The honour took place at the Hockey NSW Annual Awards Night held at Bankstown Sports Club.

Unfortunately Stephen - a triple Olympian who lives in Perth - was unable to attend the special evening.

His induction sees him join some of the biggest names in the sport in Australia.

Hockey NSW only launched its Hall of Fame in 2007, with a further six inductees announced last year.

This year, only four were added to the illustrious list..

Inducted were past NSW and Australian players Olga Corrigan (Newcastle), Joy Payne (Orange), Stephen Davies (Parkes) and John McCormack (Crookwell) who each have a very long and impressive list of achievements and playing appearances for both NSW and Australia.

During his extensive playing career, Stephen was regarded as one of the best strikers in world hockey - ultimately earning the nickname of the ‘Maradona of world hockey.’

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Hockey NSW announced Stephen’s induction to the Hall of Fame as follows:

Hailing from Parkes in the NSW western region, Stephen John Davies was born in January 1969 and made his first NSW U21 team at 18 years of age after playing in junior NSW teams from age 13.

By the age of 19 he was selected in the NSW open team where he represented NSW as a forward for the next seven years.

Davies burst into the Australian team in 1990 at 21 and went on to represent the Kookaburras in 274 international matches over the next 10 years.

He played in nine Champions Trophy tournaments, winning two titles, three consecutive World Cups in 1990, 1994 and 1998, and a gold medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.

His greatest achievement was to play three consecutive Olympic Games, taking a silver medal in Barcelona in 1992, a bronze as vice-captain in Atlanta in 1996 and a bronze in Sydney 2000.

Today, the Parkes Hockey Association main hockey pitch is named the Stephen Davies Field, and is played on by local juniors each week in the hockey season and has hosted Hockey NSW State Championships.

Hockey NSW is pleased to induct Stephen ‘China’ Davies into the Hockey NSW Hall of Fame.