Latest News From Ballina Hockey

It was a weekend of highs and lows, with the C grade men capping off a fine year by taking out the major premiership against Alstonville 2-1, and joining the B1 and B2 women on the winners’ podium. Unfortunately, the dream didn’t come true for B grade men and A grade women. Both teams were unable to triumph in their grand final matches in the 30 degree+ heat, despite giving it their all. Congratulations to all grand final participants – you held the club colours high and showed exceptional sportsmanship in what were some very competitive matches. Thanks to all the wonderful supporters who came and cheered on all our teams – great club spirit!

Congratulations also to all those Ballina club members presented with awards – it’s great to see our club being recognised for the contributions of our members in a range of areas.

FNC B Grade Best & Fairest Player – John Parker

Men’s Umpire of the Year – Josh Garrett

Women’s Achievement Award for highest level of representation from within the women’s teams - Helen Rankin Jarvie (Australian O40s)

Ballina Women’s teams – 2nd in Club Championship

[Please email the webmaster@ballinahockey.org.au if I have ommitted any person or award. I was too busy drowning my sorrows to listen to all the speeches intently.]

It’s been a huge season, starting out with the frenzy of activity to get the turf ready and culminating with some fantastic results across the board. A massive ‘thank you’ must go to all those people who work so hard behind the scenes to make it all happen – our board and committee members, facility manager Trevor, canteen manager Chrissy with her dedicated band of helpers, coaches, everyone who helped out in the control dugout, parents (taxi drivers), umpires, newsletter writers/contributors, the turf and facilities maintenance crew, and anyone else who helped out in one form or another.

We welcome the incoming Board Members and Committee for 2012 and encourage as many people as possible to volunteer to help out with the twilight comp, pre-season and other tasks in the coming season. We have a fantastic club, and with your ongoing commitment and support, we will continue to enjoy and improve on the hockey opportunities we offer our club members.

This weekend will see the conclusion of the 2011 ‘official’ season with the presentation events for seniors and juniors. we hope to see as many of you there as possible in order to celebrate all the achievements and memorable events from the year. If you haven’t already RSVP’d to your team manager or coach, please do so ASAP.

 Senior Presentation – Sat 24 Sept

Junior Presentation – Sunday 25 Sept

Wow! Talk about keeping the spectators on the edge of their seats! Both the B1 and B2 Ballina women won their grand final matches in spectacular form – congratulations girls, enjoy that winning feeling!

The B2 match was up first – minor premiers Ballina vs Easts – and play was going end to end all match. Ballina scored first, then Easts got one back (damn!). Ballina scored again….. only to see Easts level it again and force the match into extra time (kept the B1 ladies waiting!!!). Extra time, drop off, golden goal – 10 mins slogged out with 9 players a side and neither team able to score the decider. Drop off two more players and play continues for another 5 minutes….. still no score. C’mon girls!!!!! Down to five players per side – both teams choosing to retain a keeper so only four field players - some nice passing up the right hand side saw FB Teesh (Letitia) up in attack setting up a 1-2 manouveure. She had to throw herself full stretch at the ball in order to gather the return pass and sweep it past the Easts keeper! It looked spectacular and will no doubt be something we’ll all remember for a long time to come. Woohoo! 3-2 to Ballina and the first Major Premiership for the night!!!

B1 finally got to run onto the pitch at 8.30pm – they were taking on the minor premiers, Coraki, and it was always going to be a tough match. Coming from fourth spot, Ballina were the underdogs, but it didn’t look like that on the night! Coraki piled on the pressure at times, but Chrissy Eather, in goals for Ballina, was rock solid and weathered the storm. About 10 minutes before the final whistle, Ballina scored and the crowd went wild! Coraki were determined to peg one back, but the Ballina defence held firm, even withstanding a PC awarded right on the final whistle, to take out the match 1-0. Ballina grabs its second Major Premiership!!!! Awesome stuff!!!

[ed: Apologies for the lack of information about who scored and the like, but this will be added later. I thought it more important to get the news out that both team WON!!!!]

Good luck to the remaining seasiders playing in grand finals this weekend. Give it all you’ve got and the goals will come.

