The DCMS Committee’s inquiry into concussion in sport has concluded that “urgent action” is needed by Government and national sporting bodies to address a long-term failure to reduce the risks of brain injury on sports fields.
The DCMS had heard from a number of witnesses from sports including rugby and football ahead of its report, released on Thursday.
No hockey players were asked by the DCMS commitee, which found failings including a lack of government action on previous safety recommendations and no UK-wide minimum standard definition of concussion.
DCMS Committee Chair Julian Knight MP said: “We’ve been shocked by evidence from athletes who suffered head trauma, putting their future health on the line in the interests of achieving sporting success for the UK.
“What is astounding is that when it comes to reducing the risks of brain injury, sport has been allowed to mark its own homework.
“The failure by these sporting organisations to address the issue of acquired brain injury is compounded by a lack of action by Government.
Government should establish UK-wide minimum standard definition for concussion that all sports must use and adapt for their sport
Health and Safety Executive should work with National Governing Bodies of all sports to establish a national framework for the reporting of sporting injuries
UK Sport should take a governance role in assuring that all sports it funds raise awareness on the dangers of concussion effectively
Peter McCabe, chief executive of the Headway charity, told the Committee during the hearings that, for many participating in grassroots and youth sports, the example set by their heroes around head injury needs to change.
He said: “Elite sports have a responsibility to set a good example to youth and grassroots sports. If concussion is not taken seriously in elite sport, that is going to be happening on a Saturday morning when youngsters are playing, where there aren’t ambulances waiting at the side of the pitch.
“Concussion must be taken seriously and if somebody sustains a bang on the head they need to be withdrawn from the field of play and you need to adopt a precautionary approach.”
Coach Sjoerd Marijne says it is down to the India team – not captain Rani Rampal – to raise the profile of women in their homeland.
Rani is the standout player for India, having made her debut for the Eves as a 14-year-old in 2010.
Ahead of their key opener against Holland on Saturday, Marijne said: “For us she is of course not a celebrity but with Rani doing well, we have a mission with the team for all of us to put women in a better position in India.
“This helps her to go for that goal, because if we do well, we get a lot of exposure.
“Rani is an example as a leader and leads by example.
“But for Rani it is also important for her to now focus on herself. She is experienced, she’s helping players around her and that makes my work a little bit easier.”
Marijne will oversee the Eves against the country of his birth in their Olympic Pool opener at the Oi Stadium – and Rani herself believes all the pressure is on the Oranje.
“They are No.1 (ranked side in the world) but I think the pressure is on them. We need to play our game. We shouldn’t think about the result or what the outcome will be. We should be satisfied by our performance.
“For the overall tournament, first we need to be in the quarterfinals. We need to clear the pool and after the quarterfinals it’s anyone’s game. The tournaments totally change.”
“Following many questions about our cardboard beds, we thought we should put them to the test,” Lynch wrote on Twitter. “Can confirm they are strong enough for activities!”
One Twitter user responded: “Had to break it to yous. But that isn’t how you have sex.” Lynch replied: “Oh oops.”
Team GB hockey players hope that computerised pills to combat heat will have proved beneficial in the stifling heat at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Hockey Paper can disclose that some British players have been taking the pills – which has a microchip that transmits the body’s internal temperature – with the English Institute of Sport studying the results to help athletes understand heat and humidity on their bodies.
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Kookaburras great Mark Knowles said on Wednesday that Brisbane’s awarding of the 2032 Olympics and Paralympics was a momentous day “for young hockey players in Australia”.
It will be the third time Australia will host the Games following a vote of International Olympic Committee member nations in Tokyo.
“What a day for young hockey players in Australia. To have the goal of participating in a home Olympic Games in 11 years will send shivers down the spine of players from 7-22 years of age,” said Knowles.
“In my role as Technical Lead of Pathways, this is the type of spark that can change a sport and I can’t wait to see an explosion of talent going to new levels to be part of a once in a career experience.”
