In 1974, league hockey began to exert its influence on the game with its introduction for 1st. Sutton began allocated into the 3rd Division of the MCHA League and later, after restructuring, were placed in the 4th. By 1980 it had risen to the 2nd Division and remained in Division 2 or 3 throughout the 1980s. Since the Club’s “Centenary, the 1st team has enjoyed several seasons in the 1st or Premier Divisions. Gradually, leagues were introduced for 2nd teams (1989), 3rd teams (1992) and 4th teams (1996), which later became the Central League for all other teams, so that now all teams play almost all their hockey as league matches, except in early September a few friendly games are arranged by all clubs for a league warm up for their teams.

1995-96	Played in Div 1, Relegated 3rd from bottom (Prem 10 teams & Div 1. 16 teams)
1996-97	In Div 2, 18 teams, Finished 3rd. (Prem 10 teams & Div 1. 16 teams)
1997-98	East Midland Prem finished mid table
	League changes. No Div 2.  Prem & Div 1, 12 teams Plus East & West Mid 12 teams.
1998-99	East Midland Prem Finished mid table
1999-2000	Midland 2 Finished 4 from last
	Leagues reformed - Midland 2 took the top half of the East and West Mid Prem sides.
2000-01	Midland 2 Finished 4
2001-02	Midland 2 Finished 3
2002-03	Played in Midlands 2
2003-04	(No 2003-4 handbook but Sutton relegated to East Mid Prem ) East Midland Premier - Finished 2nd
2004-05	Played in Midlands 1 - Finished mid table.  (No Midland 2 League)
2005-06	Won Midland 1
2006-07	Played in Mid Premier Finished 8th
2007-08	Played in Mid Premier Finished 3 from bottom relegated to Mid 1
2008-09	Played in Midland 1 Finished 5th
2009-10	Played in Midland 1 Finished bottom & relegated
2010-11	Played in East Mid Prem. Won the league promoted
2011-12	Played in Mid 1 and Won Mid 1
2012-13	Played in Prem Finished 5 from bottom
2013-14	Played in Prem Finished 4 from bottom
2014-15	Played in Prem Finished last
2015-16	Played in the Midlands Division 1 & Finished 8th position
2016-17	Played in the Midlands Division 1 & Finished 3rd
2017-18	Playing in the Midlands Division 1 & Finished 7th
2018-19	Playing in the Midlands Division 1 & Finished 3 from bottom
2019-20	Playing in the Midlands Division 1 & Finished 7th
2020-21	Playing in the Midlands Division 1

In 1988 a synthetic pitch was laid at Wyndley Leisure Centre and it was this which had a profound effect on the Clubs, with both the Men’s and Ladies Clubs wanted to play on it. They agreed to share. This provided the catalyst to forming closer links between the two Clubs as the Ladies also started to play some games at Rectory Park.

In 1989, the men's club began "Mini-Hockey", as what is now called “In2Hockey" was then known, as an extension of the Club and intended for Under-13 boys. However, with the number of young girls joining in with brothers and friends, Sutton Ladies were invited to help with the training and, from these beginnings what we now know as The Juniors, with its own committee, developed and links between the Clubs strengthened. Since its inception, the Junior numbers have grown tenfold, to around 250, and many have gone on to further their hockey careers in the men's and Ladies' senior teams and also at County, Regional and International level like Laura Unsworth, Great Britain Ladies 2016 Rio Olympic Gold Medal winner.

A cocktail party was held at 22 Baker Road on Thursday evening the 30th August 1984 for the final arrangements for the Sutton Coldfield Men’s hockey club tour of the Netherlands. The tour was starting at 5.30 pm on the following day, Friday the 31st August from the club’s headquarters in Rectory Park when the members were to embark on the coach. It was a night crossing around 1 am from Dover and arriving in Amsterdam around noon on the Saturday, quickly checking in to the Hotel Terminus, in the center of the City. Some sightseeing and social drinking before the party moved off on the Sunday morning to play HC Eindhoven, the host club at the Phillips Electronics NV sports complex. After sightseeing on the following day, the Sutton club played a local Amsterdam side in the evening before playing their 3rd game against HC Eindhoven on the Tuesday. On the Wednesday Sutton played against HC Amsterdam before travelling for their final game of the tour against HC Nijmegen in what was described as a reunion. On the Friday afternoon the club departed for an evening crossing from Calais, arriving back in Sutton Coldfield in the early hours of Saturday morning at approximately 2.30 am. However, the plans did not allow for the coach breaking down and the return to Rectory Park was not achieved until well after sunlight.

