Wimbledon Hawks - History

History

The Wimbledon Hawks started out as the London Hawks in 1990. The club was formed by Martyn Hughes and a journalist called Mark Hall. The drivers in the early days were Steve "Seve" Coppard and his wife, Baz Brown and Michael Hooton. After a few years Seve and his wife remained constant figures around the club and helped the Hawks win a number of premierships.

We had some gun players in the early days. John Frith, Mark Diamond from ACT, O'Brien from Diamond Valley, and a mate of Frithy's who was a rover for Port Melbourne. Back then the Hawks logo for 1990 was "London Hawks 1990 where the XXXX were you?"

In mid 90s the Hawks saw an influx of players from Melbourne and in particularly from Salesian College in Melbourne. They were joined by some of the Hawks Legends, Geoff Jackson, Bruce Williams and Daryl Flashman who all became vital to club and took on coaching roles in years to come.

Back then, 90% of the players lived and partied in Wimbledon. All of the Hawks Premierships were won in the first decade of the club's existence. This might have been due to the 15 blokes living under the one roof later to be known as the Hawks most infamous house, Russell Road. The parties held there were legendary. On one occasion the boys turned the backyard into a sandpit to hold a beach party. The club was extremely successful because of the friendships made and how tightly the group stuck together.

The Hawks have moved around London since its beginnings and found themselves a permanent home in Wimbledon in the late 1990s. In 2000 they moved to Motspur Park and rented what was to be the best ground and facilities in the league at KCS Old Boys Rugby Ground.

In 2009 the Hawks moved again but just across the road to Sir Joseph Hood Memorial Playing Fields. Once again the Hawks were blessed with having the best facilities in the league, with on-site changing and showering facilities, bar and BBQ.

Their current playing strip is brown and gold stripes.

They also field a second side, the Balham Hawks, in the London Social division. In 2012 the Balham Hawks, or more fondly known as the Aubergine Machine, reached the Grand Final after knocking out the Ealing Emus and North London in the finals. Sadly the machine didn't take home the silverware but put in a gallant fight and thus wrote themselves into the Hawks book of legends.