The game of hockey is ancient with a marble relief found in Athens showing men playing hockey dated to 510BC.
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The modern rediscovery of the game came out of private schools in England in the 1840s.
After education of girls became compulsory in 1880, they took to hockey with gusto, leaving boys to play soccer and rugby.
From the 1890s Australians were aware of the game and many were playing informally.
In 1899 teams began to be formed by women in Melbourne.
An attempt was made the same year to form a ladies club in Ulverstone. Whether it was successful or not is unknown.
The first hockey teams we definitely know of in Tasmania came out of the girls' schools.
In 1905 in Hobart there were teams at Friends and the Girls High School.
In Launceston, the Methodist Ladies College (MLC, now Scotch Oakburn) had two teams and may have formed them as early as 1903.
Despite The Examiner expressing concerns about vigorous sport being unhealthy for girls, the game took off.
One of its features was the excitement it engendered in spectators.
In 1906 the Launceston Ladies Hockey Club (LLHC) formed with 50 members, and played their first match at the Tattersall's Ground on June 2.
The following year they sent a team to Melbourne, playing seven games and winning three.
On their return they were a little embarrassed when beaten by MLC, who was captained by their extraordinary principal Miss Mary Fox. In fairness though, the LLHC team didn't have all their interstate players.
At that time MLC was advertising that it possessed a hockey ground, as part of its pitch for students.
There were seven teams in the north in 1908, when the Northern Tasmania Ladies Hockey Association was formed.
Unfortunately the girls were promptly whipped by the Southern Association team 2-0.
Nevertheless, the north continued to be at the forefront of developing the sport. The principal of MLC organised a combined Launceston team to go to Melbourne in 1909, and then an interstate carnival in Launceston in 1911. In 1913 the Tasmanian Women's Hockey Association was formed.
Arguably their greatest moment in competition came with a loss. The best team in the world by far was the English national squad, who toured Australia in 1927.
They smashed Australia's national team in three tests. They also joined our interstate competition that year, where Tassie was the only team able to be competitive.
Tasmania may have lost 2-4, but Queensland was beaten 22-0.
Though hockey was pioneered and largely played in Australia by women, the Olympics only admitted men's hockey. Thus, when the game was introduced in London in 1908, Australia had no team.
After women were finally admitted in 1980, the Hockeyroos became one of the best known women's sports teams in the world. They won three Olympic gold medals, four Commonwealth Games golds and two World Cups.