lookupsport

The “powers that be” running hockey in the UK, appear to have lost the plot.  The EHA having asked clubs in England if they think games should be moved from a Sunday (when a majority are played) to a Saturday when the other club games are played, and received a resounding NO, appear to be going ahead with the plan anyway.  Their arguement appears to be that the elite need to be ready for 2012, and Sunday should be reserved for the National teams to train.  Great idea in theory but miles away from reality.

Most clubs not only rely on the revenue from Sunday National League games, which is needed to support the teams at the highest level, but also struggle to find enough pitch time to play their other club games.  Most crowds are predominantly made up of fellow club players, who not only want to come and watch the top teams play but are happy to pay for the privilidge. 

As all other league games are played on a Saturday this means the majority of spectators will be playing and therefore unable to watch.  In addition, National League teams need longer pitch time for warming up, which means clubs such as mine will have to pay to hire another pitch to play games that would otherwise have been played at home and not cost us.  And all this so that 20-30 people can get together for training on a Sunday in the hope that we will win a medal in 2012.  Already I can see other potential problems arising.  What happens if a player is playing at the wrong end of the country the day before training - he/she will then either need to spend the extra time travelling, which won’t be good preparation, or the more likely result is that they will opt not to play for their clubs, meaning the clubs will suffer. 

The other problem is that a lot of clubs use the Saturday games to bring on fringe squad players.  This means they may play on a Saturday in order to keep match fitness, but bench on a Sunday learning from the more senior players.  That option will obviously be lost, meaning that the players who in 6 years time will be reaching their peak may have their development impeded.

The bottom line is, it’s a bad idea all round not only for the clubs but also for the players.  You have to ask what’s the point of canvassing opinion and then ignoring it? 

Fraser