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All the news for Wednesday 16 May 2018

Women's Donghae Asian Champions Trophy 2018 - Day 3
Donghae City (KOR)

Results 16 May 2018

JPN v MAS (RR)     2 - 3
IND v CHN (RR)     3 - 1

Pool Standings

FIH Match Centre

Green Machine Ready To Take On Germany

The start of an exceptionally busy international summer gets underway this Friday at Pembroke Wanderers Hockey Club as the Green Machine host world number 5 Germany for a 2 match series. The sides most recent 3 encounters ended in a victory each and a 1-1 draw at the European Championships so the series is certain to be a close one with plenty of high quality hockey on display. The opening match will also mark the achievements of Paul Gleghorne as he reaches the milestone of 200 international caps, and Shane O’Donoghue who will earn his 150th international cap in front of their home crowd.

The last time the German men’s team played a test match on Irish soil was in 2005 at the UCD pitch opening when both Mark Irwin and Stephen Butler got on the scoresheet in the 2 match series. Head coach Craig Fulton was quick to highlight the significance of the Rio bronze medallists making the trip to Dublin “We are delighted to welcome a team with the calibre of Germany to Dublin. We have had very high quality matches and there has been little to separate our two sides in recent times. They are bringing a strong squad, as are we, as we’re both looking to the World Cup at the end of the year and these are great matches to get our international calendar underway”.

Fixtures at Pembroke Wanderers Hockey Club:
Ireland vs Germany 18/5/18 7pm
Ireland vs Germany 19/5/18 5pm

Name, Club
Jamie Carr, Three Rock Rovers
David Fitzgerald, Monkstown
Peter Caruth, Annadale
Matthew Nelson, Lisnagarvey
Owen Magee, Banbridge
Alan Sothern, Pembroke
Jeremy Duncan, Heracules
Mitch Darling, Three Rock Rovers
Kirk Shimmins, Pembroke
Daragh Walsh, Three Rock Rovers
Michael Robson, Lisnagarvey
Chris Cargo (Vice Captain), Hampstead & Westminster
Stephen Cole, Monkstown
Shane O’Donoghue, Glenanne
Matthew Bell, Crefeld THC
Lee Cole, Royal Oree
Conor Harte (Vice Captain), Racing
Paul Gleghorne, Lisnagarvey
Jonny Bell (Captain), Lisnagarvey
John Jackson, Bath Buccs

Irish Hockey Association media release

England & Great Britain Hockey accept resignation of Bobby Crutchley


Bobby Crutchley

England & Great Britain Hockey today accepted the resignation of Bobby Crutchley, Head Coach of the England & Great Britain men’s hockey teams.

Following almost two decades of working for England & Great Britain Hockey and following the recent bronze medal win at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, Bobby has decided to seek a new challenge.

Crutchley said, "It has been an incredibly difficult decision to resign, particularly considering how much both the England & Great Britain teams mean to me, but I feel the time is right to step down.

"With medals at the European Championships in 2017 and Commonwealth Games in 2018, I think the squad is in a great place to push on to the next level.

"It has been a privilege to work alongside so many great athletes and support staff over the years. I am now looking forward to a fresh challenge and excited how I can use my experience to help support coaches and athletes in the future, wherever that may be."

Performance Director Ed Barney said, "It has been a pleasure to work with Bobby over the past 18 months. Following on from Rio, Bobby has brought a new dynamic and set of performance priorities to the men’s programme leading to European and Commonwealth Games medals.

"Without doubt the building blocks, thanks to Bobby, are in place for the programme to progress successfully throughout the Tokyo cycle. I wish Bobby all the very best in his future ventures.”

Chief Executive Sally Munday said, “Bobby has been an incredibly loyal and committed servant to our sport and organisation. He cares deeply about hockey and has contributed a large part of his life to coaching at the highest level.

"Coaching elite sport is relentless and coaches who are able to keep giving of themselves year after year as Bobby has have my upmost admiration. We felt it was right for all parties that we accept his resignation, and we wish him great success in the future.”

Bobby has been Head Coach of the England & Great Britain Men’s Hockey teams since 2013 and led the teams to two Commonwealth Games medals, a European medal and a World Cup semi-final.

