Hockey Stadia – Permanent and Temporary
About a year and a half ago I wrote an article for The Hockey Family, called Hockey Pedigree. Here I discussed the developments of the sport within the public consciousness, when compared to other games, such as rugby, football and tennis and so forth… I concluded that we needed to create more tangible moments within the stadiums available to us in order to create a sense of collective memories and therefore prestige within the perspective of a wider audience. I’m still of that mindset. What’s more is that it has actually been happening. Since I wrote that article England Hockey has hosted the 2018 Women’s World Cup, as well as put on home Pro-League fixtures for Great Britain at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre – all except for a small numbers of fixtures in the latter tournament, but more on that later.
There will be four more games at Lee Valley this winter, for the men and women’s GB teams as part of their Olympic Qualifying campaigns. Hopefully this sort of elite level of competition in London will continue. It will mean that the relevant media outlets can promote hockey, the players can bring the fans back in numbers and people can create their own culture within the stadium. Other sporting arenas have particular atmospheres; going to the rugby is different to the football and both have different atmospheres to that of the tennis. For example, you may get kicked out of Wimbledon, if you behave like you might at Wembley. Due to relevant lack of mainstream attention and amateur status of the domestic game in this country the atmosphere inside of the national hockey centre can be quite tame.
What has happened recently, though, is that a new type of hockey turf has sprung up and come to the forefront of the sport… Towards the end of the Pro-League campaign, the Great Britain teams opted to move their home games to The Twickenham Stoop, which is the stadium of Harlequins Rugby Club. Of course, the field is made of grass, which is not used at international level anymore. A temporary turf was laid down for the matches. This was in order to supply a larger facility for the demand for tickets. A great initiative, I think, as a way of promoting the game.
Although, the idea of moving around the country (or just across the city of London, in this case) is brand new for field hockey, it has precedent in other sports. Squash has played in front of the Egyptian pyramids, for example and seems to provide some fantastic images. Additionally, whilst Wembley stadium was being rebuilt, the England men’s football team went to many different football clubs here, there and everywhere. I once travelled to see to see an international fixture at Old Trafford and that wasn’t the only place that was used. The women’s team has been doing this for a while. It makes sense to move the national team around the nation. By doing so, a national governing body could actually help to promote the sport in question in areas of low participation and make money in other regions of high demand. This temporary turf concept would allow this. It could also have a mutually beneficial financial for both the NGB and the host club, with tickets being sold, as well as food and drink stalls open to the general public. I saw a discussion topic raised on social media recently, asking why the Great Britain team rarely, if ever, came to Scotland and Wales to play games. In the thread of responses it was pointed out that some of the non Anglo-Saxon players probably deserved a chance to play within their own home nations. So, there are definitely benefits to this new concept.
Hockey Ireland obviously think it’s worth a try. Their Olympic Qualifiers for women’s team will be played at the Energia Park (home to Lenster Rugby) making use of the 6,000 capacity stadium. Therefore, they will be laying a temporary turf down for these two games. This will be off the back of the women’s team successful World Cup in 2018 and will be interesting to see how many spectators turn up. During the very same Women’s World Cup in London, the England national team was selling out the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre (10,000 with temporary seating). This obviously made an impact on the decision to go to the Twickenhem Stoop, which can fit 14,8000 people inside. The ‘supply and demand’ thought process that has been taken on board with both Great Britain and Ireland is good to see and will help to grow the game.
What I am worried about, however, is that fans and players alike won’t be able to develop a home atmosphere for the team that they support and play for. The Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre is one of the best field hockey facilities on the world, which the players seem to enjoy playing at. In order to develop this sense of homeliness, this concept of pedigree and a stadium name that becomes a byword for the sport itself, then we need a focal point to base it around. That, unfortunately, wouldn’t make use of this fantastic new temporary pitches. Surely a balance between playing important matches in one place and having other events spread around the country would be something that can happen now, in big time stadia! This way we can have the best of both worlds where the national team can belong to everyone, but we can build upon the enjoyment for people to come to the national stadium. The Pro-League could be an answer to this. It would allow for some games to be played here and others to be played over there. I believe that the Australian hockey teams do this themselves and it seems to work for them, especially as they have fans spread out across such a vast land mass. Let’s wait and see what happens, but there is plenty of potential for success here.
Great Britain Olympic Qualifiers
Saturday 02.11.2019 14.00 GB Women vs. Chile 16.30 GB Men vs. Malaysia
Sunday 03.11.2019 12.00 GB Women vs. Chile 15.00 GB Men vs. Malaysia
Ireland Olympic Qualifiers
Saturday 02.11.2019 19.00 Ireland Women vs. Canada
Sunday 03.11.2019 19.20 Ireland Women vs. Canada