The Hockey Paper | Editorial
It was an inauspicious start ahead of the 2019/20 Premier Division fixtures. First, The Hockey Paper received correspondence from several concerned club officials on why there had been delays to the fixtures being released.
England Hockey had apologised in missives but soon enough the fixtures were released without fanfare. This really must be some concern for how the domestic game is treated in England.
Clubs failed to show the love, too. No club put out any kind of fixture release on social media, barring Hampstead & Westminster, the league play-off champions, announcing the men’s and women’s fixtures.
This season will see likely attendance boosts in the Women’s Super League in football and the Vitality Netball Superleague following respective World Cups this summer.
Hockey never saw any such enthusiasm following the 2018 Women’s World Cup. There is neither the love or the inclination to give players an individual profile. The sport needs both.
We may have previously written on domestic apathy in this column, but this newspaper will continue to bang the drum. It is one of several reasons why we launched our #watchyour1s campaign this summer.
In this regard, we are urging the elite clubs to get on board with our campaign to change the mentality of club members spurning the chance to watch Premier Division hockey.
We have seen more belief from grass roots than any of the elite campaigners in the last month put together. This must change.
Find out more about our campaign here
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