Formative years Founded in 1874, Surbiton is the second oldest hockey club in the world. Surbiton has continuously played the modern game of hockey excluding the duration of
World War I and
World War II. The first competitive match was played on 3 February 1875 against
Teddington in
Bushy Park, winning by two goals to one and the club remained unbeaten until 26 January 1878.
Post-war years Surbiton was the first winner of the London League in 1970. In the 1970s however, the club's fortunes declined and the Club management embarked on a major youth training and club development programme. The first of the "home grown" players came into the 1st Xl in 1984 and started the turnaround in the club's on-pitch fortunes by winning the Surrey Cup in 1986 and finishing 6th in the London League. The club did not make it into the National League when it started (in 1988), but Surbiton went on to win the London League in 1990 and again in 1991, thereby gaining entry to the 2nd Division of the National League. Immediate promotion to the 1st Division (then the top division) was gained by winning the 2nd Division, but was followed disappointingly by relegation in 1993. Over the next four seasons, promotion was again followed by relegation, before the Club cemented its place among the elite in the Premier Division in 1999. In 2001, Surbiton finished 2nd in the Premier Division and won the Premier Division playoffs. As a result, they were one of England's representatives in the European Club Championship in Antwerp in 2002. They lost the bronze medal match to
Egara, the Spanish representatives. In 2002, Surbiton finished 2nd again in the Premier Division, but lost the Premier play-offs final to
Reading 3–2. As a result, they represented England in the European Cup Winners Cup in Spain in 2003. Surbiton's first European medal came upon beating the Polish representatives in a tight game to earn the bronze. In 2003, Surbiton finished 3rd in the Premier Division, but lost their first game in the play-offs to
Loughborough Students, immediately after returning from Spain. From the 2004-05 season, Surbiton Ladies rose from the Surrey Ladies League Premier Division, up to the Investec Women's Hockey League Premier Division. Having been relegated from the South Clubs' Women's Hockey League Division Two to the Surrey League in 2003/-04, Surbiton Ladies discovered that on their return to the regional league, the South League had added a third division, split into two regions (3A and 3B). They won Division 3B at the first attempt; and after finishing fourth, then second, in their first two seasons in Division 2; won promotion to Division 1 in 2008/-09. At the end of the 2009/-10 season, they won promotion to the Women's England Hockey League for the first time in their history, after their second successive championship triumph, finishing top of SCWHL Division 1. In 2010/-11, Surbiton Ladies finished as runners-up to Sevenoaks in the newly sponsored Investec Women's Hockey League Conference East; and then in 2011/12 Surbiton won the Conference East, and then finished second in the Investec Promotion Tournament, to ensure that they would play in the Investec Women's Hockey League Premier Division in 2012/-13. In addition, Surbiton Ladies have played in two successive
Investec Women's Cup finals whilst in the Conference East, losing 4–1 to Premier Division opposition on both occasions (
Bowdon Hightown in 2010–11; and the
University of Birmingham in 2011–12). The 2012/13 season began with a poor run of results for the men's team that saw Surbiton rooted to the bottom of the National Premier League. With the shock transfer of captain Tim Deakin to struggling rivals
East Grinstead during the winter break, Surbiton faced the unenviable task of rebuilding their season without their talismanic defender. However, new coach Todd Williams and his relatively young squad turned their fortunes round to finish the season in second place, qualifying for the play-offs and beating already-crowned champions
Beeston 6-1 along the way. This victory was not to be the high point of the season, as the squad then qualified for the EuroHockey League for the first time in their history by beating
Canterbury 5–2 in the play-off semi-final.
England league domination The club became the leading club in England with the women's team winning the
league for eight years in succession, from 2014 to 2022 and again in 2024. The men's team also won three out of four
league titles from 2017 to 2020. and won another title during the
2024–25 Men's England Hockey League season. == Location ==