News for 04 September 2020
All the news for Friday 4 September 2020
Van der Weerden’s instant impact as Rot-Weiss return with a win
Mink van der Weerden made an instant impact at Rot-Weiss Köln as his pair of goals helped them see off Crefelder HTC on Wednesday night as the German Bundesliga returned.
In front of 280 spectators, close to the mandated limit due to local hygiene regulations, the Dutch corner cannon added to a glorious opening goals from Christopher Rühr to build a 3-0 lead before Linus Michler cut the gap.
RWK trainer André Henning said of the outcome: “I thought it was a deserved victory! In the first quarter, you could feel the excitement. Although we still many games this season, it somehow felt very important to us.
“Then we improved every minute. The second and third quarters were very strong. We deservedly led 3-0. When we slowed down a bit, we conceded a goal from a corner – that can always happen.”
For new Crefeld coach Ronan Gormley, he was not dissatisfied despite the 3-1 loss, saying: “Overall, that was a good basis to start from. In the second quarter, we conceded goals to an individual action and a corner but, in the third quarter, we were not strong enough. In the last quarter, we returned to the good performance from the start of the game and reduced the gap.”
With the German league continuing from where it left off last November, Rot-Weiss moved into a three point lead at the top of the table with Uhlenhorst Mülheim second and Mannheimer HC third. Krefeld are fourth after 11 rounds of matches for each team.
Saturday and Sunday see rounds 12 and 13 of the league with 11 rounds to be played between now and October 31st.
Euro Hockey League media release
Hockey India struggles with coaching staff crunch
With uncertainty over analytical coach Chris Ciriello’s return, men’s team physio Dave MacDonald bid adieu on Wednesday, citing ‘personal reasons’.
Uthra Ganesan
The last time the Indian men’s and women’s hockey teams stepped out competitively was in February. The next time they will do so will be in 2021.
But while lack of competition has been common across the world, Hockey India (HI) also has bigger, personnel issues. With uncertainty over analytical coach Chris Ciriello’s return, men’s team physio Dave MacDonald bid adieu on Wednesday, citing ‘personal reasons’.
Two weeks back, high performance director David John had done the same. In the midst of a pandemic that shows no signs of relenting in the country and less than a year to go for the Olympics, HI is struggling to bring things back on track.
“I don’t understand the planning. Everyone knew things would not go as scheduled as far back as March during the first lockdown. And yet the players were kept at SAI till June without any training. They should have been allowed to go back much before,” said former India coach and captain Vasudevan Baskaran.
“And now, when again everyone knows there is no competition till January, why is there a camp in Bangalore? Given that the Sports Authority of India (SAI) is in charge, ideally they should have decided to assemble sometime in October and flown to Europe which is now relatively safer, staying there for a month or more. That would have given them both physical and mental freedom and proper competition against the clubs there,” he reasoned.
Sources say players, restricted on campus with only light training, are gradually losing motivation. The six who recovered from COVID-19 are worse, not allowed to push themselves even in the gym.
“Doctors advise going easy even after recovery because it directly affects the lungs. An elite athlete may recover faster but he also works harder. How can these boys be asked to suddenly step up and give 100 percent in the Pro League,” V. Baskaran asked.
Hockey India, citing lack of recognition as the national federation, did not answer and directed all queries to the SAI although sources say it has informally started the process of finding replacements for MacDonald and John. But it’s not just the men who are struggling with the manpower crisis.
The junior men’s team has a grand total of two members in its support staff as per the HI website – coach BJ Kariappa and physio Sanjeet Kumar. The junior women’s team has three – a coach and a video analyst besides Erik Wonink as the analytical coach -- and chief coach Baljit Singh Saini, now in the US, has reportedly sought a salary hike and no longer features on the HI roster.
While the Olympics are clearly the priority, the junior sides merit attention given that both the men’s and women’s Junior World Cups are scheduled, as of now, towards the end of 2021. The Junior Asia Cups have been postponed with the players also on a break. With the age-group national championships also not happening, the juniors have been twiddling thumbs.
Amidst all this the women’s team, relegated to the shadows for long, is ironically best-placed. With ample, close-knit support staff, there is continuity and clarity in both personnel and programme. The team has planned tours to Australia and Netherlands next year besides the Asian Champions Trophy in the run-up to Tokyo.
For the rest, however, it is a race against time for a federation that Abhinav Bindra called miles ahead of the pack three years ago.
