England Hockey - Time for a Change
4 Olympic cycles, 50 million received in funding, 3 medals
It's a worrying statistic, even more so when you consider only one of those medals was a gold. If you work it out it's 16 million per medal. The 2012 bronze and 2016 gold could be argued that it was down to GB falling lucky and having an incredible team, but as those have largely moved on the gap between GB and the rest of the World is stark. This is just the stats of the GB team, the main issue for me is England Hockey as Wales and Scotland already seem to perform above their level with lot less funding.
Having been involved with the sport since the age of 7 it is clear that within England Hockey we are at breaking point, the next Olympic cycle could easily determine the future of the sport within the country. A good plan and restructure could see us become a leading nation once again, neglect and persistence with things that aren't working will see us be over taken. To highlight this point, look at the progression of Belgium, Spain and France over the last 10/15 years. All nations have either dominated the World or possess the ability to develop to a top nation. Where has it gone so wrong in England? I often moan so let's break down what has happened and how we fix it.
What has gone wrong?
Neglect and arrogance, it's simple. Whilst sports like Netball and Ice Hockey have built strong domestic leagues based on fan engagement and top marketing, England Hockey have focused on trying to reinvent the wheel with the single system and a persistence on big stadium hockey has meant the domestic league has fallen off a cliff. Lack of standards and support has seen the quality drop off and in turn standard of players diminish. No surprise our best internationals all currently or have played abroad. The constant changes to the single system cause confusion, see talented players miss out and create a closed shop system which ultimately falls down to who you play for and where you live. Oh and arguably the biggest reason is the inability / lack of want to employ from outside the organization, promoting from within is good but you have to supplement that with external hires to ensure fresh idea are brought to the table.
How do we fix it?
You could write books on how you fix the sport and frankly everyone has their own views and ideas, with everything there is no quick fix or right option, for me though it can be broken down into three areas: domestic league, junior pathway and international setup.
Domestic League
The foundation to any success is having a strong domestic product. All the top nations are built on strong domestic leagues, just look at the Dutch, Belgium and German leagues. Our leagues need a radical change. First off, put ground requirements in place for the Premier League, promote the investment into facilities which improves the fan experience and so more watch the top games and in turn more money back into the clubs. Nothing crazy but things like on site clubhouse and maybe small stand, clubs like Southgate, Beeston, EG and Holcombe all have top setups that make you want to stay and watch. Secondly, remove 2XI from the National League. If we are saying National League is the pinnacle of the game then including reserves makes it look budget, spread the players and improve all the clubs. Lastly, most importantly, promote the league on social media and YouTube. Live stream games, send short clips out on TikTok with goals and skills. This brings in younger audiences and sponsors, brings money into the game which can be reinvested.
Junior Pathway
A strong junior pathway eventually feeds into a strong international side, take England football for example. They have started winning at junior level and now that is slowly creeping into the main sides (yes, I know we are yet to win but that's another issue). Have a yearly County Championship for each age group (U16, U18 and U21) and use this as the selection trials for the age group training squads. This creates a sense of purpose, brings some competition in and gives all children a chance of getting representative honors. This is a system similar to the Dutch district system, and it works. All the kids talk about is playing for their district and the pride it brings. For me, when I first started I played a selection tournament for my local area (South Yorkshire) before being selected for the County (Yorkshire) then into Futures Cup. That system worked, the standard was high and felt more elite as you progressed. Oh and a side note, maybe don't just appoint the same coaches who bring the same ideas.
