Bridgwater Hockey Club History

Created by Andy Norris.

' It was proposed by Mr. Bateman and seconded by Mr. Rood and resolved that a Hockey Club be and hereby is formed to be known as the Bridgwater Hockey Club '

These are the exact words written by a Mr. McCombie and taken from the original Minute Book of the Bridgwater Hockey Club. That date was ..... Wednesday 2nd September 1925.

The preliminary meeting of the Bridgwater Hockey Club was held at the offices of Chartered Accountants Butterworth & Bell (now called Butterworth, Jones & Co.) of 27 Cornhill, Bridgwater. They have though now moved to another part of Bridgwater having offices in Burnham, Langport, Somerton and Taunton.

Bridgwater played on grass on the outfield of the BRIDGWATER CRICKET CLUB, Durleigh Road with a strip of black and white quarters and dark blue shorts. Yearly subscriptions were set at £1 1s and 'only those with cars' provided transport to away fixtures. Thirteen fixtures had provisionally been booked for the 1925/26 season and the side was to be captained by F. P. Coles and vice-captain J. Rood. A second XI was introduced for the first time for the 1931/32 season. Clearly things didn't go too well for a few years as the original notebook says in 1937 that the members should show more support for their club!

A fixture card dated 1938/39 tells us that changing was at the Cottage Inn, Wembdon with the ground at Blackmore Lane, Cannington, 3 miles from Bridgwater. After a 10 year gap for the War, Bridgwater reformed in 1951 with just the single team.

Bridgwater continued to play at 'The Parks' until 1975/76 when they moved to Chilton Trinity School and a couple years later to Sydenham Community School Sports Centre. Both these pitches are of the red-gra/shale type. With the move from The Parks in 1975 came a change of strip to yellow shirts and black shorts.

The West Hockey league started in 1977/78 through sponsorship from Debenhams, and became the Sun Life West Hockey League in 1980 when the Sun Life Assurance Society took over as main sponsors. Bridgwater's performance was only mediocre for the early years, then from 1981/82 with the interest of Hockey growing and the formation of a Bridgwater 3rd team, the results started to improve. After finishing runners-up in South Division II for three consecutive seasons promotion to Division I was finally achieved in 1984/85. During this four year period Bridgwater had only lost two of 36 League games - winning 26.

A move from Sydenham was necessary due to the size of membership and existing setup, which was change and play at Sydenham Sports Centre and then to the Halfway Inn for tea. So during 1984/85 season Haygrove School pitch became available with changing, shower, tea and bar facilities provided by ..... BRIDGWATER CRICKET CLUB.

The excellent facilities and friendly atmosphere generated at the Bridgwater Cricket Club clubhouse when two or more teams and their opponents are there after a game, are recognised by many away teams and League Umpires, as one of the best in the South West.

Bridgwater had a poor start in Division I in 1985 having lost four out of the first six, then confidence picked up after the realisation that Bridgwater were as good as the rest, and five consecutive wins placed them a creditable 2nd in the final League table. With only one promotion slot, runners-up in the first season at this higher level was an excellent performance. Bridgwater proved that this was no fluke finishing runners-up again the next season and 4th in the League in 1987/88.

The 1988/89 season for Bridgwater started off extremely well when the 1st XI played twice a week to reach the Somerset & Avon Knockout Cup final only to lose 3 - 0 to National League side - Firebrands of Bristol. This did however give Bridgwater a place in the National Cup competition for the first time ever, unfortunately failing at this stage.

This Cup run seemed to have put the dampers on Bridgwater's League chances as the two events overlapped. They only managed a draw in the first match although having over 90% of the play, and losing the second to the eventual runners-up in the Division. BUT, after the Cup programme finished, Bridgwater won their last 11 consecutive League matches to win the Division by 3 points. Bridgwater, at that time were into the top echelons of West Hockey, giving them their toughest ever season to come.

The 1989/90 Season looked like being one of the most interesting and toughest years the Club has ever had. Prior to the start, the Bridgwater Ladies Hockey Club amalgamated with the Men to form one large Club consisting of 12 teams - 7 Men's, 2 Ladies, Colts, Mixed and a Midweek/Floodlit XI. The added bonus of a mixed Club in terms of possible future grants and sponsorship outweighed the enormous task of trying to run a smooth outfit. Some areas will still need a slight ironing out, but the first Season as one Hockey Club must be looked on as a success both on and off the field.

