England Hockey Crisis - Part 2 - International Setup

Back again with another installment of the series about England Hockey and we fix it. This is slightly later than expected but with good reason, I wanted to see how the EuroHockey Championship II played out and didn't they work out well for the home nations.

So let's get into it...

The Issues

Think this will be short, the issues? A distinct lack of success on the international stage, both seniors and juniors. Let's look at the World Cup results for the last 2 editions, starting with the men.

2018, a semi final run, seems good right? Well the semis was a 6-0 loss to Belgium and then an 8-1 loss to Australia in the Bronze medal match. Hardly good when you consider we got 4 points in a group of Ireland, China and Australia. 2023, better right? Well we won our pool, but a SO loss to Germany after being 2-0 up isn't great. 

Now the women's team...2018, a home cup, a 2-0 loss to the Dutch in the quarter finals. Respectable if not underwhelming. 2022 was again quarter final exit, this time to Argentina, resulting in an 8th place finish.

What about the EuroHockey tournaments, when you'd argue the compeition is greater and less "freebie"wins. For the men, they have finished 5th, 4th and 2nd in the last 3 editions, so not the worst but hardly good for the money spent. The women 4th, 5th and 4th, largely helped by easier group stages.

On a junior level it doesn't make much better reading. In the most recent competion at U21 level (2024 Euros) the men were 5th whilst the women were 3rd. On the face of it good finish for the women, but where has that got the seniors. In the 24/25 Pro league season they barely escaped relegation.

All these results need to be viewed with an understanding that the seniors are meant to be a professional outfit, training daily and the programmes received 26 million in funding in the last 8 years, excluding sponsorship and commercial revenue.

My Solution

Simple really, scrap the central programme, it doesn't work. Wales have just been promoted to the top tier of European Hockey after the men won gold and women silver in the 2nd tier championships. This acheivement was on less of a budget than England, with less preperation time as a team.

I understand the need for a central system but we are one of the only countries doing it. For me, allow players to play across Europe or in England and use the money to have training camps. Rather than pay salaries reimburse travel to camps / loss of earnings by attending. If people want to play internationally they will look after themselves away from training too, thats the mentality of an elite athlete.

Doing this allows players to explore their options in terms of playing abroad and in better leagues. Someone like Tom Sorsby has flourished since moving to the Netherlands, David Goodfield spent a year in Germany and came back a different player. I look at two of GB best up and coming forwards: Fred Newbold and Struan Walker, both spent time playing in Germany and got into the central system as a result. So if they were ready without the central system why do we need it? Nick Bandurack was ready without being in it too, there are so many examples.

Spend more of the money on investing in the domestic game and facilities and rebuild that way.

If you want a central system then at least have it in the centre of the country, Beeston springs to mind. Players can spread out across the teams and remove the feel of "London" league. Oh, and did you know it's quite close to few major airports too, for those playing abroad.

From a junior development point of view we need to scrap the single system, it's too money focused. Have a county tournament (like the Dutch and Belgium do), so players attendn trials for their region (let's say Yorkshire) and they play a big tournament twice a year against all the other regions. Then put a focus on the junior leagues, send coaches to watch these games. Promote junior club hockey and stop pricing people out by adding all these costs, such as TA and the old Performance Centre. It gives all players hope they can make it each year and so they don't fall out of love as easy, they keep pushing and working. 

There you have it, another quick ramble from myself about the issues. For me it all boils down to restarting the system, keeping it simple and identifying where we want our players to play in the short term, England or Netherlands? I know where I pick. 

For the juniors, it's bringing back a sense of pride in representing your country, increasing the pool of players on show to ensure we really do get the best players at the age group level. Could even promote the senior championships more, and have them as a selection tool.

Let's learn off of the Welsh and how they achieve so much with less people, less money and less facilities.

What do you think?