Archive for month: December, 2018

Green Army members Ayeisha McFerran and Elena Tice have been nominated for 2018 FIH Hockey Stars Awards following an historic year. McFerran is nominated for FIH Goalkeeper of the Year alongside Ye Jiao (CHN), Maddie Hinch (ENG), Rachael Lynch (AUS), and Maria Ruiz (ESP). While Tice is nominated in the Rising Star category against Nike Lorenz (GER), Ambrosia Malone (AUS), Marijn Veen (NED) and Lucina Von der Heyde (ARG). The winners are determined by a combination of peer and public vote, so make sure to vote for McFerran and Tice before the voting closes on January 18th 2019. CLICK HERE TO VOTE

The FIH has announced a number of amendments to the Rules of Hockey that will come into force on 1 January 2019 for international sides.

Hockey Ireland will adopt the changes domestically from the start of the 2019/20 season.

• Introduction of the match format of four quarters as standard
In international matches, teams have been playing four quarters for some years and it is felt that uniformity in match formats can be achieved when all match formats are based on a four quarter principle. Like in international matches, time is stopped between the awarding of a penalty corner and the taking of that penalty corner. Other than in international matches, where this is covered by FIH Tournament Regulations, time is not stopped to celebrate goals as this was introduced primarily for television coverage. The four quarters has additional advantages at junior levels of the sport in which coaches often umpire youth/school matches and the additional breaks provide for coaching opportunities.

• Removal of Goalkeeping privileges for substitute field player
A mandatory experiment, with effect from 1 January 2019, taking out the option for teams to play with a field player with goalkeeping privileges. Teams have now two options: they either play with a goalkeeper who wears full protective equipment comprising at least headgear, leg guards and kickers and who is also permitted to wear goalkeeping hand protectors and other protective equipment, or they play with only field players. Any change between these options should be treated as a substitution. It is hoped that this experimental rule will enhance safety as field players will no longer have goalkeeping privileges so will not be entitled to use their body to stop shots at goal and it also enhances the promotion of the sport by eliminating the issue of outfield players wearing other shirts to indicate goalkeeping privileges.

• Defending free hits within 5 meters of the circle
The explanation for how to treat free hits for the attacker close to the circle has been changed in Rules 13.2.f. It has now been made clear that players other than the attacker taking the free hit must be at least five meters away, including when they are in their circle. If the attacker however chooses to take the free hit immediately, then defenders who are inside the circle and within five meters from the ball may shadow around the inside of the circle as per the explanation of the rule before 2019. This has the advantage of not preventing the quickly taken free hit which has been widely welcomed by coaches and players, whilst maintaining the 5m rule used everywhere else on the pitch to provide space for the free hit taker.

• Free hits awarded inside the defensive circle
As in Indoor Hockey a defender may now take a free hit awarded in the circle anywhere inside the circle or up to 15 meters from the back-line in line with the location of the offence, parallel to the side-line.

• Completion of a penalty corner
Rule 13.6 that described the completion of a penalty corner for substitution purposes and for a penalty corner at the end of a period, has been deleted. The option that a penalty corner is completed when the ball travels outside the circle for the second time, no longer exists.

These detailed revisions to the Rules of Hockey will be available from Friday 21st December on the FIH website.

A new state of the art hockey pitch will be laid at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus, providing a welcome boost to Ireland’s national hockey teams as they go in search of Tokyo 2020 qualification.

Today’s announcement comes on the back of recent strong performances by the Irish national senior hockey teams which are both ranked among the top ten nations in the International Hockey Federation (FIH) rankings.

The Irish women’s team claimed an historic silver medal at the 2018 World Cup in London in August, while men’s side recently competed in the World Cup in India following qualification for the 2016 Rio Olympics – the first time Irish hockey was represented at the Olympics in over a century.

To build on this success, Sport Ireland has commenced the replacement of the current sand-based hockey pitch on the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus with a new Polytan Polygras Toyko GT surface. This is the same surface that will be used at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and the 2022 World Cup.

Speaking at the announcement today which was attended by members of the Irish Men’s and Women’s teams, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Shane Ross TD, said:

“This is a very welcome and timely development for the sport of hockey. I was lucky to witness Ireland’s achievement at the Women’s World Cup in London earlier this year and to see the desire and determination the team played with while representing their country. This new world-class facility at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus will be of massive benefit to the preparation of not just our senior national teams, but also our up and coming players who will no doubt have been inspired by the recent performances of our women’s and men’s teams. This new hockey pitch is another welcome step in the development of the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus as the home of Irish sport and together with the excellent facilities already in place and those planned for the next few years, will support more and more Irish sportspersons in their training and preparation for international competition.”

Chairman of Sport Ireland, Kieran Mulvey, commented: “The Irish hockey teams have had a remarkable period of success in recent years. The women’s team captured the imagination of the country with their exploits in the World Cup in August; while the men’s team have gone on to represent Ireland with pride in the World Cup this year following their qualification for the Olympic Games in 2016. The Board of Sport Ireland is keen to see the sport of hockey continue to rise in Ireland which is why we have approved the replacement of the hockey pitch. This development makes a clear statement that the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus is the home of high performance hockey in Ireland.”

The new pitch will be constructed by Sport Ireland with day-to-day management of the facility becoming the responsibility of the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus operations company.

Chief Executive of Sport Ireland, John Treacy, added: “The sport of hockey has gone through a very successful period and Sport Ireland is keen to build on its support for the game here at all levels. The new pitch at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus will allow Ireland’s elite hockey players to practise on the same playing surface that will be used in the next Olympic Games, which will be a huge benefit to their qualification prospects and preparation for international competition. Locating the pitch here at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus will also allow players to avail of existing science, medicine and lifestyle support services through the Sport Ireland Institute.”

Chairman of Sport Ireland’s National Sports Campus Committee, Patrick O’Connor, said: “This development of this new pitch alleviates the need for Irish teams to travel abroad to train, giving them access to the latest in pitch technology here in Ireland. This will further reduce hockey’s reliance on club-based facilities for training, which are not always readily available, and will make the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus an attractive proposition to travelling teams ahead of the Tokyo Games.”

The next major event on the agenda for the Irish women’s team is the Hockey Series Final, which takes place in Ireland in June 2019, with the men’s equivalent taking place in France in the same month. Both the men and women will compete at the Euro Hockey Championships next August 16-25 2019 in Antwerp, Belgium.

Chief Executive of Hockey Ireland, Jerome Pels, said: “Hockey Ireland would like to thank the Minister, the Government and Sport Ireland for their support. As we build on the success of the women’s silver World Cup medal this summer, this is a crucial development in our ability to support the high-performance teams. The Tokyo specification hockey pitch at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus is an important part of our high-performance plan. We believe there are great benefits of being within the performance environment at the Sport Ireland National Sports Campus and having a direct connection with the other facilities such as the Sport Ireland Institute.”

It is expected that the new facility will be complete and ready for use in April 2019 at a cost of €600,000.

As an historic year draws to a close the Green Army have been nominated in several categories at the Irish Independent Sportstar Awards. They are nominated for Team of the Year, Magic Moment of the Year and Ayeisha McFerran is nominated for Sportstar of the Year. It’s simple to vote and there’s loads of prizes up for grabs, just click here to vote!