Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

(field) Hockey around the globe

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Phenomenal achievement.

    I'm not sure how they translate this into wider success. There are 10 teams in the Irish Hockey League - it already has corporate sponsorship from EY. 6 of the teams are based in Dublin - the two long established universities - UCD and TCD and a team each in Ballsbridge, Sandymount, Rathfarnham and Monkstown. Three of those areas are in the highest echelon of desirable residential areas in Dublin.

    The schools that do not have hockey facilities at the moment would potentially need significant investment in astroturf facilities (although schools are commercially funding them through football 5-a-side evening use).

    Comment


      Rathfarnham is pretty desirable. I wish I owned a couple of houses there. Though it doesn't have its own dart station like the other three places. The EY bit is illustrative though. One thing that Irish hockey have going for them is that if they can come up with a half decent plan for development, they should have no problems when it comes to raising sponsorship. That was a huge help for Rugby in making their Great leap forward.


      Thankfully the Taoiseach and minister for sport are big fans. Though the state funding of Hockey seems to raise a lot of hackles.
      Last edited by The Awesome Berbaslug!!!; 07-08-2018, 10:38.

      Comment


        Rathfarnham is very nice and the specific part that has the hockey club is lovely. Was more making the point that the other three areas are regarded as the cream of Dublin than suggesting Rathfarnham was some sort of hell hole.

        I wonder what the motivation for the EY sponsorship was. I know they are and have been on a huge recruitment drive and also looking to really push their diversity of staff and partners. I think the sponsorship value proposition that rugby and GAA are pushing are more about mass market and community than the hockey equivalent.

        That said there are going to be a number of well educated, connected and photogenic people available to help carry out any hockey development plan.

        Comment


          why is an accountancy firm throwing some money towards a sport primarily played by Ireland's executive class? a man might as well ask why are Beauchamps solicitors throwing so much money at the leinster schools senior cup? And just why are the leinster schools cup finals celebrated with an 8 page pullout in the irish times, dwarfing the coverage of the All Ireland club finals that are on the same day?
          Last edited by The Awesome Berbaslug!!!; 07-08-2018, 12:47.

          Comment


            GB move final mens and womens games of the FIH Pro League to The Stoop to meet demand.

            Comment


              Well, that is good news. Though, if you are looking for a ~15k stadium to set up temporary home in, there are some outside London as well, I believe...
              But it's quite short-term, wouldn't it be better to get Lee Valley up to that sort of capacity on a permanent basis?

              Comment


                I can’t imagine Lea Valley needs a 15k capacity on a permanent basis, how often would it be required? I have to think that at least part of the impetus behind choosing The Stoop as a one off venue is it’s proximity to hockey heartlands like Surbiton and Wimbledon which should hopefully help attract some extra supporters.

                Comment


                  Kudos to the FIH for actually calling this tournament the Men's Hockey World Cup.

                  We're underway, Belgium are currently 2-1 up on Canada (edit - in fact it's just finished that way) and the hosts India face South Africa in about half an hour. Same format as in the women's tournament, 16 teams, four groups of four. Group winners go to the QFs and then rather than being joined by the 2nd placed teams, the 2nd placed teams playoff against a 3rd place team from another group (and in the women's world cup two of these four crossover matches were won by a 3rd placed team).

                  England's schedule in GMT is: https://twitter.com/EnglandHockey/status/1067757500156522496
                  Last edited by Kevin S; 28-11-2018, 13:05.

                  Comment


                    Incidentally, if you want to vote for the women's hockey players as Ireland's team of the year, then do so here:

                    https://submit.independent.ie/sports...ting-form.html

                    Apparently the men's rugby union team won a Grand Slam this year, too, so perhaps another silver is the best realistic result.

                    Comment


                      You may be right, though one would hope the Hockey team get a boost from their achievement being unprecedented, both in terms of their own previous record but also in Irish sport generally as the first team to reach a major world final. By contrast, the Rugby boys are 'merely' repeating what they have done before (and that is true of beating New Zealand as well, but not been World No.2). So fingers crossed they might get recognised. Unless their Men, who are in India, go out and top them of course... Though that would actually be less unlikely than what the Women did, the Irish Men's team has already shown themselves to be a proper international force with medals at recent EuroHockey Championships. England will certainly be nervous of their final group game with the Irish, seeing as they lost twice to them in a warm-up event a few weeks ago.

                      Oh, and tickets are on general sale for the World Pro League (or whatever it's called). Many are single games, but some are double headers of GB Men and GB Women. The ones at Lee Valley on Sat 18th May vs Argentina* and Sun 9th June vs Australia, are sold out despite them keeping the big temporary West Side temporary stand in place, but the day they both take on Belgium, Sunday 19th May, isn't. Seats are also still available for the games at The Stoop against New Zealand on Sun 23rd June. Apparently there is an early bird discount on offer until this Sunday. Ticket portal here:- https://hockey.seetickets.com/tour/the-fih-pro-league

                      * - I've got tickets for this.

                      Comment


                        Current game is Argentina vs Spain. The final quarter has just started with the score 3-3. The commentators are calling it "a thriller"

                        Good and noisy crowd in. The stadium looks pretty big, as well.

                        Comment


                          Argentina won 4-3, their drag flick specialist Gonzalo Pelliat getting the winner early in the fourth quarter. Spain had a glorious chance to equalise with literally one second left on the clock, but their no.8 whiffed on a bouncing ball six yards out.

