Captain, departing great and coach speak on British women’s hockey after quarter-final exit to world No.1 Dutch
Paris — GB captain Hollie Pearne-Webb said the British public had been “incredibly spoilt” over the last three Olympic Games as a Team GB women’s hockey side delivered bronze, gold and bronze.
A fourth medal might have proved to be the most memorable of all after coming up against the Netherlands in the brutal stage of Olympic quarter-final hockey.
More so after they faced the world No.1 side following a below par group stage.
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“Incredibly spoilt” ! Really?
Time for a HUGE reset and bring the young talent through in time for the World Cup & Los Angeles.
After Paris , recruit Alyson Annan as coach as she will have probably guided China to a silver medal and make it clear that any player over the age of 29 should move on.
The UK has an immense amount of young talent to call on but we keep with the same faces playing the same hockey.
“Victory belongs to the most Tenacious” and it has nothing to do with being spoilt.
I don’t believe there should be an age cap – go on quality not on DOB.
totally agree, experience is important in tournament sport
Shame on these players for saying the country shouldn’t expect medals. These are fully funded players funded by the public and often given privileged roles in clubs private schools and universities to subsidise their hockey and support their development. Results are essential given the money EH receives is limited and could be better off spent on facilities and coaching to ensure the sport’s future.
This should be a defining moment for UK hockey as a whole!
Team GB Men & Women played some solid hockey but as a country our world class decline is a forward indicator of the state of our grass roots hockey.
What we have today is not working and will not evolve unless we have an honest conversation about the future of hockey across the UK. Number 1 has to be the lack of funding for hockey pitches so that any child gets a chance to pick up a stick and have a go. Many of our current U21, U18, U16s attend private schools which have the facilities for frequent training and conditioning. I’m not going to call them out – well done on them directing funding to hockey; but let’s level up across all schools! It would be unrealistic for every secondary school to have a proper hockey pitch but lets ensure every child has at least one pitch and club within reasonable reach.
Hockey funding also has to be directed to outreach programs to schools like many football clubs do. I do believe some of our best hockey talent has never picked up a stick and we will never know who they are. Hockey has to be one of the most inclusive sports in terms of age, gender, fitness and ability – it’s a disgrace it does not get more prioritisation. “Come on UK Hockey Bodies – Earn Your Keep!”
well said, in addition the allowing of universities to enter the league game has further reduced the opportunities for club players to progress. it won’t be long before National Premier hockey in England will be dominated by the big London/Se clubs and the likes of Nottingham, Loughborough and Birmingham Universities. In addition now ‘public schools’ are entering senior teams into the league structure this will further diminish the opportunities for club hockey….Elitism is killing the grass roots
Totally agree universities all have their own BUCS league and should not play In Saturday programme. Uni sides are heavily funded receive elite coaching two or three times a week and S&C sessions every week hardly makes a fair playing field for clubs. Similarly private schools have their own programs stay out of these leagues.Sadly it won’t change as it does EH development work for them.
You have ask what roles and job specs were included for
Relationship Manager
Project Manager
Area Delivery Manager
I’ve been very lucky to have been assisting with Juniors since approx 2012 at club , county and above
Yet I can only recall one occasion where we saw a face from our local regional England hockey rep
They should have been put in the community – introducing hockey in schools and advising where the local club is
It wasn’t a 9-5 job -sitting in your ivory tower at your University it’s getting to the coal face – taking sessions at schools – assisting in after school clubs , assisting club sessions
Being visible at In2hockey and relevant England hockey tournaments
In our region , we are seeing a contraction in teams , clubs and pitches
The sport is losing players , and pitches , and the big worry is the rise of women’s football – which may further reduce the player availability .
I doubt anything will change at the top , as the national squads pull their players from Uni teams who pull from Private Schools.
On a final note – I’d be intrigued to see the socio economic mix of all squads
This is not a jibe at current players- but at the establishment
I’d guess 90%+ will be white , privately educated
Is this representative of the population ?
Totally agree that England Hockey needs a full reset- for years EH have prioritised elite hockey and neglected grass roots hockey. The system isn’t fit for purpose and like it’s current coaching offering needs a complete rethink, the current system just produces coach clones of outdated unimaginative coaches, and doesn’t reflect the modern game or hockey climate at all. The development of super sized regionalised clubs is damaging the sport and only gets approved as the EH leadership is massively out of touch with the reality of where hockey now stands in the country, the lack of support for state schools hockey is embarrassing- being back regional coaches, support state schools as centres of excellence and move away from funding big clubs only.
