The Fieldhockey.com Archives

All the news for Thursday 5 July 2012

SA, Ireland draw in Dublin

PJ van Rooyen

World number 12 South Africa drew 3-3 with hosts Ireland in their last tour match in Ireland at the University College Dublin on Wednesday evening.

SA twice recovered from being a goal down to level the match with seconds left on the clock after both sides looked to dominate but lacked the final touch.

The Irish supporters were confident after SA lost 4-2 to their hosts last week in Lisburn, Northern Ireland.

South Africa were the first to appear on the scoresheet as Justin Reid-Ross buried SA's second penalty corner (PC) past Irish goalkeeper David Harte, who was left stranded after a typically powerful finish from the defender.

Ireland hit back shortly after with a set-piece of their own, which was saved off the line but was adjudged to have been off a SA foot, resulting in referee John Wright pointing to the spot for a penalty stroke, which John Jermyn netted past SA goalkeeper Jacques Le Roux in his first start of the tour.

Neither side looked to take the game to their opponents with most of the first period played between the two areas, but Ireland bagged their second of the evening five minutes before half-time, through yet another PC which was dispatched by defender Brian Doherty to give the hosts the lead at the break.

SA started the second half with two PCs shortly after the break but could not beat Harte. The tourists' best chance came 11 minutes into the second period when Ian Haley's effort was saved after clinical touches from Rhett Halkett and stand-in captain Marvin Harper led Haley to the area.

After the match continued in much the same way as it did in the first half with end-to-end action but without any results, Haley eventually did manage to bag his goal shortly after the hour mark when he deflected a PC to send the ball into the roof of the net, leveling the match at 2-2 with six minutes to play.

A frantic last five minutes saw Ireland take the lead for a second time when Michael Watt scored from the restart, sending the Irish crowd into raptures as their side threatened the SA defence.

SA left it late but a brave effort from Thornton McDade led him to unleash a shot past Harte and into the bottom left corner to draw level once more at 3-3 with 40 seconds left on the clock.

Courtesy the South African Press Association (SAPA)

SA Hockey Association media release

Ireland 3-3 South Africa - Ireland draw opener in UCD 3 Nations

Ireland opened their UCD 3 Nations test series this evening at the National Hockey Stadium. Despite a scrappy start 

Ireland opened their UCD 3 Nations test series this evening at the National Hockey Stadium. Despite a scrappy start from both sides putting in tough tackles, South Africa opened the scoring with a high drag flick from Justin Reid-Ross.

Ireland secured a penalty corner in the 20th minute and after the initial drag was saved by a foot on the line marksman John Jermyn stepped up to convert the stroke and level the sides.  Ireland continued to gain momentum and five minutes before the break Brian Doherty was on hand to convert Ireland's set piece low as his drag deflected off the keeper to make it 2-1. Ireland almost pushed further ahead with ten seconds left when Doherty threw a long overhead setting Carson up for a one on one with the keeper but the final finish went wayward and Ireland finished up the half with a 2-1 lead.

Ireland started in early attacking mode coming out fast with Jackson driving expertly up the right and crossing through but good keeping kept the attack at bay. Harte in goals then found himself rather busy staving off two consecutive penalty corners before denying Robinson and Haley for South Africa in an open play attack. Ireland immediately went on the counter but Hackett scooped the ball off the line clearing it to safety.

The game picked up pace as both sides showed pace and attacking flair including a great run from Magee whose reverse shot was denied. South Africa levelled the sides on their 5th penalty corner of the match when Ian Haley secured the goal deflecting in the drag. Ireland countered within a minute when Watt was fed through expertly finishing to make it 3-2 with just 6 minutes left.

Ireland were denied the win with 45seconds left on the clock when McDade reversed home to make the final score 3-3.