Whilst assistant coach he also helped guide the sides to an Olympic semi final; two further European medals and another World Cup semi final. In total, he was involved in more than 500 international games as players, assistant coach and Head Coach. 
 
Recruitment for a new Head Coach will commence immediately.

England Hockey Board Media release

Bobby Crutchley quits England Hockey men’s coaching role

By Rod Gilmour



Bobby Crutchley surprisingly quit his post as Great Britain and England men’s coach on Tuesday night after five years in the role.

With just over two years until Tokyo 2020, Crutchley’s departure was seen as a shock departure at Bisham Abbey with players and coaching staff.

Crutchley, who gathered the players together on Tuesday afternoon, admitted that he was now seeking “a fresh challenge”.

He said: “I feel the time is right to step down and I think the squad is in a great place to push on to the next level.”

Crutchley guided England to two Commonwealth bronze medals, as well as European bronze last summer.

Defeat by Australia, where they were edged out of a guaranteed silver in the Gold Coast, proved the final act in Crutchley’s tenure, while it is understood that he was under pressure to deliver at last summer’s EuroHockey Championships in Amsterdam.

It followed a disastrous Rio campaign where the men’s team finished ninth. However the squad seemed to have turned a corner following the announcement of three co-captains and several impressive, attacking performances at the start of the Tokyo Olympic campaign.

Sally Munday, England Hockey’s chief executive, said: “Coaching elite sport is relentless and coaches who are able to keep giving of themselves year after year as Bobby has have my upmost admiration.

“We felt it was right for all parties that we accept his resignation.”

Current assistant coach Russell Garcia, who won gold with the 1988 men’s team, will be seen as a front runner for the role.

Ed Barney, England Hockey’s performance director, said: “It has been a pleasure to work with Bobby over the past 18 months.

“Following on from Rio, Bobby has brought a new dynamic and set of performance priorities to the men’s programme leading to European and Commonwealth Games medals.”

The Hockey Paper

Eleven Athletes Added to Junior and Senior U.S. Women’s National Indoor Teams Following Second Tryout

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Following an indoor camp held at The Training Center in Spring City, Pa. this past weekend, U.S. Women’s National Indoor Team Head Coach Jun Kentwell has added eleven athletes to the junior and senior squads for the 2018-19 season.

The camp was organized for those athletes who could not make the original April tryout, or individuals that the indoor coaching staff wanted to evaluate further.

The Junior and Senior Indoor USWNT will have six training weekends through the summer and fall and both will travel to Europe over the New Year to compete in an international tournament which will give the players important international experience.

Added to the 2018-19 Junior U.S. Women’s National Indoor Team
Kayla Blas (Pendleton, N.Y.), Kennedy Cligget (Warrington, Pa.), Emily Graeff (Phoenixville, Pa.), Tatum Johnson (Dowingtown, Pa.), Megan Maransky (Blue Bell, Pa.), Clara McCormick (Fox Chapel, Pa.), Esha Shah (Ellicott City, Md.), Erica Solomen (Medford, N.J.)

Added to the 2018-19 Senior U.S. Women’s National Indoor Team
Theresa Delahanty (Washington Crossing, Pa.), Rachel Gaines (Boone, N.C.), Olivia Harris (New York, N.Y.)

USFHA media release

EuroHockey Club Cup: Time do ourselves justice in Europe, says Surbiton Ladies coach Brett Garrard

By Rod Gilmour


Captain Sarah Haycroft celebrates another domestic trophy (PIC: Ady Kerry)

Next year, Brett Garrard will mark 10 years at the helm of – and let’s not hold back here – one of the biggest success stories in British sport at club level.

One season in South Clubs’ Women’s League, two seasons in the Conference East and six in the Premier Division. In that time, Surbiton Ladies have played 162 league matches and lost 18. Since their entree to the top flight they have been defeated just 12 times, seven of those coming in the first two seasons.

They also enjoyed a 53-game unbeaten run from 2014 to 2017 when they leaked 22 goals, scored over 100 and were dubbed ‘The Invincibles’. This season, the double was secured once more.

