Changing the Pitch

The 1976 Montreal Olympic Games were the first to see hockey played on an artificial surface. It was a move that would change the game and have a lasting impact.

The reasons for the change come down to which story you wish to believe.

In 1973 the International Hockey Federation’s (FIH) President Rene Frank had visited Montreal and noted that none of the proposed venues for the hockey tournament were suitable. One issue was the climate, and whether they could cultivate a gras pitch of a suitable standard for such a competition in time. The Mayor of Montreal proposed an artificial pitch. A demonstration game was played on a nearby field used for American football, and it was then down to the FIH to approve the surface or not.

An astroturf pitch was put down in Paris and soon after the FIH had granted consent for the artificial surface, and an event was held which was said to be a success.

Over time rumours have surfaced that there was much more to this decision that was initially thought. Artificial grass pitches were being first used in other sports in the 1960’s, it was in the early 1970’s that this surface was starting to gain a foothold as a preferred surface in a number of sports. Yet not all were convinced this was the way to go, so you had a situation where some teams opted for this while others didn’t. It has been alleged that the manufacturers targeted hockey, and that certain individuals were given incentives to get this surface option across the line.

Although the surface used in Montreal was a long way from those used today “you could hardly see the person on the other side of the pitch. It was a football ground. (Gridiron) You lost the person from the knees down on the other side. It had this huge crown in the middle,” was how Australian Terry Walsh remembered it in the book “Australia’s Hockey Grail.”

Then there was the theory that the new surface was a European conspiracy to stop the dominance of India and Pakistan. Since entering the Olympic Hockey tournament for the first time in 1928 India had won four gold medals. Pakistan had won two. Only West Germany had claimed a Gold medal in the sport since 1928 breaking that dominance in 1972, when they were hosts of the Olympic Games. West Germany defeated Pakistan in the Gold medal match. Either India or Pakistan had played in every Gold medal match since 1928, Pakistan having competed for the first time as a nation in 1948. The Montreal Olympic Games in 1976, the first on an artificial surface saw neither make the Olympic gold medal match.

Many in the both countries still believe that this was a deliberate ploy to stop their dominance of the game. Since 1976 India won gold in 1980, when many of the key hockey nations boycotted the Moscow games, and Pakistan last won in 1984 in Los Angeles.

Whatever the reason few can have imagined the problems that this change in surface would create 50 years later.

Artificial turf became the surface of choice. This change altered the skills required to play the game. With a more true surface it made trapping the ball so much easier. This meant less infringements, which in turn meant less stoppages, thereby making the game flow more. The speed of the game increased considerably and in time the shape of hockey sticks changed to allow for different techniques, such as reverse stick trapping. While the game may have become more attractive to watch, like all changes there were pros and cons.

Two of the biggest issues facing the sport in recent times is that most of these pitches are water-based. They require water to reduce the friction of the ball on the artificial surface to make it move faster. In the current world such use of water is an issue, and the FIH and the manufacturers are trying to find a solution to this problem.

The second issue is that the type of artificial turf used for Hockey is one that is not being used for other sports. Local councils are now stating that if they are going to invest in the cost of an artificial playing surface then it must be suitable for multiple sports. As has been seen in the United Kingdom, this has resulted in some hockey pitches being lost.

The fact is the 3G astroturf surface is more suitable to many other sports, and therefore gives councils more bang for their buck. According to the Hockey Paper there are 30 clubs that are known to have been affected by such a decision in the UK.

Here in Western Australia there is a similar issue, but one that looks like having a long-lasting impact on the sport.

What has exacerbated the situation is a Government decision at the start of the new century that insisted that all sports must unite as one. Meaning that the women’s game could no longer be run separately from the men’s game, they all needed to be under one umbrella. This was to make it easier for Government when it came to handing out funding.

With participation in women’s sport on the rise there are murmurings that many in women’s sport believe that they would be better served if they went back to running their own side of many sports. It is interesting to note that in hockey the Australian women’s team won three Olympic Gold medals and two World cups prior to merging with the men. They have not won a medal at an Olympic Games since, and have won two silver and one bronze at the World Cup.

Not only did the sport merge the administration, but we saw clubs also merge. This has resulted in many clubs now having more playing members than any other sport being played in local competitions. The issue then becomes how to accommodate all of those players and find pitches to play on.

