Hockey deserves more support

Dave, do your research and find out. Hockey had 3 sessions a day for 14 days, with 15,000 per session.

No one plays football at my school, and the ones that do are Liverpool l, Man U tards ( tho they are my friends ) but that doesn't stop me supporting Brisbane. Although, sadly, I am kind of a bit embarrassed to be supporting my CLOSEST professional Football side !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

exciting to watch ?

"At the Sydney Olympics which sport ran second only to athletics in total ticket sales? Hockey." Find that hard to believe...Football had over 100,000 to the final and over 90,000 at the MCG for the Olyroos v Italy, plus crowds of over 60,000 and 70,000 at the MCG on other occassions, plus games interstate.

Yes, hockey can be technical - but nowhere near as bad as rugby union, a game that stops every 30 seconds and for which you have no idea why the ref blew his whistle. Hockey also does not translate that well on TV, a bit like AFL, because there is so much off-the-ball running going on and when the ball moves it's at a pretty fast pace. To all the knockers, go out to an AHL weekend in mid June at Homebush and you will be surprised at how fast the game is and the execution of skills at such a pace. Then go and watch a soccer game and it'll be like comparing a Model T with a Porsche.

All male sports Tifosi. You've forgotten about half the population. But then again commercial TV is run by men for men. At the Sydney Olympics which sport ran second only to athletics in total ticket sales? Hockey.

"Hockey deserves more support Why isn’t hockey a popular spectator sport in Australia? Hockey has always had a proud history in this country and the game has come a long way since it was played on grass and muddy pitches." Hockey isnt a popular spectator sport in Australia, because like in every other country in the world, people prefer other sports to hockey .. such as Soccer, Rugby League, Rugby Union, AFL, Cricket. Hockey is not the number 1 sport in any country in the world. I dont think it is number 2 anywhere either ... or number 3 .... I also dont see huge spectator numbers anywhere for hockey and I doubt anyone but die hard hockey fans would be able to tell us what the top hockey league in Australia is. As some people mentioned above, the lack of popularity of hockey is probably something to do with the rules ... some people enjoy playing it ... but it is not the most invigorating or exciting of sports.

I dabbled a bit at school and a mate played a season or two on the weekends, but really it was seen as a 'girly' sport by boys. Therein is the bigegst problem I think.

Thanks for the information, Jeb and JiMMM. No, I live in Sydney and don't have a generous broadband. But I raised the question in the hope someone would say whether SBS or One HD broadcast some competitions, such as One HD braodcasting netball. I "interviewed" my son about this post and he says hockey is too technical to be appreciated by a broad viewership. I told him that I don't know the rules, but the commentators usually explain what's going on, and consequently I enjoy watching. The replays are good. He said that there sould be an intercity competition as in Sydney v Melbourne to complement Tamworth v ...... I asked what he thought about membership fees. For a social group, that would be about $500 a year, but there are discounts for students. Maybe it's just as well that hockey is not tainted by a "franchise" mentality?

a weird thing to say after we have just won a world cup. maybe that argument holds the smallest bit of water with football.

It's so "international" but where is the premier club competition? Does it even have one? The other sports you just derided do.

Hockey is too international for Australian sports fans. They prefer AFL - no international competition, League - only two other countries play or cricket - only about 9 counties play and only 5 are any good, in a good year. That way Australia has "international" success all the time.

I do agree the technical aspects of hockey might deter the average Aussie. Technical also means disciplined, & Aussies like their 'freedom' on the field, whatever sport they play. I did an article not so long ago where i suggested wouldn't it be great if the leading rugby nations were similar to what you find in hockey (similar, I say). Imagine the 'big 10' of rugby - Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Argentina, England, France, Wales, Scotland, Ireland & Italy - & imagine that Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Korea, China & Japan were giants of the sport. Finally throw in a dominant Romania, Canada & USA. Now, that would be a genuine world sport!

Thelma as Jeb points out you can see hockey on Bris31 (if you live in Brisbane) or you can go to the EHL website http://www.ehlhockey.tv/ which stream live matches from the European championship.

The problem with hockey pushing forward from where it si now is that it does so against incumbents. The major football codes and cricket have a stranglehold on media time and revenue which gives them a strangle hold on the attention of the public and the battle for athletic talent. In sport it is even more difficult to break into such an established oligopoly, because once you have a mature market you have those sports psychologically rooted in our culture. It’s the same reason as to why these power house sports which are supposedly the “best” code struggle to reach the same level of appeal outside of their home markets. Football has a punchers chance of making it because it appeals to the immigrant segments of the population as well as having the EPL lever. Hockey has no such lever nor a different angle of appeal. Unfortunately hockey is, for better or worse, already consigned to it’s broader position in the sporting landscape. Is the quality of the game sufficient to support it being a mass spectator sport if it could get the support from the public certainly, but achieving that critical mass of support would take such a seismic shift in culture that it is difficult to see it ever happening. Just about every sport in the world could justifiably ask “why not me” the answer is generally luck and timing.

bris31 (community tv) shows brisbane club hockey games.

Does anybody know if any of the free-to-air TV channels broadcast hockey, and at what level?

I've played with some decent left-handed hockey players... another who was fairly uncoordinated and kept trying to adjust the stick to suit him. But he was naturally unco anyway so I don't think that helped :P

The difference between hockey and cricket is that fast bowlers come in with the intention of cracking a guy in the head, you know, blood on the pitch, wounded Englishmen everywhere, Aussies love that physical side of it. In hockey there is nothing like that, one of my kids played it and gees it was boring IMO, a penalty every 30sec. Having said that great work to the Kookaburras. Did some work at the Hockey centre here in Perth, very impressive centre and some great photos of bygone eras/teams and Australian players.

That was an pretty good call about the final fly, have to say I very disapointed by the performance of the Indian team, they were absolutely insipid at times (although not as bad as Pakistan). The Koreans though were a bit unlucky only missing out on goal difference.