Club history

Page content: 1989 | 1991 | 1992 | 1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003

The Casey Cannons Hockey Club, formerly known as the Berwick Hockey Club was established in 1989. Kevin Moore, an experienced coach in Victorian Women’s hockey circles and previously involved with Dandenong, founded the club and occupied the inaugural presidents position. Originally based at Sydney Pargeter Reserve, Endeavour Hills, the club began with two senior Women’s teams, at ML3 and MD5 standard and three Junior teams at U/11, U/13 and U/15 age groups.

Success was achieved in the clubs first year, when the Women’s seconds, the MD5 team, captained by Kerry Hicks won the clubs initial flag. The first recipient of the Women’s firsts and ML3 team Best and Fairest was committee member Karen McCulloch. As the popularity of the club grew, a third Women’s ‘District’ side was added in 1991, along with a Mens ‘District ’ team. The new side, the Women’s ‘M5S’ side went on to the play in the Grand final but just fell short and lost by a solitary goal to TEMS. The introduction of a Mens ‘MD2’ team paid instant dividends with the side going through the entire season undefeated and winning the flag. The team was managed by Alan Craig, who along with Georgie and Max White, Maxine Millet (now deceased) and Jackie Rosario all had a strong role in committee matters in the clubs formative years

In 1992, the Men’s unit expanded to introduce a 2nd ‘District’ side and the Junior ranks increased with the addition of an U/17 team. All teams performed competitively in 1992 but without any notable success. The diminutive but fleet footed Karen Tainton won the Women’s’ seniors Best and Fairest for the second consecutive season.

In 1993, there was a strong push by all Senior and Junior associations to phase out ‘grass’ hockey and move towards playing more games on ‘synthetic’ grounds. All weather ‘synthetic’ grounds provided greater safety, enabled a more skilful game to be played and eliminated the possibility of cancelled games when heavy rain fell. Victorian Hockey administrators scheduled more games on ‘synthetic’ fields under the premise that the game would appeal more as a spectacle to the general public and therefore attract a wider interest.

By virtue of its geographical proximity, Berwick started to play more regularly at Mills Reserve, Dandenong, a brand new synthetic ground that opened in 1993. Dandenong was the major centre for the Melbourne’s ‘South zone’, the zone for which most of our teams participated. Encouragingly, with the move to Dandenong, the club started to attract interest from many players throughout Gippsland and surrounds. Immediately the club thrived at its shared Dandenong base and the 1993-year was without any shadow of doubt the clubs most successful.

In 1993 both the Women’s ML3, coached by Max Pascoe and MD4 team and the Mens ‘Metro 3’ team, coached by Richard Bearder all won premierships flags. The popularity of the club was clearly evident with a huge number of players and spectators venturing to the State Hockey Centre for a twilight Grand Final match to watch the Women’s ML3 team triumph in perhaps the highest standard ML3 game ever played. The large Berwick entourage at the game went back to the Pargeter Reserve home ground pavilion to celebrate long and hard in what was an absolutely jammed-packed clubroom and unified show of support. The triple flags in the 1993 season contributed to the strength and spirit of the club for a number of years. These teams earned automatic promotion and this attracted newcomers across all units.

A major individual milestone was reached during the season when tireless committee person, Irene O’Shannessey, became the first player to chalk up 100 games for the Berwick. The club had now come along way in a short time and was rapidly gaining a reputation amongst Metropolitan Hockey circles.

In 1994, the Women’s ML2 team, still under the guidance of premiership coach Max Pascoe performed creditably to become the only Women’s team to represent the club in the ML2 finals. The Men played in SL4 for the first time, finished more than two games shy of the final four but more importantly did enough to comfortably avoid relegation.

The highlight of 1994 was the increasing depth amongst the Junior ranks and for the first time two junior teams, the U/15’s and U/17’s participated in the finals.

