West Bromwich Hockey Club - A Brief History

Hockey in the Midlands began to be played in its modern form back in the 1870's. The exact date that our club was formed is not known for certain although the first official records date back to 1885. Taking this as the date of formation it still makes our club one of the oldest clubs in the country.

The club was formed by employees of 'George Salters', as indeed was West Bromwich Albion F.C. The hockey club had close links with the Albion in the early years; they shared playing facilities and even players. One of the most famous players of both clubs was Ezra Horton. As an Albion player he played in the 1886 cup final which they lost after a replay. A year later he was again on the losing side, this time the opposition being Aston Villa (their first win). Horton at last got his hand on a winning medal in the 1888-cup final against Preston North End.

Ten years later, as a hockey player, he became the second player from the Midlands to represent England when he was centre half in the team that beat Ireland 3 -1 in the presence of The Duke of York. As far as the records show Ezra Horton was the most successful hockey/football player ever.

Over the century a number of other players have gone onto international honours. Among the players who have passed through our club there have been many civic dignitaries including a former Mayor of Birmingham and a former Mayor of Wednesbury. A past chairman of the Football Association, Bert Millichip, was also a member of our club for many years.

In more recent times the club has come through several periods of financial difficulty and an uncertain future. In the early 1970's the Midlands Hockey league was formed but through the early years of the league West Bromwich H.C. slipped down into the fourth division. Now there are 1st XI, 2nd XI and 3rd XI leagues with West Bromwich constantly pushing for promotion. Members of West Brom H.C. are friendly and enjoy their hockey. Back in February 1991 the club held a charity game in aid of a former member who had been paralysed in a motor car accident. The club managed to raise over £1000 and bought a special wheelchair. During our season we also hold full raising events and raffles to help with the general running costs of the club both on and off the pitch. Also every year, at Easter weekend, the club is represented at the Torbay Easter Hockey Festival, which has been held every year since 1950.

In earlier years West Bromwich H.C. has struggled. We were forced to change home pitches, back in the 1970's, a number of times. At one stage, due to land subsidence at Tipton, we were forced to play our home games at Wolverhampton. During this time our membership started to fall away and it became clear that something had to be done to restore the clubs fortunes and secure our future.

Over the past few years we have concentrated our efforts on building a sound base for the club as a foundation. During this time we have firmly established ourselves at Tividale Comprehensive School. We have put great emphasis on establishing strong youth and schoolboy squads. Most recently a number of these young players have been on the verge of playing in the senior squad.

The club now runs 3 senior teams and a Badger team plus enters numerous tournaments between the months of September through to April. Membership is good but we do have a problem in that we do not have a lot of players in the 20 to 30 age groups. This obviously would affect membership in the future. With this clearly in the clubs minds it was decided to establish a 'coaching service' to the local community to both attract new, young players and teach children how to play hockey safely plus enjoy it.

A few years ago such a 'service' was established with several members going on coaching courses to enable proper, professional coaching to be given. The coaching courses were offered on a Saturday morning with badger teams being formed. The coaching service has continued to grow recently and it was decided to change the service to 'The West Bromwich Hockey School'. Presently we have 5 qualified coaches with more members going on courses.

We teach players from age 7 to 16 years old with teams being entered in under 10, under 11, etc

Competitions. We encourage parents to take an active role with travel to and from games plus in the administration of the school. We are always on the look out for new members and to obviously continue to survive from one season to the next. But we also wish to continue providing our coaching service to the local community. The next few years ahead are very important to the survive of our club and we are therefore constantly on the look out for sponsorship, support and fund raising to help with running costs from many different sources.

At the start of the 1999/2000 season Richard Woodhall, the famous local boxer, agreed to be our club president and has attended several coaching sessions to help pass on his training and fitness expertise. His term finished in 2003.

The club's 1st XI team gained promotion at the end of the 1999/2000 season to go up into Division 1 West but only survived one season before being regulated.

Hockey is a sport to be enjoyed by everyone at any age. It is our aim to keep it fun and accessible to all, children and adults a like, in and around the local community for many years to come. West Bromwich Hockey Club have an active role in the local community as well as helping to organise the Sandwell hockey boys and girls teams for the Black Country Olypmic games (recently the Millennium Games).

At the end of the 2004/2005 season both our 1st XI and 2nd XI teams gained promotion back into Division 1 West.

West Bromwich Hockey Club aim to build on this success and have already planned to recruit further members and badgers to help the club grow. In June 2005 the club held its first Mini Tournament which was entitled: THE FIRST ANNUAL SANDWELL SCHOOL HOCKEY TOURNAMENT IN PARTNERSHIP WITH WEST BROMWICH MENS HOCKEY CLUB which proved to be a great success with local schools. It is now planned as an annula event with hopefully all local schools putting in a team.

West Bromwich were also made homeless when the Barley Mow Pub was closed suddenly. We now presently use the Rowley Olympic Pub as our base at the top of the City Road.

West Bromwich Hockey Club plan to survivie for many, many years to come helping out the local community and offering hockey for all ages and all ranges of ability. We are now in our 120th season and hope to grow from strength to strength.