As anyone who has played any sport will tell you “a home” is vital to a club’s success. Not only a home ground, but also club rooms to call your own, where players of all levels come together to share their exploits in their matches that day, and find out the results. At many clubs this is sadly no longer possible as teams are scattered near and far at the weekend, and most never return to a club house, they simply adjourn to a nearby pub, often unaware of the other teams results.

This disconnect has long-lasting ramifications. At many of these clubs the end of season club dinner is now no longer attended by representatives of all the teams at the club. The lower grades opting to organise their own event. This means that once again many do not know what has happened in the teams above, and young players who may have first team aspirations have lost a vital connection. Another way of raising revenue is through merchandise sales but with players not returning to a base this too is greatly impacted.

Most important of all though are the connections within the club that leads to mentoring. This was identified as being one of the reasons for Australia’s success in world sport back in the 1990’s the fact that international players were still connected to their clubs. These players whether current or past act as an inspiration for juniors. Seeing the elite players, the former greats at the club as well as the life members can have a huge impact on the youngsters coming through, for they are the future. If there is not that connection then the future becomes far more uncertain.

Here is another reason why it has been so disappointing in recent years that the high performance players based in Perth and drafted to local clubs have hardly played. (Last Season 17 of the 25 Kookaburras played 5 or less games for their clubs in a 22 game plus finals season, 10 out of 16 Hockeyroos played 5 or less games in an 18 game plus finals season).This lack of connection from them has a far-reaching impact, and also effects the numbers who attend their games or watch them on apps or television. If there is not that connection there is no interest.

Equally frustrating is that when these clubs hold events, which are nearly always to raise much needed funds to keep the club afloat, they do not achieve the numbers that clubs of their size should have supporting such events, which in turn limits the funds they can raise. It also has an impact when trying to attract sponsors, and let us face facts a hockey club with over 30 teams has to be an attractive proposition to a sponsor. With teams scattered here and there when the potential sponsor comes to a game they do not see the potential that would be clear if teams are in one location and all using the same clubhouse.

What is really sad, and is also scary is that while lobbying for a turf pitch and a home that they can call their own some clubs found out that many of their members had never set foot in the clubhouses they currently call home!

It is essential that every club has a home. This is also vital to the community in which they are located. Without a home how can a club build an identity to which the community can relate and which in turn pulls in players and sponsors? It is a very vicious circle.

Wesley and South Perth (WASPs) have been campaigning hard for a turf pitch of their own for close to ten years, a campaign that has been ramped up in the past two years as the need becomes more apparent, and the clubs future survival could well hinge on this very issue. Without a home base keeping the club and its 40 teams operating may soon become unviable. It should be noted that 30 of these 40 teams now play their matches on artificial turf.

The club is located at Richardson Park and has been since the 1940’s, however they have to share the ground with South Perth Cricket Club. The Park was developed in 1929 at the request of the Western Australian Cricket Association, and maybe that is why almost 100 years on the Cricket club still holds sway over the far bigger hockey club. The Cricket Club according to its website has 170 active playing members participating in 15 teams. Hockey has over 600 active players participating in 40 teams, yet it is hockey that is trying to find a new home.

Local Government sadly fails to understand how club sport works. They like to boast about the facilities and the people playing in their constituency but few have a grasp for how these clubs run, and that nearly all are run by volunteers.

WASPs like a number of other clubs have their senior side play their premier grade matches at the Perth Hockey Stadium. Something that costs them every time they play. Other clubs facing that same issue are Victoria Park, and Curtin. Others that have to use the venue occasionally as they share a pitch that isn’t their own are Westside Wolves, YMCC and Suburban Lions.

In fact Westside Wolves share their Shenton Park Turf pitch with YMCC and Suburban Lions. Wolves and YMCC having a quarter share each in terms of use, and Suburban Lions a fifty percent share. It is glaringly obvious that this arrangement, which is better than nothing, is going to heavily restrict each club moving forward.

Apart from the similar issues faces WASPs, sharing the facilities also restricts the ability to train and frequently one of the clubs finds themselves training at 9pm on a week day. Again far from ideal circumstances.

