GREENOCK Hockey Club have upped sticks and and scored a winner with Morton — after the pair formed a groundbreaking new partnership, the Telegraph can reveal.

The football club has become the first professional side in the country to adopt the European-style model of integrating other sports under their banner, similar to the likes of Spanish giants Barcelona — who have various other teams, including a hockey and basketball side under their umbrella.

The hockey club have severed a 93-year link with the town’s cricket club and will now be known as Greenock Morton Hockey Club and fall under the Greenock Morton Community Trust structure (GMCT).

Players and officials met at Cappielow along with members of GMCT and Ton chairman Douglas Rae to celebrate the new partnership.

Mr Rae told the Tele: “I’m very pleased about this because I think we will be able to be helpful to them and them to us in other ways.

“We’re also very pleased to be a first in the country with this partnership and we see ourselves as maybe going beyond this position and welcoming one or two other sports organisations.

“We are hopeful things will go very well.” The Tele first revealed the plans four months ago but representatives from all clubs have only recently completed a deal to incorporate the hockey club into the Morton family.

Hockey chiefs are thrilled with the move and believe it will have a massive impact on the club.

Development officer Alan Martin said: “It’s great to be part of the biggest known sporting organisation locally.

“This increases our profile and hopefully our membership as well.

“The club have been really good — Warren Hawke in particular — and hopefully it opens the door for other clubs to come on board at some point.” The move gained overwhelming support from hockey club members.

Men’s team captain Scott Jones, 24, says the switch has created an added buzz in the dressing room and he can’t wait to wear the Morton colours — especially since his dad and fellow hockey player is a St Mirren fan!

Scott, of Greenock, said: “This is a great move for the hockey club.

“Morton is a well-known brand and we are the first club in Scotland to do something like this — it’s groundbreaking.

“I like the kit as well — even though my dad is a St Mirren fan. The first thing he asked was if the strips would be blue and white. There has been a bit of banter.

“But the players have been looking forward to this. It’s been a few months in the making so it’s great that it’s now happening.” GMCT board member and Morton consultant Warren Hawke has hailed the link-up as a watershed moment in Scottish sport.

The former Cappielow striker believes the availability of more sports to young people can be a massive help to them.

He said: “We were asked a while ago by councillors and officials if there was anything we could do to help other sports in Inverclyde and assist with their development.

“The hockey club approached us and it just fitted in. And it’s not just that they can use the Morton name — we want to actively work with the club.

“When I was a kid I did volleyball, football and long-distance running and I believe I did well with football because of the experience of these other sports.

“We’re the first professional club in Scotland that’s going down that European model — one club, one area, many sports.

“At the moment there’s two, who knows what could happen in the future.”