Rovers Hockey Club owes its beginning to two men, Mr Albert (Poppy) Gough and Mr Tom Rogers (Snr) who were our club’s first patriarchs. Under their watchful eyes, players first took to the field under the name of Rockhampton Rovers on Saturday, 25th May 1940, at Stapleton Park, Bridge Street, North Rockhampton.
They later shortened the name to Rovers and played the 1940/41 seasons before disbanding for World War II. The original players in 1940 were:
- R. Gough
- W. Ross
- K. Hansen
- F. Cooper
- V. Harvey
- C. Price
- N. Waite
- K. Gough
- C. Kelly
- G. Rogers
- A. Strelow
- A. Harvey
- L. Chandler
The rebirth of Rovers Hockey Club came in 1946 with a women’s and men’s team.
The formation of the women’s team (mainly Williams Ltd employees) was encouraged by Ken & Shirley Gough and Norm and Marj Hewitt. The women took to the field at the start of 1946 season with the following members:
- Glady Logue
- Claire Osbourne
- Joan Ball
- Joan Warmsley
- Gloria Robertson
- Marj Hewitt
- Grace Misfelt
- Enid Jacobsen
- Nelly Elder
- Betty Stubbersfield
- Joyce Schirmer
- Heather Anderson
On returning from the war, the Rovers men reformed and took to the field on the last Saturday in March 1946, with the following members:
- Ken Gough (captain)
- Dough Withers (vice captain)
- Cecil Marler
- Les Browne
- Tom Rogers (goalie)
- Noel Wright
- Vic Harvey
- Lyle Hamilton
- Kelvin Stickley
- Arthur Harvey
- Cameron Price
- Fred Kean
The men wore crew neck singlets which were dyed green (due to shortage of clothing war coupons), white shorts and red and green socks. Rockhampton Hockey Association voiced disapproval at the use of singlets so the shirts were later changed to green, then red and green squares.
The Alan Strelow Club House was built in 1988 on Council land in conjunction with junior cricket on the corner of Mason and Shepherd Streets at Birdwood Park on the hill overlooking the training field.
Rovers merged with Frenchville Hockey Club in 1999 in order to assure the viability of the hockey club to form Frenchville Rovers Hockey under the umbrella of Frenchville Sports Club.
Frenchville Rovers has a long history of encouraging hockey as a sport for the entire family and continues to reap the benefits of enthusiastic members with ages between 4 and 76 who enjoy Hockey as players and supporters.
We are very proud of our early members and supporters, and in 2010, we are celebrating the 70th anniversary of the formation of Rovers Hockey Club.