Suburban Lions are Western Australia’s longest continuously run club in Western Australia, with Suburban having been formed in 1922. While the men’s team is not in the Premier Grade, the women’s side are the current Premiers. Suburban Lions came about like many of the clubs through a merging of Suburban Nedlands and Riverside Lions, who were formerly Subiaco.

In fact most of the clubs have come about due to mergers, YMCC is the result of Surf Hockey Club, YMCA, Floreat Ladies and Coastal City coming together. WASPs is the coming together of South Perth Men, South Perth Women and Old Wesleyean Hockey Club. While Westside Wolves are the result of Grads Womens Hockey Club, Cricketers Hockey Club, Old Scotch Collegians Hockey Club and the Christ Church Hockey Club all merging.

Again we are seeing huge numbers of the community participating in the sport at these clubs, Wolves has over 40 teams and YMCC over 30. Both clubs have around 1000 members. How many community sporting clubs can match those numbers? So why is the hockey community not being listened to by their local councils? The game has been gender diverse long before this became a trend, what is more their masters competitions have been thriving for decades. Which shows when people start to play they stick with the game. Can that be said of other sports in the community?

If you are looking at international success few sports can match hockey. Four Olympic Gold medals, four silver and five bronze, the men having competed since 1956 and the women since 1984. When it comes to world cup victories the men have won three and been runner up twice, the women have won two and been runner up in three.

One of the problems facing all of these clubs is that they are all located in areas where land is seen as prime real estate. Hence the reluctance from some residents to have clubs of this size suddenly calling a local park near them ‘home.’ One of the clubs had over 1000 residents sign a petition for them not to be located at a park near them. Why would this be so?

Some have stated that if they were granted land they have money in the bank to build their clubhouse. Others have said that this is something that will need to be looked at depending on the terms attached to that land. For example if a local council is only going to give a 20 year lease, which is ridiculous when one considers that nearly all of these clubs have a history dating back over 90 years, then they have to question how much they invest. This is an age old problem with clubs leasing grounds within the state, and this is an area that local government really needs to look at in more detail. Why would a club invest hundreds of thousands of dollars if in 20 years they are going to be moved on, and another sport reaps the benefits? It does not make good business sense. (A Premier Opportunity)

What is worrying is talking to the clubs concerned several have been on this quest to find a home and ensure the future of their club for over ten years.

The very real issue facing many is that if they do not go under due to the financial strain, they may well see their club in its current set up fracture, and new smaller clubs created. This will of course cause an even greater problem to local councils if it happens.

It is interesting to note that following the success of the Australian Women’s football team, the Matildas and the over-hyped hysteria that is currently attached to the team, there are already whispers that key individuals would like to see the women’s game once again run separately from the men’s. Is there a possibility that hockey could witness a similar move where the women run their own side of the game, and would that see these clubs split?

Fremantle Cockburn Hockey Club, formerly just Fremantle Hockey Club is one of the clubs that in recent years has managed to obtain land and be able to lay a turf pitch. However, they had to move from Stevens Reserve in Fremantle to Lakelands in Cockburn. The move was forced upon the club as there was no open space large enough to accommodate them in winter with an artificial turf and cricket in the summer months.

The club had felt that an artificial pitch was essential as they believed that they were losing juniors to the nearest club with such a facility, arch rivals Melville; although in reality this proved not to be the case.

“The key motivation was to pull the club back together,” Operations Manager Matt Allan told Not The Footy Show. “We had a player before the move who for four years had not been to the clubrooms at Stevens Reserve. He had training at Melville or Perth Hockey Stadium and played his games on turf so there was no need to go to Stevens at all.”

“The new facility has been great for the club, the timing was right and the City of Cockburn were extremely supportive,” Allan continued. “Saying that, we as a club raised over $500,000 to make this happen, which I think went a long way to them supporting us and realising that we were serious about making this work.”

“The one word of warning I would give to any club looking to go down this path is don’t think that getting the venue is hard work, as the really hard work starts once you have the venue. It is vital that you treat it as a business. Having built a pitch and a clubhouse it is important that these facilities are used as much as possible. Only using it for a half a year you will soon realise that financially you are going to come up short when maintenance needs to be done. You have to be making the venue work for you as a club seven days a week, all the year round. The sad thing that we have found is that now people are being charged to use the facility they expect everything to be done for them, the willingness to volunteer and help out has almost disappeared.”

