Club historyWhen John Degarmo moved to Armidale in 1994, he began work at the Armidale Sport and Recreation Centre as the Skating Manager. John’s love for Ice Hockey in his native country of North America and it's neighbouring country Canada, brought him to the idea of starting up Inline roller hockey at the skating rink. There were many ups and downs during the sport’s birth and growth. When John and his wife left Armidale in 1996, there were just under 40 teams playing weekly, with pee-wees, juniors, both A and B squads, and seniors, both A and B squads. Inline hockey started Sunday mornings around 10 am, broke for a skating session, and then resumed again and went to about 8pm, there were also games played on Monday nights as well. It was a great time, with a rather large audience each week. John also wrote a weekly report each Friday in the newspaper, with pictures from games.Armidale Inline Hockey Club’s first AGM was held in October 1997. A number of our members were already playing in Roller Sports Australia (RSA) competitions through the Tamworth club and some were selected to play in NSW teams at the RSA National Championships held in Canberra in 1997. Most of our members had for a number of years been playing in teams in the local competition run by the Armidale Sport & Recreation Centre rink owner. So a number of parents got together to form the Armidale Inline Hockey Club Inc. so our boys could represent Armidale. The club was independent of the local rink, the club’s sole aim was to help those players who wish to extend their skills further. It should be noted that the local rink owner’s competition used AILHA rules as opposed to RSA who used Federation International de Roller Sports (FIRS) rules. To be continued..... |