The Men's first appearance in the Premier Division ended in a 0-0 draw with signs looking good against a side finishing 5th last season. But then Bridgwater's results deteriorated as the enormous difference in standard between Premier & First Division Hockey took its toll on the pre-Christmas schedule. Bridgwater suffered 7 consecutive League defeats, including the worst for nine seasons, to languish at the foot of the table.

In the New Year, confidence had slowly picked up from the experience gained. The team then won three of the last five League matches, but it was not enough to take them above the relegation zone. The hard earned 10 points would, in the past eight seasons, have ensured Premier Hockey on merit for the following season. A saviour was to come, however, in the form of the brilliant Firebrands side who won the Premier Division, and then gained National League status in the play-offs. This gave Bridgwater a second chance to consolidate a Premier League place next season, having gained useful knowledge & experience from a more successful second half of the League program.

The 2nds XI's first experience of League Hockey was shown in a solid, if defensive, display. The team finished 5th out of eight and lost the least matches in their Division. Had they converted just one of the 7 draws, then promotion to the 2nd XI Premier League would have come their way as only one point separated four clubs.

The Bridgwater Ladies 1st XI also gave a solid performance finishing fourth in their first season at the higher level. Their best achievement however, came in the Somerset Cup, whereby they appeared in their 3rd consecutive final and won for the second successive year. With the Bridgwater midweek XI winning a local Floodlit Knockout Tournament these successes, although not as obvious as previous years' achievements, underline a need for Hockey at the high standards Bridgwater deserves.

The phenomenal growth in the interest in Hockey, particularly in Bridgwater, continued so much so that from 1985/86 to 1990/91, the number of teams fielded on a Saturday afternoon rose from 3 to no less than 7, and on occasions some prospective players having to wait to get a game for Bridgwater. The cause of this rate of expansion must go down not only to the success of the 1st team in recent years, but to the exploits of England in the World Cup in 1986 and the Seoul Olympics. At that time, Bridgwater had more than 80 regular members on its books to populate the 7 teams, and with that amount of players, Bridgwater Hockey Club was one of the largest clubs in the South West and perhaps the fastest growing.

During this six year spell, Bridgwater was by far the most successful sports club in the area, but in recent years however, Bridgwater Hockey club has seen a decline in membership and overall club standard as Bridgwater have failed to 'pull in' very good players. Only recently Bridgwater has seen good young players emerging, unfortunately all at the same time - so with University beckoning, Bridgwater may suffer again. Currently Bridgwater fields 5 Men's teams and just the one Ladies side.

Sponsorship for a club the size of Bridgwater Hockey Club is fundamental for the future success of the club. In 1985 the BIRMINGHAM MIDSHIRES BUILDING SOCIETY sponsored shirts for the first team with a change of shirt colour to red. From 1986-1991, MAGNUS DEVELOPMENTS have been the shirt sponsors and a final change for all XI's to red shirts was agreed with completion in the 1987/88 season. Provision of good quality kit, particularly goalkeeping outfits which singularly cost about the same as equipping a whole team with shirts, is essential. Travelling is one of the biggest costs due to the large distances needed to travel to play against good opposition. The hire of pitches and clubhouse, and the cost of providing teas all add up to a huge yearly bill. Subscription and match fee costs go a long way to covering all of these expenses. Fund raising events and sponsorship play their part in keeping the fees to players at a minimum, so attracting a larger membership and giving people an easy opportunity to enjoy Hockey and play the game to a high standard in this fast growing sport. Unfortunately at present, Bridgwater has no official sponsor.

The main Club priority is to acquire an artificial turf surface for improved performance of all the teams. The Sun Life West Hockey League specifies that ALL Premier Division games are to played on artificial surfaces, and surely in later years ALL League matches. These pitches cost upwards of 1/3 Million pounds to complete.

Bridgwater currently use an artificial pitch in Burnham-On-Sea, some 11 miles away - but rumours have it that within 2 years Bridgwater will have a pitch @ Sydenham Community School (now named East Somerset Community School) - so it may be a re-shuffle of base again in the near future.

Maybe this will again stir up the locals and perhaps further afield, and maybe will put Bridgwater back on the 'high' Hockey map.