Our women’s and men’s section train on a Tuesday and a Thursday, and play their matches on a Saturday.

The women’s 1s play National League level hockey and are in the Conference West Division. Our women’s 2s play in the league below, our women’s 3s play in Severn 1 Division, with our women’s 4s in Severn 2 Division.

The men’s 1s play in the West Men’s Premier Division. The 2s are in Division 1 North. Our 3s play in Cotswold 1 Division.

We also have an established U18 and U16 setup, offering a range of hockey opportunities and competing in West league matches, indoor competitions, and national finals. The U16s and U18s train on a Wednesday or a Friday and play their matches on a Sunday.

Find out more: www.chelthockey.org 

Our history

Founded in 1887, Cheltenham Hockey Club (CHC) is 127 years old. The earliest reference to a CHC is in an article in the Cheltenham Examiner of October 1898. In 1904, a left winger, H S Slade became the first club player to win international honours appearing for England against Wales.

The club had a chequered history around that time and on at least two occasions it nearly folded. The second of these was during the First World War. Afterwards it was set up by J A Lovell, who was to be a leading force in the club in the post war years. The annual subscription was one guinea (£1.05) and match fees were 2s 6d (30p) for the Men’s 1st XI. During this period Cheltenham players won International Honours, notably E S Hoare who won 30 England caps between 1926 and 1937.

By 1957 CHC was fielding 2 men’s and 2 women’s teams on a Saturday and the midweek men’s Wednesday XI. There were no leagues and fixture meetings were held on a Monday at a coffee bar in the Promenade. Teams were selected and the selection cards were sent by post as few people had phones. Also very few women had access to a car so ordinary buses were used to get to away games!

The post war years saw Cheltenham consolidate itself into one of the strongest clubs in Gloucestershire helped in the 1950s by D J Carnill, a full back who won 45 England caps and captained Great Britain at the Rome Olympics in 1960. Since then we have had a number of our players achieving international status.

League hockey came to the West of England in 1978 and Cheltenham were runners up in the first two years of the premier Division (78/79 and 79/80). The winning of the Premier Division of the Sun Life West Hockey League in 1990/1991 gave the 1st XI automatic promotion into Division 2 of the National League.

In more recent times, CHC has taken part in a successful Lottery Bid alongside Balcarras School. CHC has been based at the school since 2002 and the Club boasts some of the best facilities in the South West. Since the move, the club has seen a team(s) promoted into higher leagues nearly every season, culminating in the successful position we are in now.