News for 05 May 2020
All the news for Tuesday 5 March 2020
International Hockey Federation in "complete savings mode" as it battles COVID-19 financial impact
By David Owen Monday
The International Hockey Federation has gone into "complete savings mode" ©Getty Images
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) is reviewing all budgets as it endeavours to cope with the financial shock unleashed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Chief executive Thierry Weil told insidethegames that the body had gone into "complete savings mode".
He explained that measures include cutting the salary bill by around 50 per cent for some weeks with the help of a Swiss Government partial unemployment programme.
COVID-19 struck at a particularly unfortunate time for the FIH, with the second season of its fledgling Pro League about a third of the way through.
The governing body announced last month that this second season had been extended to June 2021, with a planned third season now scheduled for September 2021 to June 2022.
The wide-ranging cost clampdown also comes in the wake of publication of accounts for 2018 which included notification that TV production costs linked to the new competition had been "underestimated", while related broadcasting revenues had been "overestimated".
Headlined "cash-flow and subsequent events", the full note reads as follows:
"FIH has made some important investments in 2019 to grow hockey globally and raise its awareness.
"The FIH Pro League, the first-of-its-kind global home and away league, was launched in January 2019 and is a major vehicle to drive the growth and awareness of the sport.
"With the investments needed to create this competition, it was not foreseen to have a positive financial result substantial [sic] or even a break-even in year one.
"Unfortunately, TV production costs were underestimated while, at the same time, revenues from broadcasting deals were overestimated.
"This has led to the situation that the FIH shows a negative result in 2018 and an important negative result in 2019.
"Several structural and financial measures have been decided and taken to remediate this situation.
"Thanks to all measures taken, the FIH budgets for 2020 to 2022 are secured and show an important profit in 2022, following the FIH World Cups."
The second season of the Pro League was halted by the COVID-19 outbreak ©Getty Images
The report by statutory auditor Ernst & Young which draws attention to this note is dated November 6, 2019, well before coronavirus struck.
The accounts themselves show that a near CHF750,000 (£615,000/$765,000/€700,000) cost attributed to the Pro League pushed FIH into the red for 2018.
The overall loss totalled just over CHF313,000 (£257,000/$320,000/€290,000) on operating income of CHF13.5 million (£11 million/$13.8 million/€12.6 million).
Overall expenses reached CHF12.55 million (£10.3 million/$12.8 million/€11.7 million), of which payroll and fees amounted to CHF5.2 million (£4.3 million/$5.3 million/€4.8 million).
Current assets at end-December 2018 totalled a relatively meagre CHF9.56 million (£7.84 million/$9.75 million/€8.9 million), of which a bit more than CHF5 million (£4.1 million/$5.1 million/€4.65 million) was cash.
By way of comparison, the governing body of another Summer Olympic team sport, the International Handball Federation, had financial assets of well over CHF130 million (£105 million/$131 million/€121 million) at the same date.
Between 2015 and 2018, insidethegames analysis indicates that just under one-third of the FIH's operating income came from payments linked to hockey's presence on the Olympic programme made by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
The postponement of Tokyo 2020 means that the next such payment may not materialise, all else being equal, until a year later than originally expected, posing a cash-flow challenge to a number of international sports federations (IFs).
Some IFs are expected to ask the IOC for early payment of a portion of the sum they anticipated getting in autumn 2020, but may now not receive for another year.
Weil indicated that the FIH would strive to make any IOC advance as small as possible, or perhaps to manage without one at all.
Inside the Games
Can FIH and Hockey Pro League prosper amid economic impact?
By Rod Gilmour
Missing masses: The Australia v GB clashes were devoid of supporters
“Sometimes”, proclaimed the Daily Mail‘s chief sports writer Martin Samuel, “there is great benefit in obscurity. In relatively minor sports it allows hopeless administrators to flourish unquestioned.”
It was but a small item in his regular column, but it struck an immediate chord. Samuel, who is a keen hockey observer, was talking about the FIH Pro League following the points debacle which saw Great Britain women, back when sport was in full flight earlier this year, finish the Sydney leg of their tour with nothing to show for it.