“Whenever I reflect on it, I never talk about results. Clearly it’s a huge part of the game but I quite deliberately don’t talk about it,” says a forward-thinking Garrard, a GB Olympian and former Surbiton player. “But I would be interested to see how many players I have used in that time. It would be a considerable number.”

A large part of Surbiton’s success has certainly been the club’s junior programme, which has seen a plethora of young talent play from an early age and make hay in the first team. During the ‘Invincibles’ run for example, Garrard used 43 players over the 53 games.

“That is one of things I have been most pleased with, that we’ve been able to take a lot of players on a long journey with us and hopefully they have developed as individuals and as a whole team.”

It would take a good dose of the players Garrard has used over that time to sheen the Sugden Road trophy cabinet.


Brett Garrard advises Ella Burnley, one of many young players at Surbiton (PIC: Surbiton HC)

There is one space the club would love to fill, however. After three seasons in the European Cup, the time has come to also make hay on the continent.

The 41-year-old adds: “The Euros will be a huge test as to how far we have come as a group, bearing in mind the importance we put on this single one game in the current format and to see how we can cope with Europe’s best.

Garrard’s side has finished fifth, sixth and fourth at the EuroHockey Club Cup, yet they always seem to be hampered in preparation.

Take last year’s tournament when they were put to the sword by Maartje Paumen’s stick in the second-half during a 7-1 defeat to ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch), the EuroHockey favourites this week.

“We are within touching distance,” believes Garrard. “We played Den Bosch without four of our starting players through injury or unavailability. We competed for a half and the big things for us was to make the semi-finals. But our preparation was as tough as can be. Not having a competitive game for seven weeks is always tough for an English team going into Europe.”

“It’s a huge honour and privilige playing at the tournament and I never think we do ourselves justice.”

Den Bosch are a team who train five times a week and, 12 months on, the landscape hasn’t changed. The Dutch team will travel to London with competitive hockey still pumping in their veins, while Surbiton’s campaign finished two weeks ago.


Garrard, far right, has seen Surbiton’s rise as the dominant force in English hockey

“Their preparation has been perfect for this tournament. It’s very different everywhere else compared to what we have here,” says Garrard, “but having it at the club adds to the excitement and pressure.

“I’m happy where we are but mindful of the fact of how little I see my internationals compared to what Den Bosch have. I’m positive of how we can perform in this tournament, bearing in mind the experiences we’ve had in the years gone by. I’m also mindful of this is where we’re at and we will do our best with the opportunities we’ve had.”

That will be reflected at some point this weekend through the selection of 15-year-old Ella Burnley, an England under-16 player who will sit GCSEs on Thursday and Monday, with coaching staff hopeful of giving her an introduction to continental hockey.

“She has been excellent for us and worth her place at this stage of the season,” adds Garrard.



Burnley will join seasoned campaigners like Beckie Middleton, Georgie Twigg, Sarah Page, Giselle Ansley and Hollie Pearne-Webb, while Garrard will be sweating on the fitness of captain Sarah Haycroft and Emily Defroand.

All star players in England’s most successful club team, fighting against the odds in Europe.

Garrard says: “It was always my aim when I joined to get the Ladies to the same stage as the men, in the European Cups and winning medals. And the results in between all that has led us to this point.”

SURBITON IN NUMBERS

Surbiton have finished top or won the league via the playoffs (or both) in 10 out of the last 14 seasons:

Before Garrard started coaching Surbiton won the Surrey Ladies League Premier in 2004-05; South Clubs’ Women’s Hockey League (SCWHL) Division 3B in 2005-06 and SCWHL Division 2 in 2008-09.

In the other four seasons they haven’t finished lower than fourth (2006-07 – 4th and 2007-08 3rd ; both in SCWHL Division 2) plus 2nd in IWHL Conference East in 2010-11 and 4th in IWHL Premier in 2012-13)

Surbiton finished 10th out of 11 teams in SCWHL Division 2 in 2003-04 and were relegated to the Surrey League and when they won promotion, the SCWHL expanded to three divisions, meaning Surbiton had to work their way up an extra division to get to the IWHL.

Surbiton have never lost by more than two goals in domestic hockey since Brett Garrard started coaching in 2009-10.

