What is symmetry? Is it two bookends adding a symmetry to a number of different height and width books? Or is it two identical vases on either side of a mantelpiece? Why as humans are we drawn to symmetry?
Is it because it is essentially so simple? Or is it because it gives the impression of order?
Of course to give something symmetry you do not always have to have two identical objects, symmetry is also the exact correspondence between different things.
The big question being asked by those who follow the game closely is whether Hockey is headed for such a symmetrical moment.
If the Paris Olympic Games do go ahead, which there is no reason to doubt that they won’t, but as Covid-19 has shown nothing is certain, the sport has earmarked the Games as a time of celebration. For 2024 will mark the centenary of the creation of International Hockey Federation.
The world body was ironically formed in response to a decision by the 1924 Olympic hosts to not have hockey as a part of the eighth Olympiad. These games being hosted by Paris. Maybe it was their way of paying homage to the founder of the modern Olympic Games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who never intended for team sports to be a part of his multi-sport event.Or maybe as President of the International Olympic Committee at that time – he stepped aside after the 1924 Games – he put his foot down.
This does not seem that far fetched, depending on the number of players deemed to constitute a team. While a rowing eight is clearly a team it was at that time not thought of as a “team sport.” At the Paris Olympics the only team sports contested were Water Polo, Football, Polo and Rugby Union. From 1920 tug of war and hockey were the two sports dropped. There remained three traditional “team sports” at the 1928 Olympics in Amsterdam and in Los Angeles in 1932 only one, which was hockey. This is the only Olympic Games that Football has not been a part of, and the reason was having launched their World Cup in 1930, FIFA wanted to focus on the next tournament in 1934.
Hockey had been introduced to the Olympic Games in London in 1908. Only six teams entered the tournament England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Germany and France. The four nations at the time making up Great Britain contested the semi finals. Four years later in Stockholm hockey was dropped and then the First World War broke out. The sport returned to the Olympic Games in Antwerp in 1920, where only four teams participated, Great Britain, Denmark, Belgium and France.
France had not won a single game in their two Olympic appearances and in Antwerp gave Great Britain a walkover in their final match. So was it politics, or was it the fear of being humiliated on home soil that saw the sport dropped?
Paul Leautey was not happy about the situation and it was he who realised that the sport needed a body to promote the sport globally. Seven nations met in Paris in January of 1924 and formed the FIH. Leautey became the first President.
The FIH Congress planned for this year has been pushed back to 2021 due to Covid-19. The sport opting to delay the event rather than follow the lead of other sports and having an electronic election. This being inspite of their own statues allowing for electronic voting (6.3.c – Voting shall be by show of hands or secret ballot (manual or electronic). We do not know who will be President in 2024, but there is strong possibility the CEO will be French; if the current CEO stays on.
However the planned celebrations may well become muted. By 2024 Hockey will know whether it will remain as an Olympic sport in its current format, or whether it will in fact be changing to a five-a-side competition.
News this week that one of the United States leading universities, Stanford, is cutting hockey from its varsity program as of this year will be a huge blow to the sport in the USA. The university cut 11 sports programs which consisted of more than 240 student-athletes and 22 coaches. They have said that they will however honour all scholarships.
This follows the announcement last month that the University of Connecticut dropped four sports; although hockey was not one of those cut.
It is expected that more universities will be dropping sports programs in light of the Coronavirus, and the concern is that with the USA national women’s team slipping down the World Rankings, they currently sit at 15, hockey programs could find themselves in a precarious position. With no national league competition underpinning the University competition the sport in the USA is facing a very difficult time.
What may compound the problem for the universities’ hockey programs at this point in time will be the number of overseas students that they had in their programs. Those students may opt not to return to the USA following the Covid-19 Pandemic, some may not have a choice.
In the NCAA collegiate hockey season 2019 there were 78 Division one teams. Each team’s squad size, or roster as they say in the USA is usually around 23 players. In 2019 there were a total of 323 foreign student athletes on those division one teams, and nearly all were playing every week. Of those 323 foreign athletes 120 were playing for the top twenty teams in division one. That is almost a quarter of the players. Can the competition survive if those players don’t come back? It should be noted that the top eight teams are the cream of the crop in the competition.
Stanford and Harvard ar regarded as “the two educational juggernauts of the United States.” If Stanford has made such a move will Harvard follow suit? In 2019 Harvard had nine foreign students on their women’s field hockey roster/squad. That squad could be decimated if the foreign students do not return. Equally those students will no doubt be devastated due to the disruption to their educational ambitions.
It raises the question as to whether there should have been a cap on foreign students in these programs, if only to help develop local talent. Now not only could the NCAA Collegiate program be devastated, but so too the development in the USA which relied heavily on these programs.
The timing could not be worse. With very strong rumours coming out of Los Angeles stating that they are not interested in having eleven-a-side hockey as an event in 2028. Their reasoning may well be along the lines of Paris in 1924, they have no chance of a medal at this point in time and do not wish to see their home team beaten. The dropping of hockey from the Collegiate program by some universities combined with the USA team slipping down the World Rankings, is unfortunately giving the local organising committee the ammunition to force the IOC to jettison the sport as we know it in 2028. (Coming Full Circle)
So what was being done to develop the sport away from the Universities? What was the FIH’s and US Field Hockey’s plan to increase the profile and participation numbers in such an important market? After all Los Angeles hosting the 2028 Olympic Games was announced three years ago at the same time as Paris in September 2017.
These recent developments mean that the possibility of Paris, the city that rejected hockey and was the reason for the creation of the International Hockey Federation could in fact be the last city to host eleven-a-side hockey at the Olympic Games for the foreseeable future. If that is to be the case the FIH’s centenary celebrations will not be what many had envisaged.
It may not be the situation many desired, but it would be hard to argue that if this should happen there wasn’t some symmetry to the situation.
After celebrating 100 years of existence a new era will commence for the sport’s world body, and as devastating as this news could be they would be wise to tap into the wisdom of others. No one is sure who said “Excuses will always be there for you. Opportunity won’t.” It is time to start exploring those new opportunities in order to carry the sport forward for the next 100 years. If the opportunities are not obvious then remember the words of Sun Tzu the famous Chinese military strategist and philosopher who said “Victory comes from finding opportunities in problems.”
Paul Leautey saw the problem created by hockey being left out of the Paris Olympics and saw an opportunity to ensure that it did not happen again, by creating the FIH. Similar leadership is required again, 100 years on.
Read “Hockey in the Blood”
Final chapter from 2017.
‘ Last Tango in Paris’
The red warning light was set out then.
Gavin Featherstone.
Thank you Giles.
Funnily enough someone else messaged me with the same question. It is indeed a very real possibility and would certainly make a great deal of sense. Time will tell if it does in fact happen that way.
As usual a very insightful read, thank you.
I have one question for you. The USA has always liked to do things differently, do you think that we will now see the University sides switch from playing 11 a side hockey to 5 a side? This would essentially halve their roster and save them money.
The other major benefit is it would give them a headstart on other nations in preparing an experienced roster for the Los Angeles Games, and would put them in a strong position to win a medal.