Leo Clarke 2023 Hockey ACT Life Member Inductee

Congratulations to Leo Clarke, who has been inducted as a Hockey ACT Life Member at the recent Hockey ACT AGM.

Leo Clarke has been an active member of Hockey ACT, Daramalan Eagles Hockey Club, North Canberra Eagle and the ACT Masters Hockey Association, and its predecessor organisations, for more than 40 years as an administrator and much longer as Leo Clarke has been an active member of Hockey ACT, Daramalan Eagles Hockey Club, North Canberra Eagle and the ACT Masters Hockey Association, and its predecessor organisations, for more than 40 years as an administrator and much longer as a player.

Leo’s contribution as an administrator commenced in 1982 with Daramalan Eagles Hockey Club. Leo was a continuous member of the Daramalan Committee for 35 years and served many of those years as the clubs President. Leo continued his involvement with Daramalan right through until 2017 at which point, he successfully guided he club through a merger with North Canberra to create the North Canberra Eagles who are today one of the largest hockey clubs in Canberra. Since 2017 Leo has remained on the committee of North Canberra Eagles and is the current Vice President. 2023 celebrates Leo’s 41st continuous year as a committee member of the club.

In 2004, Leo joined the ACT Masters Association, which would commence his 19 continuous years of exceptional contribution to Masters hockey in the ACT and has been President since 2018. His service to Masters hockey has been highlighted by his personal effort in fostering growth in membership to almost 500 members, creating new pathways for people to remain engaged in the sport and the move to a professional association structure with an administration and governance that reflects his extensive experience and drive for excellence and the continued investment in the future of the Masters organisation in the ACT, both financially and in a diverse committee membership. His leadership on and off the field has been instrumental in the significant rise in the profile of ACT Masters Hockey and its standing in the wider Hockey Australia Masters community.

Leo has been the driving force behind the Monday Night Competition since its inception as an organised team competition in 2005. For 18 years he has personally overseen the recruitment of clubs, teams and individuals to a point where they now number 25 competitive teams each Monday Night. Using his extensive experience in the sport he has been responsible for developing and managing the draw and appointing umpires to field weekly games that have allowed ACT Masters to provide a competition that offers enjoyment, participation, and representation opportunities to select teams that hold their own at the National Championships."

In 2017, Leo established the Thursday afternoon Masters match which aims to offer more senior members of the Masters competition an opportunity to remain actively involved with the sport in either a playing, umpiring or supporter capacity. This social gathering highlights Leo drive to continue to offer opportunities for participants to remain active in the community and remain engaged in a social network, something that has been recently highlighted to us all during the covid pandemic.

Leo has consistently volunteered his time to Hockey ACT to assist wherever possible at event time. Leo has volunteered as nearly every international series that Canberra has hosted in the last 25 years. Leo has volunteered his services to Canberra Lakers, Strikers and now Chill home games to assist wherever possible to ensure that home matches ran smoothly. Leo has also contributed as an umpire not only at club level but also June Long Weekend and Quikstix events.

Leo commenced playing Hockey in 1966 with Daramalan in the junior competition and started playing in the senior competition with Daramalan in 1970. Leo was a consistent member of the A3 Daramalan Eagles side but does have fond memories of playing briefly in first grade side. Leo continues to play SL4 with North Canberra Eagles, Monday night and Thursday afternoons in the Masters competition. He has represented the ACT Masters at National Championships on 12 occasions since 2003, including 3 occasions as Captain and 1 as Vice Captain.

Leo’s efforts have been recognised at both club, Masters and Hockey ACT over the last 40 years. For his outstanding contribution and commitment to their organisations, Leo has received Life Membership of Daramalan Eagles Hockey Club, North Canberra Eagles Hockey Club and ACT Masters Hockey Association. With Daramalan and North Canberra Eagles Leo has been awarded virtually all Club service recognition awards, many on multiple occasions, including having won Club Person of the year in each of the last four decades.

Hockey ACT recognised Leo’s service to the community in 2017 being awarded the Bill Weidner Award for Sports Administrator of the Year.

As such, it is deserving that Leo Clarke, for his exceptional contribution to Hockey in the ACT, be awarded with Life Membership of Hockey ACT.