Southern Districts Hockey Club began as two clubs – one for men and one for women.

The first Men’s Club - “Papatoetoe Hockey Club” was formed in April 1927 with one Third Grade team. The President was Dr A B Jameson and the Club Captain was Mr C A Moore. By 1932 there were five teams from Senior to Fifth Grade as well as primary and High School teams. During these early Depression years, numerous and various functions were held to raise funds. Club finances were very poor and there were instances of individual hardship. Some players who were unable to pay their fees were permitted to “work out” their subscriptions by preparing the grounds for play each week.

The top Men’s team attained senior status in 1933, under the captaincy of M J Bay, a New Zealand Representative. Because of World War 2, the Club went into recess from 1939-1945. In 1946 the club was reformed and one team was entered in the Third Grade competition. The Club grew both in stature and playing strength in the early 1950s. In 1952 the “Papatoetoe Hockey Club” was renamed the “Southern Districts Old Boys Hockey Club” with a view to encouraging a wider Club membership especially from local Secondary schools. The club continued to grow during the 1950s and nine teams were fielded - five men’s and four others playing in the Secondary Competition, ranging from Senior to Twelfth Grade. This commitment to Primary and Secondary Hockey is still a very important part of the Club today and a reason we have maintained our membership numbers.

1959 was an outstanding year for the Club with seven teams in Championship play. Two won their Grade and the remaining five were runners up. Through the early years the following members gained New Zealand Honours: M J Bay, L J Montieth, G Cameron, G McGregor, P Bygraves, M Loudon and J Smith. R Smith, Simon Loudon and Dr K D N Patel were New Zealand Universities representatives.

Even then, the Clubrooms were at the Papatoetoe Recreation Ground where the majority of Auckland Hockey was played because of the six grounds. The rooms could only be described as very inadequate indeed, especially when the only furniture was a sofa and armchair which had most certainly seen better days. In 1962 the Papatoetoe Borough Council constructed a new two-storey pavilion, to be used by the Hockey Club in winter and the Papatoetoe Cricket Club in summer. The ground floor consisted of two very large dressing rooms each with showers and a room for umpires. Upstairs was a large lounge with bar, kitchen and toilets.

A women’s Club was formed in 1927 and it flourished for some years before disbanding. The Papatoetoe Ladies Hockey Club was re-established in 1949. The teams trained at the old Papatoetoe Cycling Stadium (now Alan Brewster Centre). The initial uniform was tartan but in 1972, the Club changed to a gold skirt with a white shirt and gold socks with a white top.

In 1975, at a Special General Meeting, it was agreed that Southern Districts Old Boys Hockey Club would amalgamate with Papatoetoe Ladies Hockey Club. This was done to strengthen the Club financially and socially. 1977 saw the Club celebrate its 50th Jubilee, over Easter Weekend. The programme included an Invitation Game played at the Recreation Ground which featured many members of the NZ Gold Medal winning Montreal Olympic Team against a Southern Team In a very good game played in front of a large and appreciative crowd, the invitation team managed to come out on top.

The first official Club sponsor was Karisma Cosmetics. They provided sponsorship in 1985 and 1986, which covered playing uniforms for the top two women’s teams and the men’s premier team. This enabled the women to change to a red and black uniform in line with the men’s teams.

In 1984, a Committee was set up to look at the development of the club and to find out what players and supporters wanted from the Club. No surprises here – they found that members wanted better clubrooms, improved playing facilities, including a turf and improved coaching and practice facilities at all levels.The first of many attempts at getting an artificial playing turf in Papatoetoe happened as a result of this, but failed, although the clubrooms were extensively renovated.

In the mid 1980’s the Club negotiated an agreement with the Papatoetoe Tennis Club to build a shared, floodlit, sand filled Omnisport turf, big enough for 3 tennis courts or a mini hockey field. This gave the Club a much needed practice turf, and enabled junior hockey to be played at Papatoetoe.

In the late 1990’s, a turf subcommittee was established to try and get a full sized artificial turf for the club. They were initially offered a site next to the cycling velodrome in Manukau City. Over the next few years, despite an enormous effort by the committee, not a lot of progress was made, with availability of funding a major stumbling block. The Manukau velodrome site was reluctantly abandoned.

Around 2000, the idea of a multi sports club was raised with the concept of joint club rooms and facilities on the Papatoetoe Recreation Ground. The prospect of a hockey turf was enough of an incentive to keep the Club together and so began the long, but ultimately worthwhile task of forming the Papatoetoe Sports and Community Charitable Trust. ( Now Kolmar ) The realization of a hockey turf and shared clubrooms was the real springboard for the Club’s future. The Trust has been able to provide fantastic new clubrooms and a full-sized water based artificial turf, which are the envy of many other clubs. This has bought the club back to its roots and given it a base again, encouraging amazing growth in playing numbers since the turf was completed in 2010.

With only 8 Senior, 3 Youth and 8 Junior team in 2010 growing club membership was going to be critical. With only 34 of the Junior players coming from Papatoetoe schools, taking hockey to the local schools to attract more local players was the first priority. As a consequence of an in school coaching programme and once again having a home base the Club membership grew by 40%. In 2012 the Club fielded 10 Senior teams, 5 Youth and 16 Junior teams.

In 2013 the Premier Men won the Championship for the first time since 1956, and the Premier women finished runners up in both the League and Championship. There had been unprecedented growth in the Junior teams with 21 fielded. By the end of 2013 over 5,000 school children in a 3 year period have been coached in hockey in Otara, Papatoetoe and Manurewa through the Kiwisport Coaching in Schools programme.

The Club celebrated 90 years in 2017 and continues to foster a culture of family, and to maintain development pathways that create an “emotional attachment” to the Club, that will hopefully retain players and continue to develop “good” people, as well as championship winning teams.

To the current year Southern has produced 34 NZ Black Sticks. The Club places a lot of this success on their player development pathway and an emphasis on developing young players through the linkages made with schools. All Clubs go through cycles – good times and not so good times and constantly have to find ways to retain and recruit players and volunteers. New initiatives including Summer clinics for Youth and Junior players, holiday programmes, Have a go Days , home based fun sticks, and social events have become part of the annual calendar to continue to grow the game and maintain the club’s leading position in the community.