Newmarket Hockey Club was founded on 10th October 1948 as a mixed team and has played at a number of venues throughout its history, including Stanley House, the Town Ground, the Upper School, Scaltback School, George Lambton’s Playing Fields and Ely. Despite recruitment being a struggle due to a high concentration of local teams, separate sides for men and women were formed and Newmarket began to grow, moving away from playing on grass in the early 1990’s.
The change to playing and training on astroturf allowed players to develop and compete at a higher level, resulting in teams fielded by the club moving up the leagues. However, an unfortunate side effect was that every game became an away match, and Newmarket teams were forced to travel to Cambridge, Bury St. Edmunds or Ely to play their games on astro. A fundraising campaign began to fund construction of a sand based astroturf pitch in Newmarket and the Club entered the Guiness Book of World Records in the process, recording the ‘Longest Ever Hockey Match’ when the club staged a 60-hour ‘Hockathon’ on George Lampton’s Playing Fields in 1992.
The fundriasing campaign was successful and the club returned to Newmarket Academy when the new astro was completed in 2006.
Now fielding a total of 6 senior teams across the East leagues and boasting a thriving Junior section, Newmarket Hockey Club is without doubt on the rise.