Sportstar
Full Court Press for Indian Women's Hockey
Always winning laurels, Rani Rampal, new mascot of Indian women’s hockey
Indian women’s hockey, under-performing for considerable time and underrated even longer, thought to be subdued and submerged by their male counterparts, seems to have broken from the shackles.
Now, they are in the forefront, talked about. After all, they have qualified for the Olympics second time on the trot and have raised hopes for an Olympic medal this time around.
The women’s team evokes optimism, the scale of which is certainly unprecedented.
Marvellous player from Mizoram, Lalremsiami
The beginning of the year saw the country turning its head towards a young Mizoram girl called Lalremsiami. She had just won India’s first ever FIH Rising Player of the Year Award.
The 20-year old, the youngest in the senior National team, is the lone Indian women’s hockey player to draw the FIH’s acclaim.
Shortly later, the senior most in the team, Rani Rampal, became first-ever world hockey player to win the prestigious World Games Athlete of the Year Award.
With an impressive 199,477 votes, Rani emerged gloriously in a poll drawing sports fans all over the world who voted for their favourite over three weeks in January.
Around the same time, the Government of India announced her nomination for the top third civil award, the Padmashree.
It made Rani only the fourth women’s hockey player in the annals to be so honoured.
Since the awards included sports in 1957, only Eliza Nelson, Selma D’Silva and Saba Anjum have got the honour in the distaff side of Indian hockey.
Three awards in three years – the Arjuna, Padmashree and Khel Ratna — to Rani Rampal does not just reflect the heights she scaled but also how the profile of women’s hockey has undergone a massive change.
In fact, women’s hockey’s image was subsumed in three areas in comparison with men’s — the World Cup, Olympics and Asian Games.
Let me, for instance, quote what transpired in 1998.
Pritam Rani’s team entered the 1998 Bangkok Asian Games final after 16 years. They went down to the mighty Koreans, the then world No. 3, by the odd goal in five.
Yet, their emergence was lost in the glory the men’s team attained at the same Games. A gold medal after 32 years led to euphoria that put the gallant women’s silver medal in the shade.
Not being in the Olympics and not making a mark at World Cup largely dented the Indian women’s profile while the men made news in these quadrennial events.
Jakarta 2018 seemed to have changed the scene.
The women’s entry into the final of the Asian Games largely offset the gloom that pervaded the Indian camp after the surrender to Malaysia in the semifinals.
That Rani Rampal, women’s captain and not PR Sreejesh, the men’s captain, was chosen to lead the Indian contingent at the closing ceremony conveyed the unmistakable image transition.
If there was any doubt, a year later the girls proved why they are so highly rated these days.
At the Bhubaneswar Olympic Qualifying Series, they outplayed the challengers the USA in the first encounter and then fought gallantly to save the day in the second leg.
The way they played the second half and the fashion with which the senior most in the team and captain Rani Rampal struck the goal that clinched an Olympic berth indicated the miles the girls have covered in their journey.
That the present team has as many as six players whose international career runs into a decade, each one battle hardened and looking to go further.
It’s a rare kind of continuity and experience that makes the women’s team a hot property for the coming Olympics.
There is a realization in top circles, say the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Indian Olympic Association, Hockey India and the general public that the future of Indian hockey lies with the women’s team.
The series of awards that Rani has received, the Arjuna that Deepika Thakur was conferred and at least half a dozen impending are a reflection of the growing profile of the women’s game.
Indian women’s hockey is on front foot and exerting a full-court press!
Stick2Hockey.com
Netherlands legend Teun de Nooijer reflects on majestic career
Credit: Frank Uijlenbroek / World Sport Pics
It has been six years since Teun de Nooijer, one of the most outrageously gifted hockey players the world has ever seen, brought the curtain down on his competitive career at the age of 38.
The extraordinary Dutchman enjoyed the sort of career most athletes can only dream of. His raw talent – a frightening combination of blistering pace, astonishing skills and a predatory instinct for scoring goals – was noticed early, being awarded the first of a world record 453 international caps aged 18, way back in 1994.
Such was his incredible longevity, De Nooijer – who was named FIH Player of the Year in 2003, 2005 and 2006 – made his last international appearance some 18 years later, competing in the final of the London 2012 Olympic Games where his Netherlands team fell to a narrow defeat at the hands of Germany.
