Bournville Hockey Club was founded in 1902
as a section of the Bournville Athletic Club joining,inter alia, Football,Cricket,Netball
and Gymnastics. The first Men's fixture was on November 15th against Small
Heath which we lost 4-1. (Men's fixtures 1902-1903)
The same year Ladies hockey was attempted
for some weeks but was found impractical "due to the severe slope of the
ground, which made it impossible for players on the lower level to combine
with those on the upper".
In 1904 a new pitch was laid in the Girls
Grounds and the Ladies had their first game against Highbury on October
22nd which we won 15-0 and afterwards both teams were "entertained in the
forewomen's dining room". (Men 1905) By the
end of the season both the Men and the Ladies were running two teams .(Ladies
1906).
The Ladies added a third team in 1907,a
fourth in 1908 and a fifth in 1911.
In February 1909 Bournville hosted a divisional
South v Midlands match "the most interesting in the history of the game"
before a record attendance of around 2000 and in November hosted the County
Championship - Worcestershire v Derbyshire.
In 1914 Hockey at Bournville was suspended
for the duration of the War.
The Inter-War years saw a boom in Hockey
at Bournville especially with the Ladies who by 1922 were fielding eight
teams which they maintained throughout the period. The Men increased to
three teams in 1929.
(Mens 1sts 1927)
Hockey
was added to the Bournville Boys' Club portfolio in 1922 and a successful
inter-departmental competition was established.
In 1927 a Ladies International (England
v South Africa) was hosted at Bournville .During this period many Bournville
players represented Worcestershire amongst them Arthur
Melley who played in every County game for ten + years. 1935 saw Bournville's
first trip to the Easter Hockey Festival at Worthing.
Throughout County,Divisional and International
games were frequently played on "The Rec'.
Once again Hockey,as everything else,was
disrupted by War,but post war soon began to thrive at Bournville with Phil
Hewitt remarking that "only a heavy roller was needed to complete our Hockey
Utopia (Men c 1950) and
the Ladies beginning the first of many
annual pilgrimages to Ramsgate (Ladies at Ramsgate
1953)
In 1955 David Griffith-Jones was selected
for Wales to become Bournville's first international player
********************************************************************************************
When the first fledging Midlands League
was formed in 1970, Bournville were successful enough to become Worcestershire's
representative in the new properly- structured Midlands League. Bournville
were Champions of this League five times between 1977 and 1988. (Champions
1977-1978)
The National Hockey League was formed in
1988 and Bournville, as one of the Midlands top five clubs, were promoted
to Division Two. Promotion to Division One was achieved as Champions in
1991. Following restructuring of the National League in 1996 a Premier
League of 12 clubs was established with Bournville being relegated to Division
One. They finished as Champions of this in 1998 and were promoted again
to the Premier League.
Many of the squad of the early 80s have
remained at Bournville and helped us reach the Final of the HA Veterans
Cup in 1998 and 1999.
The Ladies became Champions of the Worcestershire
Women's League in 2001 and have now been promoted to the Midlands Conference
.
As with most "works" sides membership was
initially restricted to Employees of Cadbury's but gradually became fully
open by the 1980's and now proffers no barriers to race, gender, status,
age or ability
In 1998 Bournville entered a partnership
with Birmingham University to encourage top class players to come to Birmingham
and play for Bournville.
Today's membership consists of a healthy
balance of local residents and students together with those who travel
further to enjoy the standards and sociability of Bournville.
Our age range spans from thirteen to sixty
three whilst our ability range spans from the utterly inept to Internationals.
Initially Bournville played on the Men's
Recreation Ground at Cadbury's, where the pitch was of sufficient standard
that International matches were held there in 1907 and 1914 as well as
numerous Divisional and County matches, and at Rowheath which was also
part of Cadbury's facilities. Entertaining and Social activities were held
at Cadbury's Social Club.
In the 1980's as Cadbury's, along with
many other factories, decided to close down the bulk of their sports facilities
and Hockey in general moved away from grass pitches to Astro pitches, Bournville
were forced to move away, initially playing at a variety of School pitches
before settling down at Birmingham University and King Edward VI High School
for Girls and reaching an agreement with Tally Ho Bowls Club for a
Club base there.
Bournville currently run six Men's teams
and three Ladies together with both Men's and Ladies Veteran teams as well
as a regular Mixed team
The Men's First team are in the Division
One of the English Hockey League.
The Men's Second, Third and Fourth teams
are in the Premier Division of their respective Midlands (DTZ) Leagues
whilst the Men's Fifth team are in the Midlands South West League. The
Men's Sixth team are now in the West Midlands Fathom (like a League but
not so deep)
The Ladies First team are in the Midlands
Conference with the Second team in Division One of the Worcestershire Ladies
League with the Third team in Division Three.
There are weekly midweek friendly Veteran
fixtures. The Men regularly enjoy success in the HA Veterans Cup whilst
the Ladies are currently Worcestershire Champions.
<<<
If you would like to play against us then you will find Bournville welcoming and organized hosts. Having had successful tours to Gibraltar, Budapest, Frankfurt, Paris, Turin, Munich and Barcelona we are keen to return the compliment. You will find Birmingham an exciting and vibrant city to visit.
More about Birmingham >>>>>>> 