Stats compiled by Colin Pike

The Hockey Paper

Georgie Twigg relishing club hockey life at Surbiton after international pressures

By Rod Gilmour



Georgie Twigg last stepped inside Bisham Abbey two years ago as Great Britain women were putting the final touches to their soon-to-be golden victorious sojourn in Rio.

And although the Surbiton midfielder admits that the mere thought of returning for the training rigours under coach Danny Kerry has not been top of her agenda, retaining her fitness has been key to the next phase of her career.

She has married the two well; like the time she went on secondment for three months at the Football Association at Wembley as part of her legal training at Bird & Bird.

She says: “Everyone was very active, I was the only girl, we used to run up the steps of Wembley during lunch which was an absolute killer.

“We would also go to the top level of Wembley’s seats. It’s like an open track up there and you can run round doing laps.”

Down below sat an empty field and perhaps dreams of renewing battles in big tournaments. That won’t be the case this week when her club hosts the EuroHockey Club Cup at Sugden Road from Thursday and where the English champions are hoping to do better than fourth in their three previous campaigns.

She is also currently going through the final throes of qualifying as a solicitor and is hoping to be retained in commercial sport next month. Despite her busy life, Twigg, who hasn’t officially retired as an international, admits that since leaving the GB programme following Rio, she has been able to focus on and enjoy club life for the first time.

“I’ve loved sport generally so I’ve found it strange that people would retire and that’s it for them,” she tells The Hockey Paper.



“I’ve really enjoyed playing for Surbiton the last few years more than I have done previously, not being exhausted when I’ve turned up after a long week and now I’ve been able to get really stuck in.

“On the international scene you are away alot and you can’t fully invest in the club with training once a week. Now, it’s great to get out there when I’ve been sat at my desk all day.”

Under the helm of Brett Garrard, Surbiton have thrived. As we reveal this week, the club have only lost 18 league games in the nine years since he joined as head coach.

Twigg joined six years ago from Clifton after leaving Bristol University and says Garrard’s coaching success follows a number of strands.

“He’s been through it all himself as a top class player. He brings the angle of managing players in the international set up, young players coming through and he strikes a really good balance of professionalism and a relaxed, enjoyable atmosphere.

“The likes of myself, Pagey (Sarah Page) and Herbie (Beckie Middleton), we’ve been at the club for six years and it is remarkable that so many players stay on. It is that environment which has ultimately been created by Brett.

“He is great with his tactics but it is how he manages the squad which can’t be easy when you’ve got so many internationals, players doing GCSEs, managing that alongside the professionalism that we want to be delivering as well.

“He is definitely doing something right!”

While Twigg, who is still only 27, continues to experience silverware at Surbiton, she knows that she is in “the next phase of my life” despite still being classed as an international.



“I don’t really miss it but when the girls were away at the Commonwealths you can’t help but think about it, that it would have been amazing to be a part of, as I loved playing tournaments. I’m on a different challenge now. I’m loving the club side.”

But if she was asked to make a return like Crista Cullen was in the lead-up to Rio? “It’s a difficult one as the girls are training day in, day out and it would only be if it was right for me and right for them.

“Personally I think I’m done but it’s perhaps one of the reasons why I haven’t retired as I’m still playing club hockey at a high level so it’s hard to say I’m offially retired.

“I think I am done on the international side and enjoying work, but it’s hard to put that final cut off to it.”

Not when Surbiton seem to be edging closer against Europe’s elite.

“We are all excited and hoping that we will be lifted by that extra percent in front of a home crowd,” adds Twigg.

“The first game is a crunch game which we have struggled with in the last couple of years. But we’re looking strong as a team and hoping it will all come together.”

Georgie Twigg is an ambassador for Toropro, creators of a high quality Kinesiology Tape for joints and muscles

The Hockey Paper

Kingsridge gearing up for stiff Hockey Challenge

 
The Kingsridge hockey team will be aiming for their third title in a row when the East London Inland leg of the SPAR Eastern Cape Schoolgirls Hockey Challenge takes place at Kingsridge in King William’s Town on Sunday. Picture: Supplied

Kingsridge are not taking anything for granted as they seek a hat-trick of wins when the East London Inland tournament of the SPAR Eastern Cape Schoolgirls Hockey Challenge is played in King William’s Town on Sunday.

