TV Coverage of Hockey
Written by; Tao MacLeod
The coverage of hockey is gradually increasing within the various spheres of media. We have blogs, podcasts and social media feeds all dedicated, at least in part, to the promotion of the sport. We have even seen some games shown on the mainstream national sports channels. TNT Sport (formerly BT Sport) has been showing FIH Pro League games, while the BBC show the occasional international match, normally during the major events such as the Olympics, or the European Championships.
This is all fine and well. Media coverage is an important aspect of promoting hockey to a wider audience. If we are going to attract more players and fans to the game, then showing matches, telling the stories and generating a greater level of interest in what’s going on then the television, or whatever device you watch your sport on, is a fantastic tool for doing so. This article is an exploration of what is happening in the coverage of hockey. What are we doing well? What can we do better? Where are we right now? Here are some of my opinions…
How Matches are Covered
There are a few different ways the hockey fans can put their eyes on a match, other than turning up in person. It’s good to name these different channels and platforms, before exploring what the similarities and differences are between them. Let’s look at what a few of these are:
- Mainstream media via free to watch TV, such as the BBC
- Mainstream media via pay-per-view TV, such as TNT Sport
- Online streaming via individual clubs, such as UDDYTV, or YouTube
- Online streaming via governing bodies, such as Watch Hockey
All of these platforms have a place in how we promote hockey. Some are good methods of developing hockey in ways that is different to the others, so it’s important to make the distinctions between them. Let’s start with the free to watch television. In the United Kingdom, the traditional mainstream channels are the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channels 5, who all show a variety of sports. ITV and Channel 5 are commercial stations and therefore what they show would have to be attractive to whom that they sell advertising. The BBC and Channel 4 are both publicly owned, but set up slightly differently.
It is the British Broadcasting Corporation that tend to show the hockey from the aforementioned. However, it’s often only the home nations, or GB teams (occasionally the Irish as well) that get the attention. Therefore we don’t get a broader sense of a tournament, such as the Olympic Games, or European Championships. Comparatively, the football equivalents would be more broadly covered. Basically, this is because there is balance to be struck between the amount of money spent on buying the rights as well as the cost to cover the sport, a league, or a tournament, and how many people will watch a game. The BBC and ITV share the rights to several other sporting competitions, such as the Football World Cup and English FA Cup and come to agreements on what games that they show. Programmes such as Match of the Day and Football Focus are watched by many people. Channel 4 has been showing the Paralympic Games since London 2012, with spin-off comedy show The Last Leg gaining popularity as a part of their Friday night entertainment package (something that hockey is lacking). Hockey is in a precarious position of almost being viable to show on a publicly owned channel, as it is only a low to medium interest to the general public.
Another way for an avid fan to make sure that he or she can watch hockey on a more regular basis is to subscribe to a pay-per-view channel. TNT Sport is the mainstream channel that has been showing the FIH Pro League, which is a smaller tournament within the global game. The channel itself has been recently taken over by Eurosport and is dedicated to showing a variety of sports, but is a commercial channel. Therefore, football and rugby are featured on a more regular basis. They show the various European Cup matches for football fans, as well as domestic premiership rugby, which means that people tuning in for those spectacles might stumble on to the hockey, but it is hard to tell how high or low that number is. I doubt that the powers that be will be making the viewing figures public any time soon. This may also off putting for those who don’t want to pay the monthly fee during a cost of living crisis and therefore can become a bit elitist.
Online streaming is an accessible method of watching live hockey matches. The FIH (the international governing body) have been promoting their own channel. Fans can download the Watch Hockey app onto their relevant device, or log on to the website from a personal computer. My smart TV doesn’t seem able to get access to it directly, but I can screen share from my laptop, or mobile phone. Some matches are free to watch, but many of the top-end competitions are placed behind a pay wall, with a season long pass available for a lower price than what TNT Sport charge for a subscription.
UDDYTV is a channel operated by Uddingston Hockey Club in order to promote their respective teams. A club with comparatively strong finances, they have been able to create raised areas for cameras to live stream their matches. They have more than one camera, a commentator and professional looking graphics in order to help the viewer to keep track of what’s going on during the course of the game. These videos can either be viewed in it’s entirety, or in clipped highlights packages across social media and on YouTube. They even have fun little segments that introduce the different personalities that are involved in the various teams. This is a good example of self promotion for others to follow.
TV Coverage of Hockey
When the matches are covered by a mainstream television channel, the production values are normally of a high standard, although there has been a few mistakes during the coverage of the FIH Pro-League over the years. The graphics are clear and colourful, with replays of major talking points throughout the game and good commentary from a diverse group of former players, coaches and personalities. Often there are a number of different camera angles shown to the viewer, providing different perspectives of what is going on. Other things are taken into consideration for a TV audience, as well, including the promotion of blue coloured astroturfs, that help people to follow a white hockey ball on the screen.