Ireland play Belgium tomorrow at 19.15 in the final match. For more click here

Ireland  3 (2) John Jermyn 20m ps; Brian Doherty pc 30, Mikie Watt op64m
South Africa 3 (1) Justin Reid-Ross 14m pc; Ian Haley 63m pc; Thornton McDade 69m op

Ireland:   D Harte; J Jackson; C Harte; R Gormley; S Loughrey; C Cargo; E Magee; J Jermyn; J Bruton; M Watt; D Carson
Reserves: Lynch; Dowds; Doherty; Carlisle; Cole

South Africa: Le Roux; Louw; Halkett; McDade; Cronje; Hykes; Haley; Gonsalves; Drummond; Panther; Madsen
Reserves: Jonty Robinson; Ricky West; Martin Harper; Llyod Norris Jones; Justin Reid-Ross

Irish Hockey Association media release

Euro tour will stretch SA hockey girls

JONATHAN COOK in Arnhem, Holland

Wednesday represented 25 days until the South Africa women’s hockey team’s opening London 2012 Olympic Games match against world champions Argentina and the side arrived at the 89-year-old Club Upward in Arnhem for two unofficial Test matches against world number one and reigning Beijing 2008 Olympic Games champions Holland, the first of which takes place at 4 pm (SA time) Thursday.

“The players have just completed a physical training programme over two-and-a-half weeks in South Africa with Dutch trainer Jan Stappenbelt, and Jan will again be working with the team during the current 12-day phase,” SA head coach Giles Bonnet said just before captain Marsha Marescia and the girls began their first of 12 busy training sessions that will take place during this tour, aside from the seven matches in the 12-day period.

It is clear that this 12-day phase will see overload in a physical and mental sense, with an eye to what the SA team want to achieve at London 2012 rather than focus only on the result of the seven matches.

The Arnhem leg of the team’s tour is followed by two unofficial Test matches against world number four Great Britain in London and then a Four Nations event in Bremen that includes hosts and world number three Germany, and world number six New Zealand - who will both be in South Africa’s Pool B at London 2012 – before the tournament ends against world number 16 and London 2012 Pool A side Belgium on July 15.

The 12-day tour is the first of three phases the SA team will undertake in the 25 days before meeting Argentina on July 29.

The second international against Holland is at 11 am (SA time) Friday.

SA Hockey Association media release

Angry Australia aim for hockey clean sweep

LONDON: Australia's men's team may be looking to hold all the sport's major titles by winning gold at the London Olympics but coach Ric Charlesworth was far from content as his team headed to the Games.

He's complained about the pitch that will be used for the tournament and slammed what he believed is an unfair match schedule.

And he insists reigning Olympic champions Germany could well defend their title after beating the Kookaburras in a warm-up competition.

"If I did the odds now, I wouldn't have us as the favourites, I'd probably have Germany," Charlesworth told the Wall Street Journal.

"At our best, we've got skilful, speedy, flexible players and a way of playing which allows us to get penetration but we're going to be competing against teams that have got antidotes to that."

In multiple world player of the year Jamie Dwyer, Australia have a potential man of the tournament but Charlesworth is concerned the relatively recently laid blue and pink artificial pitch in the Olympic Park won't have been played in sufficiently before the Games.

"The pitch is an issue," he said recently. "The ball bobbles a fair bit. It doesn't reward skill."

Meanwhile, Australia won an appeal over being handed three early morning starts in their group matches.

Charlesworth was furious when the draw gave his team three 8:30am games, which he said would require players to wake up at 5:00am in a major disruption to their daily tournament routine.

At the same time, Germany avoided the early time slot altogether in the opposite group.

Hockey Australia fired in an official protest and the Federation of International Hockey said it has re-scheduled Australia v Pakistan on August 7 from 8:30am to 10:45am.

South Korea against the Netherlands will be switched to the earlier start.

New Zealand appear to be timing their bid for Games glory in style after winning the prestigious Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Malaysia with a 1-0 victory over Argentina.

The Black Sticks haven't won men's Olympic field hickey gold since 1976 and, although ranked seventh in the world to Australia's first, could pose a threat.

"It is great to have won our first Sultan Azlan Shah Cup," said New Zealand coach Shane McLeod. "But we still have a fair bit of work to do before the Games start."

Eight-times champions India return to Olympic Games hockey, having failed to qualify for Beijing four years ago, although, given the last of their gold medals came back in 1980, they are not expected to be on the podium in London.

In the women's tournament, Argentina will hope to crown the brilliant career of seven times world player of the year Luciana Aymar, 'the Maradona of hockey', with a first Olympic gold.