Well in the past now, of course, GB were beating Australia 1-0 when a lightning storm occurred and the game was ‘cancelled’. Under a Pro League rule – which the FIH said had been given the green light by all competing nations – the points were awarded to Australia after they won the previous day’s game. Indeed, if this had happened in football, there would have been outrage.
Further, if the Pro League was acting as an Olympic qualifier, this story would have run for days and hockey would be big news for all the wrong reasons. As it is, ‘Pointsgate’ was largely played out on social media by perplexed fans who have yet to see the Pro League as the Six Nations-style, cut and thrust hockey most would like it to be. Which is about right when reading between the coaches’ lines; that some teams treat the Pro League with the Olympics in mind, trying out different variations as they would in ‘Test’ matches. With no relegation for the Pro League elite, why not?
This is hardly conducive for the ‘game-changing’ tournament that the FIH was hoping it would turn out to be when it launched. The points controversy – which GB goalkeeper Maddie Hinch called ‘ridiculous’ and ‘obscene’ – has led to wider opinion on the Pro League, which is fast turning into more of an ‘event-changing’ tournament. It has gone from home and away league, to home then away league after one year, with cost-saving measures at the core. In only its second season, it scrapped the Global Finals, with the winner accruing most points in the standings being crowned champions.
This correspondent has been an advocate of the equal prize money Pro League, although enthusiasm may be waning. There’s no doubting the concept was sound enough before the 2019 launch. Less trying to explain the semi-finals of the World League Finals, now there was more hockey over a half a calendar year with the best in the world. What’s not to love? (That’s if you can find a way past the fuzzy geo blocking on FIH.Live or don’t have BT Sport, if you live in the UK). The pandemic has afforded some governing bodies to step back and take stock of their sport. The FIH have been positive in their outlook and have even announced details of season three, when the league will run from September through to June.
This could be construed as a bold move, with a title sponsor – which the FIH chief Thierry Weil told The Hockey Paper in January was close to being inked – yet to materialise. In the FIH’s latest auditors report, released in late 2019, the financial statement revealed that TV production costs were ‘under-estimated’ while broadcasting deals were ‘overestimated’. According to the FIH accounts, losses amounted to £590,000, with budgets for 2020 and 2022 secured, thanks to India hosting the 2022 Men’s World Cups and the bolstering of the world governing body’s coffers.
The Pro League bandwagon meandered on. The early Sydney matches of the current season were hosted at the Olympic Stadium with a pitch-long empty stand akin to a low grade athletics event. In a nation where two teams have gleaned world gold aplenty, administrators still fail to grasp the notion that taking the tournament to the regions is a better bet.
Sydney also seemed to be devoid of silverware. The FIH had stated pre-tournament that the ‘iconic’ trophies would be journeying across the globe during the event, with a chance for fans to get up close while national associations would “showcase the sport and the competition via exhibitions and innovative events.”
Now, do correct me, but were the trophies stuck in Australia’s nanny state customs house? Perhaps it was stopped by a concerned official who was wondering why it was entering the country on account of the restrictive FIH.Live, which has yet to deliver on promises on data, clubs being able to upload matches and other user generated initiatives. This is likely down to the fact that those who conceived the project have now left the FIH and departed Lausanne.
World hockey’s recently-announced optimism for Pro League 3 comes amid growing uncertainty with sport in general following the ongoing pandemic. In a recent Play The Game report, it was revealed how revenue was divvied up from Oympic Games, with sports split in five groups and distribution ranging from $40 million down to circa $14m. Hockey is placed in the penultimate group and handed $16.3m.
It was also reported that 15 of 28 international sports federations in the Olympic programme relied heavily on International Olympic Committee income. With future income unknown, German investigative reporter Jens Weinreich wrote that these sports are “in a situation that threatens their very existence”.
IOC president Thomas Bach said last week the Olympic movement would look at how sport would be shaped in a post-coronavirus world. “We may also have to look more closely into the proliferation of sports events,” he said. “The financial pressure on all the stakeholders… may require more consolidation in this respect.”
Such an uncertain future for sports and its programmes mean that the FIH will have plenty of financial decisions to make. Is currently being housed in Lausanne viable? Will there be more pressure to make more inroads on hockey 5s as an Olympic sport (smaller pitch, economical athlete numbers)?
