History of field hockey a winter activity. They experimented with a ‘stick’ game, based loosely on the rules of association football. Teddington played the game on the smooth outfield of their cricket pitch and used a cricket ball, so allowing smooth and predictable motion. By 1874 they had begun to draw up rules for their game, including banning the raising of the stick above shoulder height and stipulating that a shot at goal must take place within the circle in front of it. An association was formed in 1875, which dissolved after seven years, but in 1886 the Hockey Association was formed by seven
Montpelier Cricket Club William Denison (the club's first Secretary) "that a Surrey club be now formed". A further meeting at the Tavern on 18 October 1845 formally constituted the club, appointed officers and began enrolling members. Seventy Montpelier members formed the nucleus of the new county club. The Honourable Fred Ponsonby, later the Earl of Bessborough, was the first vice-president. Montpelier Cricket Club The Montpelier Cricket Club was prominent in English cricket from about 1796, when it began to compete against Marylebone Cricket Club and other leading "town clubs", until 1845 when its members were the prime movers in the formation of Surrey