My Issues with the Pro League
Written by; Tao MacLeod
There has been a lot of international hockey being played recently. All of this has been televised, on pay per view. In of it self this is something to celebrate and enjoy. As a sport, hockey is a fantastic spectacle that can be enjoyed by a range of different sports fans. Its fast, exciting and requires high levels of technical skill and physical fitness in order for it to be played well. The invasion aspect of the matches often throw up flash points of attacking fun, as well as tactical intrigue. However, the tournament that is currently being pushed and shown on a regular basis is far from being perfect.
The FIH Pro League is the brain child of the international governing body for hockey and has been created in order to promote the sport. The standard of the games has generally been decent and, at times, quite good, however it has also been beset with issues since its inauguration. Founded in 2017, the first season to be played was in 2019. It is a round robin competition played by international teams. The format has changed slightly, with some adaptations being made as we have gone along. The Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t helped, but tournament doesn’t seem to have captured the imagination of the fans, which seems to be the point of a promotional championship. Here are a few of my concerns with the Pro League…
Elitism
The Pro League provides a greater number of matches for the teams who are already playing at a high level. However, it doesn’t do much to help the developing hockey playing nations. The introduction of the FIH Nations Cup as a lower division has allowed promotion and relegation between the different grades, but we will have to wait and see if, in practice, this will be anything more than a token gesture. After South Africa declined their invitation to participate, having won the men’s Nations Cup, concerns over the financial implications for national governing bodies have been raised. The African continental champions have an amateur programme, meaning that entering a team into a global league competition over several months was considered unaffordable. What is the point of having the chance, in theory, to be a part of something that is unattainable to those who are being shown the carrot?
It has become clear that the Pro League makes the richer teams better, without providing enough chances for the lower ranked countries to improve. Instead of helping to grow the game of hockey, the tournament risks reinforcing a hierarchical system that will nullify competition at other global events such as the World Cup and Olympic Games. Rather than promoting hockey, we could see a disengagement from fans as they see the same few teams continuously win time and time again.
Carbon Footprint
The latest format of the Pro League is what the FIH describe as mini-tournaments spread across a number of months. Nine teams are competing this season, with matches having started in November of 2022 and the finals being played in July 2023. In this time matches have been, or will be played in Latin America, Asia, Oceania and Europe. Effectively, large groups of people are travelling all around the world, over a period of seven months, for what amounts to nothing much more than a series of test matches. Is this worth adding to the planet’s carbon footprint? Is the development of a minor tournament and a smattering of national teams, for our entertainment, worth the price of global warming? I would suggest not.
There are alternative formats that could be used that would reduce the harmful emissions associated with air travel. The use of venues that are accessible by train travel, or the team bus, for the majority of National Governing Bodies would be a start. This is already done on a small scale, but when spread across such a long time period it is not going to have much of an affect. Therefore it would make sense to play games over a shorter period of time. The sport of hockey is used to the concept of festival tournaments. The World Cup is often played over a fortnight, continental championships take about eight days to complete with a similar number of teams involved as the Pro League. The most famous of hockey tournaments, the Olympic Games, are done and dusted within about three weeks. This would dramatically bring down the need to travel long distances for months on end.
Fixtures
The games have been sporadic, overlapped each other and occasionally poorly timed. Great Britain has both men’s and women’s teams competing in the respective gendered tournaments. There are a few matches during the month of June that have been scheduled for unusual times. A couple of the fixtures have been penciled in for 5.30pm on a Monday. Another one has been timetabled for 12.30 in the afternoon on a Tuesday. Who will be able to watch these matches? How many fans will be able to attend in person, or watch on the television? I would suggest that most people who would want to engage with this spectacle will, in fact, be at work, dealing with personal, or family issues, or will be otherwise busy.
European football games are often played midweek, but at pre-specified periods of the season, after most people have finished work. Kick offs are often starting within a standard timeframe, allowing to create an expectation from those who wish to watch of when to make themselves available. This allows fans to return home, go to the pub with friend to watch a game, or arrive at the stadium to become vocal supporters. If the Pro League is meant to be promoting the sport, then the FIH should be suggesting similarly habitual push back times in order to help create a buzz around the events. This would help to maintain fan and media interest, therefore helping to grow hockey.
Waste of Resources
Participation in the Pro League evidently comes at a cost. Otherwise, as previously mentioned, South Africa would not have pulled their men’s team out of the tournament. Travel and accommodation costs for players and support staff will add up over time. This is money that could be put to better use. The finances of governing bodies could instead be spent on domestic hockey, helping clubs to reimburse their players for time taken off from work. If we can create more part and full time players within national league structures then the standard of hockey will inevitably rise. Additionally, the money available could be shared around a greater number of federations, helping those outside the top ten to develop stronger national programmes, employ a greater number of coaches and generally create a stronger industry within the sport.
Conclusion and Alternatives
If the concept of the Pro League was to promote hockey, then, at the very least, it hasn’t been doing this adequately enough. It takes valuable resources away from a sport that has a large amateur base. Also, in a time when we need to be thinking about how to reduce our negative impacts on the environment and strive towards being net zero, we need to be looking at ways to have a smaller carbon footprint when travelling to events. Fans also need to be engaged further. Too many of the games are on pay-per-view television, with fixtures being played at seemingly sporadic times and locations. There is also a desire to have greater opportunities for lower ranked teams to develop, to learn and to try new things in competitive situations. Therefore we need to create further chances for movement between the grades.
The Champions Trophy was an elite level event that was liked by fans and players alike. It involved the winners of the major tournaments qualified for this bi-annual tournament It became something that was easily promotable and something that hockey enthusiasts willingly engaged with. It only lasted a short period of time and the centralised location helped to reduce unnecessary global air travel. A predecessor to the Pro League was the World League. This gave smaller hockey playing countries the chance to develop against teams of a similar abilities, before advancing to the higher rounds to play against better opposition.
I quite like the idea of the Nations Cup, with its condensed format and the aim of winning promotion to the Pro League. Additionally, the EuroHockey Championships are graded in to four divisions. Here the winners, as well as the runners up of a lower division gain promotion to the more prestigious event in two years time, with two teams moving in the other direction. This promotion and relegation system creates fan intrigue, media interest and the possibility of increased sponsorship. It is also a system that could be used in other tournaments that wouldn’t be as elitist as the Pro League. The tiered system allows teams to play against those of a similar ability, meaning competitive games (good for development, television and supporter engagement). The games can also be played over any period of time that is thought of as appropriate. At least it’s something to think about. Let us know what your ideas are…
