Club History
The Club can trace its heritage back to the formation of the Coorparoo
Hockey Club in 1930 by Reg Blower. It nominated a junior boys team in the
competition that year and after success in the J2 and J1 divisions over
the following seasons nominated its first senior men’s team in the
competition in 1934. It utilised a reserve at Boongall Road, Coorparoo to
train.
The Second World War intervened in 1940 and commitments to the various
armed services saw the Club disband before reforming in 1945. It took on
the lease of the reserve at Boongall Road the following year from the Brisbane
City Council. The new Club was joined in 1947 by teams of senior women and
girls.
In 1955 the Coorparoo Men’s Hockey Club changed its name to the Eastern
Suburbs Men’s Hockey Club. It maintained that name until 1980 when
the reference to being a men’s club was dropped.
Whilst playing under the auspices of the men’s club, the women’s
club operated as a separate entity and formalised that arrangement by forming
The Eastern Suburbs Women’s Hockey Club in 1968. A name it maintained
until the two clubs amalgamated in 1995.
The Club incorporated in 1988 as The Eastern Suburbs Hockey Club Inc. and
continued to be a men’s hockey club until the amalgamation in 1995.
Steady growth saw the Club expand and move to larger fields at The Thompson
Estate at Ridge Street Ekibin in 1964. It remained the Club’s home
until its forced relocation to O’Grady Park in 1970 by the Queensland
Government’s resumption of the fields to construct the South East
Freeway.
O’Grady Park was originally a multi-sport location with four hockey
fields and a sealed basketball court. The Club shared the tenancy with a
baseball, softball and basketball club at differing times under the auspices
of The Eastern Suburbs Sporting Association which held the lease and administered
the park and its use on behalf of each of the clubs. Over time the other
clubs ceased to use O’Grady Park and the hockey club became the sole
tenant and the sole controller of the Association.
The Club’s first home at O’Grady park was the rather modest
Clubhouse that it has recently resumed occupation of. The Club was responsible
for initially lighting the fields and then the construction of the larger
Clubhouse in 1974 and 1975. It included change rooms, male and female toilets,
an industrial kitchen, a walk in cold room, a canteen and fully equipped
bar.
Prior to the advent of the artificial surface the Club was a hive of activity.
Men trained at the O’Grady on Tuesday and Thursday nights, the women
and junior girls on Wednesday nights and the junior boys on Friday nights.
The junior boys played fixtures on a Saturday morning on a home and away
basis and the men’ fixtures followed in the afternoons, building to
the 1st Division fixture as the last game of the day. The women and junior
girls played their fixtures at Downey Park, as they do today, returning
to O’Grady to celebrate or commiserate. The park was also utilised
for junior carnivals during the year.
The day long festival of hockey at O’Grady created a wonderful sense
of community and Club. It gave the members a gathering point and was at
the centre of many a Club, family or personal celebration. This was complimented
by the fact that it provided the Club with a source of much needed revenue
to offset the upkeep and improvements of the park and to keep the cost of
participating in the sport to a minimum.
The widening of Fairfield Road resulted in resumption of land by the Council
from the park and the loss of one field and the shortening of a second.
The advent of the artificial surface however had a more dramatic impact
on Club life and the Club’s use of the park.
Initially only the 1st and 2nd Division men’s and women’s teams
trained and played away from the Club. Now the majority of the senior men’s
and women’s fixtures and a significant number of junior boys fixtures
are played on the artificial surfaces.
The Club had to adapt to the new challenges the artificial surface created
– a significant loss of revenue and a significant increase in the
cost of playing. Consideration were given to installing our own artificial
surface and upgrading the Club facilities to include a full liquor licence
and poker machines. A powerful local lobby group formed to oppose such improvements
and in light of that opposition was not seen as a viable option.
Several licensed Club’s in the area were approached with a view to
amalgamation. Most did not consider that our membership or the facilities
that we had to offer made amalgamation a worthwhile proposition.
A review undertaken of the use and continued tenancy of O’Grady Park
and its then
$20 000 annual upkeep. A decision was made to reduce our commitment at O’Grady
and negotiations were entered into with the Brisbane City Council and the
Brisbane Rugby League Referees Association with a view to them taking over
the lease of the park and the Club becoming a sub tenant in 1997.
The Referees Association commenced utilising the park as a training facility
almost immediately and the Club successfully negotiated the transfer of
the lease of O’Grady Park to the Brisbane Rugby League Referees in
1999. This resulted in the Club relinquishing tenancy of the larger Clubhouse
and returning to occupy the original Clubhouse and the Club reducing its
costs of remaining at O’Grady to a tenth of the previous figure.
Whilst the Club is free to play fixtures at O’Grady it has in recent
years nominated the State Hockey Centre as its home ground for its limited
men’s and boys grass fixtures. Centralisation of those fixtures to
Shaw Park at Kalinga in 2004 has seen an increase in field quality and a
better use of first aid and umpiring resources.
The Club currently utilises the park fields on Tuesday nights for fitness
training for senior men and women and junior boys and Thursday nights for
junior boys and girls training. It is also utilised for a social summer
hockey competition in October and November.
