Brisbane Women’s Hockey Association, like most associations across the state, enjoys hockey as a family sport for life, with mothers, daughters and grand-daughters playing across the decades. As some players move up divisions, others are moving down and so many young and older players have crossed paths in the many divisions we have been able to provide due to our larger population in the capital city of Queensland. In the earliest times it was the older players who provided the “Captain/Coach” role, as a coach for every team was unheard of. It was these older players that provided the skill development, leadership and sportsmanship model as they moved back down divisions with the next generation moving up.

With changing society and women returning to work outside the home, time management took on new challenges and many of our older players were looking for an opportunity to maximise their participation and enjoyment and playing with their peers. Before the advent of a Veterans divisions in Brisbane, many clubs had already formed “veteran” style teams within their club, playing across many divisions.

In 1984 BWHA formulated a Veteran’s Division: Excerpt from the BWHA 1984 Annual Report, Secretary’s Report – Faye Wastell:
74 Senior and 50 Junior teams from 23 clubs affiliated in 1984. More firsts – the commencement of “Minkey” hockey and a Veteran’s division in the senior ranks, both of which were highly successful and will, I am sure, grow in the coming years.

6 teams: Ascot, St Andrews, Easts, Norths, Logan and Mt Gravatt CAE made up the first Veterans division in BWHA. Noting there were 8 Minkey teams in that inaugural year.

Veterans hockey continued on grass at Downey Park from 1984 to 1999. In 1997 BWHA ran both a Grass and a Monday night Turf Veterans competition with 6 teams in each. In 1998 the name “Veterans” was replaced by “Masters”. We ran two Masters competitions (Turf and Grass) in 1997, 1998, 1999, unfortunately in 2000 there was no longer a grass Masters competition, with all Masters competition being played on turf.

The BWHA Masters competition has now grown with the availability of additional synthetic turfs in Brisbane and our population. In 2018 we have 4 Masters divisions playing on Monday nights across 4 venues with a total of 25 teams. Noting that at the other end of the age spectrum we also continue to grow, in 2018 we have 23 x U7 and 29 x U9 teams.