Ballymore, left, is a suburb of Brisbane
Hockey Australia President Mel Woosnam said: “We saw the success in Sydney in 2000 and the positive boost the Olympics provides, for not only non-professional sports such as hockey and other Olympic and Paralympic sports, but for the entire community.
“These Games have the potential to build an amazing legacy as it will create a need for new and upgraded hockey facilities across Queensland and other parts of the country as international teams will be looking to hold pre-Olympic training camps in Australia.
“How inspiring for our young players, coaches and officials who can now aspire to participate in a home Olympics and become the next crop of hockey stars.”
The Queensland region already has about 80 per cent of the Games infrastructure in place following the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
The 2032 Games is estimated to cost around AUS$5bn.
Ballymore set to host hockey at 2032 Olympics
The Hockeyroos last won Olympic gold at the 2000 Games. The Kookaburras last won gold in 2004.
Hockey will feature at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and although it is still on the Games programme, nothing is confirmed for Los Angeles 2028.
After a decade in international hockey following her debut in 2011, Maddie Hinch knows that she’s older – 32 – and that her body “doesn’t allow me to do certain things as before”.
Yet it’s hard to believe this statement given the spring and dynamism we have grown to know behind the helmet for England and Great Britain over the last six or so years when she has prospered in goal. “But it doesn’t mean it [my body] is any less effective,” she adds. “Maybe you will see a slightly different style but my intent and passion is still there.”
Hockey goalkeeping has been in Hinch’s blood since a teacher first suggested the position 20 years ago. Such has been the rise of her status, it is little wonder that she describes the last five years as a “rollercoaster” journey. Rio gold, public adulation, taking time out of the game after the 2018 World Cup and talking openly a few months ago on her mental health battles.
The pressures of elite sport are unforgiving at times – even for a hockey player. But as Hinch prepares for her second Olympics, hearing her talk of her No.1 position is a joy to behold.
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GB men’s hockey captain Adam Dixon on his old school coach, the underdog mentality and how England players can have more vocal influence in the sport
I was handed the captaincy straight away at Worksop College when I joined the school in the sixth form. It was a brave decision from Trevor Franse, who was in his first year in charge of the hockey programme.
All the boys really admired Trevor and he was like a big brother in a way. He came in with a lot of energy and what it takes to be a team player. There were no egos in our team and the South African shot that down if that was the case.
We did loads of team building exercises in that first season. The first few sessions were picking up rugby tackle bags and doing laps of the cricket field. It gave us an extra connection.
We didn’t have the depth in talent but this only made us fight for each other.
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Safely installed in the Olympic Village, Hannah Matthews knows “anything can happen” over the next two weeks as the Irish women’s hockey team close in on their Olympic debut in Japan.
Matthews was the last to arrive to the party on Saturday, linking up with the side in Tokyo direct from Dublin while the rest of the panel enjoyed a memorable holding camp in Iwate, the country’s “cabbage capital” 500 kilometres to the north.
There, the panel were “treated like celebrities” according to Michelle Carey as their bus ride into town at 6.30am drew large crowds along the road; silage bails were wrapped in Irish livery and traditional dance troupes greeted the tuning-up training sessions.
It helped capture the spirit of 2018’s World Cup run, a journey into the unknown but a journey the Green Army was keen to embrace every moment of as if it were Christmas Eve.
That same good vibes have carried through to the first few days in the Olympic Village and the initial sessions at the Oi Stadium and Loreto’s Matthews says it is at the right pitch for the challenges ahead.
“We are going in there with very little pressure, not knowing what to expect and absolutely anything can happen. On our day, we can take it to the top teams,” she said.
“There are 12 teams in the tournament. We’re ranked ninth in the world. It’s not like we are up in the top five. I’d say we are relatively under the radar but obviously not as much as in the World Cup when we turned a few heads. Teams would definitely be more aware of us but there is more pressure on other teams.”
