Sustained success the 'key' to unlock Melville's dreams

It comes as no surprise that Melville City Hockey Club’s first ever All Flags Premier League win was celebrated the way it was; since the club’s inception, the elusive title had come ever so close on occasions, but ultimately the glory continued to escape from their grasp.

Finally in 2021, a lone score from star Melville defender James Day against Reds captured the moment Melville had been seeking, with the Melville faithful on the hill celebrating as one until the final buzzer.

Melville President David Timmel was amongst the group holding their breath until the last siren went, stating that the years of hard work and dedication was all worth it in the end.

“I feel a huge sense of satisfaction and pride for all those who have put in years and years of hard work, some who are still at the club and others who have moved on but kept in touch,” Timmel says.

“Running hockey clubs the size of Melville takes a lot of hard work from a lot of people over a sustained period of time and getting to and winning Grand Finals even more,”

“We were comprehensively beaten in 2016 and it took longer than we all hoped for our chance at redemption but we learned our lessons, went back to the well, recruited, developed our juniors and have now tasted success.”

Timmel says that although the club has been through some dark days, it’s the hard yards put in by club members, young and old, that has created a culture in which the players respect.

“I have been at Melville off and on since 1973 and we have ridden the promotion/relegation wave, merger proposals with other clubs, losing our promising juniors to successful clubs, but throughout this period, we have never lost our overall vision of being a strong, competitive and respected club within the WA hockey community,” Timmel says.

“We clearly understand and value the legacy our founders have left us, some of whom are still active at the club and this has been our guiding light through some of those dark days,”

“It shows that with a plan, with the correct culture and with persistence, you can and will be successful.”

With Melville ticking off its first ever men’s All Flags Premier League title, Timmel says that he’s confident the women won’t be too far behind.

“I strongly believe that our women's program will in the very near future be as strong if not stronger than our men with the home-grown talent we have coming through,” Timmel says.

“Our Women's top squad coach Matilda Carmichael knows what is required to play at the highest level, being a former Hockeyroo and current Perth Scorchers squad member, and the squad understand this also,”

“Our aim is to put one or two experience older players among the younger players and we strongly believe we will become very competitive quickly; four of our top squad made the state under-21s, one both the 21s and under-18s, we just need to give them time to grow and as importantly enjoy their hockey and like the men we are very confident success will come.”

The key focus for Melville is to not lose focus on sustained success, with Timmel stating that the club aims to build a sustainable base for years to come.

“At Melville we are strong on building a sustainable base and wherever possible growing and developing our own talent; where this is not possible, we sell the vision of our club to people like James Day and Ben Staines and thankfully they buy into it and we all win,” Timmel says.

“In recent years we have made the conscious decision, where possible, to hold on to our AIS draftees to build that culture of excellence, let our senior squads and promising juniors meet, be around and if possible, play with the national stars,”

“In practical terms, sustaining success into the future is the 250 minkey children playing every Saturday morning; You provide this group with quality coaches, managers and a good culture and they will become your next wave of very good senior players you can build success around.”

After a much-earnt celebration, we’re sure we’ll see more of Melville at the top for years to come.