At the moment it’s hard to see any of these questions being answered with a truly global hat on. The FIH congress was due to take place in a little over six months time in Delhi and current president Narinder Batra set to enter another term unopposed with no challengers in the offing.
However the FIH congress, Batra reportedly said late last week, has now been pushed back until June 2021 following the global pandemic. With growing concerns evident within European hockey over the way the global game is being run, as reported by The Hockey Paper in recent issues, will a suitable candidate emerge before congress election in India?
The Pro League trophy was last spotted there for the Pro League matches. But raising the sport’s profile is not a problem for this powerhouse nation, with Odisha also now a global partner of the FIH and more senior and junior events seemingly being staged there. No, it’s about making sure the sport doesn’t flounder in obscurity once hockey can return to pitches across the globe. And with authoritative administrators who can assure us of the sport’s future – one which can flourish – in whatever shape this may turn out to be.
This column has been adapted from a previous print edition for online.
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The Hockey Paper
England Hockey posts financial accounts amid funding uncertainty
By Richard Bright
England Hockey’s year-end accounts look in decent shape as the national governing body looks to further develop the visibility of the sport, coupled with a vision not to become reliant on UK Sport funding in the future.
In latest financial accounts filed last month, the national governing body made a loss of £30,000, while income fell from £14.4 million to £11.3m due to hosting the World Cup the previous year.
EH did warn that the sport’s public funding remains “uncertain” and is “a major risk to the company”.
However, England Hockey is continuing its bid to build on the successes at London and Rio Olympics, while its 2017-21 strategy aims to reduce a reliance on government funding.
In the last financial year, the percentage of total income from UK Sport and Sport England reduced by six per cent to 59 per cent.
EH announced a deficit for the year following GB’s inclusion in the Pro League’s inaugural year. Buoyed by the reduction in travel and new schedule for year two of the global league, this led to the decision by EH chiefs to develop Big Stadium Hockey and the innovative ‘pop up’ pitch.
EH used a small amount of its £1.58m reserves for the “long-term development of the sport”.
But the company’s board believed that the £120,000 investment in the Pro League and the long-term benefits of hosting hockey in larger stadiums would boost commercial value.
Meanwhile, employee staff costs rose from £3.48m to £3.66m in the last year.
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The Hockey Paper
COVID-19: India women raise significant funds to help feed the poor
In the latest example of the hockey family’s efforts in the fight against the COVID-19 global health pandemic, a fundraising initiative by the India women’s national team is helping to feed more than 1000 families of poor and migrant workers whose livelihood has been affected during India’s lockdown.
On 17 April 2020, India’s Eves launched an 18-day fitness challenge to raise funds for charity whist simultaneously encouraging people to adapt to an active lifestyle during lockdown. When the challenge ended on 3 May 2020, the team had raised over two million Indian Rupees, which equates to around 26,000 US dollars.
"The response we have received was really overwhelming,” said India team captain Rani. “People, especially Indian hockey lovers from across the globe took part in the challenge and contributed for the cause. On behalf of the team, I would like to thank everyone who took part in this initiative to help the poor. It was heartening to see many Hockey India Member Units, legends and former India hockey players show their support by taking part in this initiative and we are truly grateful."
The challenge saw team members coming up with different fitness tasks, ranging from burpees, lunges and squats to spider-man push-ups, pogo hops and many more. Each day, a player initiated a new challenge and tagged ten different people on their social media handles, all of which were encouraged to take up the challenge and donate 100 Indian Rupees to the fundraiser. India vice-captain Savita explains more.
"Initially when we discussed about this challenge with our chief coach [Sjoerd Marijne] and understood how online fundraiser works, we didn't think that the outcome would be so immense”, said Savita. “But we saw people's support grow day-by-day. Many of them would send us messages and patted our backs for taking this up and it encouraged us more. We would also like to thank Hockey India, our chief coach Sjoerd Marijne and entire support staff for backing us in this initiative, which we felt very strongly about because most of us in the team come from very difficult financial backgrounds."
The money raised by India’s Eves was donated to the Uday Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation based in New Delhi which provides basic necessities for those in desperate need of support. As well as food in the form of dry rations, the funds will also be used to provide sanitary kits that will include soaps and hand sanitisers.
