Margaret Snelling has made it possible for hockey to grow and players to have more opportunities around Kiama. Photo: Keeli Dyson.
A South Coast hockey stalwart has dedicated a national honour to the game and to the people before her who made it possible.
Kiama’s Margaret Snelling was recognised in the recent Australia Day honours for decades of commitment to the sport where she ensured there was opportunities for people to play.
When hockey first came to her town, Margaret was sidelined for being too young.
“Hockey was started in Gerringong by Mrs Dorothy Bailey in 1945,” Margaret said.
“We weren’t allowed to play as teenage girls, you were supposed to be 16 or something but we used to watch them play.”
Once it was time for her to pick up a stick, things started out slowly, but Margaret quickly found her place and success in the sport.
“I think I started in 1948 and we used to get flogged every week,” she said.
“At 15 I joined the first grade and we won the premiership in 1952, ‘53, ‘54.
“We had a wonderful camaraderie of the girls at that age, it was great.”
Whether it was picking up cow pats off a farm paddock they were set to play on, fighting the pony club for new fields, mowing, carrying nets, shooing away soccer players or removing rocks, the work that went into getting to each game was never simple.
And with no shinpads, mouthguards or safety equipment, there were plenty of bruises.
A young Margaret and her teammates went to support the Indian international teams after they came to Gerringong. Photo: Supplied.
But she kept coming back for more, even competing against international players when they came to town.
“In 1956 we had the international teams and two lots came to Gerringong – the Indians and the Dutch – and I played for South Coast against the Dutch and we beat them,” Margaret said.
“They weren’t very happy, they didn’t want to talk to us.”
After getting married in 1958, the birth of her six children had a tendency to disrupt her hockey seasons, but even when she wasn’t on the field, Margaret’s support of the game continued.
“In 1968 they were starting up primary school girls’ hockey and I was approached to see if I would get a team together from the Catholic school,” she said.
When the Kiama primary school team organiser was no longer able to do it, she took them on too and just a few teams slowly grew to eight in the region.
“I made little wrap-around skirts for all of them in different colours and we used to cart them by car,” Margaret said.
Making the move to Kiama Hockey Club when her daughter was old enough to play grade, Margaret was non-stop, whether it was coaching, managing, umpiring, being the delegate to Kiama Sports or on the Albion Park turf committee.
She even started up indoor hockey with both men and women, calling for nominations, sorting teams and arranging the draw.
And she kept the legacy of South Coast women’s hockey strong by recording their history for both 50 years and 60 years of the sport in the region.
If it needed to get done, Margaret would make it happen.
“I don’t think I’m great at getting things done, but I’m always busy, always busy, taking on lots of things,” she said.
“I just loved it, I don’t know why. I just kept doing it.”
And she continued to take to the field including representing at veterans’ competitions until she was 71.
Now she has been awarded an Order of Australia Medal for her service to hockey, where her volunteering made it possible for people to play.
“Not for me, really for hockey,” Margaret said.
“For all the work going back to Mrs Bailey who was wonderful with us kids at Gerringong.”
But despite so much of her time dedicated to the sport, out of her six kids, 14 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren, so far only one has followed in her hockey footsteps and given her the perfect opportunity to get back to the pitch to watch the finals.
“My son put me in a wheelchair and took me up to Unanderra,” Margaret said.
“I enjoyed it but I’m a bit of a critic … sometimes the umpire can get it wrong.”
