "retirement" in 1982. The Burnside Ladies Hockey Club produced three New Zealand representatives - Adrienne Alleway, Judy Phillips, and Mary Clinton (now Deakins) - as well as many Canterbury representatives prior to the amalgamation in 1989. During the 1980's and early 1990's, the New Zealand team was captained by Mary Clinton; Mary eventually played 113 games for New Zealand and is now a Life Member of the club.

The Combined Club...

What brought the clubs together was the realisation that significant synergy existed between the clubs: The Burnside Ladies had a phenomenal success story with the development of youth hockey and it was thought that this coaching drive and energy, evident with the young players, would provide a very valuable input with an amalgamated club. The Old Boys' Club had developed its administrative systems through to becoming an Incorporated Society and had a club room to offer as a base. The new combined club constitution was drawn up and accepted in December 1989, bringing with it a new enlarged club to twenty or so playing teams, thus forming the basis of the present-day club. Club teams playing in the Canterbury Hockey Association's Premier competition, have had their successes through the years. As stated above, the Men's senior team won eight consecutive titles from 1958 to 1966 but took 30 years to break the drought winning again in 1997. The Women's senior team won the competition many times during the 1980's and 1990's, also winning a National Club Competition in the same period. 

*Compiled by Tas Scott - Life Member and Past President HSOB Hockey Club Inc.