Club History

Victoria Park Men’s Hockey Club commenced in 1962 to meet the needs of hockey players in the area. The Club grew steadily in size and strength until 1978 when it achieved Premier 1 status. It remains one of the few Clubs to have achieved Premier 1 status and remain in the grade.

Xavier Hockey Club was formed in 1980 by Xavier College Old Boys (now Ursula Frayne Catholic College). It is a source of many current members, both senior and junior. Xavier achieved 1B status in 1986.

Victoria Park Xavier Hockey Club Inc. (VPXHC), more commonly known as the Vic Park Panthers was established in 1987 as a result of an amalgamation between the Victoria Park Men’s Hockey Club and the Xavier College Old Boys.

The amalgamation was a benefit to both Clubs as Women’s teams were introduced to VPXHC and the Men’s and Junior teams increased in numbers.

In 2010, the club achieved and continues to retain Women’s Premier 1. In 2016 the team finished second after the normal rounds, but narrowly missed out on making the grand final. Since then the Women have won the Premier 1 premiership in 2020 and 2021.

In 2024 the club fielded eleven men’s teams, six ladies teams and seventeen junior teams plus involved a further 200 children in the Minkey & Grads programs (approx. 700 playing members).

VPXHC has its own fields and clubrooms located at Fletcher Park, Carlisle with the playing surfaces considered some of the best grass fields in Perth. We have also been actively negotiating with Town of Victoria Park and the Department of Sport and Recreation to relocate the Club to a new location that will include an Astroturf artificial playing surface, three grass hockey fields and clubrooms.

VPXHC is the largest sporting club in the Victoria Park area in terms of participating members. The Club has a high profile in hockey circles with seven past players representing Australia at senior international level including Olympic Games, World Cups and Champions Trophies. They include Dean Evans (99 internationals), Graham Reid (130 internationals), John Bestall (100 internationals), Greg Corbitt (130 internationals) and Daniel Sproule (188 internationals), Liam de Young (312 internationals), and Ian Burcher who was selected to play in the series against the Netherlands in January 2009.

Current Australian Representatives for VPXHC are: