Matt Harper (aka Matthew/ Matty)
Congratulations to Matt Harper who has been inducted into the Hockey Geelong Hall of Fame. This is a justly deserved honour for a well known member of the Hockey Geelong community.
Matt’s hockey history is long and varied, with many highlights along the way.
- Commenced playing at the age of 12 as a junior for Geelong Hockey Club which was located at Grovedale.
- Played junior hockey for Geelong, Winchelsea and also Representative hockey for Geelong in HV competition at U15 and U17
- Played senior hockey with Winchelsea and won a premiership in 1995. They beat Corio who were the power club at the time, and he hit the winning goal! Corio was already engraved on the trophy (accidentally).
- Played for South Barwon in the HV competition – State League 3, 1995 and 1996
- Played senior representative hockey for Hockey Geelong in the Victorian Mens Country Championships.
- Stopped playing hockey at 21 when his knees were playing up and it stopped being fun.
- Came back to hockey in 2007.
- Played with South Barwon Hockey Club who only had the one team 2007-2009
- When Chris Thompson started the Torquay Hockey Club, Matt persuaded the South Barwon team to merge with Torquay so they could be part of a club rather than just be a single team.
- Matt has also played in the Hockey Victoria Masters competition at various times.
- He has won the Hockey Geelong Association Best and Fairest, an incredible 5 times!
- Highest goal scorer many times. Don’t get between Matt and the goals!
- Won a gold medal in 2019 playing for Victoria (Div 2) in the over 45s Australian Masters Championships and was the leading goal scorer in the tournament.
- Played HG Sharks seniors, managed senior and junior Sharks and Torquay Hockey Club teams
- Matt has coached many junior Torquay teams and is still managing multiple Torquay teams.
- Matt umpired some junior hockey, U14 and U16s which we thought would help him to be kinder to his umpires. Matt has always had very high expectations of umpires and has let them know when they disappointed him (even in junior hockey where he spent time on the naughty seat).
- His family all play hockey and he loves to see them succeed in their sport. His highlight was winning the Division 2 premiership in 2025 with both of his sons.
Matt’s contribution extends well beyond the field, with a willingness to give his time, share his knowledge and support the development of players and teams at every level.