Silver in London may not have been the fairy-tale ending that the ever-ambitious, ferociously competitive De Nooijer would have wished for, but it was a fourth medal in a staggering five Olympic Games, adding to the golds he won at Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 as well as silver from Athens 2004.
They are far from being the only medals in De Nooijer’s collection. At 22 he became a world champion, scoring a ‘golden goal’ winner against Spain in the final at a sensational event on home soil in Utrecht. In 2007 he helped the Oranje win the European Championship and, between 1996 and 2006, played a starring role as the Dutch won six FIH Champions Trophy titles.
Even at club level, De Nooijer enjoyed extraordinary success. He won ten national titles, nine with his beloved HC Bloemendaal – including five in a row between 2006 and 2010 – and one with Harvestehude in Germany. He also won three European club titles, lifting the old European Cup in 2001 before twice winning the Euro Hockey League, the high profile competition that replaced the European Cup in 2007.
His first EHL title arrived in 2008-09, playing alongside Australia legend Jamie Dwyer in what was one of the most devastating attacking partnerships in the history of European club hockey. A second EHL victory arrived in 2012-13, with De Nooijer raising the Alain Danet trophy at the age of 37. It was his final top level season with Bloemendaal, although he did compete in the 2014 Hockey India League for Uttar Pradesh Wizards.
In part one of a two-part interview special, Netherlands superstar Teun de Nooijer – who alongside his job as a head-hunter for recruitment specialists McDermott + Bull is co-trainer for the Germany women’s team that is preparing for the upcoming FIH Hockey Pro League matches against Belgium later this month – reflects on some of the highlights of his wonderful career.
Hi Teun, thanks for talking to us! It’s been a few years since you retired from playing top level hockey – are you missing it?
Teun de Nooijer: “Of course, yes! It’s already been a long time – I spoke with somebody this week about it, it’s been six years. Since then I’ve played some matches, opening a club or a new clubhouse, or a farewell game or something like that, but it’s a really long time ago. I still follow the sport. My kids play hockey, and I watch a lot in the Netherlands at my club in Bloemendaal. But playing really competitive, that’s a long time ago. I really enjoyed it, and I played for a long time. It is hard to get something instead of that, that feeling. It’s just not the same, Of course, I enjoy playing hockey, but it’s just different [now].”
In a sensational international career, you played 453 international matches, which is a world record. That must be something you are pretty proud of.
Teun de Nooijer: “It is an amount! It went really fast. My career was 20 years [long], but it felt like one year. There was always a new situation; new coaches, new team-mates, the opponents are different. I think I was lucky with my body as well. Of course, I took care of it, but really big injuries weren’t there. I was lucky with that, so I have to thank my parents!”
You won everything as a player, both with the Netherlands and Bloemendaal, your club team. Over such a long and successful career, it must be difficult to pick a highlight?
Teun de Nooijer: “That is really hard. If I look back, five times in a row national champions with Bloemendaal, is for me a highlight. Not just the one, but the five in a row. I really look back on that period with a lot of joy. Of course, the first time at the Olympics [Atlanta 1996], where we improved every game. I played left striker and was allowed to go forward and bring what I could to the team. In your first Olympics, winning the gold medal, it was unbelievable. That is a highlight as well. I have to mention the World Cup in Utrecht in 1998, where in the end we had the gold medal as well, in a crazy final against a really good Spanish team. We also faced them two years earlier in Atlanta in the final. In the end, we were lucky and we won! We got a corner, and I put in the rebound. The whole event, in a big soccer stadium, sold out with I think 14 or 15 thousand people, it was just one big party, for two weeks! We were focused on the tournament and the games, but for world hockey and the hockey family in the Netherlands, it was just a great event.”
Many players describe you as the best player they either played with or against. Who would you describe as being the best you played with, or against, during your career?
Teun de Nooijer: “That is a really hard question. I played against the top of the top, of course. A lot of good players. If I need to pick somebody out, which always for me is hard because it just isn’t fair, but of course I played a pretty long time with Jamie Dwyer at Bloemendaal. It was a fantastic period, and also against him of course. He was an unbelievable player, so I will pick him out together with Shahbaz [Ahmed] from Pakistan. Of course, it was in the beginning of my career, but his [Shahbaz’s] playing style, with a lot of speed going forward. The energy he had and the skills he had; he was an unbelievable player. [It is] still [impressive], when you watch [clips] on You Tube. It is a pity there is not a lot of footage from back then, but also an unbelievable player.”
