A week ago the Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup came to an end in Malaysia, and just prior to this the Women’s event came to its conclusion in Chile. Congratulations to Germany for winning their seventh Men’s title since 1979 and the Netherlands for winning their fifth title since 1989.
For those who follow the sport this was the first time that these two events were held two years after the previous World Cup.
In 2018 at the Men’s Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar, India the Executive Board made the decision to switch from holding these events every four years to every two years.
It would be fair to say that the announcement did not go well with several Indian newspapers highlighting the fact that the CEO at the time, Thierry Weil did not know when the last event had taken place. The Business Standard wrote “The FIH CEO, however, was clueless on the exact timing of the next Junior World Cup and the host nation.”
The newspaper also stated “FIH CEO Thierry Weil said the junior players should get better international exposure to prove their mettle.”
That appears to be the only public explanation for the change.
Now that the events have taken place it would appear that many of the nations involved are unsure about the feasibility of holding a Junior World Cup every two years.
With a number of the 16 teams having to crowd fund to raise the required money to attend the World Cup, one wonders how they will go having to fundraise every two years. The problem with a biennial event is that more of the players who play are likely to play in two editions. If they are having to fundraise to play then they will be looking to hit up the same individuals or businesses for support twice.
Surely if this is to happen every two years the governing body is going to have to find a way to cover some of the costs of the teams that have earned the right to compete?
The International Hockey calendar is already a bit of a dog’s breakfast. With increased international events and games due to the FIH Pro League pressure is already being felt at club level, with top players being unavailable during the regular season. We have already seen powerhouse nation the Netherlands announce that they will no longer be competing in Hockey 5’s or Indoor events. The latter will be a major blow to the sport.
With no international windows where club competitions are suspended so that Internationals can be played many players are being forced to choose between club or country. To contest the Junior World Cups every two years many feel is simply adding to an already existig problem.
What was sad to witness was one young player making themselves unavailable for the FIH Junior World Cup, citing that they were exhausted from playing so much hockey in the past year, only to then play in an indoor tournament while the World Cup was taking place in Malaysia. Such decisions can only do harm.
Talking to coaches many aired their concerns that holding the Junior World Cups every two years could ultimately dilute that standard of the competition. While it is accepted that this is an under 21 competition for many players it will be the highest level that they will ever play. All admitted that as coaches their goal with a squad of under 21 players was to prepare as many as possible to be ready to make the step up to full international level. This does not happen overnight, as players from 18-21 are at different stages of their personal development. Having a four year program gives them a longer period to prepare players for the World Cup and the calibre of competition that they will encounter.
The other concern which is a very real one, especially when it comes to the nations competing in the FIH’s Pro League competition is going to be the added cost of competing at a World Cup every two years, and the preparation that will be required. As many asked “where is that money going to come from? ” After all very few hockey players across the world are full time professionals.
Of course revenue could be generated if certain aspects within the game changed.
One of the problems in recent times has been that the countries that host FIH tournaments have been hampered when it comes to sponsorship as the FIH’s sponsors take centre stage. In the past the sport saw national associations attract a naming rights sponsor for the event, but after that same meeting in India in 2018 Mr Weil announced that the FIH would not be having naming rights sponsors, he was quoted in the Mumbai Mirror as saying “
“If you have one title sponsorship, then it becomes difficult to get other global sponsors. We will not sell the title sponsors for anything. It will be called the FIH Pro League and nothing less.”
Will his replacement have a different view?
This was a surprising stance and one that could be understood if Hockey was a tier one sport, where sponsors were lining up to come on board, but that has never been the case.
This was a surprising position to take from a man who had worked at FIFA as their Marketing Director for almost 10 years. As history shows that after advertising at the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 1950, Coca-Cola was then convinced in 1977 to come on board and sponsored a football tournament for 16 to 19-year-olds. In the same year, They launched the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Football Development Program. The aim of this program was to help raise the standards of football around the globe by improving training, sports medicine, refereeing and administration.
FIFA continues to enjoy the support of Coca-Cola at their youth tournaments, and they have made a huge difference in helping the development of players. So why would Hockey not look to emulate such a program with its youth and a high profile sponsor?
To run an international sporting event costs money, to play at an international sporting event costs money. The big question is where is the that money going to come from?
In 2018 when the announcement to make the Junior World Cup biennial was made Mr Weil alluded to the Mumbai Mirror that the aim of the tournaments from an FIH perspective was to break even. He did not see it as the FIH’s job to promote and market the event, that responsibility he placed fairly and squarely at the feet of the host nation when he was quoted as saying in the Mumbai Mirror “World Cup profitability is something which is open to interpretation. The review is one case, the other one is how much goes into promotion. Here in India, it is a question you need to ask Hockey India. From an FIH point of view, today we are in a situation where we break even for such an event, which is extremely good.”
Surely such an event is supposed to be for the good of all? Therefore there needs to be a joint marketing campaign by the FIH as the game’s governing body and the host nation? Just as there needs to be co-ordination on the promotion surely the revenue generated should be shared?. If this does not happen then we will see less and less nations putting their hand up to act as hosts.
More important than all of this is that the competing nations, those who have earned the right to play at a Junior World Cup can afford to get there and participate. Having the event every two years one feels that this is going to stretch the finances of many nations too far.
Unless the sport can find a way, like FIFA does with its world cup, whereby nations who qualify receive money to help cover costs, the fear is that some nations may opt to look to qualify every four years rather than two, as it is more realistic from a financial perspective.
For most Hockey playing nations who rely on Government funding, that funding is based on performance, but the performance of the senior national teams. So if there is money to be invested it will be to ensure that these teams have a top four finish come the World Cup or OIympic Games and that their world ranking is where it needs to be to secure maximum funding. The Junior teams will unfotunately take second place. Already some coaches revealed that their budgets were cut to prop up the cost of teh senior team’s participation in the Pro League. This is not a healthy situation.
Hopefully there will be a full review of the recent tournaments, and all the coaches will be asked in confidence their thoughts on the event continuing to take place every two years, and what is the biggest hurdle they face. Then also asked what they feel it would take to make the biennial event work. As it needs the commitment of all concerned working together to make this a long-term success.
