Men's Masters

by Alan Leary

I was managing Hawthorn HC Mens Veterans from 1987 to 2002. In those years Masters was called Veterans and had a 40+ qualifying age. By 2002 the team was struggling with numbers and in early 2003 I received a phone call from a friend, Philip Burchardt, who said TEM Veterans were having a similar problem.

He proposed the two teams merge and play under one of the clubs, and this to be decided by the toss of a coin. The Hawthorn players agreed, the coin came down TEM side up, so in 2003 a single TEM team was entered comprised of the following players:

from HHC: James Boykett, David Hamlyn, David Huett, Alan Leary, Graeme Morris, Paul Ryan, John Simpson and Rodger Tallent; and

from TEMHC: Spiros Beasley, Lewis Bloom, Neville Brown, Philip Burchardt, Mark Farrall, Ross Leopold, Michael Norbury, Craig Samson, Peter Voulgaris and Keith Williams.

It's interesting to note in 2003 between the two clubs there was ONE Mens Veterans team and in 2021 the two clubs are fielding TEN Mens Masters teams - a tenfold increase!

2019, our last "normal" year before Covid-19 hit, was reasonably successful with the four Monday night teams playing in finals.

Over 35A - RUNNERS UP, losing to Waverley in the Grand Final.

Over 35C - MINOR PREMIERS and RUNNERS UP losing to MCC in the Grand Final.

Over 45B - PREMIERS, winning the Grand Final against Brunswick.

Over 45D - Won the semi final against Knox, then lost the preliminary final to MCC so BRONZE MEDALISTS.

For 2021, Hockey Victoria changed the Over 35 competitions to Open Age competitions, to give players of any age who can't play on weekends a chance to play weeknights. This has resulted in a number of older Over 35 players moving into the Over 45 competitions. It will probably take a season or two for the grading of teams to settle down.

This year TEM has entered one Open Age team, three Over 45 teams and an Over 50 team. The results so far, to mid-season, have the Over 45A team in fourth spot, and the other teams below that.

Womens Masters

by Pene Amor

For the past five years we have had a single Womens Masters team at TEM made up of enthusiastic players spanning a wide range of ages. We have a huge depth of talent and experience with our goalie, Palma Casonato reaching the amazing milestone of 400 games this season and Dee Davies sitting on 399 games, very soon to achieve the same and join teammates Mary Lofthouse, Kim Davies and Leesa Needham in this exclusive club.

We all greatly missed our hockey last year and were very excited to start back with summer hockey at the start of 2021. It was to be a challenging season as HV had restructured the comp and we found ourselves playing in the Open age group. Many teams comprised much ‘younger legs’ but our experience, teamwork and good humour held us in good stead to finish up third on the ladder.

As the winter season is progressing we find ourselves middle of the table in the 35+BSE competition. We have welcomed five new ladies to TEM masters over the course of the year and eagerly accept help from some of TEM senior ladies to fill in as they reach our playing age. Several of our new teammates have not played hockey for quite a while and are loving their return to the sport. We always welcome new members so feel free to come down and have a run with us.

If anyone is keen to have a run with any of the masters teams please get in touch with Alan or Pene.

Alan- mens.masters@tem.org.au

Pene- womens.masters@tem.org.au

TEM History