The Tour Brochure

In 1991 the Club had now been playing for 100 years and to mark the occasion a Ball was held in a marque, which the Club had hired and erected in front of the Pavilion, which included a bar, tombola and a live dance band. It was a great event even though it rained and members and their guests had to make a 5-meter dash from the pavilion to the marque. Because of vandalism that both the Park and the Club were suffering from time to time it was agreed that the Club would have two volunteers to stay the night as protection, they were easily found when they could have free drinks through the night.

After a decade of the Sutton Coldfield Ladies Hockey having to play all their home games away, because the original surface of the Wyndley Leisure Centre had been labelled unfit to play hockey, the new £700,000 state-of-the-art ASTRO turf pitch at the Clifton Road centre was opened for hockey by Sir Trevor Booking on Sunday the 25 of April 1999.

This marks a return to playing at Sutton after the teams had been forced to spend years playing hockey in places such as Cannock and Perry Barr. The Clubs, both the Men’s and Ladies had battled for this for a long time, but hopefully the clubs can put hockey back on the map locally. As David Holder, chairman of the Men’s hockey club said “Our previous pitch was closed down for health and safety reasons meaning a lot of teams could not play there anymore, but we are now back to stay”. “This will be one of the top pitches in the country, with the best facilities. Some international squads have already asked us if they can train on it in the future”.

A day-long festival marked the opening of the new pitch, beginning at 9 am and includes ladies’ teams lining-up against an England International Xl for what promises to be a fascinating encounter.

This will mark a return to Sutton after the teams had been forced to spend years playing hockey in places such as Cannock and Perry Barr. The Clubs, both the Men’s and Ladies had battled for this for a long time, but hopefully the clubs can put hockey back on the map locally. As David Holder, chairman of the Men’s hockey club said “Our previous pitch was closed down for health and safety reasons meaning a lot of teams could not play there anymore, but we are now back to stay”. “This will be one of the top pitches in the country, with the best facilities. Some international squads have already asked us if they can train on it in the future”.

A Sutton Men’s Xl challenging a Midland Select Xl and a cheque was presented to the clubs from the football pundit Sir Trevor Booking.

“We have waited a long time for this and it will make a big difference to hockey in this area” said Sutton Ladies, England and Great Britain hockey star Jane Sixsmith, “The team has never played national league hockey in this area, which is quite sad, but we are now back where we belong”.

The Club recognized that to progress young players were the lifeblood of the Club and through the recruitment campaigns of the 1970s, the introduction of "Best Young Player" and Most Improved Young Player" awards in 1982 and maintaining close links with Bishop Vesey's and other local schools, demonstrated its vision for the future.

The impact of young players progressing from The Juniors has been considerable. The men's Club has more than doubled in size since its Centenary and has, since the 2002-03 season regularly ran nine League sides and in 2015-16 season, two Badger teams were added to its Saturday fixture list. Likewise, Sutton Ladies has grown from five teams in 2010-11 season to being a six-team club since 2011-12 season.

Until Bishop Vesey's G S laid its all-weather pitch in 2008, Wyndley was the only synthetic pitch in Sutton Coldfield and the Clubs had to travel to "home" venues such as Heartlands High School, Burntwood Leisure Centre, and Aston University. The Clubs aided the school in adding lights to the pitch and this enables most games to be played locally and train the growing numbers of Juniors on Sundays but realistically the Clubs need another local pitch.

Though still separate, the Clubs have progressed to the point where they almost function as one and union is the next step.

Back row L to R: - Chris Kent, Jon Lucas, Mark James, John Richards, David Simpson, Sam Straw, Andy Sindair, Colin Bowon, Simon Carey, Nick Dale, Mike Nicklin.

