THE history of women’s hockey in Malaysia began with the inaugural meeting of the Pan-Malayan Women’s Hockey Association on the 16th December 1956 although the game was first played in the 1920s.

In the 1920s the competitions were organised at inter-club and inter-state levels before it was put on a properly organised basis – thanks to a meeting of hockey enthusiasts from Penang, Perak, Negri Sembilan and Singapore. They met in February 1956 and laid the groundwork for a governing body where Mrs. E. Houstoin was elected pro-tem Chairman and Miss Chuah Guaik Hoon was the pro-tern Hon. Secretary.

At the inaugural meeting of the Pan-Malayan Women’s Hockey Association on 16th December, 1956, Mrs. V. Marsh became the first President with Miss C. Thomasz and Mrs S. Sundram as the two Vice-Presidents. Miss Chuah Guaik Hoon (Hon. Secretary). Miss R. Emuang (Hon. Treasuruer), Mrs. M. Scully, Mrs. D. Sibert, Mrs Teh Gin Sooi, Mrs. P. Chelliah, Mrs. W. Drake and Mrs. Z. Bryant made up the first executive committee.

The following year in 1957, the Pan-Malayan Women’s Hockey Association took a giant progressive step when it became affiliated to the International Federation of Women’s Hockey Association – the year Malaya gained independence from the British.

In 1961, the Association became the Malayan Women’s Hockey Association and grew in strength from the original member associations of Penang, Selangor and Perak. Negri Sembilan became affiliated in 1962 followed by Johor, Malacca and Singapore (in 1964), Sabah (1965) and Sarawak (1967).

Perak, who had resigned in 1964, returned to the fold in 1967 while Pahang joined the membership in 1975. In between, in keeping with the political trend, Singapore resigned in 1965.

Malaya made its international debut in 1962 with matches against Australia and Singapore through the initiative of Mrs. Zena Jansz, who was the President of the Malayan Women’s Hockey Association at that time.

In keeping with the political trends the Malayan Women’s Hockey Association changed its name to the Malaysian Women’s Hockey Association in 1963.

In 1965, the Malaysian women’s hockey team made its maiden overseas tour as guest of the All- Australian Women’s Hockey Association and played friendly games against various state teams and one Test match against Australia.

Two years later the Malaysian Women’s Hockey Association was affiliated to the All-England Women’s Hockey Association.

In 1979, the association took a major step with the staging of the 1st National Championships in Seremban for the Tengku Budriah Trophy. Teams that competed in the championships were Perak, Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Malacca and Sabah.

Since then the championships have been played in Perak, (1971), Malacca (1972), Selangor (1973), Penang (1974), Negri Sembilan (1975), Perak (1976), Malacca (1977), Pahang (1978), Penang (1979), Negri Sembilan (1980), Kuala Lumpur (1981) and Penang (1982).

It was a historic year for the Malaysian Women’s Hockey Association in 1971 when it took part in the 10th International Federation of Women’s Hockey Association’s conference and tournament in New Zealand.

In 1972, with the setting up of the National Sports Council, women’s hockey received a boost when the association was recognised as the governing body of women’s hockey in Malaysia. It was a shot in the arm for the association as the official recognition meant it was on par with all other sports and led to it being affiliated to the Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) in 1973.

A year later in 1974, the association turned out its first batch of women coaches who qualified at the end of a basic course held in November. In the late 1976, the association registered its first women umpire.

Although Malaysia had hosted foreign teams like Australia, Germany, America and Ireland and taken part in the IFWHA tournaments, it was in 1974 that the Malaysian Women’s Hockey Association organized a prestigious tournament – the Asian Women’s Hockey Tournament with Japan, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia taking part.

In September 1975, Malaysia participated in the IFWHA 1st Women’s World Cup tournament in Edinburgh, Scotland. En-route to Edinburgh, Malaysia stopped over in Denmark where the team played three matches with the state and club sides. Malaysia won all the matches.

At the IFWHA Conference in Edinburgh, Malaysia were represented by Mrs P.T. Lingam and Mrs Dorothy Sibert Bailey. Malaysia was requested to look into the possibility of organizing the 3rd World Cup tournament and conference which Malaysia staged in 1983.The association was formally admitted as a member of the International Hockey Federation (F1H) on 27th July, 976 at the Statutory Congress in Montreal, Canada.

In 1975, a new breed of women officials decided to put the Asian body into shape. Under the dynamic leadership of Tok Puan Zainon Datuk Hussain, a meeting of representatives from Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia met and a pro-tem committee was set up to draft the constitution for Federation of Asian Ladies Hockey Associations (FALHA).

Malaysia participated in the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi, India. It was the first time that women’s hockey was introduced in the Asian Games and Malaysia did well to win the bronze medal. In 1991, Malaysia competed in the Inctra Gandhi Cup in Chandigarh, India.

The South East Asian Games (SEA Games), have always been important for the Malaysian women’s team, winning the silver medal in Singapore in 1993, Chiang Mai (1995) and the gold medal in Jakarta (1997), Brunei (1999) and Kuala Lumpur (2001).

Malaysian sports experienced a shift of management paradigm in 1994 when Malaysia was given the honour to host the Commonwealth Games (1998) and the women’s hockey team was part of this large project.

In 2001, the Malaysian team qualified for the World Cup Qualifiers in Amiens, France. Another important tournament is the junior and the elite Asia Cup. Malaysia was promoted from Division 2 to Division 1 in 1997 (Singapore) and since then Malaysia has featured in all Asia Cup tournaments. Malaysia hosted the 1983 Continental Cup and World Cup (1992) and the 2000 Regional World Cup Qualifiers (Asia Cup).

For their efforts in promoting hockey among girls and women, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) awarded the Women in Sports Award for Asia to the Malaysian Women’s Hockey Association in 2001.