History

The Naenae Hockey Club has a proud history, formed after a meeting held at Naenae College in February 1959. In the begining there were only ten full-time players, several others were required to fill the gaps who were called on from the college teams. Founding members included Graham Clarke, John Gower, Gary Hobbs, Alan Muir, Robin Bilby, Brian Trigger and Grant Harker.

The team was entered into 4th Grade of the Wellington Hockey Association (WHA) competition and finished the first year mid-table. The first uniform was an Oxford Blue rugby jersey with a red V on the front and back and grey college socks. Travel in those days was mainly trains & buses as nobody had cars. Games were played as far afield as Karori Park to Upper Hutt, Brooklyn to Johnsonville.

In 1960 a game between Naenae and Petone was the first to be shown on TV in the Wellington area. It was a brief sporting item on the local news.

In the first years we trained ourselves. A good incentive to go to practice was to bring a few beers for after training. Remember, these were the days of 6 o’clock closing! The first coach was Jim Manson, who also helped to start the boys’ teams. Jim became our first Life Member. The Club grew in strength over the next few years, having four men’s and two boys’ teams.

In the 60’s our Senior Reserve team won it’s grade without a loss and played the Upper Hutt Warriors for a place in the Senior grade. We won this match 3-2.

In the year 2000 the Club formed it's first women's team. The team started in Reserve 3 and was promoted to Reserve 2 in that year. This side of the club gained more and more momentum and as a result we have a good base of players ranging from college age to over 40!