Club History

The History of Field Hockey in Calgary

A nice account of the history of field hockey in Calgary is provided by the team brochure of the Saracens entry in the 1985 Golden Oldies tournament in 1985. We shall quote this brochure here

The League that Amby Built

Amby Gregg, a retired Physical Education Instructor, now 83 years young, still occasionally plays fullback for Saracens II.

Amby Organized the Calgary League in 1957 when a group of players gathered for mixed hockey in Boystown. The first executive of the Calgary Association seemed to consist of all the players of the League.

The mixed hockey, under the driving force of Amby Gregg, Jim Day, Margo Lock, Jill McLeod, Ken Craig, etc. flourished with four teams, moving from Boystown to Hillhurst Sunnyside and Highwood, until 1962 when the Ladies' League formed. The Gregg Shield, symbol of mixed hockey excellence, began in 1961 and has now become an exciting Calgary hockey social event.

The League that Amby built still meets in Winter for indoor hockey, and holds its summer games on at least 5 different pitches in town. It has games with Edmonton, Red Deer and Banff teams. It has grown bigger with 6 clubs fielding several senior and junior teams. It has hosted the Canadian Championships 3 times in the last 10 years. It has shown what Amby and 8 dedicated players can do to an exciting international sport.

Since 1985 hockey has continued to grow slowly in Calgary with about 10 teams competing in two divisions in the men's league and 20 teams in the women's league. In recent years, progress in the indoor form of the game has been particularly encouraging with some success for teams from Calgary in national tournaments. Expanding junior programs are beginning to develop some promising youth players. Probably the most exciting development of all is the completion of a world class outdoor playing surface at the university of Calgary which is featured in a separate page in this site here.

Calgary Saracens FHC

The Saracens field hockey club was formed in the early 1960s with Amby Gregg himself a prominent member and has been in existence continually ever since. The name Saracens may seem a little incongruous at first. The word Saracen is defined by Wikipedia as an Arab or a member of the Islamic faith. Although the league is has a strong international flavour, Saracens FHC have not generally been dominated by players of Arabic extraction. We believe that the Saracens FHC began associated with, and deriving their name from, the Saracens Athletic Club of Calgary a rugby club still going strong in Calgary. This club presumably derived their name from the older Saracens Rugby Club in England.

The fortunes of the Saracens FHC have ebbed and flowed over the years. Its members have toured far and wide, playing and umpiring in: numerous festivals in Vancouver and Oliver; provincial club tournaments in Edmonton & Winnipeg; a recreational tournament in Bermuda; & Golden Oldies tournaments in Victoria, Australia, Vancouver and Fiji. Right now we are perhaps the largest club in Calgary with two or three teams entered in both indoor and outdoor competitions.

Distinguished Members

Our members have distinguished themselves both on and off the field and filled volunteer positions at provincial and national levels. Here we acknowledge these players/umpires/coaches/administrators. We would like to note that these lists are very incomplete. If there is someone who you think should be included, please drop the webmaster a line and he will make the additions as soon as possible.

Peter vander Pyl, one of our most distinguished member, received Canada's Governor General's Medal for Meritorious Services to Field Hockey in 1992

Apart from Saracens who have achieved things at the higher level, we would like to acknowledge people who have achieved at our level! Below we list the players who have been great servants of the Calgary Saracens FHC. Some have been honoured for their stirling service to the club and hockey in general with honourary membership while others we include aged, er, experienced, er, long-serving members or for great work as club chair.

Awards

Two awards are offered by Saracens FHC. The President's Award, institured by Tony Stewart in 2002 is awarded each year to the member or members who has been judged to have made a significant contribution to the club through their volunteer work. In 2006 Dawna Morrow created the Outstanding Achievement Award that is presented to the member of Saracens FHC who has made an outstanding contribution to the sport of field hockey. This award is only presented when a suitable candidate is available.