When it comes to sport everyone loves an underdog. That is until the underdog beats the team that you support!
One of the things that made the recent FIFA World Cup such a success was the fact that the ‘usual suspects,’ the teams that regularly make the semi-finals and win the tournament, were eliminated early. Croatia, despite a strong football pedigree were the underdogs that everyone wanted to see succeed. They came from a country with a small population and had to win the hard way, by going into extra time or penalties before claiming victory.
At the women’s Hockey World cup it was a similar story. In their opening game Italy, the lowest ranked team in the competition defeated China ranked eighth in the world. Then the second lowest ranked team in the World, Ireland destroyed the seventh ranked USA. Ireland garnered more and more support as the tournament progressed and incredibly made their way to the final.
Hockey Ireland had only booked accommodation up until the quarter finals and then faced a problem when they won that match against India. The hotel that they were staying at had no vacancies. In a fantastic gesture that goes beyond sportsmanship, Belgium agreed to move out of the hotel and allow Ireland to take over the rooms that they had booked. The FIH played their part by helping Belgium find replacement accommodation.
However, it was not all good news at the World Cup and certainly not for Asian teams, with the exception of India. Japan, the only team from Asia to win a game in the pool stages went home once the pools games were concluded. China who had scored more goals than Korea also went home simply because their defeats to the Netherlands and Italy were heavier. Korea then lost to England in the quarter-finals and returned home having managed one draw and one goal in four games. India progressed to the quarter-finals where they lost in a shoot out to the “Green Army” of Ireland.
Now the Asian Games are under way in Jakarta and these teams who struggled at the World Cup are dominating. Japan won their opening games 11-0 and 6-0, India opened their games with wins of 8-0 and 21-0, Korea won 5-0 and China 9-0. Then there was Malaysia who did not even qualify for the World Cup who opened their Asian Games campaign with an 8-0 win.
Not surprisingly people in hockey in Asia are saying that these scorelines are not good for the sport. Some are saying that the game needs to invest in those nations who are being thrashed, as the gap between them and their victors is becoming greater.
The players from Hong Kong have verbalised that they can only afford to play for their country while at University. Once they finish studying they must sacrifice playing for their country as they have to focus on their careers, and their employers will not give them the time off work to play.
As we saw in London many of the Ireland players had also made similar sacrifices to ensure that they could give their all when playing for their country, They too gave up their jobs six months out from the World Cup to focus on Hockey. Their reward was the belief they had as a group and the understanding of the sacrifices each had made. That pulled them together as a team. It was truly inspiring. Yet where to now?
Unlike football where every team that qualified for the FIFA World Cup in Russia received a financial windfall, hockey does not bring in the same levels of sponsorship or money from Television.
Just qualifying for the FIFA World Cup guaranteed every national association USD$8million. France as the victors went home USD$38million richer, while the vanquished Croatia received USD$28million to ease the pain of their defeat; Of course if asked they would rather have lifted the trophy.
If you came 9th-16th in the FIFA World Cup you received USD12million.
What did Ireland receive for making it to the World Cup final? What did all the nations that made it to the Hockey World Cup receive in terms of money to reward them for their success? The answer is nothing. Unfortunately Hockey is not as flush with money as FIFA.
In fact all nations that participated had to pay for everything themselves. In an ideal world there would be prize money and accommodation would be subsidised, but in the modern sporting world very few are in a position to offer this.
This was why, from a players perspective, the Hockey India League was so good for the game. It gave the top players the financial safety-net to be able to dedicate themselves to their sport. It also helped raise the standard of the young players in India, and exposed all to different coaching methods and styles of play. IN addition there was also prize money for the winning teams.
Hopefully in time it will return, and also that somewhere in the world there is the money for a similar league for the Women.
As mentioned, there have been calls for the International Hockey Federation and the Asian Hockey Federation to support the second tier nations to prevent the scores that we have witnessed at the Asian games, but where is that money going to come from?
If we look at other sporting events in most cases the big name players and the best teams will defeat their lesser opponents with ease. Look at Tennis and the opening rounds of the major tournaments are often nothing more than a warm up for the eventual quarter finalists.
At the 2015 Rugby World Cup in the pool stages Wales beat Uruguay 54-9, and South Africa beat the USA 64-0, so blow-outs happen in the early stages of most major tournaments.
Once again, in an ideal world we would all like to see money made available to help support programs in developing nations and markets so that the gap between those at the top and those in the next tier down becomes less. Yet when those at the top have representation on the committees and boards making the decisions things will never change; Football in Australia beware.
Only in recent years has some reasonable funding from World Rugby filtered down to the Island nations of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, but for a long time the “big six” did not want money spent in this region for fear that these talented nations would rise up and take their place at the top of the game; and heaven forbid they would have to go through a comprehensive qualifying program rather than be seeded. In sport, as in life, those with money want more money.
So as much as fans want to see a more even playing field those currently sat at the top table will never be happy with such a suggestion.
However, when it comes to the business end of the Asian Games, as in most tournaments the games will be tighter than the pool games. Then the top nations will vie for the Gold medal and the prize of a berth at the Tokyo Olympics. Depending on who wins so too will the rewards the players and the sport receives from their Governing body and their Government. Across all sports at the Asian Games there will be no prize money, as the Asian Games are a multisport event along the lines of the Olympics.
Post-London and the Women’s Hockey World Cup there are some who are asking whether the International Hockey federation will ever be in a position to offer prize money to those who qualify for their blue riband events. Time will tell.
That day may still be a fair way off, but certainly there is no harm aiming for such a day to come along. Or are we better off having athletes play for honour and the kudos of winning titles rather than playing for money?