"On the pitch she is magical and extra-terrestrial," said Argentina coach Carlos Retegui of Aymar.

Defending champions the Netherlands have been impressive in recent warm-up events but Great Britain's women are being tipped to do well in front of their own fans after only narrowly losing the Champions Trophy final to hosts Argentina in Rosario in February.

"We saw them in the Champions Trophy, where they were the best team there, and that is the level we expect we will see in London," said Hockeyroos coach Adam Commens.

The British men, ranked four in the world, are also medal contenders although it will be asking a lot to match the gold medal won by the 1988 side in Seoul.

Their opening match against Argentina takes place against the backdrop of the 30th anniversary of the war the countries fought over the Falkland Islands, a British overseas territory in the South Atlantic.

Argentina's Fernando Zylberberg caused controversy with a television advertisement that showed him training in the Falklands Islands.

"The video ended with the voiceover: "To compete on English soil, we are training on Argentine soil."

The Times of India

For hockey team, the ride has been bumpy

V Narayan Swamy

BANGALORE: The Indian hockey team had quite a journey from France to Santander, Spain, as they embarked upon the second phase of their European sojourn.

For one, their bus came 90 minutes late, leaving them with little time to check in and get on board their flight on Monday. Then there was the problem of excess baggage (equipment etc) which they were saddled with thanks to lack of planning. Transporting that by air would have cost them Euro 27,000!

"We were left with the option of getting our luggage shipped down by a trucking company as the excess luggage bill for the flight was in the vicinity of 27,000 euro. Unfortunately nobody back in India took note when we told them that we would be saddled with a huge excess luggage bill on thetour. When the day arrived, we knew we had no option," chief coach Michael Nobbs said.

The team management decided to ship the excess baggage for a fraction of the cost. Exercise physiologist David John and coach Clarence Lobo had to stay back in France that night and arrange for shipping. Then came another setback. "The luggage which the team had checked in went missing when we got to Santander. It arrived late on Monday. The luggage that we had shipped arrived on Tuesday, capping a long day," Nobbs said.

Meanwhile, the Indian team trained on the new blue turf, which Nobbs felt was not the same as the London pitch. "It's been down two weeks. This turf is not slippery. It is neither hard to run on nor is it soft. It is bouncy but not as much as the London turf."

India play Spain in the first friendly on Thursday and Nobbs hoped the team did not start slowly as in the past. "We really need this practice if we are to improve," he said.

Midfielder Birendra Lakra will miss the game due to a slight back strain but Nobbs said he would be fully fit soon.

India's schedule in Santander

July 5: vs Spain.
July 7: vs Spain.
July 8: vs South Africa.
July 9: Spain vs SA.
July 11: India vs SA.

3-Nation tournament:

July 14: India vs Great Britain.
July 16: GB vs Spain.
July 18: India vs GB.

The Times of India

Hockey India plans to stage IPL-style League in January 2013

Archiman Bhaduri

KOLKATA: Hockey India is planning a IPL-style Hockey India League in January next year. This month-long tournament which will start on January 10, will be played across six cities with six franchise-based teams locking horns for the coveted title.

HI official Kukoo Walia is now on a countrywide tour to survey the 13 shortlisted venues which included Mumbai, Pune, Bhopal, Kolkata, Ranchi, Guwahati, Lucknow, Mohali, Delhi, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore. The HI will decide on the final six venues based on his report by this month.

The team auctions will be held after that as HI prefers to have franchises from those cities only which will stage the matches.

FIH, the governing body of world hockey, has also kept a window open for this tournament. Hence some 60 foreign players are also expected to take part in this meet while some 100 Indian players will go under the hammer.

The format of the matches is also likely to see some new innovations with plans to spread out a match into four instead of two halves. Like the cricket IPL, there is likely to be timeout provisions for the teams too.

Each team is likely to buy a maximum of 10 foreign players but can play only four at any given time. Fielding one Under-19 player could also be made compulsory.

Things are expected to start rolling from the next month.