A proud moment for the club was in 1995, when our U/17’s, coached by Max Pascoe became the first Junior team to earn a Grand Final berth since the beginning of the club. The U/17’s tried valiantly but lost 1/0 to Moorabin at Reservoir. Claire Counsell earned the distinction of becoming the clubs first Junior player to attain State selection when she represented the Victorian U/18 team. For the first time the club had Junior players record their 100th games; the first four players being Cameron Currie, Andrew Greenwood, Matt Guastella and Luke Michael. Kevin Moore, the clubs original founder and president returned after a three-year stint at Monash Uni to coach the Womens ML2 team, but regretfully the women narrowly missed out on playing in the finals. During the season, Amanda Way, Jackie Rosario, Kathy Gramberg and Frances Moore all played their 100th game.

In 1996, the Men’s Unit expanded to add a third team in ‘Metro3’. During the season, the Men’s SL4 team made a rapid improvement under new Coach Wayne Ingram, secured the minor premiership and received promotion to SL3. Peter Lombardo became the first male player to post 100 games. The Junior Unit had a tremendous season and achieved club history with all four teams making it through to the finals but unfortunately no team could advance beyond the first week.

1997 saw the senior unit of the club at its largest. The Women’s unit comprised of a ML2, MD3 and MD5 teams whilst the Men’s unit fielded SL3 and ME2 and MS3 teams, however little success was achieved and most teams finished middle of the road. Once again the Junior Unit entered teams at U/11, 13, 15 and 17 levels but disappointedly for the first time since 1993 not one junior team reached the finals.

In 1998, the club changed its name to the Casey Hockey Club and Brian Andrews replaced Margaret Randall in the president’s chair, a position Margaret had occupied for the previous two-years. Max Pascoe returned to the club to coach the Women’s Unit and Wayne Ingram was re-appointed as the Men’s coach for the third consecutive year. Success eluded the Senior Unit, but 1998 was a year those involved in the Junior Unit would recall with fond memories. Not only did Casey obtain its first Junior flag but it also achieved dual success with both the U/13’s coached by Anthony Bowen and U/15’s coached by George Racz winning ‘District’ Grand Finals. Two junior premierships in the one season represented another rewarding moment for the club and a signalled that the foundations were being developed for the long-term future of the club

In 1999, the Junior unit expanded for the third time with the introduction of an U/9 team and a second U/15 side. The juniors could not repeat the success of the previous year and the best-performed side was the U/11’s that finished runners up after losing 1/0 to Mentone. Joanna Shields, Steven and Chris Randall and Ryan Racz all became the next wave of juniors to notch up their 100th club game. The Senior ranks struggled and player losses in the Men’s SL3 team led to the Men’s seniors being relegated to the SL4 division. The Mens M4S team introduced many new players, finished strongly but just missed the finals.

The Women’s ML3 team also had a poor year and fell back into ML4 for the year 2000. The Women fielded a M5S team but also regularly struggled for numbers. In the senior ranks Brian Andrews, Peter Baker, Robert Clarke and Stewart Dodson all played their 100th game, whilst popular club stalwart Amanda Way, who had been at the club since its origin registered her 150th game.

The Men’s Unit expanded in 2000 with the introduction of Veterans team but once again the Men senior team now under the tutelage of Doug David had a poor season and was relegated to SL5. The Olympic year saw the Junior Unit hoist the banner for the club once again with the U/13’s coached by George Racz winning the flag. George Racz deserves credit for his long involvement with junior coaching and umpiring. George had the distinction of being the only Coach to overseer two Junior premierships. The Womens ML4 side showed signs of improvement but could not finish any higher than 8th on the ladder.

The fortunes of the club rose dramatically in 2001, more so off the field rather than on. The Men’s SL5 team under Captain Coach Andrew Pomeroy unluckily lost by a solitary goal in the preliminary final but in the eyes of the association still did enough to earn promotion to SL4.

The best news in 2001 and perhaps the in the clubs history arrived late in the year with the announcement that the Casey Council had finally given the all clear for a new all weather synthetic turf to be constructed in the City of Casey. After many years’ hard toil and speculation, the Casey Hockey Club would finally have its own home ground. Its new base would be the Berwick Secondary College and the new ‘synthetic turf’ would be ready in time for the commencement of the 2002 season. The club has many to thank for a determined campaign waged over many years to secure their own turf and thanks must go to Lynne Wood, Brian Andrews and Paul Ross who all played a significant role in the later years. Local Liberal MP Robert Dean was also very influential and strongly supported the club for many years in its bid for a ‘synthetic’ ground

