Life membership for 70-year-old who's still playing hockey

Tinwald Hockey Club stalwart Murray Bonnington has been awarded a life membership.

The 70-year-old first appeared in the club’s minutes as a player and committee member in 1974.

In the 50 years since, he has been one of its most dedicated members.

Bonnington became president in the mid-2000s and held the position until 2020.

Over the years he has played for, refereed, managed and coached many teams, including reps, senior men's, hatch cup and juniors through all the grades.

For several years he was on the executive of the Mid Canterbury Hockey Association.

Club president Andrew Blain highlighted Bonnington’s skills and enthusiasm as he awarded the life membership and certificate of recognition at the club’s recent annual general meeting.

"Murray’s passion for the sport has inspired many," Blain said.

"At 70 and after a double hip replacement he still plays division 2 on Sunday nights and masters in the warmer months.

"He also usually referees the game before or after."

Bonnington was among the club members who drove a major fundraiser for the new Ashburton Hockey Turf in the 1990s.

"Due to success with grants, not all of the funds were donated and much of it still benefits the club today," Blain said.

"In recent years our club had reduced to just one team.

"There was little interest in running a small club.

"Murray undeterred, encouraged many of us to get on board to re-energise the club and take it into the future.

"There’s no-one in this room who hasn’t been inspired by Murray and his passion for hockey."

Murray said his motivation was "just the love of the sport, team spirit and joining in with other people".

"It’s a very skilful game and age is not a barrier to how it’s played," he said.