| May Emma Campbell | |
| Honorific Suffix: | MBE |
| Birth Date: | 2 November 1915 |
| Birth Place: | Wagin, Western Australia |
| Other Names: | May Pearce |
| Known For: | Field hockey player and coach |
| Nationality: | Australian |
May Emma Campbell (née Pearce) (2 November 1915 – 16 February 1981) was a field hockey player who represented Australia in the sport from 1935 to 1948.[1] From the tiny wheatbelt town of Moulyinning, her career spanned 50 years as a player, coach, selector and administrator in several Australian states as well as national duties. She was considered one of Western Australia's and Australia's greatest players, with Indian champion Dhyan Chand saying of her: "May Campbell is one of the finest players I have seen, man or woman."
Campbell played local hockey with Surf Hockey Club (now YMCA Coastal City Hockey Club) with sisters Jean Pearce Wynne, (also played for Australia from 1946 to 1953), Morna Pearce Hyde (played for Australia in the late 1940s) and Caroline "Tib" Pearce Ash.[2] May, Jean and Norma all captained the Australian Women's hockey team and the state team at various times and Tib also played at State and national levels.[3]
Her Brother Corporal Joe Pearce was a prisoner of war during World War II for over two years.[4] He survived the war and returned to Australia.[5]
John Hyde, MLA for Perth, is Morna Pearce's son and hence May's nephew.[6]
During the 1950s and 1960s there were also five brothers with the name Pearce, Cec, Mel, Eric, Gordon and Julian Pearce, who were prominent hockey players in Western Australia and Australia who were unrelated to the Pearce sisters.
Campbell worked on the teaching staff of Richmond School in Perth.[7] In 1936, Campbell's local community in Moulyinning helped to fundraise £215 to enable her to join the All-Australian team on their to compete in a tournament in the United States and Canada.[8] The town hosted a gathering, packing out the Moulyinning town hall to present her with the funds and farewell her on the journey.[9] On the journey, Campbell wrote a letter which was reported in the paper about the beginning of her journey while in Fiji. She reported that she had been unwell with boils and confined to her berth on for the first part of the journey. She found a small reading lamp which eased the journey. She said that only five members of the team were about to make it to the dining saloon for the first few nights due to sea sickness from the rocking ship.[10]
Campbell's 1936 teammates consisted of fellow Western Australian Jean Fitch; Victorians Girlie Hodges, Margaret Knight (hockey player), E. Florence Faul, and Dorothy Sholl; Tasmanians Lucy Winspear and Connie Charlesworth; South Australians Jean Mackey and Mabel Cashmore; New South Welshman Ena Macrae; and the Captain of the team Merle Taylor (hockey player) from Victoria, and Vice Captain E.Tezwell from South Australia.[11]
Campbell was Australia's highest goal scorer with 69 of Australia's total of 188 goals. Australia won 16 of their 19 games.[12]
As well as touring England and New Zealand, Campbell managed a haul of 100 goals in club, national and international matches. In 1938, she scored 20 of WA's 30 goals in the National Championships.[13] During her many years as Western Australian captain, the state failed to win the national title only twice.
In 1943, she married Archie Campbell an AFL player, and a member of the AIF during world war II, stationed in Timor.[14]
Campbell coached the Western Australian state team for many years of which the team only lost the national title twice. And she coached and managed the Australian team. She also influenced women's hockey in Queensland, New South Wales, and Victoria by coaching in those states. For 50 years Campbell was dedicated to hockey as a player, coach, and administrator.