Barford
Tigers Hockey Club
 Barford
Boys
In the early nineteen-sixties, a number of Birmingham secondary
schools, motivated partly by the influx of pupils from India
and Pakistan, began to put out hockey teams.
One of these was Barford Boys' School, a small Secondary Modern,
situated just off the main Dudley Road in the Ladywood / Winson
Green area of the City.
Barford's P.E. teacher, Henry da Silva, by dint of seeking fixtures
whenever and wherever they were available, often against girls'
schools, and as far a field as Redditch, built up a keen and
creditable skilful side.
By 1965-66, the last year of the school's existence, a full
role was being played in the competitions and administration
of the fledgling Birmingham Schoolboys' Hockey Association.
The Semi-final of the Under 16's Cup competition was reached
and boys were selected for the Association's representative
team.
At Christmas that year, Mr da Silva moved to a new post in Leicester
and the team was taken over by Malcolm Challoner, his successor
as P.E. teacher. Most of the team were now in their final school
year and they expressed a strong wish to continue playing after
leaving.
Keen to help out, Malcolm wrote to all the Birmingham hockey
clubs advising them of this pool of talent looking for a hockey
home, but not surprisingly, given the structure of the game
at the time, received no response.
The next step, then, was for the boys, led by the captain, Gurnam
Atkhar, and vice-captain, Asif Ali, to decide to form their
own club.
'66 and all that
A historic first meeting was held at the School on 7th June
1966, when a simple Constitution and rules were agreed on, and
'officers' were elected Gurnam (Captain), Asif (vice-Captain)
and Malcolm Challoner (Secretary / Treasurer), with Jinder Singh
and David Brotherton as additional committee members.
At this, Malcolm again circulated local clubs, this time with
more success, asking for games, and a skeleton fixture list
of Saturday matches for 1966-67 was achieved.
There still remained, however, the major hurdles of finding
a home ground and of finance to be overcome.
At this point fortune smiled. A chance conversation at an evening
institute class put Malcolm in touch with Birmingham's Commonwealth
Liaison Officer, Mr L.A. Gibbs.
He lent the Club £13 to buy a set of shirts and some match
balls, and made the first enquiry about hiring a pitch at Rowheath,
the Cadbury's Sports Ground in Bournville.
In the autumn of 1966, when the first 'away' matches had optimistically
been played, Cadbury's agreed to hire Tigers a pitch on Saturday
afternoons at a cost of £1 per match.
This was a crucial step in the establishment of the Club.
Pitches at Rowheath, in those days, were beautifully maintained,
with excellent changing and refreshment facilities.
Season One
The Club was now able to play its home fixtures, and hired a
coach, at a typical cost of £4, for a local journey to
travel to the away fixtures.
The inaugural season was completed with the following final
results:
Played - 17. : Won - 5. : Drew - 3. : Lost - 9. : For- 31. :
Against - 52.
Opponents included Rubery Owen, Bham Municipal, Kynoch 2nd,
Halesowen Grammar School, Old Halesowenians 2nd, Dudley College
of Education, Bournville 3rd, Bham University Wanderers, Bham
Schools U-16, Old Wulfrunians 4th, West Bromwich 2nd, Pickwick
Nomads XI, to name but a few.
During the next few years, the Tigers grew in strength. The
fixture list filled out and the playing record improved season
by season.
Success
The Club's first tournament success came in 1970 when Cannock
Under - 23 Festival was won (and again in 1972).
The Birmingham Municipal Hockey Club Festival was won for the
first of many times in 1971 and, most significantly, the final
of the Worcestershire Clubs Championship was reached in the
1972-73 season.
Barford School, meanwhile, had been closed and was merged with
a nearby girls' school to form Stanmore School in a brand new
building just down the road in Edgbaston.
Malcolm Challoner also moved to the new school, where hockey
thrived. Stanmore teams were regular winners of Birmingham Schoolboys'
Hockey Association competitions and provided numerous players
for the Association's representative teams, as well as a steady
flow of talented newcomers to the Tigers' ranks.
Barford
Tigers HC website |
| Khalsa
Hockey Club, Leamington spa  Khalsa
Hockey Cub is renowned as a very sociable and successful Hockey
Team.
Leamington Spa and Warwick Asian boys after leaving School continued
to play hockey for local clubs and in summer got together to
play in festivals and tour in Europe.
With the support of the Asian community in 1973 they decided
to form Khalsa Hockey club and Sukhdev Singh Dhesi was tasked
to enter the club in the Midland league at its inauguration
in 1974/75.
Within a short time span the club established itself as one
of the leading Hockey Club in Warwickshire and has had many
successful years in the Midland Premier League. Khalsa are in
the process of rebuilding the first team and just won promotion
from Midlands Division one.
Over
the years the club has pursued a successful integration policy
and has involved players from all backgrounds.
The emphasis on skills have produced international players the
like of Soma Singh and Andy Grimes, Adrian Simons, Emlyn Evans
and Amratpal Atwal (u16) and few others on their way to gaining
that status.
Several
years back, the old boys and friends put their hands in their
pockets to purchase a derelict building in the middle of Leamington
Spa, with (late) Harbajan Singh Nagra’s hard work this
has become the home of hockey for players and umpires in Leamington
Spa and Warwick area.
We
currently run three teams, as well as running a veterans and
a youth side. Players of all abilities are welcome to join Khalsa
Hockey Club.
Khalsa
are very active in supporting hockey in the Warwickshire, Lakhbir
Singh Atwal under 16 coach, Sukhdev Singh Dhesi Director of
Coaching for 14 to 18 and under 21 coach (2001 to 2006) and
Gurdial Singh Randhawa County senior Coach and under 21 Midlands
manager.
Recent successes:
The veteran’s were winners in 1997 and runners up in 2000
and the Vintage boy’s reached the quarter finals for the
last five years and runners up 2006.
First team promotion to Midland Premier League 2008.
Khalsa
Hockey Club website |
