Studio Hockey

Sometimes you just have to kill the unicorn… before it kills you. No, do not fear… We haven’t gone off topic. We’re not doing fairytales, nor are we in the business of animal cruelty. A unicorn in this context has been defined by experts in innovation as one of these idea’s during a brainstorm session that should not be followed through upon. In this case we're talking about the FIH Pro League !



Read all about this at our blog be-hockey.com or listen to it here as a monologue podcast...



Recorded on 2019-05-07.

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Once again the EHL lived up to its reputation… In Eindhoven the hockey family came together over the Easter weekend and celebrated our sport.
Listen to my monologue following the 2019 EHL edition or read all about it at be-hockey.com...



Recorded at 2019-04-23.

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Jon Wyatt is the sports director for the FIH. He joins me, Ernst Baart, on our Studio Hockey podcast talking about some recent developments following a FIH board meeting in March of 2019. The end of the FIH Series, new qualification paths to the FIH World Cup & Olympics, more importance given to the continental championships and especially about the new world ranking being tested behind the screens right now and to be launched by January of 2020.



A good thing... because as mentioned in a previous podcast and this column at be-hockey.com... the current world ranking is a joke ;)



Recorded with Jon Wyatt at 2019-03-25.

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A monologue about Hockey5s.



In 2013 the FIH gave birth to hockey’s own Frankenstein’s monster. Contrary to the monster created by dr. Frankenstein this one has a name. We call it Hockey5s. 
Very much parallel to the fictional character from book and movies, I’m convinced some of you will have grown to like the monster. As I’m sure the monster will do some good along the way. Though I fear, as in the story, in the end the monster will come back to destroy its creator.
And about Hockey5s being as ugly as Frankenstein’s monster… Well, let’s just say “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”  😉



Prefer to read all of this? Click through to our be-hockey.com blog for the full text.

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Mike Joyce, director at The Hockey Foundation and the FIH talks to us about Hockey2024, the newest global strategy for hockey development due to launch in 2019.





The strategy has been presented at the recent FIH congress and will be officially launched in January of 2019.



Check out the podcast to learn more about it from one of the co-writers of this strategy to help grow the game of hockey in the years to come...

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Let's start by congratulating Belgium for their amazing progress resulting in a well earned silver at the Rio Games in 2016 and a first gold medal at the most recent World Cup. The secret to their success is a simple formula : a stronger domestic league + an ambitious long term plan/vision not just on paper but well executed + patience and a lot of hard work for many years = gold and a 1st place on the global ranking ! Mind you, the simple formula is not a guarantee but it will offer you a fighting chance to make the dream come true.



But let's talk about this global ranking by the FIH. Rumours are it will change one of these days, as it should with all of the disappearing and new events for 2019 and beyond. Think FIH Pro League replacing the Champions Trophy and the FIH Hockey Series replacing the Hockey World League.
Immediately after the World Cup a new global ranking was made public where Belgium moved to first place. Well deserved... But take a closer look and you will see several strange things. Points being awarded for invitational events, excluding other often deserving nations. Points being awarded, lots of points for continental championships where it's almost impossible to balance the difference in strength between all continents...
For example, the Netherlands finished 2nd at this world cup for a silver medal after qualifying for this tournament in an event where they had to win among 6 of the current top 10 nations. For this they get 650 points. Compare this to 630 points awarded to New Zealand for beating Papua New Guinea in their continental championships. Papua New Guinea barely makes the top 50 on this ranking.Or let's look at Australia winning bronze at this World Cup, earning 550 points for a medal at this level is worth the same as for example Canada beating the USA or Brazil in their continentals...



There is only one word to describe this : unfair !
Not exactly what you would expect or want as the description for a global ranking of an Olympic sport... I'm not even going to elaborate on the issues with countries who earned their spot in a major FIH event but get ruled out because the host nation, usually India, took their spot, even when they did not qualify for the event. Resulting in some free undeserved ranking points for one nation at the expense of another.



Anyway... rumour has it the FIH will soon launch a new global ranking. I hope it will be fair ranking with respect for the true sport values.



Allow me to propose a possible system, just in case the FIH is still thinking on it. I'm not sure this is a perfect system either but at least it will be more fair on all hockey playing nations.
I would propose a system where all games played in a recognised official title or qualifying event will earn the teams points upon result. So no points from friendly games, nor from test series even when recognised as official games by the FIH.
Points will be given for games played during the Olympic Games and the World Cup because these are the two major events in the world of hockey. As well as those games in official and recognised events meant for qualification for either the Olympic Games or the World Cup, such as the FIH Hockey Series or the FIH Pro League, the continental championships (including their qualifiers) and the Olympic or World Cup Qualifiers.
The points system should be very simple and straight forward :



a win earns you 10 points + 5 extra points if the team you just beat is ranked above you
a loss is zero points
a draw earns 2 points + 1 extra point if the other team is ranked above you




For performing well in the two major events , the Games and the World Cup, bonus points on top of these game points can be earned:




gold = +100 points
silver = + 80 points
bronze = + 60 points
4th (semi finalist) = +40 points
losing quarter finalists all get +20 points
participation but not making the quarter finals = +10 points




I'll leave it to the FIH or those who want to give it a go to

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Geen interview deze keer, gewoon twee hockey liefhebbers die over hockey “ouwehoeren”…

My thoughts on the FIH congress, hosted in New Delhi last weekend. Where the state of hockey and its future was discussed and decided...

Read the column here : be-hockey.com/the-proof-of-the-pudding-is-in-the-eating/

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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit my.studio.hockey/subscribe