The Times of India

Bombay Hockey Association elections on, petition in HC withdrawn

MUMBAI: Bombay Hockey Association (BHA) can go ahead with its election for the managing committee on August 11, as a petition before the Bombay high court, seeking a stay, was withdrawn on Wednesday.

Over 130 players had approached the high court seeking stay to the election and a direction to BHA that it should consider the applications by the players to include them as members of the association.

"The high court, after hearing the arguments today, did not find any merit in the petition and refused to grant injunction. Following this, the petitioners said they would like to withdraw it," BHA lawyer Ajay Sethi said.

The petitioners had claimed that several non-players had been admitted as members, which was against the association's guidelines.

The Times of India

Revington to take over next month

By Hidir Reduan and Norhafiza Sallehuddin

SOUTH African Paul Revington and former Malaysian international Arul Selvaraj will officially take over coaching the national hockey team in August.

Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) president Tengku Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah said Revington, who will replace Tai Beng Hai, is expected to sign the official agreement before Aug 1.

"Revington will complete his existing contract with the Ireland national team and sort out his papers before coming here. An official agreement signing ceremony will be held as soon as he arrives," said Tengkui Abdullah in Kuantan yesterday.

"Revington has verbally agreed to coach the national team and will be the person in charge of the national team in the Champions Challenge 1 in Argentina later this year."

Tengku Abdullah explained that Revington came to Malaysia last month to discuss the prospect of coaching the national team and an understanding was reached between MHC and the coach.

New Straits Times

u16 Boys & Girls Take on England

Scotland's u16 boys and girls take to the pitch this weekend to both play two friendly matches against England at Forthbank Stadium in Stirling.

The games, despite being friendlies allow the squads the opportunity to get more international game experience under their belts and build upon recent performances.

U16 girls coach Bill Robson is fully aware of the tough opposition they face, but is confident going into the weekend. "The matches against England provide the perfect finale to the season. They will be a perfect opportunity for us to measure the squad's progress in a competitive and challenging environment. England with their huge talent pool will be tough opposition but during our recent trip to Ulster the team showed real signs of progress and are as well prepared as they can be. We go into the games confident in our own ability and ready for the challenge, tough as it may be".

Allan Law, the Scotland's boys coach says "The squad has been working very hard since November, with a view towards playing England. Our main objective for this weekend is to put in two positive performances, if this happens I am confident we will again two good results. "

The girls play on Saturday 7 July at 3pm then on Sunday 8 July at 10am

The boys play on Saturday 7 at 5pm the on Sunday 8 July at 12pm

Scottish Hockey Union media release

Aga Khan Hockey: Cops win match in tie-breaker

Pune City Police prevailed over Aurangabad district in a tight match at the Aga Khan Hockey at PCMC stadium, winning the tiebreaker 5-3 after normal time ended with the team locked at 3-all. Aurangabad’s Wasim Shaikh was the only player to miss in the shootout — all other police players converted, rendering Aurangabad’s fifth penalty unnecessary.

A brace from Vinod Nimbore left Pune police 2-1 up after 15 minutes, with Aurangabad’s Pasha Shaikh scoring once between his two strikes. Imran Shaikh equalised for Aurangabad at the stroke of half time.

Ganesh Giri Gosavi put Police up once more in the 41 st minute, converting a pass from namesake Ganesh Muthiah, but Pasha Shaikh scored his second six minutes later to bring things level once more.

In another match, Sashikant Biranje, Santosh Musale and Dhiraj More scored two goals each as Super XI thumped Rovers Academy 10-4. For Rovers, Sarfaraz Shaikh scored a brace.

Scores:

Pune City Police 3 (Vinod Nimbore 12’, 15’; Ganesh Giri Gosavi 41’) beat Aurangabad District 3 (Pasha Shaikh 13’, 47’; Imran Shaikh 35’) (5-3 shootout).

Super XI 10 (Sashikant Biranje 4’, 32’; Santosh Musale 25’, 29’; Dhiraj More 38’, 40’; Selvaraj Pillay 10’; Prashant Bhokare 12’, Prashant Gaikwad 14’, Omkar Gotal 44’) bt Rovers Academy 4 (Prashant Chavan 21’, Sarfaraz Shaikh 23’, 27’; Sachin Kamble 42’).

Indian Express