St. Arnaud Hockey Club History

1965 - The St. Arnaud Hockey Club was formed, consisting then of only an A grade side. This team took out the first premiership in the North Central Hockey Association. Jean Cadzow was the inaugural secretary of the North Central league and the St. Arnaud Club was led by Dorothy Bell, Jean Cadzow as Vice-President and Jill Moreland Secretary/Treasurer. There were only 15 girls at the first meeting, which was held at the home of Kay Coleman. The uniform as decided on was a straight shift style with knife pleats from the hips. The colour was bright blue and Footscray football socks were teamed with this.

1966 - It was decided to hold working bees with the help of voluntary labour to fill the hole left by the extension of the trotting track at Lord Nelson Park in order to create a playing field for both the Hockey Club and the under 14 Football Club. The high school oval was utilised until the Lord Nelson Park ground became available in 1968.

1969 – This year saw the St. Arnaud A and B grade teams take out both premierships. Also this year the North Central won the A.2 Section at Country Week. Note: membership at this time was 50 cents per member and 20 cents per match played. The goalie nets had to be put up and taken down each Saturday.

1971 – This was the year we held a picture night in order to raise funds. The North Central played in A.1 and B.2 Sections at Country Week with North Central equal top with Shepparton with 6 points in A.1 and we won B.2 Section. Those St. Arnaud representatives were Bev Amos, Wendy McPherson, Starr Burrage, Wendy Pole, Jean Gloster, Carol Burgess, Audrey Goldsbury and Wendy Amos.

1975 – This year saw an end of year bus trip to the Melbourne Show.

1982 - Goldfields Turkeys were our sponsor and their emblem was sewn on our t-shirts. They donated turkeys for the raffling or sale.

1983 – This year saw the club in a different, community-aiding role after they saw the years bush fire victims needing and donated $50 to their plight.

1984 - St. Arnaud once again took out the double premiership and also the North Central Best and Fairest awards in both the A and B grade (Kerryn Dyke and Jenny Kell).

1985 - North Central won the B.2 section at Country Week with Bev Amos, Helen Amos, Brenda Proctor and Alison Bertalli being St. Arnaud reps. Glen Rusk and Bev Amos achieved their C grade umpiring certificates.

1986 - Bev Amos was the first North Central player to play 100 games and she and husband Graham were awarded Life Memberships of the North Central Hockey Club Association.

1987 - The commencement of the Minkey competition was developed and was enthusiastically welcomed. Our club has seen numbers as high as 40+ at trainings in 1993-94 and when you consider there is only 6 players to a Minkey side it becomes very difficult in selecting teams.

1988 - St. Arnaud was in charge of the league with Colleen Rusk President, Clare Maher secretary and Jan Lake treasurer.

1990 - Glen Rusk got his B grade umpiring certificate and Marie Boyd her C grade. An extension of the Minkey program was developed with an Under 15 mixed competition playing for a premiership.

1994 - This year saw the erection of lights to enable the hockey club to train for a longer period during the winter months.

1995 - An endeavour to form an under 17 boys competition was started, however many towns have found it difficult to organise and it has not got off the ground. Some St. Arnaud boys played in a round robin competition prior to the commencement of the season in Donald and performed very well. Their game skills and agility were a delight to watch. They played against a Grampian side and a Warracknabeal team. Also in 1995, the year saw the biggest highlights with an All Starts team playing the current players. Whilst matches such as these have been played before I'm sure not with quite the enthusiasm as displayed this year. The All Starts team were a mixed team with a few extra players on the field than the allotted 11 and an average age of 40 years.

This is by no means a complete history of the club. I am sure many of you could remember many other exciting times over the forty four years. We have compiled this purely as a starting point and please feel free to contact the club to add new information.