Irish Hockey

THE best things in life aren't always free as the Belfast Harlequins new Kiwi signing Rachel Sutherland knows only too well.

The New Zealand hockey authorities, like their Irish counterparts, are keen to see their sport appearing on television.

But there's a price to pay and in order to ensure coverage it's a case of 'pay per view'.

Rachel explained: "After trying unsuccessfully to promote hockey as a marketable television sport our federation back home now pays for the privilege.

"It's a case of looking at the international fixture list and agreeing what matches both parties would like to see on the box.

"The system works well and outside of major competitions like the Olympic qualifier in March we get quite a bit of coverage."

The 28-year-old midfielder, who earned her 100th cap recently, has been pleasantly surprised by the amount of media coverage hockey receives in this part of the world.

But it's still nowhere near the wall-to-wall television footage that is frequently shown in Argentina.

Sutherland is just back from South America where she competed in the Champions Trophy.

She added: "We were greeted at the airport by fans looking for autographs and crowds turned up in their thousands even to see matches not involving Argentina.

"It was a bit of a culture shock as hockey in New Zealand isn't the biggest women's sport.

"Netball has that honour and it's right up there behind rugby and cricket in the media stakes."

The Irish Hockey Association, to their credit, has occasionally paid to hire in production companies to attract television coverage on a 'free to use' basis as far as the likes of RTE, BBC and UTV are concerned.

It's obviously one route that might be taken by new Chief Executive Officer Paul Varian, one of whose tasks is to attempt to market the sport better.

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