Casey had a minor setback when some miscreants set part of the new turf alight in the early hours of a Sunday morning in early March but fortunately the field was restored and on the 26th March Casey trained on its brand new synthetic turf ground for the first time. In 2002 it was once again the junior unit that contributed to the clubs finest moment when the U/11’s coached by Mark Beckwith won the flag to further underline that the club had plenty of bright prospects for the future

The arrival at the start of the 2003 season of Marinette Dames, a former Namibian international player proved very successful for the club. Marinette was appointed club coach and guided the Women’s MD1 team to both the minor premiership and the end of season flag when the Women defeated Hampton Park 3/2 in a pressure packed final. The winning goal was scored in extra time by another club stalwart in Fiona Young who also picked up the Women’s best and fairest trophy for the season. Once again the Junior Unit surpassed club expectations with the U/15’s, coached by Andrew and Paul Ross and the U/11’s, coached by Tracey Brown both attaining premierships. The U/11’s made it back to back premierships by picking up a ‘Pennant’ flag after attaining the ‘District’ flag the previous year. Tegan Brown became only the second Casey player to be selected in a Victorian State Junior side when she competed in the National U/13 championships

Those to have played since the beginning of their respective units and still be involved with the club today in some form, whether it be as a player, coach or loyal supporter include; from the Women’s Unit Margaret Randall, Frances Moore, Fiona Young and Debbie Jacob (nee Hone) who returned in a junior coaching role this year. In the Men’s Unit, Mark Beckwith and Brian Place have both had a long-standing involvement..

Other players not around in the year of the clubs inauguration but who have still had a lengthy playing career and are still involved with the club today include; goalkeeper Chris Addison who was the first player in the club to reach 200 senior games, veterans Chris and Greg Rodgers, Michael Randall and Chris Randall, Lauren and Andrew Ross and Junior Stefan Young who has already played over 150 games.

Just some of the individuals that deserve a mention for their strong contribution to the club include; Jeff Reidy, a 200 game player and the only two-time clubperson of the year, for his unstinting efforts in all capacities since joining the club in 1992. Original members Margaret Randall, Kerry & Marissa Hicks, Irene O’Shannessey and Jackie Rosario warrant recognition for both long and distinguished playing careers and fine service on the committee. Popular club persons Tania Rosenhain, Neil Gamon and Roger Taylor also provided good support over many years on field and behind the scenes.

Brian Place deserves a mention for both his long-playing career and invaluable committee and social support. Over the last five seasons Mark Bridge, Paul Ross and Andrew Pomeroy in addition to playing over 100 games have all provided great assistance off the field. All club members should be indebted to Brian Andrews for his hard working efforts across the club as a whole for well over 10 seasons. The Junior Unit endured difficult times trying to attract numbers from its inception through to the mid 1990s and many thanks should be extended to Frances Moore for her perseverance and guidance in these trying times. During the early to mid ‘90s Glenda Williams also chipped in and provided valuable assistance with both the junior and senior units.

No doubt many others deserve recognition and for those overlooked, I offer my sincere apologies.

The Casey Hockey club has battled to survive and then thrive. It has not always had the class players nor the first-class facilities available to many other clubs, but importantly, whatever the situation, it has always displayed fairness, enthusiasm and good team camaraderie.

Let’s see that these characteristics are preserved and carried on over the ensuing years.

The foundations of any club sit with the ability to attract, develop and keep its juniors. With the Casey Hockey club now wedged on the border of the sprawling South-Eastern Corridor and the gateway to Gippsland, and with its newly acquired home ground at Manuka Road, the club now finds itself in a very strong position to become a powerful club across all Victorian Hockey Associations. The Casey Hockey Club is proud of its short history and grateful for those responsible for shaping and making the club what it is today. The club hopes to build upon the solid progress it has made and to offer the Casey community a well respected, family orientated club with which both young and old can develop, enjoy hockey and socialise for many years to come.

Lets all stick together and make a contribution towards our clubs future history!

Many thanks to Ken Moore for providing the club story to 2003.

If any one would like to provide us with a wrap up of 2004 please forward it to webmaster@caseycannons.com.au and maybe now is a good time to start on this year as well