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1. FIH: Hockey scores in Olympic television rankings – from WorldHockey

“Hockey has been ranked in the top half of all Olympic sports in a report analysing television coverage at the 2004 Olympic Games released by the International Olympic Committee.

On the eve of the vote to determine the programme for the 2012 Olympic Games, the report ranks hockey in the top half (13th) of the 28 Olympic summer sports. In total, hockey recorded more than 300 hours of coverage and almost 500 million viewer hours across the six continents monitored for the Athens Games.

The rankings for prime time coverage were even more impressive, with hockey ranked 10th in the number of hours broadcast in peak viewing times. In total, more than 40 hours of hockey was shown in prime time, equating to more than 165 million viewing hours around the world.

The result shows the impressive improvements made by the sport since the 2000 Olympic Games, where hockey was ranked in the bottom third in a similar survey.

“The International Olympic Committee report clearly illustrates the significant progress hockey has made over the past four years,” FIH President Els van Breda Vriesman said.

“The fact that hockey’s television exposure is now ranked in the top half of all Olympic sports is a significant boost ahead of the vote to determine the 2012 Olympic Games programme in Singapore on July 8.

“Also, our ranking in the top ten for prime time coverage shows hockey’s universal appeal and the demand for the sport in peak viewing times.”

Other findings of the report:

· Hockey received the most coverage and viewer hours in Asian countries, specifically it was popular in China, India and South Korea which made up 40% of the total Asian coverage and generated 92% of the viewer hours.

· Hockey was also popular in Europe, with Germany and the Netherlands together accounting for 38% and 68% of the European coverage and viewer hours respectively.

· Argentina scored highly for hockey; it came second globally for viewing levels and accounted for 87% of the Central and South American viewer hours.

· By viewer hours, USA was ranked third for hockey and accounted for 99% of the total North American coverage and viewer hours.

Hockey proved to be popular in South Africa, one of the country’s top Athens 2004 Olympic audiences of 1.5 million viewers tuned in to the men’s preliminary match between South Africa and India.”




2. Sumesh Putra 100th International Match – by Alan Waterman

Another first for Field Hockey Canada. This time the first Canadian male umpire to ever be awarded the prestigious FIH Golden Whistle. The award is presented to umpires who officiate their 100th International match. And that's exactly what Sumesh Putra did during the recent Sultan Azlan Shaw Tournament in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Shortly after his 5th match of the tournament he was handed the prize by Peter von Reth, Chair of the FIH Umpiring Committee. Sumesh finished up the tournament by umpiring the final.

For players these days, 100 caps can often be reached in a half dozen years or less. For umpires that's not the case. There are far fewer opportunities and only senior test matches count, which is why only 44 Golden Whistles have ever been awarded.

For Sumesh it's taken 15 years, representing Canada on the international scene since 1990. He was promoted to the top level of international umpiring, the World Cup & Olympic List (later known as the World Panel), in 1997. During his career he's umpired 2 Olympics, 2 World Cups, 2 Champions Trophies and the Commonwealth Games.

On the women's side, Marg Lanning was awarded her Golden Whistle in 1991 and Janice McClintock received hers in 1999.




3. 200 up for Ken Pereira

On the recent tour of England and Ireland Ken Pereira became one of only a handful of Canadian players to achieve the 200 international appearances milestone. Ken was first selected to play for Canada against Mexico in 1994, and scored the winning goal in the 1999 Pan American Games gold medal match. Ken has played in three Pan American Games, 2 Commonwealth Games, a World Cup, an Olympic Games, and an Indoor Hockey World Cup. Ken remains an enduring and dedicated member of the national team and aims at competing at the Beijing Olympic Games.

Ken Pereira




4. National Championships

Women’s Senior National Championship…

In Vancouver from 7 – 10 July eight provincial teams and the Canadian Women’s Junior National Team will compete over four days in the Women’s Senior National Tournament. On Saturday, July 9th, CBC is planning at the time to film the women’s semi-final matches starting at 12 noon and 2:00 PM on Wright Field at UBC. It is also hoped CBC might show up for a men’s match been BC and Ontario at 10:00 AM, also at Wright Field.

For more information and a schedule of the Championship, please see Senior Championship

Men’s and Women’s Under 18 Championship…

Winnipeg, Manitoba will play host to six men and women’s Under 18 teams from July 14 to 17. The event will be held at the 1999 Pan Am Games venue at 845 Concordia Avenue with teams from Ontario, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba all competing for medals.