What we are missing, however, is a pre-match, half-time and post-match analysis of the game. There tends not to be any pundits provided as part of the coverage, which puts hockey below the standards of similar sports, such as football, or rugby. More often than not, at half-time the viewer gets an image of the pitch, without graphics, audio, or substance. This won’t help any potential new fan to engage with the sport, understand who the players are, or what is going on. It’s a simple thing, that can be rectified. Surely there would be retired, or injured players milling around the stadium, who would be interested in getting their face on the telly. A talking head in the spotlight will benefit the media profile of the person being asked for an opinion, as well as the sport itself and is something that should be invested in, if only to drive up the marketability of hockey. This, however, might not be financially sustainable for a commercial, or publicly funded broadcaster. Perhaps it is something for a streaming service, backed by one of hockey’s governing bodies, or run by a sports club to look into…
Online Streaming of Hockey
The various online platforms that are currently operating on the internet offer hockey’s various clubs and governing bodies a bit more freedom and control over what is presented and how that is done. The struggle for these channels are the costs of putting together a high quality and entertaining product and attracting the best and most experienced professionals to help with this. It’s difficult for many hockey journalists to make money out of hockey, as there isn’t much of it floating around. It would be unusual for the average podcaster, writer, or photographer to be making a living out of covering a sport that is broadly played by amateurs. Therefore most of these people tend to be keen hobbyists, promoting the game because they love doing so, perhaps to develop their own CV, or portfolio. This means that output of content can become rather inconsistent when compared to more mainstream channels.
There are a variety of different channels and platforms out there that live stream matches. Some are better than others. I have seen domestic clubs use a single camera, placed behind one of the goals, normally used by the video analyst, or assistant coach to assess the coachable moments and team shape after the game, which is then released online. This is, I think, a rather lazy way of promoting hockey and is not very helpful. A camera behind both goals are brilliant for fans to get a good view of short corners, or other events in and around the circle, however, not in isolation. The main footage of the game should be shown from a raised location (in order to get a good view of events and tactical nuances) from around the half way line, with at least two more cameras behind the goal. If the producers are feeling a bit flush, then additional cameras on the sidelines for close up images of game play can also give fans a sense of the contest.
Producers and directors should also be conscious of what is being shown in the background. Empty fields, behind the pitch is not a good look. Potentially worse is a view of other sports being played in an adjacent sports facility. If a new sports fan has tuned in to watch hockey for the first time, then it’s not a great look for them to see a game of five-a-side football being played next door. Most hockey stadiums within the United Kingdom only have one main stand for spectators which also provides the necessary height for good camera angles. However, if possible, efforts should be made to have the fans at the game in the background of the shot, instead of the irrelevances of the neighbourhood. The imagery of a sporting contest can help to create a sense of the environment. Showing the armchair fan a background of something that has nothing to do with hockey does the sport a disservice and doesn’t do much in the way of promotion. A view of the inside of the stadium feels a lot more natural and creates a connection between the person watching via a computer, or tablet, and the location of the match.
I’ve also come across live streams without any commentary. This does not make for an attractive piece of content to listen to. If somebody has gone to the effort of tuning in to a live feed, when other entertainment platforms are available, then they tend to want a bit more information about what they are watching. To have a good sports journalist, providing colour commentary, is a wonderful thing when watching a sporting spectacle. Top notch professionals such as Barry Davies and Ashley Morrison have been doing this deceptively hard job for ages and they can do so whilst providing useful bits of knowledge for the average fan. To say more than what can easily be seen is a difficult skill and one that not everybody can command. Insights from former players such as Simon Mason, Helen Richardson-Walsh and Nikki Alexander-Lloyd who have moved in to the media industries after retirement can also help develop a person’s understanding of the game. However, having these top notch people isn’t a necessity. Clubs such as Uddingston and East Grinstead regularly get players from elsewhere in their various squads to paint a picture of events, whilst live streaming a match. They know their own team mates and can have a bit of banter at the same time. This can be good enough, if working to a budget, and can be fun for those involved.
Conclusion
The increased ability for current hockey fans to watch the sport from venues and locations all over the world is fundamentally brilliant. Players and coaches can learn from other cultures about what it is they do, take in different approaches to playing and setting up a team and generally treat the sport as a form of entertainment. Watching hockey is a good method for self improvement and gaining a greater understanding of tactical nuance. In terms of gaining new fans having free to watch games, either on the mainstream media platforms, or via online streaming is the way to go. Pay-per-view is a good method of raising some money and professionalising the game, but a balance has to be struck in order to get more people interested in the first place.
A threshold might have been surpassed recently, a glass ceiling broken if you will. The Olympic Qualifying events for men and women were streamed on the BBC digital channels. The only games shown were those involving Great Britain’s men’s and women’s teams, but this seemed to be quite popular. The BBC had stated prior to the events that if viewing figures reached a certain number then they would be open to showing more hockey in the future and this target seems to have been reached. I personally sat some of my younger players down in front of a screen and showed them a couple of games after a training session got cancelled. The youngsters were enthusiastic about watching the elite level competition and the parents happy to follow this up at home.
I have a similar memory of working at a hockey summer camp, for a club based in Edinburgh. The 2022 Commonwealth Games were being shown on the BBC at the time and during a break in fun activities one of the other coaches brought up a Scottish ladies game against South Africa on his phone and got a bunch of lads to sit down and watch it. This was great for a variety of reasons. Firstly, kids were watching and enjoying hockey. Secondly, young lads were getting to see women play sport, which wasn’t the norm for those of my generation when we were growing up. Hopefully this can help us to move away from some of the current sexist attitudes in the future. Thirdly, these were youngsters, who would normally choose to watch more mainstream sports like football, were being introduced an elite version of a sport that their parents had signed them up to try over the holidays. This increase in variety gives sports fans actual freedom of choice. Long may it continue…
If you have enjoyed this article, then you might also like to subscribe to the Half Court Press Podcast, as well as our YouTube channel. You can click on the various images in this post to be taken to either of these platforms.