“It has certainly helped to unite the club, although some teams still keep to themselves, that will take time to change,” Allan concluded, “but now we have teams playing on the grass pitches who once their game is over wander over to the turf to watch the Premier grade play, and that has to be a good thing.”

It has been claimed that the governing body Hockey WA would prefer that some of these clubs not be granted permission to create a turf pitch of their own, as they would lose revenue. These clubs currently being forced to play, and in some cases train at the Perth Hockey Stadium. However, some have said that they would still in all likelihood require use of the stadium for some grades to train, depending on what their council allowed them to build.

Surely, by not having these clubs playing at the stadium it creates new opportunities?

As has been stated, while it is great to have a world class facility to use, it does not help the clubs having to play there. Most players who play at the hockey stadium do not return to their clubhouse. Most will have something to eat or drink at the stadium; money that does not go to their club but into the coffers of Hockey WA. The clubs have to pay for the use of the ground. So not only is it costing them to play there, they are also losing revenue opportunities as the premier sides would often attract more supporters than the lower grades, and those supporters are not spending money over the bar at their own facility.

Just as we have seen with football and the creation of the State Football Centre – now named the Sam Kerr Football Centre – the government ploughed $40 million into one facility. It neglected all of the 32 clubs playing in the semi-professional leagues many of these grounds are in desperate need of upgrading. Was this money well spent? Would it not have been better to have allocated money to these clubs to have more top class venues rather than one? (A Time To Leave Home?)

The Federal and State Governments have committed $135million to redevelop the Perth Hockey Stadium, create offices for Hockey Australia, build an indoor centre and have a third pitch, but all of this will be for nothing if in the next five years three of the leading clubs close their doors because running them is unsustainable, or because they have fractured beyond repair due to not having a home base. Surely common sense says that some of this money has to be allocated to ensure the survival of these key clubs? Which other sports are having to accommodate so many teams?

If this does not happen will the sport be faced with having to consider returning to grass? Or will it have to follow Tennis and have a variety of playing surfaces that are acceptable? (On the Surface)

As with the State Football Centre the Government are expected to insert their own Venues West as the manager of the new hockey facility, and they will work with Hockey WA to work out pitch allocations and times. Unfortunately this arm of Government does not have a good reputation, and understandably those looking ahead are concerned as to how they will manage so many teams wanting to access the pitches for training and/or games.

What is it they say, be careful what you wish for. As one club advised back in the 1990’s the governing body prior to Hockey WA put forward a ‘hub and spoke’ plan in relation to pitches in the metropolitan area. The idea being that strategically placed pitches would pull in players from a local catchment area. Thirty years on some are asking why this never eventuated. Did the Governing body take this forward with local Government? If so why did it not happen, and what was plan B? Clearly the sport is now facing a very real challenge one that it appears that local government does not seem to understand.

In truth few can have imagined 50 years ago when they made that decision in Montreal the problems that it would cause the sport in the future, problems that ultimately could be devastating to the history of the game and its future. What is ironic is that at this time, and thanks to India’s economy they now have an abundance of turf pitches and some of the best facilities in the hockey world. No doubt many there will believe what goes around comes around.

Is it time that the sport and the clubs locally united as one like the football Clubs in the UK have through Fair Game (Podcast #125) so that their united voice will be stronger than one lone one? Should the governing bodies, Hockey WA and Hockey Australia also be wholeheartedly supporting these clubs?

This is a very real problem facing the sport and it needs urgent attention. We have this season seen Old Guildford Mundaring Hockey Club which was formed in 1931 forced to merge with Modernians Hockey Club formed a year later in 1932. For many at these two clubs, both steeped in history this is a very sad day. However, the facts are that without a place to call home, a central location for all the members to go to and play at, they were always going to struggle.

While Guildford Grammar School built a turf pitch that the club used, they had no control over the management of the pitch. Even though their club rooms were nearby some have intimated that the move to play at the school which at the time looked like the perfect solution actually caused the club more problems than had been foreseen.

This should be a warning sign to all. Unless there is a unified approach other historic clubs may soon face a similar prospect, or at worst extinction.