Congratulating the team for their initiative, Hockey India President Mohd. Mushtaque Ahmad said: "It is very heartening to see the Indian women's hockey team take up such a thoughtful initiative. I have been informed that hundreds of people have already benefitted from this cause and have received dry rations, this makes us extremely proud of the players. The team has shown that sports people always have a big heart and come forward to help when needed. I not only congratulate the team on behalf of Hockey India, but I’d also like to thank them for taking this cause up and feeding the needy."
For more information about the Uday Foundation, please click here.
#StayHomeStayStrong
FIH site
Stuck in Bengaluru, hockey player watching movies to kill boredom
Aakanksha N Bhardwaj
Hockey player Varun does push-ups during his stay in Bengaluru. Tribune Photo
Varun, an Indian hockey player who belongs to Mithapur village in Jalandhar, is in Bengaluru right now, where he had gone for a national camp before the lockdown was announced. Now, the star player from Punjab is spending his lockdown by watching films, exercising and playing ludo.
“Since we are always playing, or attending camps, I never get to watch movies, which I am doing right now. I have watched several films. I am also playing ludo these days which I was not able to do earlier,” he said.
But, apart from entertaining himself, he is also utilising the time to polish himself by doing regular exercises and watching the matches and learning techniques. “I receive calls daily from my parents who are in Jalandhar and they ask for my well-being,” he shared, adding that every player has been following the norm of social distancing properly.
Varun is waiting eagerly for the lockdown to get over and the problem to be solved as soon as possible, as he said he would like to get back to the old routine and attend camps and play matches again.
“I started playing as a child and played with the aim of getting selected in a prestigious hockey team one day. Now that I have made it, I have become more responsible and wish to play for my country with dedication,” the young player had earlier said.
In a conversation with The Tribune, Brahm Nand, father of Varun, had shared that he was never into any sports, but Harjeet Kaur, an Arjuna awardee from the same village, was doing well in sports because of which he thought of putting his son in sports.
Brahma Nand had also shared that he had faced lots of difficulties in raising his children and after Varun was selected in Indian Hockey team, his father had expressed the feeling by saying that seeing his son's name in the list of Indian hockey players was something that had given him great happiness.
Also learning game techniques
Apart from entertaining himself, Varun is also utilising the time to polish himself by doing regular exercises and watching matches and learning techniques. "I receive calls daily from my parents who are in Jalandhar and they ask for my well-being," he shared, adding that every player has been following the norm of social distancing properly.
The Tribune
Hockey eagerly awaits Stormont decision on sporting return
John Flack
Lisnagarvey captain James Corry
The Republic of Ireland government's road map to ease the lockdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has provided fresh hope that hockey's national league will return in time for the new season.
In the fourth phase, which begins on July 20, football and GAA - and presumably hockey being a sport with less physical contact - can return.
With hockey being an all-island sport and assuming there are no reasons to re-impose any of the restrictions, the new IHL season could start in September.
However, with local government expected this week to announce a plan for easing some restrictions, much will depend on the Stormont response and there is no guarantee that it will be as relaxed as the Republic's.
The future lifting of limitations on movement in Ulster will be key to the hopes that hockey can return as players would obviously have to travel across the border to play in the national league.
Taking part in sport is currently prohibited and, unless things change, getting to and from matches would not be regarded as essential travel.
Lisnagarvey captain James Corry said: "The five stage plan from the Republic certainly seems a positive development for sport so we are just hoping the UK government and/or our own devolved administration introduces something similar.
"The squad are already talking about the prospect of being able to get back training even in small groups if that's the next step in Ulster."
Belfast Telegraph
First rushers and the art of committing suicide while defending penalty corners in hockey
Amit Kamath 
File image of the Indian hockey team. Twitter @TheHockeyIndia
Manpreet Singh and his team have a term for the job Amit Rohidas does for the Indian hockey team when they’re defending penalty corners: Suicide Runner.
It’s perhaps a more accurate way of describing Rohidas’ role than the tame, but universally used, designation: First rusher.
When a team is defending penalty corners, it’s the first rusher’s job to scramble from the goalline to the top of the circle to block or deflect the flick. The first rusher is the man tasked with running straight into the line of fire, or to the drag-flicker, while a goalkeeper and a ‘postman’ stay close to the goalline to block. Two other rushers assume strategic positions in the circle.