As the hosts, Kingsridge will be competing in familiar territory, but coach Mark Taljaard said there would be plenty of tough opposition as nine schools vie for the title.

Since the inaugural tournament in 2016, Kingsridge have twice won the Inland event to qualify for the provincial finals and they will be fielding an experienced line-up.

Taljaard said they had lost only three players from last year, which helped to maintain a sense of continuity.

But he acknowledged that there would be no easy games in a tournament played over a shortened format of 20 minutes for each match.

“Our form has not been bad this year, but Girls High School from Queenstown are going to be a very tough outfit,” said Taljaard.

“They are a quite different team from last year and although we beat them 1-0 in our annual derby at the weekend, they will be a side to watch.”

He said they would be delighted to win the event for the third straight year, but felt that teams such as Aliwal North and Burgersdorp would also provide stiff opposition.

“The format of the tournament means anything can happen in 20 minutes, so we will take every game as a final.

“Our strategy focuses on trying to keep possession and aim for a goal early in the game.

“If you can do that it puts pressure on the opposition and they start chasing the game, which sometimes opens an opportunity to sneak a second goal.

“But, in saying that, sometimes you also like a closer game and try to get ahead in the last two or three minutes. That puts a lot of pressure on the opposition to make up the deficit.”

Taljaard said the SPAR Hockey Challenge continued to be an integral part of their annual programme.

“SPAR have really done well with this initiative,” he said.

“It adds some variety to our fixtures each year as you are getting the chance to move away from the annual derby games and play teams you would not normally meet.

“It also opens the way for those other schools to broaden their playing programme, which is good for hockey all round.”

The teams competing on Sunday are: pool A: Kingsridge, Aliwal North, Templeton, Hangklip; pool B: Queenstown Girls’ High, Stutterheim, St Christopher’s, De Vos Malan, Burgersdorp.

The sides will play a round-robin in their pools, with the winners meeting in the final.

The overall champions will qualify for the provincial finals to be played at Woodridge, near Port Elizabeth, on August 11.

Fullstop Communications media release for The SPAR Eastern Cape Schoolgirls Hockey Challenge

Sponsorship boost for S'pore Hockey Federation

Shamir Osman


Members of the national men's and women's hockey teams with Singapore Hockey Federation president Mathavan Devadas (front row, left) and Panyasingha Sports & Trading Co director Olivia Wong.PHOTO: SINGAPORE HOCKEY FEDERATION

SINGAPORE - Over the last two weekends, Singapore hockey was watched over four continents, courtesy of Eleven Sports' live streaming of the Singapore Hockey Federation's (SHF) local leagues over Facebook.

The partnership between the two organisations that was formalised on Tuesday (May 15) at the Sengkang Stadium, will see broadcast of both the men's National Hockey League and the National's Women's League.

"SHF sees this as an excellent opportunity to bring our local game to the fraternity at large," said SHF president Mathavan Devadas.

"The announcement of the live streaming of games on Facebook has created a buzz in our community. Also, given that there are expats playing in Singapore, the stream has been watched in four continents over the first two weekends of the run."

Details of the deal were not revealed, but the hockey fraternity had more to celebrate.

Sports apparel brand FBT signed a $35,000 deal to kit the federation's national teams, ahead of the Hockey Series Open hosted at Sengkang from June 23 - July 1.

"While we this may be FBT's first foray into hockey, we are confident that this partnership will take both our organisations to new height," said Olivia Wong, director of Panyasingha Sports & Trading Co, the sole distributor of FBT in Singapore.

The Straits Times

PHF President Khokhar, top leadership re-elected unopposed

Zeeshan Ahmed

The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) on Saturday re-elected retired Brigadier Khalid Sajjad Khokhar as their president, Shahbaz Ahmed Senior as the secretary and Ikhlaq Usmani as the treasurer of the organisation — all three elected unopposed.

The vice-presidents for all four provinces were also elected unopposed in today’s election held in Islamabad. Khawar Anwar Khawaja was elected for Punjab, Muhammad Saeed Khan for Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, Chaudhry Ismail Gujjar for Balochistan and Syed Ghulam Mustafa Shah for Sindh.