Make sure you come along and give our teams your support – it makes all the difference!  

Sat 17 Sept

B Grade Men: 12 noon Ballina v Northern Star (Lismore turf)

C Grade Men: 1.30pm Ballina v Alstonville (Hepburn Park 2)

A Grade Women: 3.00pm Ballina 1 v Glee 1 (Lismore turf)

After beating Nepean 15-0 in the final round matches, the FNC boys ended up top of their pool and cruised through the semi finals with a 6-0 win over Bathurst to make the grand final against Parkes on Monday 13 June. Parkes was up 3-0 but the FNC team fought back to score two goals and bring the score to 3-2. Unfortunately the game wasn’t long enough for the boys to craft a win, having to settle with second place this year. They scored over 40 goals and only had 9 goals scored against them.

A fantastic effort from all involved!

Congratulations to Holly Anderson who recently won a competition to be the person to toss the coin at the start of the Hockeyroos v Argentina match in Sydney. Holly travelled to Sydney with mum, Michelle, and saw the Hockeyroos craft a 1-0 win over the reigning world champions, Argentina.

Here’s Holly with Madonna Blyth, captain of the Hockeyroos, along with the Argentinian captain and the umpires – Lisa Roach and Kylie Seymour.

Check out the Hockey NSW website for a more detailed match report.

Both the men’s and women’s committees voted unanimously at their latest meetings to adopt the experimental rules of hockey for the 2011 competitions.

If you are not aware of these rules, please take the time to read them, along with the Directions to Umpires (this explains how the rules are to be applied), or you might find yourself missing in action when your team needs you most.

Experimental Rules

Directions to Umpires – 7 April 2011

Umpires are an essential part of the game of hockey. Without umpires, the game does not take place.

Ballina Hockey Club is committed to helping our umpires develop and perform to the best of their ability. Check out the range of resources and information available to everyone who is interested in umpiring, or ends up umpiring by default.

Please remember that umpires are human and they can (and will) make mistakes. However, abusing an umpire is never acceptable. They are trying their best and blowing the infringements they see. Being abused will not help them concentrate on the match, and may end up in you, or the team you are playing in, supporting or coaching, being penalised.

The day that two teams can take the field and compete against each other without making any errors is the day that umpires will not make any errors in their calls. If you have been disappointed with the standard of umpiring in your own match, put your whistle where your mouth is and give it a go yourself. We always need more qualified umpires!

We support the new Hockey Australia umpire and coach accreditation programs, HockeyEd. To learn more about HockeyEd, visit the Hockey Australia website.

New club shirts have arrived for this season. Shirts will no longer be supplied by the Club but purchased by players. Cost $40 each. To purchase a shirt, email Alison at tabalon@bigpond.com.

Ballina Hockey Club is excited to announce the Club is close to commencing construction of a new synthetic turf facility at Kingsford Smith Park in Ballina.

The Club has received a funding boost from Ballina Shire Council ($400,000) to add to our current funds ($280,000) and are currently seeking support from our local community to allow us to start construction.

Eco Options have come up with a great way to help raise additional funds for the turf. Check out their offer here   BHC Turf Project – Eco Options Proposal

Ballina Hockey Complex
- lets make it happen

Ballina Hockey Club is a successful and friendly hockey club based in the sea side town of Ballina on the east coast of Australia. We are one of the oldest clubs in our Association established in 1930. We have senior and veteran sides offering elite, development and social hockey to all ages. We have thriving junior teams providing coaching and matches for children aged 4-17. Whatever your age, whatever your ability, whatever your ambition you can enjoy hockey with us.

We welcome new players and supporters at any time.  We play in the Far North Coast Hockey Association and our A-grade men and women also play in the JH Williams League against Gold Coast and Tweed hockey teams.

The majority of games are played on the synthetic surfaces in Ballina (our home ground) and Goonellabah, with A-grade away matches also located in Murwillumbah and on the Gold Coast. The grass competition is held on fields in Ballina, Lismore, Byron Bay, Alstonville, Coraki, Casino and Evans Head.

The club hosts a range of social events throughout the year, catering to seniors, juniors and families.

We look forward to seeing you on the pitch, on the sideline, or at a social event soon!