Every defender stares at danger during penalty corners, given shots can travel at speeds of over 100 kmph and are taken just a few metres from the goal. While the goalkeeper stands in goal padded from head to toe, the rushers have paraphernalia like groin cups, knee pads, face masks, mouth guards, gloves, and goggles to protect themselves from injury in penalty corners.
A tip coaches give rushers is to run as fast as possible to the drag-flicker so that the area of impact can be minimised to below the thighs.
“When the ball is injected in for a penalty corner, the first runner is running directly in the line of the ball with his entire body,” says Manpreet, who is also tasked with being the first rusher for India from time to time. “That’s why being the first rusher is akin to attempting suicide.”
“Bilkul darr nahi lagta (It doesn’t scare me at all),” chuckles Rohidas, who laughs even harder when reminded that the Indian team calls the first rusher as a suicide runner.
“Yes, the ball can hit you anywhere, there’s no guarantee.
“Dum hona chahiye yeh karne ke liye (You need to have guts to do this job),” he adds before nonchalantly recounting times he has been painfully stung on the legs and — even more painfully — on the knee.
“Amit is fearless,” says India’s chief hockey coach Graham Reid, who adds that when he was part of the Netherlands set-up as an assistant to Max Caldas they would be wary of him when taking penalty corners.
Reid says that to be a good rusher a player needs two things. First among them is how brave he is. “Amit scores 11 out of 10 for that,” says Reid.
The other one, according to Reid, is the player’s ability to change directions quickly.
“That’s what Amit does very well, just like people like Jeremy Hayward and Craig Middleton. They’re big boys, but they can also change directions quickly and very late.”
Rohidas’ importance to the team was amply evident in India’s first FIH Pro League encounter in January this year. Twice in the third quarter, with the score reading 4-2 in India’s favour, Rohidas foiled two back-to-back drag flicks from the Dutchmen, who had experts like Jip Janssen and Mink van der Weerden in the ranks.
Rohidas says the Indian team’s tactics require him to focus on blocking shots to the left side of the goal, so that the ’keeper can focus on the right and the middle. The team focusses on penalty corner drills for half-an-hour or 45 minutes twice a week. There is also a lot of video analysis done to ensure defenders are familiar with the tactics of rivals when it comes to stopping a drag flick. But at the end of the day, it all boils down to the ability of men like Amit Rohidas to, use the Indian team’s turn of phrase, commit suicide.
Firstpost
Greensharks make changes in technical bench
By AGNES MAKHANDIA
Mudoga Clayson (left) of Greensharks celebrates his goal with teammate Chris Mchwanju during their Kenya Hockey Union men's Premier League match against Sikh Union at City Park Stadium on November 9, 2019. PHOTO | SILA KIPLAGAT | NATION MEDIA GROUP
With a view to breaking jinx of playing second fiddle to opponents, Kenya Hockey Union (KHU) men’s Premier League team Greensharks has made changes to its technical bench.
Greensharks have continued to be outshone by champions Butali Sugar Warriors and Kenya Police in previous seasons. Last season, Wazalendo joined the list.
Greensharks, who finished fourth in the league last season under the guidance of coach Ben Owaga, have elevated former national team player Leon Magomere to the technical bench with Lawrence Odhiambo, John Wachira, and Samuel Mucheki also being drafted in technical department.
The team’s technical director, Nixon Nyangaga has said the move was to ensure all the departments were catered for going forward.
"It can never be business as usual. We have to get it right this time round. We have always started well in the previous league matches but fizzled out along the way to finish either third or fourth when the season ends. We are good side and I believe we can challenge for the title," said Nyaganga, who guided Sharks to a third-place finish in 2017 before assuming the technical director’s position.
"We are a self-supporting outfit and we survive on our individual contributions and that of the well-wishers and I believe if we had a sponsor, many things would change," he added.
Nyaganga is not worried by the exit of forward Clayson Luvanda who crossed over to Butali Sugar Warriors, saying the team has enough cover.
"When a player joins another team, it gives room for other players to showcase their talent. Luvanda is a good player and we wish him all the best at his new club. Luckily for us we still have Chris Wokila who emerged top scorer last season as well as Magomere who will double up as player cum coach. So we are at a good place," said the KHU coaching committee member.