For more information and a schedule of the Championship, please see the FHC web site at Under 18




5. Drug Free Sport

The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) is committed to promoting doping-free sport and is responsible for administering Canada’s Doping Control Program on behalf of the Canadian sport community.

FHC would encourage all those provinces with athletes and teams participating in national championships and Canada Games to make sure their athletes and coaches review all the doping control procedures that you can expect should doping control be conducted by the CCES.

The CCES provide excellent resources on their web site at www.cces.ca

Sample collection procedures can also be found at

CCES




6. Canada Summer Games - Regina

Canada Summer Games – Regina – August 6-20, 2005

Hockey will be played at the Canada Summer Games in the second week, August 14-20 at Taylor Field. Jenny John, FHC’s Technical Advisor to the Games has been working very hard with both Saskatchewan Field Hockey and the host society to make sure the field and all the technical officials are ready for a great week of hockey. A special big thank you to Jenny for all her hard work as the Technical Advisor.

Sally Bell, the Women’s National Team Coach will be in attendance at the Games for 3 or 4 days looking at Canada’s young talent. Janice McClintock will also be in Regina coaching the umpires for the week; Janice is an FIH Umpires Managers and coaches umpires globally at international tournaments - our Canadian umpires are fortunate to have this opportunity and time with Janice. Madge Johnson has been appointed the Tournament Director, another official with international experience so the athletes and coaches are in great hands for the week. Good luck to all the teams in their final preparation for Regina and best of luck on the pitch.




7. National Teams

The Senior Women’s National Team played Australia in a four test series in June. This was the first international competition for the team in 12 months and a first for new head coach Sally Bell. With a 5 week preparation period the priority for the team was to achieve some clearly identified performance goals which the squad had been targeting through the preparation period. In some of these areas the team was highly successful and the third game stood out as their most competitive.

The series was used to


· Expose athletes to quality opposition and a standard of play not previously encountered by many
· Give seven previously uncapped players their first experience in international hockey including four junior world cup athletes
· Evaluate the progress made during the preparation period in targeted technical & tactical areas
· Reinforce the need to focus more intently on physical preparation for international competition
· Give the staff an opportunity to work as a unit during a competitive event
· Analyze the Australian play in preparation for the Commonwealth Games in March 2006
· Provide an opportunity for the hockey community in Vancouver to support one of their national teams and to watch some international women’s hockey.


The game results were 0-1, 0-5, 0-1 and 0-6. After the series Sally commented “ The squad was very fortunate to have this competitive opportunity so early on in this new phase of the program. Although the learning curve was steep during the series the athletes are now clearly aware of where the program needs to go and what needs to be done to be competitive at this level. This is crucial in a program where there are limited competition opportunities against top six ranked countries .” The Canadian team will continue its centralized program over the summer in preparation for a six game series in August in the USA at Virginia Beach while the Junior Team prepares for the Junior World Cup in Chile in September.

The National Men’s Indoor team has begun its quest for the Indoor World Cup in 2007. The team is preparing for the World Games being held in Duisburg, Germany in July. This team is a young team with very little or no international experience. The team is hoping to get a medal but the experience will be critical as the team prepares for the Pan Am Cup in December. With Argentina and Chile showing signs of attending the Pan Am Cup, the Canadian team will need to get some experience. The team has been practicing hard over the last month and the coach, John DeSouza is pleased with the progress. As always the team would like to have more time to prepare. It is the support of Field Hockey Canada and the dedication and the hard work of the coaches and athletes that will make this experience a positive one.





8. 2005 International Masters’ Hockey Tournament – Melbourne, Australia

Hockey Victoria on behalf of the Australian Veteran’s Hockey Council is hosting a Masters’ Hockey tournament in Melbourne from November 10th to November 21st, 2005. Official invitations and entry forms will be issued on 1st July 2005 however the host is seeking general expressions of interest in the Tournament. If there are any teams interested in attending this event in Women Over 35, Men’s Masters Over 40 and Men’s Senior Masters Over 5, then please contact David Peebles at

peebles@iimetro.com.au





9. Special Notes

Mike McCoy was elected as the new President of Field Hockey Alberta replacing Tony Stewart. Welcome Mike. FHC wishes to thank Tony for his hard work and support in the past, in particular working with the office on both the National Schools Program and National Championships. Thanks Tony.

A big thanks again to all the national team support staff, volunteers, officials and BC staff that recently helped out in Vancouver for both the men’s and women’s hosting of Scotland and Australia respectively. Well done Canada!

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