There are few sports where the athletes are as committed as the greatest athletes in the sporting world, but receive such small financial reward, as field hockey players. There are other sports where those looking to climb the rankings, to earn a decent salary, are surviving by an almost hand-to-mouth existence, but most of these athletes play individual sports.
Maybe the reason that we see such cohesion from the international hockey players is that they all know what each other is going through. All are committed to daily training sessions, then heading off to university or their jobs. Then when match day comes, or a tournament, they have to defer their studies or take time off from their jobs. Some employers are happy to have such athletes working for them and are more liberal with that time off.
This weekend the FIH Pro League will come to its conclusion for the men and the women. From a playing perspective it has been outstanding, with some wonderful matches played and some superb skills showcased. Every player and member of the support staff should take a bow, not just those playing in the finals, as it takes two teams to make a contest.
On June 11th 2017 the then CEO of the FIH Jason McCracken said on BT Sport “Hockey needed to make some fundamental changes, the FIH after three or four years, and talking to over 600 stakeholders, broadcasters and fans and athletes the decision was made to “Bring Hockey Home.” The new League would see hockey played in front of “Packed stands” It was going to be a “massive game- changer for our sport” he predicted, in the main due to the Television deals which would see “a tenfold increase of televised hockey globally.”
Television McCracken stated “ was the big game-changer.” In the official FIH Press release he expanded on the statements made on BT Sport by being quoted as saying “We strongly believe that this new competition will fuel the growth of our sport for many years to come, significantly increasing revenues for hockey. As a result it will become a professional sport, making it a career choice for athletes who will be given the opportunity to perform in big, bold, packed and loud venues both in their homeland and overseas. It will also allow fans to engage with more world-class hockey more often, whether on TV or live at their national venue.”
It is ironic that now, as the end of the first year of the FIH Pro League approaches it is Television that is being blamed as being the cost that has hurt the potential of the competition, and it is in this area that costs have been cut. These cuts are believed by many to have harmed the integrity of the product.
Certainly viewers have been frustrated with games not being shown “live” then being geo-blocked on the FIH’s own platform. Other frustrations have been the lack of promotion in regards to the schedule of games and when they will be aired. With such a haphazard schedule for matches it is hard to keep track of when games were being played across the World, even harder when not shown “live” in real time.. This has certainly hampered many a fan from watching games.
Crowds have been good, but one has to say disappointing. With no marketing to back up the competition globally and many National Associations only targeting ‘the Hockey Family’ to attend games it comes as no surprise, and one feels a chance to pull in new fans has been missed. This promotion comes down to revenue, and with no sponsorship coming in something was always going to suffer due to the lack of funds.
That lack of funds though has meant that for many the dream to “become a professional sport, making it a career choice for athletes who will be given the opportunity to perform in big, bold, packed and loud venues both in their homeland and overseas,” has not eventuated.
Yet this weekend in Amsterdam is a big weekend for the sport. As the four teams contesting the Finals – not to be confused with the FIH Finals Series – in both the Women’s League and the Men’s will each be playing for USD$250,000 in prize money in each competition. Hopefully the players will see the lion’s share of this money and it will not be chewed up by administrators!
This is a big moment for the sport as for many years there was to be no prize money, and no cups. In fact Leagues were opposed in the very early days.
In 1892 it was leading club Wimbledon who proposed that no club should play in Cup competitions, or any game where prizes were on offer. The other clubs lent their support to that motion.
When the Rules Board was created they too adopted this stance. Leagues, cups and prize money were all banned. It was only when the standards started to decline that it was agreed that cups would be allowed and Leagues commenced.
With the international game, when Hockey was first played at the Olympic Games only the Gold medallists received medals for this reason.
When countries on the sub-continent started to offer prizes to teams a clause was written into the FIH statutes that wherever prize money was offered a percentage of that money had to be paid to the game’s governing body.
So this Sunday will be a massive day for all the teams concerned as they become the first teams to receive financial reward for their efforts in what has truly been a global competition. Let us hope for the sport and the athletes it is indeed the first of many such days and that next years sponsors are found for the League and that the level of prize money increases. That revenues flow back to the National Associations and the players can commit permanently to a career as a full time professional athlete, available to play at all times when selected, and not dependent on their bosses giving them time off.
To many the grand prize would be being able to make the leap from being a full time athlete in name without the financial stability to being as Mr McCracken put it “a career choice for athletes.”
