A near capacity crowd, a thrilling contest, fans drinking cold beer while cheering their team to victory.
You’d be forgiven for thinking that I’m talking about Collingwood taking on their traditional rivals Essendon at the MCG on Sunday afternoon, or the crucial NRL fixture between the Melbourne Storm and Parramatta Eels on Monday night.
But this is hockey.
The Australian Ice Hockey League (AIHL) has progressed in leaps and bounds since its inception in 2000, to become the strongest league in the southern hemisphere.
With the IHC Mustangs becoming the league’s eighth team at the beginning of the 2011 season, expansion again looks likely with the Perth Thunder slated to enter the competition in 2012.
Furthermore, the next AIHL champion is set to face off against the winner of the NZIHL in the quest for trans-Tasman hockey supremacy.
There have also been discussions between members of the two leagues with regards to a potential merger in the future.
So if the AIHL is so fantastic why haven’t you heard of it? AIHL clubs are run on shoestring budgets and as a result players are only semi-professional, which means that the clubs assist players with playing costs on top of living expenses and finding employment.
Players also have individual sponsors who help ease the financial burden of playing the game for the love of it. As a result, there are no big television deals like we are seeing with the NRL and AFL and the league gets very little mainstream coverage.
Instead clubs rely on streaming audio and video of their home fixtures through their websites.
In what might be the biggest leap forward they are close to signing an apparel deal with Majestic (Major League Baseball and Australian Baseball League suppliers), which would ensure that a wider range of gear would be available for supporters.
Because of where the league sits in Australia’s already congested sporting landscape, the AIHL is unlikely ever to be shown on screens around the country, what they can offer though is the intimate fan experience that very few other leagues in Australia can.
The Icehouse in Melbourne, which has a capacity of 1000, is big enough to offer fans the comfort they would feel at any major venue while they are still close enough to hear every bone crunching hit.
Another great AIHL tradition is that post game players will mingle with fans, which enables fans, young and old alike easy access to Australia’s unrecognised sporting heroes.
So what does the AIHL need to expand its niche market?
I spoke with Melbourne Ice import Jason Baclig after his side’s shootout victory over the Gold Coast on Saturday night to find out.
“The professionalism of the league is second to none and we are treated very well… I never thought that there would be world class hockey when I started to play at this league. All of the imports here are working very hard to raise the profile of the league,” he said.
Baclig was also quick to praise the efforts of those giving up their time to make the AIHL a success.
“The league is taking real bounds with Daniel Eade and Tyler Lovering in public relations. People are telling me they are hearing us on the radio all the time as well as on facebook and twitter. With the professionalism in this league it is going to skyrocket.”
Another advantage to the AIHL is that it is more child friendly than most other sports leagues in Australia, as the smaller stadia often mean that the children are able to run around without going out of sight of their parents should their interest wane.
Additionally, if children (and in some cases adults) who attend games are bitten by the Hockey bug then this will lead to increased playing numbers, which are already on the rise in Victoria and New South Wales.
So next time you are sitting at home wishing there was live sport you could go and see, think outside the box and try something different, you never know what you might find.
So how can you get involved with your local team? Start by following the league on Facebook and Twitter as well as visiting the official site.
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