NE14HOCKEY

We held our AGM last week and I am delighted to announce that the rumours of are demise, that were spread before the last league game of the season, were indeed greatly misplaced.

We had a big turnout of players at the event and a 100% commitment to carry on with our campaign to play a less serious form of hockey. Undaunted by our relegation we see it as an opportunity to play at a slightly easier level, which will be kinder on the old legs.

We have a couple of new faces on the committee to assist in organisation and are even talking about the dreaded T word before the season starts. Someone even suggested that we should cut out pre match drinking, but it was fortunately ignored. I have always found that it relaxes the muscles and eases pre match tension.

Another keeper and 2 a couple of extra players wouldn't go a miss but I am sure we will manage if no one decides to join us.

So look out the teams that will contest the NE14HOCKEY East League DIV 5NW next year our average fortysomethings are coming to a pitch near you.

So Far So Good

Well apart from a few Cup finals, Playoffs, European Championships and one Olympic Qualifier the end of the season approaches for most of us mere mortals. The Elite players will have their invitations to Spain and Thailand or wherever to ready themselves for Beijing while the rest of us will content ourselves with summer leagues and a wet May weekend festival somewhere in our sceptred Isle.

We are pleased with some of the progress the site has made in this first season and very disappointed with other aspects.

The GOOD bits

We were delighted to offer sponsorship to The East Hockey Leagues as a way of getting support down to the true grass roots of hockey. While we are delighted to cheer on Harleston Magpies in their quest for National League status that deal is as much about helping the teams in Div 9 in a small way.

Upminister became the first winners of a club sponsorship deal and we hope there will be many more in the future. They spent their £500 on some new keepers kit for one of their up and coming youngsters

Individuals who played our competitions also won tangible prizes to spend on kit at our equipment partner RDSports. Trinity, Peanut and jayarnold managed to break the £100 mark while others got enough for one astro shoe or half a stick. Our thanks to them all for playing and visiting the site regularly.

Almost 300 clubs have registered their details and are using the site as a vehicle to promote themselves. The blog, photo gallery and forum systems have been added to the original site to allow people to post information and pictures linked to their club page if they want to.

We have had wonderful support from the press departments of Irish and Scottish hockey and we sincerely thank them for providing us with so many of our news stories and content. GB are also keeping us update with progress towards Beijing.

The NOT SO GOOD bits

Participation by the major part of the hockey establishment has been abysmal. There is the opportunity for our sport to work together and improve the profile through a single vehicle. We have to compete with football, rugby and cricket for sporting headlines and we must shout collectively. The majority of league sites and county associations have ignored our approaches every time. We have asked them to register and offered to feature news items, all for free, but few have bothered. Led by England Hockey they have turned a blind eye to the site perhaps hoping we would go away or fail.

We accept that we are posting views that go against some of the views of the governing bodies and we are critical of the direction the sport seems to be taking. The drive for level 1 umpires at all levels, the age bans, the single system, and the time and money spent on elite tournaments are legitimate topics as far as we are concerned. The grass roots provides funds for the sport through affiliation fees and has a right to debate how the money is spent. It is time that these issues were discussed in detail because they will shape the future of hockey in these islands. If the establishment is convinced of their policies they should be prepared to debate them openly, but thus far they are not.

General levels of visitor numbers have also been disappointing but we are growing slowly and over time we believe players will use the site regularly to catch up with the news and their friends.

Lastly the support from the East League clubs has been most disappointing. You would have thought since we are supporting them and providing some financial support to the league that they would all have taken up their free registration on the site. Only about half of them have and it makes us wonder if we picked the wrong region.

The Future is NE14HOCKEY World

We have ambitious plans for next season and plan to feature much more about world hockey as Beijing approaches. GB and Irish Hockey has four years to get itself sorted out for the greatest sporting show on Earth and it might be another 60 years before we have the chance again. So the best players have the best chance of success will take a focused plan and we are not sure that the sport has one. The roots of the sport are shriveling and dying and there could be a lot of thin bare patches in the field if we don't act quickly. EH can not keep holding its hand out for more fees each year because teams and clubs are folding. They are partly the cause of that decline. We are determined to offer an independent forum to debate the issues affecting our sport and if necessary we will provide a rallying point for revolution and change.

As regular readers of my blog will know I am not a big fan of level 1 umpires in lower league hockey. However on Sunday I had the misfortune to witness a National League umpire performing no better at a local mixed tournament. A series of poor decisions cost Exiles mixed team a win in the second level final. Again many will cry sour grapes but even neutrals questioned the performance and it spoiled an otherwise good weekend. The award speeches were all in praise of the umpire's but I think we need to move away from this 'they can do no wrong culture'.

I have an alternative strategy for developing umpires.

Any game lower than regional premier should not have to have a qualified umpire. That way you would not need so many level 1's and only people who are enthusiastic, competent, and skilled need take the tests and become qualified. If there are newly qualified umpires available then they could be used by lower divisions to cut their teeth and get experience, but otherwise any one can take the whistle. The one's who want to do it can be coached, watched, assessed and progressed if they are good and have their qualifications downgraded if they are not. There is such a push for level 1's at the moment that almost no one fails the written test or to progress to full status after been watched. It is ridiculous, they cannot all be good enough, it requires understanding and vision to umpire not just knowledge.

I long for the days when players took their turn and other players kept their mouth shut because they knew it would be their turn during the season. We had a policy in our club that anyone critical was made to do it the next week. That kept them quite. Decisions were no better or worse but people accepted them because they were from other players doing their best. Now people get a bit of paper, think they know the rules and don't make mistakes, and the players also expect perfection.




A picture of umpiring as it should be, relaxed and trouble free.




The push for more and more players to take level 1 will only make things worse. It will ultimately drive teams from the leagues, as it becomes more and more difficult to find qualified umpires and players get fed up with games ruined by incompetence or even worse bias. Let lower league teams agree to play with unqualified umpires if they want to and stop imposing this destructive policy. Most level 1's I know took the exam because they had to to help out their club. They would rather play than umpire and some are bad tempered and distracted because of that. You may as well ask some of them to take up boxing they would be as good at it.

Well we didn't know we had gone down until the Monday but in truth we knew the writing was on the wall.

In a remarkable result St Ives 3rd's managed to lift themselves out of relegation and beat their own 2nd team. There were several places between them in the league but the 3rd's obviously wanted more!

Wisbech turned over Spalding but could not avoid the drop along with us.

We went out on the town in Skeggy and had a great time drowning our sorrows. Shrek was given one of his own mags in the end of season presentations.


and several of our number showed they couldn't last the pace


I can't recount much of the trip home as I spent most of it asleep, although I am told I led the singing at one point. Odd that, never sang in my sleep before.

Never mind a few more beers to be had this weekend at the local Brummitt Mixed Tournament. Its a hard life but someone has to pay Mr Browns taxes.

It was an exciting ride but in the end the young well coached Alford side were too good for us. 7 - 0 was a fair reflection and as I predicted both Wisbech and St Ives 3's won, so we needed to win and we were nowhere near good enough this day. Well done to Alford and Boston on their promotion, we are sure they will do well. We can look forward to another trip to Skegy next year as we have the pleasure of playing their second team.

Our demise wasn't down to this last game but some soft goals and poor play earlier in the season. We had a good celebration after the game, of nothing in particular, and we will now prepare to play in Div 5NW next year.

Watch out you lot the old gits are coming.