Aussie now confirmed as men’s hockey great
Roar Pro
By Guy Hand, 7 Dec 2009 Guy Hand is a Roar Pro
- Tagged:
- hockey, Jamie Dwyer, Kookaburras
Australian Jamie Dwyer has officially etched himself into the ranks of hockey’s all-time greats, winning a third world player of the year award in Melbourne on Sunday.
Queenslander Dwyer, 30, added hockey’s highest individual honour for 2009 to his 2004 and 2007 awards.
The honour capped off a remarkable week for Dwyer, after an outstanding performance in the Kookaburras’ 5-3 Champions Trophy final win over Germany at Melbourne’s State Hockey Centre.
And to further boost the celebratory mood in Australian hockey, 20-year-old NSW midfielder Casey Eastham was named women’s world young player of the year.
Eastham starred in the Hockeyroos’ march to the silver medal in this year’s women’s Champions Trophy.
Dwyer, originally from Rockhampton in central Queensland, splits his time between Australia and The Netherlands.
His wife Leoni is Dutch, and he juggles fulltime professional hockey for SC Bloemendaal with his Kookaburras commitments.
Dwyer has pledged he will continue his international career through until at least the 2012 Olympics.
“At the moment I’ve got a great balance in my life between hockey and family, between here and Holland, so I’ll see how my body holds up over the next few years – that’ll be the thing that decides when I retire or not,” Dwyer said.
“At this stage I’m looking to go through to London.”
Dwyer joins Dutch legend Teun de Nooijer as the only players to have won the world men’s player of the year award three times.
“I watched Teun at the World Cup when I was 13 years of age and he’s been in the top five players in the world since then,” Dwyer said.
“So if you put me next to him I’m rapt because I hold him high on a pedestal. Today’s capped off a great week for me personally and for the Australian team.”
Argentina’s Luciana Aymar shared the women’s player of the year award with The Netherlands’ Naomi van As.
It was Aymar’s sixth world player of the year trophy.
England midfielder Ashley Jackson was named men’s young player of the year.
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Michael C said | December 7th 2009 @ 7:27am | Report comment
Jamie Dwyer and the Kookaburra’s were brilliant,
including the 10-3 demoliation of recent olympics nemisis in Spain, and 4-0 in the 2nd half to come from behind and steamroll Germany 5-3 in the final.
And JD1, the best in the world
Ironic that perhaps in a city like Sydney – I wonder how many people were glued to the results of this major international competition as compared to the 100% domestic V8 supercars?? Which was the more significant sporting event??
Michael C said | December 7th 2009 @ 8:55am | Report comment
hmmmm, ‘s’funny, seems the biggest international event in Australia over the last week (weekend) has been mostly invisible.
The rest of the country must be a bit insular……..
Pippinu said | December 7th 2009 @ 9:02am | Report comment
I’ve been following the Hockey Champions Trophy since the early 80s, and have always enjoyed it.
The thing I’ve noticed the past decade is how the two sub-continent powers have dropped off.
Punter said | December 7th 2009 @ 9:19am | Report comment
It does show you how when a sport gains more popularity the lack of funds for sport comes into it.
I think India or Pakistan were gold medalist in every olympics from 1948 to 1984, bar 72 when New Zealand won it.
Since 1984 till present, Pakistan only won a Bronze medal in 1992 & nothing from India.
Pippinu said | December 7th 2009 @ 9:23am | Report comment
Punter
NZ won the gold in 76 – how can we Australians ever forget that!!
Republican said | December 7th 2009 @ 9:16am | Report comment
Love Hockey.
They have changed some facets of the game to make it more spectator apppealing however it remains a very low profile spectator sport here. It just cannot get the exposure that lawn bowls even commands these days on the tele. I beieve those who administer the game may have something to do with this.
I played it for 20years or more and still go to watch I/N games in Canberra. Many of my mates kids play but alas, I cannot coax my daughter away from netball to take it up.
I remember being told that I could no longer play footy or any contact sport again due to a medical complication, so a mate dragged me along to a school hockey club training arfy, after which, I was hooked.
Cheers
Punter said | December 7th 2009 @ 9:24am | Report comment
Oh yes, sorry about that. Only time we never had a gold medal in the Olympics & Fraser gave us the AIS due to it.
Michael C said | December 7th 2009 @ 9:28am | Report comment
btw – special mention to Ric Charlesworth, coming back to hockey and working with the blokes this time…..he’s got a golden touch.
DaniE said | December 7th 2009 @ 1:02pm | Report comment
Can’t wait to see what the boys are going to do at the 2012 Olympics… I’d love to see how they progress after this under Charlesworth’s tutelage. Funny how the men’s star is shining while the women’s has faded… maybe in a few years Charlesworth might go back to the girls to get them on track again!
M1tch said | December 7th 2009 @ 1:03pm | Report comment
I really enjoyed this, its a shame these guys when they play domestic games play in front of 15 people.
vinay verma said | December 8th 2009 @ 9:08pm | Report comment
Ric Charlesworth is arguably Australia’s best credentialed Coach across any sport. He was also one of the “greats” as a player. He played Sheffield Shield for WA and was close to Australian Selection.
Indian Hockey was in a mess two years ago and the International hockey Federation insisted india get their house in order and recommended Ric Charlesworth as consultant. Ric gave up in disgust and frustration after six months. The politics and infighting left him disillusioned. Australia is blessed to have him in charge of the Kookaburras. He was also a MP and is an Australian to celebrate.
Hockey is made for Television and it is a shame there is not more exposure for one of Australia’s most successful sporting Teams. This I believe was Australia’s 10th Champions Trophy. Making them the most successful hockey Team in history.
Robbos said | December 8th 2009 @ 9:30pm | Report comment
Very true, especially about Ric Charlesworth.
JiMMM said | December 11th 2009 @ 11:25am | Report comment
Definatelty a massive effort by Jamie to pick up world player of the year a third time.
Pip, the subcontinent teams dropped off after the introduction of Artificial turf because they are poorer countries and can’t afford to get enough of them to be where they were. Although Pakistan is ranked 7 in the world and India isn’t much below that.
M1tch, the last day of the tournament had about 5,500 people at the venue, more than what Gold Coast atracted for thier A-League match last weekend.
Vinay, I agree with everything in your post.
Hockey is one of those funny sports in that if you show it to people they can enjoy it and generally do, it is just battling against a low profile and a perception that it is a “girls sport”.