The Greensborough Hockey Club was founded in 1958 when Ric Purser, a Victorian State Hockey player moved into the area and decided to start a hockey Club.
In those days, more than 60 years ago, there was little organised junior sport in the area and Ric, having obtained a lot of enjoyment from his hockey, saw the opportunity to open up this activity to a new generation of youngsters and fulfil a community need. Ric played in the Victorian senior team in 1953-1958, 1960-61 and he was a leading forward with a great range of skills. He was also playing coach of Greensborough 1961-1975, prior to joining Altona in 1976.
With the help of a few local parents, the Greensborough Hockey Club was founded in 1958. The first training sessions were held at the Lower Greensborough Oval. At this time, the club was only Juniors, the Senior club was not established until 1961.
After a successful year running three junior teams Ric canvassed a few old hockey friends, found a few ex-players and the first senior men’s sides were launched in 1961 with games played at Eltham High School. The team started in C grade but by mid season, they were promoted to B grade and finished the season as runners-up for B grade. The club also participated in carnivals held in Albury and Portsea with the team winning the pennant for “Best Presented Team” at the Albury carnival.
Jim Irvine was our first Olympian, he was a member of the national team that won the silver medal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was also a member of the team that finished fourth at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. After his playing career he became a coach. Jim was the assistant coach of the Australian men at the 2000 Summer Olympics, where The Kookaburras finished third. Later on he went to the Netherlands, where he coached Amsterdam for three seasons (2001-2004) and won the Dutch title twice.
Jim Irvine began his playing career as 9 year old in 1958 and by 1962 as a 13 year old, Jim was playing under 15’s in the morning and C grade (club second team) in the afternoon. In 1963 the club’s first team won the A Reserve premiership (Jim played 4 games that year) and the team was promoted to A grade (the equivalent to Premier League).
From this point there was a steady and gradual expansion of senior and junior sides such that by the early 1970’s the club was fielding six to eight junior teams and seven senior men’s sides. By this time the older players had mostly retired and the playing strength of the club was based on local junior players developed within the club.
By the mid 70’s the total playing strength of the club was contributing to its problems in that training and playing of 13-19 teams on the Partington’s Flat ground in winter was resulting in over use of the ground and the club was forced to hire a ground from the Victorian Hockey Association in Parkville.
Rachael Lynch was our second Olympian, Rachael starting playing hockey at Greensborough in 1998 in the under 13 girls team.
Career highlights:
- Champions Trophy 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2016
- Junior World Cup, Chile 2005
- Olympic Squad 2008, 2012, 2016
- Olympic Games 2016 (6th)
- World Cup, 2010, 2014 (2nd)
- Commonwealth Games, 2010 (1st), 2014 (1st), 2018
- World League Finals, 2013 (2nd), 2015 (6th)
- World Cup Goalkeeper of the Tournament 2014
The Eltham Hockey Club was a successful club from Eltham before they merged with the Greensborough Hockey Club in 1988. For the first time, the club now included women’s teams but until the subsequent merger with the Greensborough Women’s Hockey Club the team played as Diamond Valley. Many former members of the club have continued their hockey involvement to this day.
In 1979, Doug Dowling from the Greensborough Hockey Club formed a separate club, The Greensborough Women’s Hockey Club with Lorraine Cortous as the president. Starting in E grade, the club worked its way up to Melbourne League One (premier league equivalent) before merging with the Greensborough Hockey Club in 1992.
In 1990 the club entered its first masters team in the competition with the team an immediate success and Neill Patterson gaining selection in the Australian Masters team.
The first women’s teams playing for the Greensborough Hockey Club played under the name of Diamond Valley until 1992.
In 1992 the Greensborough Hockey Club moved from Whatmough Park to Plenty Park, Plenty where they continue to this day.
In 1994 the first girls team, under 17’s started and the following year under 13 girls.
Work on the first synthetic hockey pitch started 22 years ago, in early 1998 and the ground was opened May 1998.
Second ground funding announcement.
The club has a proud record in the Premier League with both the Women’s and Men’s sections being the dominant club in the past 10 years. The women were the first club to win three consecutive flags in the Premier League in the history of Victorian Club Hockey when they completed “back to back to back” in 2013. The Men have been the pace setters in this period with their most recent win in 2015.
The club has produced many representative players in our proud history including two players who have captained their country. Presently we have Rachael Lynch (winner of the goalkeeper of the tournament in the 2014 World Cup, 2016 Olympian) in the National Senior Squad. Rachael commenced her hockey in our Junior section and is now an ambassador of our Northern District Hockey League.
Greensborough players selected in an Australian Team
| Lauren | Austin | Indoor | |
| James | Bower | Masters | |
| Carol | Brewster | Masters | |
| John | Creamer | Masters | |
| Tim | Cross | Outdoor | |
| Andrew | Crowley | Masters | |
| Casey | Hammond | Outdoor | |
| Nick | Hill | Masters | |
| Jim | Irvine | Outdoor | Olympic Games |
| Malcolm | Kemp | Outdoor | |
| Geoffrey | Lewis | Masters | |
| Rachael | Lynch | Outdoor | Olympic Games |
| Kevin | McLaughlin | Masters | |
| Daniel | Mirecki | Outdoor | |
| Neill | Patterson | Masters | |
| David | Peebles | Masters | |
| Naomi | Pickford | Masters | |
| Josh | Pollard | Outdoor | |
| Emily | Riordan | Indoor | |
| Stephanie | Riordan | Indoor | |
| Peter | Robertson | Masters | |
| Glenn | Simpson | Outdoor | |
| Ian | Smyth | Outdoor | |
| David | Spiden | Masters | |
| David | Tilker | Indoor & Masters | |
| Matthew | Trounce | Indoor | |
| Darren | Turl | Masters | |
| Lachlan | Vivian-Taylor | Outdoor |
First grade premiership teams
| 1962 | Men |
| 1963 | Men |
| 1974 | Men |
| 1979 | Men |
| 1992 | Men |
| 1994 | Men |
| 1997 | Men |
| 2002 | Women |
| 2006 | Men & Women |
| 2007 | Men |
| 2009 | Women |
| 2011 | Women |
| 2012 | Men & Women |
| 2013 | Women |
| 2014 | Men |
| 2015 | Men |
The Northern District Hockey League commenced in 2014 and is the Under 8 and Under 10 feeder league to the Greensborough Hockey Club. There are presently 8 clubs playing in the League with almost 100 kids playing in the League in 2018. Greensborough was selected by Hockey Victoria to pilot the implementation of local hockey leagues and won the Hockey Victoria Hookin2hockey award in 2014. The NDHL has an active program in the local schools and is promoting hockey in the region in conjunction with Hockey Victoria.
The club prides itself on our focus on hockey development and our provision for players of all levels of a playing experience that is welcoming and inclusive. The club has a development program for players, officials, coaches and administrators. The club encourages the broadest possible development for our members. Opportunities to be involved in administration and governance are provided to young members to ensure that there is a succession plan at all levels.
The club does not administer itself on a section basis to ensure that quality of event and experience is the same for all. We have clear codes of conduct and have high expectations for our members on and off the field. We regard ourselves as a Premier Club that strives to achieve excellence across all facets of the club. This is a never ending journey and maintains the ethic of lifelong learning and improvement through hard work and commitment. Along the way we emphasise equality of access and enjoyment of the hockey experience.
