Columns & Podcasts about field hockey
Dear India. There are no shortcuts!
**Estimated reading time: 4 minutes**Dear India, There are no shortcuts to a lasting success in sport… or life for that matter. So please get your act together. The world of hockey does not need you… but we do want you to be a part of the success of our sport. Recently I wrote a piece about “What is happening […]
The European Championship starts this weekend
**Estimated reading time: 4 minutes**This Saturday marks the start of the European Championship. The EC is the 3rd major event in the world of hockey and one 3 titles every hockey player dreams of. With 6 countries from the global top 10 this event is right up there with the World Cup and the Olympic Games. Let’s talk about […]
Strong domestic leagues make a difference
**Estimated reading time: 7 minutes**Recently I talked about local hockey vs global hockey. Watching the HWL’s in London and Johannesburg I would like to share some of my take-aways from these events. The HWL’s are the qualification for next year’s world cup in Bhubaneswar (Odisha), India. With less than 500 days to go 9 teams have qualified already. But […]
The FIH global ranking is flawed
**Estimated reading time: 4 minutes**The global ranking in any sport is something that should be beyond any doubt merit based, and only merit based. And the second “conditio sine qua non” is all countries/participants should get the same opportunities to earn points. No one should be excluded. I think we can all agree without these two conditions you can […]
What is happening in India?
**Estimated reading time: 5 minutes**I was already working on another opinion piece on this website about where I think some of the priorities should be for those who govern our sport of hockey. But then I got taken by surprise, as most of you I’m sure, by the next episode in this soap opera Hockey India is putting on… […]
Will HPL save hockey?
**Estimated reading time: 8 minutes**A post Olympic year, such as 2017, usually is rather uneventful. At least for those following our sport without really being immersed in it. For the few hockey followers tracking all aspects of our game and looking beyond their own backyard this year has been “interesting” to say the least. Because most recently the FIH […]
The game is not just about the goals
**Estimated reading time: 4 minutes**We’ve had quite a lot of “innovation” – just another fancy word for change 🙂 – these last years in our favourite game of hockey. Some of these rule changes were not a big hit. Think for example the own goal rule¹.  But several were instrumental in making our game better. Think self-pass² or being […]
