History of the Name
Back in first year 2000 Kris Elliot and Travis MacIntyre new a group of PLC/Iona girls and a group of SantaMaria girls that all wanted to play hockey. They brought us together for our inaugural year. We called Kris “Shaggy Dog” after the Dulux dog on TV and his shaggy long hair. Travis was called “Roosterboy” due to his skinny legs.The boys in return called us their “Chickens”. There was a team bonding weekend away in which our name was sealed for ever, but for more details ask Kris or Trav or any original Chickens. It was a weekend of Kings, The SS and broken Combie Vans but all in all our most memorable as a team. The name impacted heavily on the girls’ attitude of fun as everyone has a laugh when someone yells out ‘Go Chickens’ from the sidelines. We were from then on referred to as the “Red Chickens” as “Red dogs” as the boys were called was not very appropriate for such a lovely group of girls. A few years later we took on the motto ‘We Drink , We Dance and We Play a Little Hockey’ which all in all sums up the team atmosphere we try to create within the club.
The Story so Far
Initially there was only one team, which played their first season in state league 7’s, with pretty limited success. The copious amounts of drinking may have had something to do with this and although we have quietened down somewhat in later years the same could still be said of us today. After all our motto is “we drink, we dance and we play a bit of hockey”
2001 saw us climb from the bottom to the top – finishing 2nd after the home and away season and making the finals. Although we lost the semi to Uni (who we had beaten both times during the year) we chose to move onto bigger and better things – State League 6.
2002 was our most successful year, as the team went from strength to strength. Although we had moved up a grade we sat on top of the ladder all year and won both the challenge cup, the minor premiership and the grand final. This year also saw the introduction of two new ladies teams, State League 7 and Metro 2’s. Both new teams struggled a little in their opening year, however it was an exciting time for the chickens we continued to multiply.
In 2003 we again moved up a division, which saw us playing in State League 5’s. We had a very successful year, finishing as minor premiers and making the grand final against our arch nemesis – Uni. We went down in an epic game, 2:1 but managed to still have an awesome night out on the town. Our other two teams definitely aided in maintaining our reputation as booze hounds.
2004 saw us loose over half our team to the UK and although we picked up a few good imports we went into the season with pretty low expectations. We scrapped into the finals with a few crucial wins at the end of the season. In the first semi we played Whitfords – a team that had beaten us both times during the season pretty convincingly. Never the less we pulled out probably our best game of the season and ending up winning 2:1, with a penalty flick in the last few minutes of the game sealing the match. Although we went down pretty hard in the preliminary final to Uni, we were just stoked that we had made it that far. Again our State League 7 side struggled for numbers throughout the year, which was the only thing stopping them from dominating that league. The Metro 2’s enjoyed their best year, winning a few games and scoring some goals.
6 years on and there is only 1 original chickens left … Jaime Mills.
A special mention must go to Jamo – captain, founder and all-round legend of the Red Chicken’s Hockey Club! Your enthusiasm and hard work is very much respected and appreciated!