United Hockey Club

United Hockey Club (UHC) is a proud Canberra club dating back to 1954, we have representation across all grades in men's, women's and junior hockey.

JUNIORS

United Hockey Club participates in Hockey ACT’s Junior Boys and Girls competitions. U/18’s, U/15’s, U/13’s play at the National Hockey Centre Lyneham (Carter, Powell & Watt Fields) and at Tuggeranong Hockey Park (Kjar & Taylor Fields) on Friday Nights, Saturday and Sunday Mornings.

U/11’s play on various grass fields around Canberra (Majura Oval Ainslie, Chisholm, Deakin, Blundell Park Queanbeyan) on Saturday Mornings.

HISTORY

The United Hockey Club has been prominent in the Canberra hockey community since 1964 after its founding as the Presbyterian Hockey Club in 1954. Our long history was recognized with the ACT Chief Minister’s Canberra Gold Award on 4 March 2020, acknowledging more than 50 years of service to the Canberra community. It is a history of sporting achievement that has also been recognized by the nation with individual awards to a number of our Club members.

At its foundation, the Club uniform was a butcher boy blue cesarine shirt, with a white collar, facing on the breast pocket, sleeves and front of the shirt. The cross of St Andrew in white was on the back of the shirt and pocket. The shirts were awkward to make as many mothers of junior players discovered. White shorts with royal blue socks and white tops finished off the outfit. See the representation of the white cross on the blue background below, alongside the current Club shirt.

Today’s strip recognizably echoes the past with a royal blue shirt and collar and a white cross on left breast of the shirt where there was a pocket in earlier times. United’s red cockerel crest is on the right breast of the shirt and on the leg of the white shorts and on the skirts. There are 2 white lines down the sides of the shirt and the sleeves and around the top of the socks, which are red.

The foundation of the Presbyterian Hockey Club provided a social activity for the Fellowship group of the Presbyterian Church. Its inaugural meeting was held at the St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church Hall, Forrest. Doug Hill, a member of a long standing hockey playing family since the early days after the First World War in Canberra, was elected Foundation President and Ian Mitchell was Foundation Secretary. Both were subsequently awarded Life Membership of the Club, as was Doug’s eldest son, Colin, who also served as Club President, into the early 1980’s. Doug went on in later years to become a leading international level umpire and administrator and played a leading role as President of the ACT Hockey Association when it separated from the NSW Hockey Association in 1972 to be elevated to equal status with the States in the Australian Hockey Association. He had been awarded Life Membership of the ACT Hockey Association in 1970. Doug was awarded an AM (Member in the Order of Australia) in 1986, partly for services to Australian hockey. Ian Mitchell went on to become a minister in the Presbyterian Church.