International Setup
Well, well, well the elephant in the room. The success (or lack of) from the national teams. A good domestic league is the foundations yes, but from the growth of a game point of view it all stems from international success. Take Women's Football, a Euros win lead to such a boom in the game that now it's growing at a rate it can't keep up with. Whilst I understand the need for central training it is such a limiting factor. National training should be in the center of country (which incidentally sees a spread of internationals across domestic clubs) not down South. A central programme limits the movement of players in and out the squad and so means we don't always pick the best players. From the women's point of view the top scorer in the league hasn't been selected, I guarantee if she was any other nationality she'd have been given some national team minutes, Croon went to Olympics at 17 for god sake. But the biggest issue is the insistence to appoint a yes man as coach or someone with lack of international pedigree. Hold people accountable for performance and make changes, Belgium did that when they felt they were not progressing and it paid off. I am sure Ralph is a great guy but performances under his tenure have been timid and disappointing (when you consider the funding). I like Zak and feel he needs time but you have to question why did Revington quit like he did.
So there you have it, my first post, and a dump of my ideas and views on the game.
What do you think?
Great summary I suspect you air the thoughts of many the single system and league structure are grossly unfair and hinder current development
ReplyDeleteTo this day I still don't understand why they changed the single system. The old JAC to JRPC and HiPac / Futures worked. Everyone loved it, when I was at JRPC it felt elite and the standard was top level.
DeleteIn regard to the junior pathway…totally not surprised based on my experience of the Talent Academy. Selection and promotion from my experience is based on the school you go to and your connections in England Hockey. The TA is simply another form of an elitist pool of players. My daughter goes to State School and therefore does not have the priveledge of school coaching and hours of playing in a school environment. Which means she needs to rely more on the development at club level (which is fine) and the technical development at TA which is non existent. And people think it’s a surprise when the junior teams are poor compared to other nations. Not sure what others think on TA. By the way, my daughter has been in TA since the start, but based on abysmal coaching stepped out this year and refuses to waste her time going back.
ReplyDeleteI can’t comment on the standard of the new TA but evidence suggests it’s not working. I was part of the old system and the PC system. Why they changed something that wasn’t broke I won’t know
DeletePublic Funding for GB Hockey
Delete• Beijing: £9,882,000
• London: £15,013,200
• Rio: £16,141,393
• Tokyo: £12,905,612
• Paris: £13,689,907
• Los Angeles: £14,425,000
These figures represent sport-specific funding allocated to Great Britain Hockey and do not include Athlete Performance Awards (APAs).
APAs are individual grants, typically £28,000 per year, awarded directly to athletes. Although administered by UK Sport, APAs are funded from a separate central budget, primarily sourced from the National Lottery. This means APA funding is not drawn from the sport-specific allocation (e.g., the £14.425M for hockey).
For example, if a GB hockey player receives £28,000 per year in APA support, that funding comes from UK Sport’s central APA pool—not from the £14.425M allocated to the hockey programme itself.
So the actual amount of public money allocated to hockey each year is significantly higher than it initially appears.
That makes it even worse then. What do they spend that money on they receive then 😂
DeleteI have been a watcher of Hockey in England from a distance for the past 12 years. At other times I was pitch side with cameras and even further back I played in the opening season of the National League for a club that is now a lot smaller. This means that I was around when the Men were medal winners as well as the Women's success.
ReplyDeleteThe sport today is not what is was when I was playing, for a start it had a far greater base thanks to team sports being played in state schools. Some of the clubs that for a period of time dominated are no longer (Hounslow, Ealing Ladies for example) others are not what they once were. The biggest change for me has been the reduction in formal coach education by the National Governing Body. I would say that it is the biggest failure in infrastructure and it is something that is needed if the sport is to be revived.
Restructuring of the game requires a massive change in mindset, you can look at the performance of the England U18 teams in the recent European champions to see how far behind the country is. I might argue that a radical plan would be to bin the full time nature of the central programme at the senior end. If you did so then you might change the way England approach the Pro League and use most games as a testing ground for players rather than pick the best players.
I looked at the accounts for England Hockey over a number of years and they are not a pretty thing to review, the money pumped in by Investec was wasted by the commercial team, funding from UK Sport was used to pay overheads rather than fund performance staff and the present development programme is about raising money not the next generation of top players.