English Hockey Association

ENGLISH HOCKEY NEWS

As you will have seen from the recent letter from the President many things have been happening in English Hockey since the Special General Meeting on 4th May. Most things have only begun really to happen, however, since 1st June when Hockey England Ltd formally took on the role of running hockey in England from the old EHA. The EHA has, of course, been a bit of a lame duck since the SGM in that although it was, and still is, legally a trading operation, with no ready cash available it could do very little apart from explain the financial position.

However, there have been some highlights which I will try to set out below.

Club Levy
Approximately 80% of all affiliated Clubs pledged their levy, as agreed at the SGM, by the first deadline of 1st June. This brought in some £200,000 which can now be used as soon as possible to begin paying off the EHA debts. It was a terrific gesture of support at a difficult time of the year for Clubs. Thank you to those who paid and we hope that the other 20% will in their turn be able to meet the second deadline in September.

Hockey England Ltd
As I have already mentioned, Hockey England Ltd, the new company set up thanks to the generosity of Stewart Newton of Brighton & Hove H.C., formally assumed control of English Hockey as from 1st June, although they have been paying basic running expenses since the SGM. On 1st June all the remaining staff were transferred to HEL and later in the month HEL also purchased all the assets of the EHA for a generous sum, which will also be used to help pay off the EHA debts. Finance is still a major concern and when Martin Tolliday leaves at the end of June, Brian Rowbotham will have full responsibility for HEL finances. Although he will be working for HEL, Stewart Newton has added to his generosity towards hockey by agreeing to cover all Brian's costs.

Running Hockey
Whilst we sort out the best way forward for hockey in England and set about drawing up a new constitution etc. we will try to retain as much of what the EHA did in previous seasons as possible, but in much more straitened circumstances this will mean that much that was funded centrally in the past will now have to be devolved elsewhere.

The three Strategic Development Committees, chaired by the three Vice Presidents, will continue to meet regularly to try to resolve future policies in their respective areas and the day to day business of running courses for coaches, umpires and, of course, players will continue, albeit in a slightly truncated form. Of the EHA's 10 RDMs, sadly three have now left and offices in the North East, East Midlands, London and South East have all closed. The office in the North West is also scheduled to close shortly. It has been a very difficult 6 months for the RDMs and it is a tribute to them that they have kept the flag flying so nobly over the period. Some are now having to work in less comfortable offices with fewer support staff and it is in no small measure due to their hard work and enthusiasm that the hockey part of the Active Sport Talent Camps will happen in all parts of the country over the next few weeks.

National Competitions and National League
The formats of all national competitions are being urgently analysed by various committees working to VP Laurie Alcock. It is very possible that there will be changes of necessity, some driven by the need for all competitions to be self sufficient in the future. Sponsors are being sought for each and every competition and one or two proposals are being considered, but there can never be too many sponsors so if you are aware of any potential new sponsors at any level please ask them to contact me at Milton Keynes in the first instance.

Wimbledon F.C.
There has been much speculation in the press about Wimbledon moving to Milton Keynes. It is their intention to build a 30,000 seat stadium in Milton Keynes if the football authorities give them final permission to move. They hope to move for the coming season and if that happens then they will need somewhere to play for a couple of years whilst their new stadium is built and they have decided that the National Hockey Stadium would be the most suitable temporary home. Wimbledon are in negotiation with The National Hockey Foundation, who own the Stadium, to see whether it would be possible to use the Stadium as their temporary base. If it happens it will mean the laying of a grass pitch and no hockey at the Stadium until Wimbledon move on. Although one views the prospect with mixed feelings, there is no doubt that there could be enormous advantages to offset the disadvantages for hockey.

Management Board and Council
Both these bodies have met separately and together on various occasions since 4th May. Whilst it is not easy to run any professional body through an occasionally meeting Council, there is no doubt that their links to the grass roots and their advice and support have been invaluable to those of us charged with keeping hockey going. In particular I must pay tribute to Mike Corby who continues to work untiringly for our future.

World Class Hockey Ltd
Although WCHL was formed on 22nd April, there is still close contact between all branches of hockey. WCHL are now totally funded by Sport England, so although it may seem an anomaly that they are still functioning as they did before 4th May, it is hoped that their good fortune in funding will give them even more chance of winning medals in Athens in 2004.

England recently took part in a competition in the new Commonwealth Games Hockey Stadium to test out facilities before the Games. There is still a lot of work to be done, but it was an enjoyable weekend and the Women duly won their tournament, even if it was courtesy of a last minute short corner against India. The Men were perhaps in a more relaxed mood and came second to Ireland. The men will be playing two evening games against Malaysia in the Manchester Stadium on the 25th & 26th June, starting at 5 p.m. on both days.

And if anyone is interested, the much postponed Women's World Cup Qualifier between India and the USA will now take place at Cannock over the weekend of 22nd/23rd June

I intend to provide a monthly newsletter along similar lines to this one in the future. I hope it will help everybody to be better informed about what is happening in English Hockey. Please feel free to come up with any comments or suggestions. They will all be most welcome

Ben Rea
Acting Secretary General

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