St Brendan's Phoenix Park
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Biography:
St. Brendan’s Phoenix Park has a long and varied history. It was originally formed as Grangegorman HC in 1929 when its membership consisted of male staff employed by the hospital. In 1960, the clubs name was changed to St. Brendan’s HC to coincide with the hospital name change and the club continued into the 60’s winning various junior trophies.
In the early 70’s, the club as a result of the influx of sons of staff members, together with their friends, formed the nucleus of a very good junior team and the promise was fulfilled when this team reached an Irish Junior Cup final in 1974 only to be beaten by Lisnagarvey. In 1975, these players formed the backbone of the team that was promoted to the Leinster Senior League. The club were now fielding four teams which was an outstanding achievement considering the North inner city location of the club.
In 1981, the club embarked in a recruitment drive to encourage young boys from the local areas to take up the game of hockey. There was some resistance to this at the time as it was felt by them that only girls played hockey. However, with some persistence from many of the senior members, about 15 boys joined the colts section of St. Brendan’s HC.
A merger with Phoenix Park Hockey Club took place in 1995 and the Club today competes under the name St Brendan’s Phoenix Park HC. Mergers with Lorraine HC and Portrane HC also came about, although Portrane HC returned to their own base in the north of the county and separated from the Club in 2008.
The ladies’ section of the Club was established under Phoenix Park HC in the mid 1970s, and naturally became part of St Brendan’s Phoenix Park HC when the 1995 merger took place. For almost twenty years there was only one ladies’ team in existence, but an increase in female membership in 2004 allowed the Club to expand and field a second ladies’ team. The ladies’ firsts boast an impressive record of 5 promotions in 7 years, a run of success which commenced back in 2005/6.
Today, St. Brendan’s Phoenix Park Hockey Club currently has 2 men’s teams (div 6 & 8), 2 women’s teams (div 6 & 13) and a flourishing youth section.
We now play out of the national sports campus in Abbottstown (behind the Aquatic Centre Blanchardstown). Training times Tuesday and Thursday 7.30-8.30. Contact Club Secretary by email at dublinhockey@gmail.com or see our Facebook page.
For more information on joining the club;
Visit our club website www.dublinhockey.ie, Email: dublinhockey@gmail.com,Follow us on Twitter - @SBPPHockeyClub, Like us on Facebook - search St Brendan's Phoenix Park