Front row L to R: - Ali Tomas, Mike Mackey, Richard Nicklin, Matt Lomodotto, Anton Lee, Mark Ashby.

The names were not recorded

Back row Tom Owens 4th from left. Front row Mike Hooper 2nd from left

The Club had always felt that they were initially placed in a lower league when the league system was fully implemented. However, under the captaincy of Jon Owens the 1st team was promoted into the Midland Premier League in 2012-13 season, their highest level of hockey the Club has ever achieved since the formation of league hockey with its promotion and relegation. However, after two seasons they were relegated back into the Midland 1st Division for the 2015-16 season. Most Midland Premier clubs paid their star players, a policy rejected by the Sutton Coldfield Club.

An own goal could be scored if the ball touched a defender’s stick inside the “D” after being played by an attacker playing the ball from outside the “D”. This rule was withdrawn at the end of the season. A number of other rules were implemented, including the defining of a team consisting of 16 players of which only 11 should be involved in the game at any one time. The allowing of facemasks at penalty corners, captains to wear arm bands, the definition of a match and its result, where a bully should not be taken, defenders being allowed to play the ball above shoulder height when defending a ball likely to enter the goal, at a free hit inside the 23 meter area all players must to be at least 5 meters from the ball, other than the player taking the free hit and defining when a penalty stroke is over.

The Birmingham Counties Hockey Umpires Association began by appointing umpires from a list of volunteers with the senior clubs’ games in the three counties of Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire. This was followed with the clubs that received neutral appointed umpires, having to detail an umpire on a weekly basis into the volunteers’ pool in “The Umpire Sharing Scheme”. In around 1985, BUHUA took on the responsibility of appointing umpires in Northamptonshire and Shropshire. In the last 25 years the structure of the sport has changed considerably and The Rules of Hockey would also now be almost unrecognizable to the founders of the Club, as would goalkeepers' kit and the surfaces on which the game is played.

Back row L to R: - Nick Davies, Tom Nicholls, John Ward, Jonathan Phipps, Richard Nicklin, Jon Owens, James Rostron, Neil Gosling
Front row L to R: - Terry Lovery, Damien Fleming, Paul Terleski, Ali Smith, Alex Johnson, Dave Moss, Josh Hendon.

In December 2014, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) introduced changes to the Rules of Hockey designed to enhance the experience of players and spectators.  Which Midland Region Hockey Association adopted from 1st September 2015
As previously advised, these are the only domestic competitions where the new rules apply apart from permitting the use of new style face masks at all levels of the game which is introduced with immediate effect across the game:

1. The ability to play the ball with the stick above the shoulder.
2. A green card indicating a temporary suspension of two minutes of playing time.
3. Breaking at penalty corners, where the offending player(s) shall be required to go beyond the center-line.
4. When the ball is played unintentionally by a defender or deflected by a goalkeeper over the backline, play will be re-started by the attacking team with the ball on the 23 meters line and in line with where it crossed the back-line. The ball cannot be played directly into the “D”. This replaces the (long) corner.
5. Where an attacking free hit is awarded within 5 meters of the circle this will now be taken from the point of the offence rather than having to take the ball back to the 5 meters dotted line.
6. The previous re-start, commonly known as a corner, was seen an inefficient and ineffective re- start with the ball often becoming trapped in the corners of the pitch. Taking the re-start from the 23 meters line opens up the play and gives more passing options.
This gives the ability to take attacking free hits, awarded within 5 meters of the edge of the circle, from the point of the offence. The ball still has to travel at least 5 meters before it can be played into the circle, or alternatively has to be touched by another player of either team, other than the player taking the free hit. Having to take the ball back to the 5 meters dotted line slowed the play and was seen as a real disadvantage to the attacking team and the flow of the game.
7. Up Ten Meters deleted as it had been superseded by the Self-pass.

Two logos were designed by John Bell, the 2nd son of Peter and produced by the President, James Ross which were mounted above the bar in the lounge, bring a modem view of the two halves of the Association between the Cricket and hockey clubs.