Pistons Summer Hockey Club

A brief history of the Pistons Summer Hockey Club

The Pistons were formed in 1950 by a group of members of the Southgate Hockey Club in order to participate in a Whitsun tournament at Wimereux.
This was repeated in 1951 and 1952, but at that time there was no summer hockey being played in England. The Pistons continued for many years to play in the Whitsun tournaments in Le Touquet, but in the meantime had decided to establish summer hockey at home. The Club affiliated to the Hockey Association and was probably the first club playing in the summer to do so.
The initial problem was to find a pitch, and this was solved for several years at the Finchley Rugby Club. The Pistons then moved to the Crouch End Vampires football ground. Neither of these venues could have been said to have pitches that were really acceptable for Hockey, but there was never any difficulty in finding opposing teams who were happy to visit and regular fixture lists were quickly established.
The breakthrough came when through the good offices of a Pistons member who was also the captain of Hornsey Cricket Club, the Pistons were able to relocate to the excellent grass outfield at Tivoli Road, Hornsey. The perfect grass there attracted high class oppositions and the Great Britain side found the facilities there the best available to them in the Country for preparation before the Tokyo Olympics.
Subsequently the Pistons moved again, this time to the Southgate Hockey Club’s ground at Waterfall Lane, and in 1998 to the Southgate Hockey Centre on the Middlesex University Campus at Trent Park.
Over the years the membership of the Club has been considerably widened and many distinguished players have appeared for the Club and amongst its opposition.
In 1971 the Club was invited to send a Veterans side to a tournament in Brussels and that visit was the foundation of the 6 Nations Veterans Tournament which continues to this day visiting each country in turn.
R F Willmott, 2005
Founder and Vice President