The election process took place smoothly, after which the top three administrators addressed a press conference. Rejecting the claim that the election process was dubious, Khokhar said that the Rawalpindi results were withheld due to complaints, but the Islamabad elections were held according to the federation’s rules.

The PHF president said that even though they didn’t manage to give extraordinary results in their first 30-month tenure “the signs are encouraging and the national hockey team is giving improved performances — just like we all witnessed at the Commonwealth Games, where the Green Shirts remained undefeated."

Khokhar clarified that the Rs 5 million reward announced by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi during a recent ceremony is purely for players and not for the federation.

“Players are showing resilience and federation will take every possible step to provide them the best facilities, jobs and international exposure,” Khokhar said.

When asked about Pakistan Hockey League and when the proposed league will finally start, Brig Khokhar replied that the government had given the PHF its No-Objection Certificate, and that arrangements were almost completed.

“However, due to the hectic international calendar, the league could not take place within 2018,” Khokhar said while adding that not only will the PHL be staged soon, it will also be a permanent feature on the international roster.

When asked about the targets set for their second tenure in light of the fact that the targets of their first were not fully accomplished, Khokhar said that his team did manage to accomplish some of their goals.

“Like I said, we faced a lot of problems in the past and barely had any players. But now that we have appointed a foreign coach, he has managed to turn things around in the short time that he has been here for, and that too with almost the same players.” Khokhar said.

We now have three sets of players — the seniors, juniors and youth — and have given free hand to coach and also appointed foreign trainer to help our players. The target we have set is to win the Asian Games.”

“We are hoping to win a gold medal, which will not only boost the confidence of the players but also help Green Shirts directly qualify for the next Olympics.”

Dawn

In Memory of Golden Girl Liz Chase



In recent years there have been some incredible fairy-tale victories in sport, where teams have risen against the odds to secure a title. None of these have been more prevalent in world sport than the victory of Leicester City in the Premier League in 2016. Of course, the blueprint for that success was actually written in 1980, when 16 hastily assembled, ill-prepared ladies represented Zimbabwe at the Moscow Olympics.

Liz Chase, one of two players with International experience having represented South Africa, was appointed vice-captain as Zimbabwe set about shocking the World with a gold medal.

She scored in their opening win against Poland and again in the 2-2 draw with Czechoslovakia. She then set up the final goal in a 4-1 win against Austria to secure Zimbabwe a historic and unlikely gold medal.

Dubbed the “Golden Girls” by the media in Zimbabwe, they were met by cheering crowds on their return home and were briefly national celebrities.



Liz was born in Mutare, with her high school years being spent at Girls High School in Harare.

Her hockey talent was seen early on and she has had an illustrious and distinguished playing career. From the National Schools team in 1966 to National under 21 and to the senior side, there was little that Liz had not accomplished. Liz was a strong running, hard-hitting striker, with a turn of speed, good ball control, and great vision.

Her skill on the field was matched by her coaching skills off it and this she took with her to South Africa. She was in charge of the phys ed department at Wits for a number of years until her retirement in 2015.

Liz was not just a significant force in Zimbabwean Hockey but also in South African Hockey. In 1976 and 1977 Liz was chosen to represent the Springbok Ladies Hockey team.

Liz coached the Southern Gauteng Team in the early 90’s and went on to be a South African National Selector in the mid to late 90’s

Liz was the current Chairperson of the South African Players Association. The association is a past player-driven initiative to ensure a network of current and past players of the women’s national team.   As has been said by many SA players Lizzie was the glue that kept the SA Players Association together. Her enthusiasm and passion were exceptional and contagious to all around her. We all owe it to Liz to continue her legacy and keep the SA Players Association active and functioning in the way she set it up.



The words of Jo Morley-Jepsen are the most appropriate to sum it up: “Liz was an extraordinarily special lady who had the ability to make everyone feel better about themselves. She is going to be missed terribly by all who have had the privilege to know her. Liz was honest; fair; helpful, kind, passionate, professional and respectful. Her resilience as a human being was so evident in the last few years of her life and particularly the last few days. We, as a hockey community, have lost a true legend and an outstanding ambassador for the sport of hockey. Rest in Peace Dear Lizzie.”

SA Hockey Association media release