Maddie Hinch, the Great Britain goalkeeper, lambasted the Pro League rules after inclement weather in Sydney forced their encounter with Australia to be cancelled – and double points awarded to the hosts.
It proved a fruitless Sunday for GB teams as the men’s side were soundly beaten by Australia 5-1 before torrential rain and thunderstorms saw the women’s game to be called off at half-time, with GB leading 1-0.
Under article 7.1 of the FIH rules “if one of the two matches played between two teams is cancelled prior to the commencement of the fourth quarter, the winner of the other match will receive double points.”
GB, through Anna Toman’s opening goal, were the better team on Sunday and Hinch took to social media to declare the awarding of double points to the Hockeyroos as a “ridiculous rule”.
Hinch added: “Makes absolutely no sense whatsoever… winning 1-0 at half time only for some obscene T&C’s to determine the outcome & be left with absolutely nothing!!”
The ruling had been adhered to by the FIH Pro League teams, but it seemed that plenty were unaware of the cancellation points procedure.
There was widespread criticism on social media over the decision, while GB Hockey’s social media feed even admitted to “rough justice”.
Due to the extreme weather, the game has been cancelled
Because they won yesterday, Australia will get double points
Rough justice as we had dominated them in this game pic.twitter.com/xiAgnMUPXD
— Great Britain Hockey (@GBHockey) February 2, 2020
Earlier, GB men were unable to continue the good form which produced a 4-4 draw against the Kookaburras on Saturday as the hosts ran out easy winners in front of another sparse crowd.
An unmarked Dylan Wotherspoon opened the scoring in the 14th minute for as he swept the ball past Harry Gibson before Luke Taylor equalised with a fine PC strike. Lachlan Sharp, Tom Craig, Tim Brand and Trent Mitton then saw Australia run away with the points
GB captain Adam Dixon said: “We just weren’t on it. We were trying a few new things and it just didn’t work today.
“The job for us now is to stay positive and go again. Last time we were in Christchurch we put a really good performance in against New Zealand so that’s where we’ll be hoping to pick things up again.”
Great Britain’s men and women now fly to New Zealand for double header fixtures next weekend.
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