Hockey New Zealand is up against it on the road to the Los Angeles Olympics after the sport came off worst in funding.
Hockey NZ saw elite funding cut by over £650,000 after the women failed to qualify for Paris and the men couldn’t win a game at the 2024 Games.
New Zealand Hockey chief executive Anthony Crummy said: “We are really disappointed to say the least but we work in a results based industry. So we knew we didn’t have the Olympic success, so we expected some reduction, but this is pretty significant.”
Crummy added that cuts represented about 30 to 40 percent of their whole programme, while roughly a third went to supportings its athletes.
He said: “It’s very hard for us to absorb a loss in funding of that size without ultimately, it affecting people, we will have to look at our broader operation across the community and and figure out how to best prioritise every resource we have.
“They’re not professional. They all work, study or ply their trade around the world playing hockey. They sacrifice a hell of a lot, so we will do everything we can to bridge the gap for them. It affects everyone, coaches, staff, players, everyone, to some degree.”
High Performance Sport New Zealand said it would provide funding for the first quarter of 2025
Crummy added: “While the Olympics didn’t go exactly how we wanted, they challenged the world’s best pretty regularly in the last two years, we think they’re on a great trajectory.
“And the girls had a massive change of the guard. We’ve got a new young group. So we’re excited to where they can go. We can get back there, no doubt. But it’s not going to be easy and this certainly doesn’t help.”
An optimistic Crummy believes that hockey could still “offer something very special and important to the New Zealand sporting landscape.”
