Reunion of 1988 golden Hockeyroos

The players from the trailblazing Hockeyroos team that claimed Australia’s first Olympic hockey gold medal have come together to celebrate the 35 year anniversary of their historic achievement.

The group assembled in Adelaide on the weekend, with all members of the team present except for Kathleen Partridge and Sandy Pisani who have both sadly passed away.

“We try to have a reunion every five years, said Sally Carbon.

“We are all getting older so it’s becoming more difficult to organize, but everyone is fully committed and when we catch up it feels like it was yesterday looking back at that time in 1988.”

The team went through the 1988 Olympic campaign undefeated on its way to claiming a famous 2-0 win over South Korea in the gold medal match in Seoul. This pioneering win set up a 12 year campaign for the Hockeyroos which held them in the top positions of global rankings through to the year 2000.

Carbon said that while the achievement and memories do not get any less special as the years go on, the focus of conversation becomes more about what is happening in their lives today.

“You fall into the trap of saying the same things and telling the same stories that always get told…and they get bigger and more exaggerated each time,” said Carbon.

“However, there is also a serious side and that’s making sure we wrap our arms around each other from a wellbeing point of view. We are really solid unit, especially on this trip considering we also celebrated the lives of Sandy (Pisani), Kath (Partridge), BAG (coach Brian Glencross) and Doc (Dr Tony Galvin) who we lost in 2022.”

“It’s actually really interesting when you look back and analyse it because you speak much less about hockey and more about the journey that we’ve each been on in our respective lives.

“The conversations we have are not about being the best in the world and winning a gold medal, it’s more about what we all did together and the highs and lows in that.”

“The biggest value is that we were all there for each other. We were there for each other before the Olympics, there for each other during and definitely there for each other now.

“We are all completely different people but because we had to jump into something heavy with each other, we’re lifelong supporters of each other’s journeys.”

Once they come together, Carbon admits they are not highly structured or organized affairs. However, the priority is about spending time together as opposed to what they do when they catch up.

“A lot of our catch ups are organized off the cuff. Can you imagine trying to organize 14 women between the age of 50-60 to all want to do the same thing? It’s near impossible,” said Carbon with a grin.

“We did a lot of spontaneous stuff. Everyone is innately disciplined like that. That’s how we function together. A weird hugely connected group.”

1988 Seoul Olympic Games Hockeyroos Gold Medal winning team
Debbie Bowman – Sullivan (captain), Tracey Belbin, Lee Capes, Michelle Capes (now Hager), Sally Carbon, Elspeth Clement (now Denning), Loretta Dorman, Maree Fish, Rechelle Hawkes, Lorraine Hillas, Kathleen Partridge, Sharon Buchanan, Jackie Pereira, Sandy Pisani, Kim Small, Liane Tooth