Part 2 of our interview with Teun de Nooijer will be published in the coming days.
FIH site
EH Champs Finals insight: Sun 6 September
Sunday 6 September marks the second day of the postponed EH Championships Finals as six more champions are decided in a day full of Juniors action.
England Hockey Board Media release
Hockey guidance sees green card for spitting, players to clean up area
By Richard Bright
Players will be handed a two-minute suspension for spitting or nose blowing without a hankerchief or tissue under new guidance for the 2020/21 English hockey season – with offenders left to clean up the affected area before play can continue.
England Hockey said that spitting or nose blowing “poses a significant risk and must stop in our sport” as it bids to stamp out the risk to other players following the pandemic.
The national governing body added that repeat offenders will be subject to personal penalties under the FIH rules while consistent offenders would be subject to due process under the England Hockey Code of Ethics and Behaviour, Red Card, MMO and/or Disrepute policies.
In advice to umpires for the upcoming season, England Hockey is also making officials aware of player crowding or surrounding the umpire.
“Due to the importance of safety in these cases, umpires are advised to follow guidelines from the FIH to avoid crowding and offending players are to be given a 2 minute (Green Card) temporary suspension,” the edict reads.
Bad language or shouting towards an official will also receive short shrift from umpires and players will be reported to England Hockey’s disrepute panel.
Umpires hare have been reminded to use their voice and low-level management skills for safety purposes “and only to resort to stricter levels of management if absolutely required.”
The new guidance is part of England Hockey’s return to play roadmap with the sport on the cusp of returning to full competitive play in league hockey.
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The Hockey Paper
Senior Cup semi-finals bring club season back with a bang
Lisnagarvey celebrate a goal against Glenanne in 2019. Pic: Adrian Boehm
Whisper it softly but, nine months since the men’s Irish Senior Cup quarter-finals, Lisnagarvey, Glenanne, Cookstown and UCD finally get their shot at reaching the 2020 final on Sunday.
In a sentiment echoed around the grounds, Lisnagarvey coach Erroll Lutton paid tribute to his club’s volunteers for “both getting everything in place so we could return to play a number of months ago and also for preparing the grounds for the arrival for teams, officials and spectators on Sunday”. 
Lisnagarvey coach Erroll Lutton. Pic: Adrian Boehm
Under local regulations, up to 100 fans can support in person at Northern Ireland venues, something which is not currently possible in the south.
All of the weekend’s ties will be played under the 2019/20 registrations which will lead to some interesting selection issues when Garvey host Glenanne and Cookstown host UCD.
For Garvey, Ryan Getty is recovering from a foot injury while Peter McKibbin is now in Germany with Großflottbek whose autumn season also starts this weekend. Scott McCabe has returned to Queen’s and Ollie Kidd is now at Nottingham Trent University and will play with Beeston.
Other than that, Lutton has the majority of the squad that was the stand-out pre-lockdown team with youngsters Troy Chambers and Johnny Lynch earning a place in the Irish senior training panel.
“The last number of months during lockdown has been a difficult time for a lot of people and families,” Lutton added about the importance of getting back to action.
“It was Jurgen Klopp who said [in relation to football during that period] that it was the most important of the least important things. And that obviously applied to hockey and all other sports.
“However, as we looked to return to what the new normal looked like, part of that was players at all age groups getting back to playing hockey after the long months of lockdown and thankfully it appears that hockey at most levels has returned.
“We have prepared well with solid performances against Cookstown, Dublin YMCA, Banbridge and the Ireland Senior Men’s team. We had a terrific game against Glenanne last year in the EYHL at St Andrews and I’m sure Sunday will be no different.”
The Glens led 4-0 that day before Lisnagarvey fought back to earn a 4-4 draw in November, the only points the Ulster side dropped all season.
Since then, one of Glenanne’s most famous sons has returned as player-coach but Shane O’Donoghue will not get to fulfil the “player” side of the role this weekend.
“It is a weird one for myself and there are a couple of others in the same position but I’ll do everything I can to make sure the guys are nice and relaxed and ready for the game,” he said ahead of the tie.
“It’s obviously the oldest and one of the most prestigious trophies around which we have won a couple of times. We obviously go out to win and that is in our DNA. Garvey are a good side, Erroll Lutton’s a top quality coach and were the in-form team last year so it will be a big test.”
