I’ve paid £25 to watch the Hockey World Cup on BT Sport (a month’s pass), writes Tom Gogarty.
With it being in India, the matches are during the day, so I was quite excited to get home, use my subscription, and watch the matches that had been on during the day, as most of us have jobs to go to.
I was, and still am, furious that BT Sport have chosen to allow us only the England and Wales matches on Catch Up (4 matches in total).
I have called BT Sport three times to complain, using a number that says on their website, is for their headquarters in London.
This number diverts you to Newcastle, and all you can do is make a complaint that someone writes down, and there’s no possibility of getting anywhere near the people who make any sort of decision making whatsoever. Even by email.
Normally Watch.Hockey is the website that broadcasts all international hockey, for instance the Nations Cup in South Africa recently, you could subscribe to watch, and then the whole matches were posted after the tournament.
So why is the World Cup, which is what the teams have all been fighting to get to, not on the same platform? I’ve not even seen anything on normal TV either promoting the World Cup.
For the football World Cup, it was free on iPlayer, all the matches, available at any time to watch. If we payed for that, and they only gave you England and Wales matches to watch, no Argentina or France for instance, there would be absolute outrage.
Why does the UK viewer seem to be suppressed or deprived the rights that other countries don’t seem to encounter?
BT Sport has posted matches of all countries from the Pro League, so why not the World Cup?
RESPONSE
A BT Sport spokesperson said: “BT Sport has shown every match live from the 2023 FIH Hockey World Cup, and will be broadcasting every remaining match live through to the Final on January 29. We are also making available extended highlights on catch up of all England and Wales matches via our App.”
Why are there no short highlights so that we can catch up on the key moments? A 45-minute “highlights” package is a pretty poor offering…. There have been so many incredible goals, saves and shootouts in this tournament. If hockey is serious about growing its audience, we need to able to let our kids see their heroes playing in the biggest tournament.
I’m also confused as to why there is not mention at all on the BBC website. There’s not even a tab for hockey? Usually you can find highlights or articles on any sport. I’ve found it difficult to keep up with the hockey World Cup.
There is a tab for hockey on the BBC website, though it’s not great: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/hockey
Hugely disappointing that our sport is once again undervalued and not given a full platform to show how accessible it really is. I am a masters player and retired but still cannot watch all the games I want to live and we are being fobbed off with just the England and Wales games highlights – very poor value for money and I feel cheated having paid the monthly subscription for this.