Private schools are not aiding the sport development but simply fulfilling EH job of identifying and developing junior players. Whole system broken and for what …. Fully funded players achieving nothing ! Waste of money and zero legacy.
Blimey we are all saying the same thing. Too much priority on Elite sport and ignoring/neglecting club & county hockey until it becomes time for money and volunteers.
Shame on you England Hockey for letting it get to this stage.
I agree with most of what has been said here but would also suggest that whilst hockey in the UK continues to be largely reliant upon school pitches it leaves itself very exposed. The FA are supporting state schools by part-funding footie astro pitches which are not really useable for hockey. Clubs need to be supported and helped to build their own facilities including pitches. Anyone who has played in Spain, Holland, Belgium or Germany will be under no illusions that our facilities are now well-behind. Maybe the HA would like to lead this transformation of hockey in the UK?
I think it’s important to point out that schools in Spain, Holland etc are all fully supported by a governing body primed to develop hockey from grass roots and these nations do not prioritise club pitches over school facilities. I agree more clubs should be supported to have their own facilities and not be reliant however this would not in itself do anything for grass roots hockey so is a separate point. Indeed super clubs with multiple pitches are detrimental to local schools having facilities as councils see pitches within a district or borough which fulfils UK sport guidelines, and means schools won’t get funding support or even planning permission:I know this from first hand experience with a school application which EH / UK Sport and council wouldn’t support, even though the school had a national tradition for hockey in years gone by before the private school monopoly began.
Matt,
I think you will find that in Holland hockey is taught to kids by clubs using their pitches and other facilities. In the 50’s and 60’s clubs were encouraged by the government via cheap land and funding to create their own facilities which has resulted in a small town like Tilburg having a hockey club with at least 8 astros 2 of which are water-based! Why should we be surprised that Holland churn out a steady stream of wonderful young talent when their facilities are so superior?
Fair point with Holland however they have the land available where here there isn’t any! Regular clubs cannot afford to buy any land let alone buy enough to build a clubhouse and hockey pitch without financial support and the government are not going to get involved, plus kids in the Uk are less likely to travel to sample a new sport so unless hockey gets played in school there eventually will be no base to hockey outside of elite clubs and private schools. I remember reading here that when Notts hockey centre was expanded a massive community outreach program was planned by the school involved but heard nothing more. A case of elite club and private school looking out for selves- yeah they hire pitches out but where’s the giving back. And let’s not fool ourselves and think that coaching provision is anywhere near good enough.
Hard to understand why any club is receiving pitch support when they already 2 or more when so many smaller clubs have to play where ever they can with no home facilities or clubhouse. With the decline of council pitches and state school pitches something has to be done and quickly. Restrict clubs to two pitches and they should fund pitch replacement themselves instead of paying silly money to players (and not host an EH eto get pitch funding, after all isn’t that the purpose of Lee Valley, otherwise it’s just yet another waste of money) and allow EH to support small clubs and state schools.
Spoilt?
Yes, I bet the Dutch and the Germans are sick to the teeth of winning things.
I believe there are 2 aspects to this discussion.
Grass roots sports and elite GB hockey.
I am not aware that EH has the financial clout to support new pitch development and so are very reliant on local councils and clubs to develop their own facilities. We simply do not have the financial clout like the FA. I would much prefer to see more funding pushed into clubs to be able to reach out to schools. Each County to have a designated outreach coach working with clubs.
At elite level I believe our biggest problem is the lack of a very competitive league and Universities competing in leagues doesn’t help. No surprise that Germany and Holland have very strong league hockey attracting stars from other countries and Spain and Belgium compete well at EHL for many years. Perhaps some sort of Franchise system for Premier Hockey could be considered. We attract very few if no top hockey stars from abroad.
100% agree!
Surely the quality of players is a reflection on the current system and coaches within that system, more coaching of the same with only produce the same results.
Clubs with designated school links would be a great way to improve school offerings and should be a prerequisite for any pitches moving forward. Why can’t the club mark require community coaching with local state schools?
RE franchise system isn’t that what we virtually already have as all top sides are paying players
I agree we should have a lot more links with many more schools and I believe this is where far more resources should be invested by England Hockey. For my local club we work very hard with local state junior schools. The issue we have is availability of coaches to run sessions in school time or after school clubs. There are many talented young players but the overall standard of league hockey at the top level isn’t as strong as it should. A franchise system would allocate money and players around the Country so clubs outside of the South East could offer too league hockey with internationals from abroad and at home. Many juniors past Watford don’t get the opportunity to watch top hockey. When Cannock was a thriving club it had much to offer locally.