Field hockey is definitely not in a member of the ‘Big Four’ in Australian sport. The men’s team is number one in the world, and the women’s team ranked second. But in the social media landscape, it’s definitely the women’s team who are leading the way, with the Roovolution.
Hockey is only really mentioned in the media when the big tournaments are on, and only when the Australian teams are winning them (see World Cup, Olympic medals, Commonwealth Games, Champions trophy etc).
But the women’s team, the Hockeyroos, launched a campaign a while back called the Roovolution on social media as a way to engage their fans and create a connection between the players and supporters.
The reason I felt that this could hold weight as a full blown article, is it serves a good case study in how non-mainstream sports can get a foothold in social media. The major social media platforms are all covered, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter being the primary ones. The hashtag is used across all platforms as a way to identify and unifying their content and making it easier to find.
In their social media posts, the team often posts behind-the-scenes photos of the players preparing, or having fun when on international duties. They also post promotional shots of teams with their sponsor’s kit, which as anyone who is lucky enough to have a sponsor knows is the key to keeping them happy. Hockey sticks are expensive, and promoting them to the market of specifically hockey players and fans is a great directed marketing tool.
The Roovolution hashtag also serves as an easy way to find official news, photos and videos of the team on the various social media platforms. My personal Facebook feed has the continuing updates from the Rio Olympic qualifiers, to which both the men’s and women’s teams are going well.
This isn’t a dig at the men’s team for not doing something similar to this, or at any other sport. It’s more that I feel it’s worth calling out when something is working and what lessons other codes could potentially learn from it, again especially for the non-mainstream sports.
Engaging the Gen Y and Gen I in social media might get extra players into the sport. If they see their favourite players playing with a Mazon or Gryphon stick, they will likely buy those sticks. Much the same as junior football players all have the black Adidas boots, as that’s what the best players wear.
In closing, good luck to both the Kookaburras and the Hockeyroos in the Hockey World League Tournament which is serving as the Olympic qualifiers.
If anyone is interested in following the World League matches, it’s #HWL2015. You can following the women’s teams with #Roovolution and the men’s with #Kookaburras. Fox Sports are showing the games live, normally around midnight or 2am (AEST).
I haven’t been active on The Roar for a while, but old friends here would know - I am passionate about rugby. Getting into…
The jam-packed month-by-month quiz full of 2022 sports trivia!
AthleteTV is back for episode 3 and we have another impressive lineup of stars having some fun. This week we have triple NRL premiership…
The currently silent and vacant sporting landscape has brought on much reflection. Many Australian competitions appear likely to go to ruin in the wake…
The Hockeyroos begin their journey towards Tokyo this weekend with the start of the FIH Pro League. With matches scheduled in both Sydney and…
The Kookaburras missed a medal and the semi-final round at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the first time they have missed the medal round…