Fellow international Sam O’Connor is in the same boat following his return from Beerschot in Belgium while Lisa Jacob has come on board as a key figure on the sideline as assistant coach.
The other semi has plenty of history with Cookstown hosting UCD in Tyrone. Both have relegated the other club in EYHL playoff matches in the past three years with precious little love lost.
For UCD, the ties could act as a swansong for David Nolan and Jazze Henry who have already confirmed moves to Monkstown for the 2020/21 season. They remain eligible for section for these ties, though, and could help the club reach the Irish Senior Cup final for the first time.
The Ulster Premier champions are hoping to reach their first final since they won in 2011 with Greg Allen, Mark Crooks, Paul Thompson, Stuart Smyth, Ryan Millar, Keith Black and Matthew Rollins all veterans of that vintage.
“Although the semi-final is from last season it almost feels like the curtain raiser to the new season” said Cookstown captain Mark Crooks ahead of the tie.
“Never before has the first game back been a semi final of the Irish senior cup so it is very exciting. It is going to be very tough and we will need to be at our best but we are taking a lot of confidence into the game”
“We know UCD have a strong squad- we always seem to have quite thrilling games against them and I’m sure this one will be no different. We haven’t got this far since 2011, the year we went on win it so we are well aware of how big an opportunity this is.”
The men’s Irish Hockey Trophy semi-finals are also on Sunday with South Antrim – fifth in the Ulster Premier at lockdown – are up against Leinster’s third placed finishers Portrane.
Waterford are the only non-Ulster host but any extra advantage of playing at Newtown is negated by the lack of supporters allowed though there will be a live stream for Belfast Harlequins’ visit.
Waterford coach Stuart Greene is thrilled his side will get the chance their defence of the title, especially having missed last year’s final.
Greene is an instrumental in the club’s renaissance, working with David Quinn for several years to oversee their rise from Munster’s Division Three, but he missed out on perhaps their biggest moment in 2019 when they landed the Trophy.
He had coached the side for the first half of that season before embarking on a year travelling with girlfriend Elaine, finding himself in a sleepy Sunday night bar in Wellington, New Zealand for the day of the final. 
Waterford’s 2019 Irish Hockey Trophy winning side. Pic: Adrian Boehm
A club mate had arranged a Facebook Live feed via a drone and Greene says it was hard for the couple to contain themselves in a surreal setting as Waterford nicked a 4-3 rollercoaster.
“It was half one or two in the morning and I did get a bit emotional!” he told the Examiner. “There were plenty looking around at us tucked away in the corner and wondering what was going on!
“From where we started in Division 3 to winning this title… it was so tough not being there but incredibly delighted for the lads and their hard work.”
During his time away, Greene took on two coaching jobs in Australia, continuing in winning fashion as he led both the Sydney Girls High School and the University of New South Wales Met Three teams to league titles, picking up a local coach of the year award into the bargain.
Eighteen months on, Greene has retaken the reins in his hometown but knows the challenges the club face remain the same with many moving on after their school days.
In the wake of that final win, youth internationals Ben Johnson, Harry McCarthy and Ethan McInerney were all snapped up by EY Hockey League clubs in Dublin.
Isaac Johnson will follow them to Pembroke but is eligible to play in this semi-final before completing his transfer with 2019/20’s registration rules remaining in effect. Liam Sorensen, however, returned to South Africa just before lockdown and will not be able to make it back for this tie.
Belfast Harlequins represent a tough opponent based on what happened before the break, scoring 99 goals in 11 games in the Ulster intermediate league.
Irish Over-35 internationals Davy Frazer, John Metcalfe and Chris Lemon will come up against their team mate at that level, Brad Rouhana, who will be a central cog in a youthful line-up.
In the women’s IHT semi-final, Armagh face Lisnagarvey at Ardmore but North Kildare’s game against Portadown is postponed to September 19th due to the localised lockdown in Co Kildare for the past few weeks.
Sunday 6th September 2020
Men
Irish Senior Cup, semi-finals (2019/20): Cookstown v UCD, Steelweld Park, 2.30pm; Lisnagarvey v Glenanne, Comber Road, 3pm
Irish Hockey Trophy, semi-finals (2019/20): South Antrim v Portrane, Friends School, 3pm; Waterford v Belfast Harlequins, Newtown, 2pm
Women
Irish Hockey Trophy, semi-final (2019/20): Armagh v Lisnagarvey, Ardmore Recreation Centre, 2.30pm
The Hook