Ireland start their campaign on Saturday against South Africa, the tournament’s lowest ranked side at 16 before meeting world number one side the Netherlands on Monday.
Germany (ranked 3rd) are up in game three next Wednesday before back-to-back fixtures against India (10th) on Friday, July 29 and Great Britain (5th) a day later – five games in eight days.
The first target is a top four finish to earn a quarter-final spot, making the South African tie an important one in that context, particularly with the three medalists from 2016 waiting in the wings.
The Green Army have a good record on that front, winning all three of their series against South Africa in Stellenbosch in February 2020. Ireland were due to return for more matches last March before the pandemic struck.
South Africa have not played any formal fixtures since then as a result while only nine of the players that featured back then are in the Olympic panel – 13 of Ireland’s are in situ – so form lines are hard to read.
Like Ireland, there has been evolution. Where Sean Dancer has introduced Carey, Zara Malseed and Sarah McAuley, SA have uncapped trio Edith Molikoe, Charné Maddocks and Lerato Mahole.
On the flip side, there is a mountain of experience in Lisa-Marie Deetlefs – a double Olympian from Beijing and London – Lilian du Plessis, Quanita Bobbs and Celia Seerane (née Evans).
Ireland do have the distinct benefit of their European Championship campaign in June; ultimately, ambitious targets of a maiden semi-final spot and an assured World Cup ticket came up just short.
In hindsight, it was a par performance, beating the two side ranked below them – Scotland and Italy – with clean sheets – drawing with Spain directly above them and losing to two sides in the world’s top five (Netherlands and England).
“I think we definitely feel disappointed,” she says about the Euros. “We felt like we didn’t represent how well we have been playing and how well we have been training.
“That was definitely a major frustration. But put it in context and the Europeans are a brutal tournament. You just can’t afford to make mistakes and you are playing against quality sides so I think we can take a lot of positives. We have played against brilliant teams.”
Having that bank of game time is likely to be invaluable, particularly with so many other new experiences floating around them.
“We’ve had just the best preparation for the Olympics you could ask for and we’ve seen the mistakes we’ve made and we can work on them. So we have a lot to improve on and we know that now.
“This is all very new to us. We have never been to an Olympics before. We are one of the few teams in the tournament that haven’t been to an Olympics before and we are also going into a climate that we are not very used to where a lot of other teams have done.
“We have nothing to compare it to but everyone is so excited to be at our first Olympics and, the year that’s in it, every time you get to play at a high level, whether it is high stakes or not, everyone is so appreciative of it.
“Team spirit will be massive. It’s an intense tournament and with Covid restrictions as well, there might be a little more cabin fever. So it’s really important the team sticks to our culture. That’s something that comes very naturally to us so we won’t over think that.
“South Africa and India are probably our closest in terms of ranking. But in tournament hockey anything can happen. So it’s managing our emotions as we go.
“We’ve all plenty of experience of playing in front of absolutely no one,” says the Irish defender in self-deprecation. “It’s something we are used to. I don’t think it will affect us. We’ll be fine.”
WATCH: Heidi Wells, England Over 50s Masters player and Chartered Physiotherapist, talks below about playing hockey as you get older in an exclusive 15-minute video
Heidi has played 045s and 050s for England and has been a physiotherapist for over 30 years and a pilates instructor for five years.
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In recent weeks in Scotland, hockey has made rare inroads with saving pitches for its own use. HANNAH MADDEN reports
There seems to be an unspoken rule (among men especially) that showing an interest in football is mandatory if you want to fit in. It’s discussed in playgrounds, in pubs, and can be so overwhelmingly dominant, that the voices of other sports end up getting drowned out.
And hockey is one of them.
In Renfrewshire, Paisley, hockey is the second-most popular sport around. Kelburne, the local hockey club, has been running since 1969, and their men’s team has earned the title of being the best in Scotland 22 times since 1990.
Yet the hockey pitch available in Renfrewshire is sub-standard, forcing members of the club to make a nine-mile commute across the M8 into Glasgow just to play the game they love.
