Netball has proudly flown the HSOG/HSOB flag at Poverty Bay and national level and can claim to be the most successful wing of the sports club.
HSOG was formed in 1928, the same year the Poverty Bay Basketball (netball) Association was founded.
Since then, HSOG has won more top-tier Poverty Bay and Gisborne titles (Stoneham Cup or Jan Duncan Memorial Trophy) than any other club – 53 championships.
The netballers have matched or even surpassed the achievement of HSOB in rugby – HSOB have won more top-tier Poverty Bay rugby championships (20) than any other existing club.
Shelly Duncan played for HSOG in the nationwide Caltex Cup club competition in 1993.
HSOG regularly defeated big-city clubs in qualifying matches over several years before finally making it to the Caltex Cup, where they placed sixth.
Most of the players retired at the end of that season, before returning 10 years later to win the Jan Duncan Memorial Trophy Gisborne Premier Grade title despite not training.
HSOG were dominant in local netball from 1975 to 2011 – claiming 23 championship titles.
Jan Duncan (Shelley’s mother), a HSOG captain and Poverty Bay coach, trained some of those teams, as did Silver Ferns Sandra Gray and Leigh Gibbs, a former national coach who moved on from HSOG to coach Canterbury Tactix in the Trans-Tasman League.
Another golden era was enjoyed by the club in the 1950s-60s with championship titles in 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1958, 1960, 1961 and 1965.
Shelly Duncan said HSOG had consistently been one of the biggest clubs in Poverty Bay, while other clubs had come and gone.
“It is one of our strengths. Players have stuck with the club.”
The HSOB squash club was formed in 1971 and was formative in bringing more women into the club.
Audine Grace-Kutia and Jaye Woodford were life members and the backbone of the club, Warren said.
Prominent members who are still playing include professional Willzs Donnelly, based in Prague and with a highest world ranking of 210, and his older sister Holly, an A1 grade player. Both went through the junior ranks at HSOB.
HSOB football has been resurrected in recent years after being one of the biggest clubs in the district when originally formed in the 1970s, with Owen brothers Vern, Royden, Lester and Gwyn to the fore.
Former rugby player Aubrey Yates, along with Matt McFatter and Kerryn Pegram, have returned HSOB to the round-ball code.
HSOB hockey was originally formed in the 1930s, reformed after the war and remained a force in the sport for 50 years.
HSOB cricket was originally formed in the 1920s and reformed in the 1930s.
The club has enjoyed many periods of silverware success at the highest local level, although they could not add to that on Thursday – losing the T15 Walker Shield final to Horouta.
HSOB’s most prominent cricketer is John Guy, who played 12 tests for New Zealand before moving to Gisborne in 1964 and forming a well-known sport and music business with Ian Dunsmore, who also played for HSOB.
On the rugby front, HSOB will field a team in the Poverty Bay Premier club competition this season, and hopefully a side in the Senior 1 competition.
Warren said registrations were looking good for the centenary.
Registrations close on March 1. For information or to register, email hsob100@gmail.com or go to the HSOB – Gisborne Facebook page.
