Home is where the hockey is; the grass roots story of Northern United

A vast green field speckled with hockey players, hitting, passing and dribbling a ball across the grass as families cheered from the sidelines; that was the view that greeted the hockey lovers of Wellington in the early 1900’s. From Porirua, to Johnsonville, to the Hutt Valley, the game brought people together and was the glue that kept the community thriving.

Northern United Hockey club is one of the oldest hockey clubs in Wellington, and it was this club that gave hockey it’s name in the region during the 20th century. It has a long and hearty history, it survived many challenges including WW2, but has kept going strong to this day.

Since its formation in 1930, the club grew from a relatively small sport’s gathering to the largest club in Wellington for a number of years. The club’s original name was Wellington Tech Old Boys’, named after the school where it got most of its players. In 1967, the committee made the decision to change their name in order to draw players from further afield. It proved to be a wise decision, as the club went from strength to strength, growing in size, winning tournaments and travelling abroad to compete around the world.  In 1950, the club made one of it’s greatest victories, clinching the title for its first men’s Senior A championship, which it shared with Karori Hockey Club. By 1972, they had 14 teams and grew even further by 1980, with 19 teams to its name. 

Northern United wasn’t just known for its size, it was also progressive. In 1971, the club opened full membership to women and promised positions on its executive to women also. As one women player of the time Judy McIntyre recalls, in a piece she wrote for Northern’s Golden Jubilee, “We were accepted as players and supporters, not just helpers over the sink after games.”

The players had huge pride for the sport, with their approach to the game being “keen, clean and friendly”. Donning their yellow and white striped jerseys, and a matching hat in the colder months, they ‘breakfasted’ on hockey every weekend and formed many fond friendships and memories.

Our former club patron, the late Rex Manning, joined in 1944 and, having never missed a single year, recalled how much joy it brought the communities: “When I played, you went to work each day and you just lived for the next Saturday so that you could go to hockey. It was the highlight of the week.”

Like any team sport, the bond between the hockey players was strong and paramount to its success. Many years saw the teams of Northern United get together for weekends away, taking their whole families with them to play hockey and enjoy each other's company.

“When my kids were young, in the late 1960’s, we used to load up the car and go to Karori park and the kids would stay on the sidelines and I’d play” recalls Rex, “we had about four or five other families like us. That was a great time.”

Not only did families bond over the game, some were even born through the club. Many spouses met each other at Northern United, including Rex’s son, who’s wife played in one of the women's teams.  

As the decades rolled on, Northern United started venturing abroad. Ken Wood, one the club’s most prolific and hard working members, organised six overseas tours. In 1975 their made their first international trip, to Fiji.

“We all met at the airport, around 30 men and women, and away we went.” Rex recalls. “We all knew each other well, so it was great fun. Northern United did six tours abroad, it was fun from the get go. Other times were to Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong. Then Australia, yeah we did well.”

As fun as these trips were for the men and women of Northern United, they weren’t free. The teams worked together to fundraise to cover their fares, doing all sorts of tasks and jobs to save up enough money to do their much loved hockey tours.

Rex and his team mates went to long lengths to earn their trips away: “One year, one of us knew someone who had a poultry farm, so we had to help clean it and pick out all the manure. But you know, we did it and we made money. We painted houses, dug drains. Just anything, we’d advertise and get a team there to do things to raise money. That was how we did things back then.”

Hard work was a year round habit for Northern United, and Rex puts the club’s success down to the people behind the scenes.

“We had some great people in the club who were prepared to work for hockey” explains Rex. “We had one member who was a registered engineer and builder. He designed our club rooms, did work for national hockey stadium, designed the Fraser Park hockey turf, as well as the one in Porirua. He also did the seating at the national hockey stadium - he was involved in all of that. So when a club gets good workers, they can get somewhere.”

The long standing and colourful history of Northern United is something the club holds dear, with players and their families sticking together through thick and thin. For celebrations of the 75th Club Jubilee, Northern United paid homage to their history by organising a past versus present game. Old-timer rules were the order of the day, and it brought together Northern United’s past, present and future as hockey players and supporters of all ages were once again brought together to celebrate their favourite sport.

Northern United hockey club has kept thriving for 88 years. It’s watched children grow up on the field, with families spending their lives with the game. As members of Northern United and fellow hockey lovers know, a successful club takes hard work and good people; but most of all, it takes a shared love of sport that can hold communities together for generations.

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