For around 15 years, Kelburne has been trying to persuade their local council to either upgrade the local hockey pitch or build a new one. The last attempt to do so was in 2019. It involved a £3 million plan to upgrade the existing hockey pitch for Kelburne. This ended up falling through around the time COVID hit. It was then the club decided it had had enough.
As the saying goes, if you want something done, do it yourself.
Late last month, the Paisley club revealed a £600,000 plan to secure Ralston Sports Centre, build a hockey pitch and give Kelburne a proper home in its local community.
However, the sports centre has a football pitch, which the club plans to replace with a pitch suitable for hockey. And in a nation inexplicably obsessed with football, making a move on these “sacred” grounds has caused some upset.
Tory Councillor, Neill Graham, reacted particularly strongly to the news. “The SNP council should not be selling off community crown jewels such as this and this land grab needs to be red-carded,” he said. “I have nothing against the ambitions of the hockey club behind this proposal, but these pitches give local kids the chance to play football.”
Kelburne have since talked to Graham, and are currently in discussions with the local community (including football clubs), in the hope that they can find solutions that can protect every sport. But that’s not to say that the club’s secretary, Billy Anderson, wasn’t somewhat annoyed with Graham’s knee-jerk reaction.
“He should understand that the people he’s talking about in Kelburne are just as equal as any other football person in our region,” he said. “So, because we can’t play hockey in Paisley, he should be fighting for us as well as fighting for footballers.”
Kelburne aren’t the only ones fighting for their own pitch. Irvine Ladies HC managed to successfully convince their local sports club to turn their football pitch in Marress into a hockey pitch, a major victory for hockey and women’s sport.
Irvine Ladies, founded in 1945, used to play at Marress until the 1990s. In many ways, they’re reclaiming their old home. The local football teams were understandably unhappy at being told to play somewhere else, but Irvine Community Sports Club chiefs have stood by the Ladies.
The Sports Club secretary, Andy Rennie, said the decision was based on “hockey club’s long association with the club, the passion which they demonstrated for ‘coming home’ and the sports club’s policy of trying to create dedicated development areas for each of its six outdoor sports, archery, cricket, girls football, hockey, rugby and running.”
All this is wonderful for both Kelburne and Irvine Ladies, but it has to be said that these are exceptional cases. You’re more likely to see a hockey pitch being turned into a football pitch rather than a football pitch being turned into a hockey one. This all circles back to football’s extreme popularity in Scotland.
Irvine Ladies HC have been successful in staving off football
“Councils don’t have money,” Anderson told The Hockey Paper. “The council in their literature say this an area of sport for all areas, but that’s all just soundbites… They focus on the areas that make them money, and they don’t do sport for all, so they squeeze out all the minority sports.”
From a business perspective, it does make some sense; football will simply make the most money. Therefore, there is reason for councils to invest in it and use it to balance the books. Given that hockey doesn’t make as much money because it’s popularity isn’t as widespread, why should councils throw their weight behind it and other minority sports?
Tokyo 2020 is arguably one of the most anticipated ever, especially given that the pandemic put the Games on hold last year. Everyone wants to see their country win a medal, no matter what the sport is. Incidentally, Anderson does have hopes for Team GB winning a bronze or silver in hockey.
However, if all the minority sports get completely crowded out by football, then what of all that? How will GB compete and win medals in those sports? Where will the talent come from?
This might be taking things a bit far, but picture it for a second: Great Britain not even being able to compete in Olympic events because local councils have decided that football is the only sport worth investing in. Sad, isn’t it?
Let’s hope this won’t happen and local councils realise that football isn’t the only sport worth investing in. But most of all, let’s hope that the success of Kelburne and Irvine Ladies will continue for a long time to come.
And who knows? Maybe those pitches they’ve fought so hard for will produce a player who wins Olympic hockey gold someday.
If your hockey club is threatened by a lack of provision or closure due to council decisions, please get in touch with us so we can raise your concern.
