Sat 4 Dec, 2004
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Sport England and England Hockey Launch Review  x9
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| England Hockey |
November 3, 2004
England Hockey, UK
> Page Views 1017
Sport England, the strategic lead for sport in England and England Hockey have agreed to commission an independent review. The review responds to the collectively held belief that hockey needs to address a number of issues, most notably to improve our international performance following the failure of the GB women's team to qualify for Athens 2004 and the GB men's team finishing in 9th place.
The independent review will be chaired by George Cox, the former Director General of the Institute of Directors and will focus on gathering analysis from past and current reviews and using them to develop a sustainable plan for the future. This process is being fully supported by Sport England, the main funding body for England Hockey. UK Sport and the English Institute of Sport are being asked to take an active role in this review. Wide consultation will also take place with the Home Nation Sports Councils, their Governing Bodies and the BOA to ensure that all parties have a say in the future of the sport.
The Rt Hon Richard Caborn MP, Minister for Sport said; "This is a welcome announcement from Sport England and a big step forward for the future of England Hockey. It is vitally important that sports governing bodies are fit for purpose, and this review will ensure that the right decisions are made to deliver success in Hockey from grassroots to the elite level."
Roger Draper, Chief Executive of Sport England, said; "We are pleased that England Hockey are embracing reform through both the restructuring process underway in merging their development and performance areas and through taking part in this review. We all recognise that there is a strong need to speed up the modernisation of hockey to both boost grassroots participation and international success. This review will ensure that all the relevant and interested parties in the sport are in full agreement of how best to move forward."
Philip Kimberley, Executive Chairman of England Hockey, commented; "Over the past eighteen months the new board of England Hockey has led the governing body through a process of steady revival of which we are proud. Last month I took over as chair of World Class Hockey Ltd (our separate performance unit) and our focus is now to reintegrate it back into England Hockey and radically improve its effectiveness within the sport in England. We are also absolutely determined to see a positive resolution of the complex Great Britain issue and so welcome Sport England's support in setting up this independent review. "
The first meeting of the review group will take place this month and will report back early in 2005.
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Comments on this article
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Canuck
11-03-2004 9:53 pm
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Sport Canada
How do we get Sport Canada to initiate a long overdue review of Field Hockey Canada???
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Charlie
11-04-2004 7:37 am
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Sport England
What a wonderful and unique idea, lets have a review. Only problem is that there has already been review, after review, after review, as well as a GB modernisation project that interviewed all and sundry. I think a quick look at the findings/reports of the previous exercises, all done by independent consultants on behalf of UK Sport and Sport England (sound familiar) will provide all the answers George is looking for.
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Philosopher
11-05-2004 1:11 pm
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The problem actually isn't so much with England any more as with Scotland and Wales who have shafted a plan to improve GREAT BRITAIN.
England seem to be getting their act together and I hope whoever is appointed to the new coaching/performance posts can get things going on the pitch.
Sport England can come up with all the reviews they want, but they will never persuade Scotland and Wales to do the honourable thing for the sake of GB.
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realist
11-05-2004 1:44 pm
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I think it is all about lottery money keeping a few select individuals employed. England Hockey is corrupt !. Their world class skills used for gradual decimation of Asian hockey in the U.K. would be applied to Scotland and Wales. Perhaps Sport England and Mr R. Caborn would better spend time looking at the reasons for gradual failure of English Hockey.
GB was dominated by players from England - hence see no reason why they should blame anyone other than themselves for their failure at the Olympics.
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Philosopher
11-07-2004 5:00 am
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Asian hockey in the UK
Actually, there are other reasons for the decline of Asian hockey in the UK:
1 - soccer - Asian kids are deserting hockey in droves
2 - educational and parental pressure means Asian kids ditch sport when it clashes with exams. I know coaches who pick Asian children for school and club teams and face an ongoing battle with their parents to get them to matches and training. After a while, they give up.
3 - the lack of status given to women who want to play sport means there are less than a handful of asian girls playing in the national league
I don't think it is easy for Asian kids to make their way in English Hockey and I am sure more could be done, but 'realist's' comments are way off the mark. The reality is that there are less Asian players ready for GB than there are Scots or Welsh. And that's saying something.
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London Indian
11-08-2004 7:56 am
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Asian Hockey in the UK
Now that Asian hockey has been brought in to the picture, lets face it England and GB only did well at international level in the 80's due to the strength of asian hockey in this country. If you look back in history you will find some very embarrasing results for GB/England in the 80's at the hands of a side called London Indians. Surprisingly none of those guys played for GB/England. Some of the world stars of 88 made themselves by learning from these world class players from Kenya, India and Pakistan. Until the skill levels and undrstanding of the modern game are addressed in this country, I see another 8 goals going in at the next Olympics.
What has English Hockey and Sport England done for the 2 national league clubs trying to keep Asian hockey alive in this country? Why are potential international english players discouraged from joining these sides? If the style does not fit in with the English way, I'm afraid the English style does not fit in with current interantional standards!
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realist
11-09-2004 4:33 pm
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re - philospher
It is wrong to suggest that Asians do not encourage there children to play hockey or other sport. Parental pressure/education is used as an easy excuse for the decline of hockey amongst Asians. My general experience has that Asian parents with teenage children are quite liberal with their approach to children when it comes to sport (including football).
To develop interest in a sport there should be role models from the community. In the 80's we had players from Kenya, Slough, Indian Gym, Lyons and off-course London Indians. London Indians regularly beat England by a fair margin. These players were mostly from Kenya hence had international experience to develop their skills.
General experience, amongst lots of Asian players, has been a preception of racism in the selection of the national side. This started in the 80's and has continued both at both county and international hockey.
Hence without competitive exposure interest of players with an Asian background has declined.
Reading through some of the emails some individuals have complained about the "old boy network" selection process. Hence discrimination may not be restricted to colour only. Individuals should write directly to R. Caborn to ensure that the review does address the concerns felt by the Asian community. After all the money spent on English hockey is collected from our taxes !
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Philosopher
11-11-2004 8:34 am
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Asian hockey
I think you are putting the cart before the horse here - I refuse to believe that Jason Lee, or any other national coach, would not pick a good player just because he is Asian (perhaps some Asian contributors would address why there are no 'she' Asian players).
The problem is clearly well below national level, in clubs and schools and nothing to do with Lee or whoever preceeded/succeeds him, because there is nobody out there worth picking (and goodness knows I have seen enough National League stuff to know!).
And stop bleating about the good old days of London Indians. They have gone the way of the GB gold-medal winning side, down the pan.
Perhaps you could come up with some suggestion about how to improve the situation? Perhaps an Asian Hockey Conference, an Asian coaching initiative, something to get Asian girls to play, something to educate Asian parents that sport is positive etc etc. That is how things move forward, not endless negative posturing which purely serves to discourage Asians to play at all.
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London Indian
11-12-2004 8:10 am
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Asian Hockey in the UK
Agree that the way forward is to arrange initiatives like mentioned above. However the funding is an issue and perhaps this can be addressed in the review. My comments above were not to discourage Asians but to emphasize the fact that Asian hockey is this country is very important and English/Asian combinations can be very effective at the top level. Two players perhaps the UK selection should consider at least for a trial are Pav Sandhu at Barford and Tajinder Hanspall at Indian Gym.
Traditions are still strong in the Asian community and to change the mindset of parents will take along time before you get Asian girls on the seen unless they come from a hockey playing family. This is largely true for the boys also now and my concern is that Asian hockey may fade away in the coming years. This issue should also be addressed in the review.
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