All the other leagues (women’s Premier, Super Leagues (men and women), as well as the national leagues (men and women) had kicked off in February, but the men’s Premier League matches had not started when coronavirus struck.
Daily Nation
T&T's Brathwaite cops University top award
By Nigel Simon
T&T senior women’s hockey team and Lock Haven University player, Kayla Brathwaite in action for her school. LOCK HAVEN UNIVERSITY
Arouca-born senior women's hockey team player, Kayla Brathwaite became the second T&T woman after Blair Wynen (2008) to capture Lock Haven University's Charlie E. Smith Award.
The 25-year-old Brathwaite copped the school's prestigious award on Thursday last when the Lock Haven University Department of Athletics held its sixth annual Talons.
This year, the Talons were held virtually on social media due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic which has caused the cancellation of most of 2020 season since mid-March across the world.
Highlighting, the night was the announcement of the 2019-20 Charlotte E. Smith (women) and Bald Eagle (men) award winners.
Copping the Charlotte E. Smith was former Bishop Anstey East High School student, Brathwaite who represented the Pennsylvania, USA University in both field hockey and track and field for the past four years.
The award is presented to an outstanding female student-athlete senior who has shown dedication to both academics, athletics and outstanding leadership, and has made a lasting impact on the "Haven Nation".
Brathwaite has been a model student-athlete both on the field and in the classroom.
The senior was named to the Atlantic-10 First Team All-Conference this season and holds a 3.56 cumulative GPA.
She also excelled on the track, sitting second in LHU history with a time of 42.80 in the 300 metres and is part of school records in two relay events, the 4x200 metres and the distance medley relay.
However, with the COVID-19 pandemic causing the cancellation of the 2020 spring sports season, Brathwaite and her nine other seniors did not get the chance to continue their impressive school athletics resumes.
During her time at Lock Haven Brathwaite has quietly been a stud of the Haven ladies.
She sits second all-time at LHU in the Indoor 300m, eighth all-time in the outdoor 400m, and has been a member on the record-breaking outdoor distance medley relay team and outdoor 800m relay team.
Additionally, she contributed to the fourth place finishing 2019 PSAC distance medley relay team ((12:53.25 minutes), and individually finished sixth in the 400m at the 2019 PSAC Outdoor Championship meet, running 58.34 seconds that put her at eighth all-time at Lock Haven.
Most recently she finished 10th in the 400m at the 2020 Indoor PSAC Championship and ends her tenure with college best in the 60m (8.18 secs); 100m (13.15 seconds); 200m (26.03 sec); 300m (42.80 secs), and 400m (58:34).
On the hockey astroturf, Brathwaite who plans to become an educator in the field of health and physical education in the future earned All-Region honours from the National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) and helped lead the Bald Eagle field hockey team to their first A-10 playoff appearance since 2014 and a 6-2 conference record and 11-8 overall, going 11-7 in the regular season.
She was also named to the Division I NFHCA Senior All-Star Game and was one of ten members of the Lock Haven team who earned a spot on the 2019 Zag/National Field Hockey Coaches' Association (NFHCA) Division I National Academic squad.
She played in 17 games during 2018, scored two goals and had eight assists after which she was named as a 2018 Zag/National Field Hockey Coaches’ Association Division I National Academic Team member and earned a 2018 pre-season All-Conference pick.
And during her 2017 debut season, she was a standout as a freshman, being named to the to 2017 All-Atlantic 10 Second Team and All A-10 Rookie Team after scoring one goal and five assists.
Brathwaite was also a 2017 Division I National Academic squad member.
Brathwaite said she was very honoured as well as becoming only the second player from T&T to achieve such accolade behind former club-mate Wynne. "For me, it was difficult at times, but having the outlet of sports makes everything easier, so combining the three was not that difficult."
She added, " I think what made it a lot easier for me was having three other club-mates and friends from my T&T hockey club, Notre Dame with me at the same university in Dana-Lee De Gannes, Stephanie Whiteman and Tamia Roach when I first came over."
"So for me, it was just like being back home in Trinidad as we were always together at hockey and it was no different at Lock Haven University."
Looking ahead, and post-Covid-19, Brathwaite who is expected to graduate on Saturday, said her immediate focus will surely be on her academics ahead of hockey.
The Trinidad Guardian