                          Comment


                            Which way round were those two seeded? They seem fairly closely matched.

                            Comment


                              Argentina are no.2 (and the reigning Olympic Champions). Spain are #8. Spain did well.

                              Comment


                                Australia 2-1 Ireland earlier. China 1-1 England now in the 2nd Quarter.

                                Comment


                                  It finished China 2-2 England. China equalised with a penalty corner inside the last two minutes. D'Oh!

                                  Comment


                                    Crumbs. Way to heap the pressure on that Ireland game, then.

                                    Comment


                                      England v Australia underway.

                                      Comment


                                        It stayed 0-0 until the final quarter, England hitting the post in Q2. However that final 15 minutes went badly, Australia winning 3-0. In the other pool B match Ireland fought back to draw 1-1 with China (their equaliser coming whilst down to ten with a yellow card).
                                        That potentially puts England are under even greater pressure ahead of the Ireland game, as they currently prop up the group on goal difference (-3 to Ireland's -1). One slight benefit is that Australia-China result will already be known, and if the Aussies win that by 4+ goals (which they may well do) then England will sneak through with a draw. If it's <4, or if China get a point against the Aussie's (who are already assured of winning the group so have nothing to play for) then Ireland-England becomes a virtual knock-out game, and one tipped in favour of the Irish as they would only need to draw it.

                                        All happens on Friday, early afternoon UK and Ireland time.

                                        Comment


                                          Major shock today as France, no.20 in the world and the lowest ranked team in the tournament, beat Argentina (no.2, Olympic Champions) 5-3. It doesn't matter much to Argentina, they were already confirmed as group winners before the game started*, which slightly tempers things. It did to France though, as they needed to win to make the cross-overs at the expense of Spain. The Spaniards most be pissed of at their fellow hispanophones over that. They are rather unlucky to be eliminated, having played decently. However, they did fail to beat France (drawing 1-1) and today blew a 2-0 lead over New Zealand with 10 minutes left to draw 2-2. That was literally the worst result possible as, if they had gone one further and lost 3-2, then Argentina would have needed something from the France game so may have played better and won (the Spain-NZ game was before the France-Argentina one; there is only one stadium in use, so final group matches cannot be simultaneous).

                                          Also a concern for England there. Not by direct impact, but because England will be hoping an Aussie team, which are similarly assured of winning their group irrespective of their final pool result, racks up a comprehensive win over China. That would open up the chance of England and Ireland both progressing with a draw. Any less than 4-0 Australia, and one of the Atlantic Archipelago teams is going out.

                                          * - not a 'bully-off', Hockey hasn't used those to start a game for decades. The equivalent of a kick-off is the rather boringly named centre-pass.

                                          Comment


                                            Final score of Australia-China? 11-0. To the Aussies, of course.

                                            So the scenario for England-Ireland is this:-
                                            England win and they finish 2nd in the group, China finish 3rd, Ireland 4th and eliminated
                                            Draw, Ireland finish 2nd in the group, England finish 3rd, China end up 4th and eliminated
                                            Ireland win and they finish 2nd in the group, China finish 3rd, England 4th and eliminated

                                            Gonna be tense.

                                            Comment


                                              Oh, and there is a controversy of sorts going on after a Pakistan player was suspended for their final pool game against the Netherlands after an incident in a previous match that the Umpires didn't see. The head of the Pakistan manager has complained that the technical delegate who issued the suspension was biased as he is Dutch. To quote "This decision is taken by the Dutch Technical Delegate. It's a do-or-die match for them (against us), so that is why this harsh decision was taken," Sardar said. He appears to be basing that solely on the guy's name - Christian Deckenbrock. Only problem is that Deckenbrock is German. Embarrassing.

                                              Part of the reason why it matter is the Dutch are not flying along in this World Cup. In fact, they could (but almost certainly won't) get knocked out at the 1st Round stage. Pool D currently has Germany on 6 points, Netherlands on 3 and Pakistan and Malaysia on 1. If Pakistan beat the Dutch and Malaysia beat Germany, that would eliminate the Oranje early. I can't see either of those happening, though.

                                              This is why the Netherlands are at risk:-

                                              Comment


                                                The England-Ireland match pits two brothers against each other, Mark Gleghorne for England and Paul Gleghorne for Ireland. Mark is one of a number of Irish players who have played for the England team in recent years, but the only one starting today.

                                                It's half-time and England lead 1-0, btw. Condon after 15', i.e. just about the final play of Q1.

                                                Comment


                                                  A flurry of goals and it's 3-2 to England. Ireland levelled, England re-took the lead, Ireland levelled again, England took the lead for a third time. All within the space of less than 10 minutes. Has everybody forgotten how to defend?

                                                  The Irish Hockey twitter is better than the England Hockey one. It gives the goal times. It was, in fact, four goals in under 4 minutes.

                                                  35' 1-1 Cargo
                                                  37' 2-1 Ansell
                                                  37' 2-2 O'Donoghue
                                                  38' 3-2 Gall
                                                  Last edited by Janik; 07-12-2018, 14:42.

                                                  Comment


                                                    Still 3-2. Ireland have pulled their goalie for an 11th outfielder as they seek the goal that will keep them in the competition.

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X