Revised Statutes and Bylaws for the International Hockey of Federation, aimed at making hockey’s ruling body more efficient in the new Millenium, were approved at the 36th. Statuary Congress of the FIH, held in Paris on November 25th, 2000. The changes see the FIH Council disbanded and a new Executive Board will come into being through elections at an Extraordinary Congress to be held in April 2001.

  The structure of the FIH was the major issue addressed at the Paris Congress. For a long time, there had been a general feeling that the existing set-up was outmoded and in need of change.
 The chief concern was that the FIH was not as efficient as it might be, since much of the work of the Council and Executive Board is duplicated.
 The Council of forty people has been meeting annually and the Executive Board four times a year. Yet several members of the Board were also Council members. The disadvantages of this duplication were raised in 1999 at the President’s Forum of the Continental Hockey Federations.

Working group
 A Working Group was established in Alexandria, Egypt in October 1999, to study the future structure of the FIH. The members of this important group were Tony von Ondarza (Venezuela), as chairman, Peter Cohen (Australia), Annabel Dillon (Singapore), Michael Krause (Germany) and Robert Watson (England).
 Their findings were drafted and presented to the Executive Board in February 2000. Final proposals followed and were sent to the Executive Board and the Council in April 2000. The plans were further examined at an additional Council meeting held in Amsterdam in June 2000.
 Once the Council had agreed the revised Statutes and Bylaws, they were forwarded tin September o all national hockey associations.
 The member associations took the opportunity for a lively and healthy debate at the Paris Congress before the changes were finally approved.
The key structural changes, that come about as a direct result of the Working Group’s initial report, mean the Executive Board will now be composed of a total of twenty-one persons, compared to ten in the past, and Council has to be abolished.
 In accordance with the new statutes and Bylaws, the Council was disbanded in Paris with immediate effect. The new Executive Board will be elected during an Extraordinary Congress which is to be held on April 21st, 2001, in Brussels.

The new structure
 The new Executive Board of 21 persons will consist of:
 
· The President, Honorary Secretary General and the Honorary Treasurer, as in the current structure.
(It was agreed that these positions should include at least one male and one female).
· Two Vice Presidents will be chosen, and again it was decided that, to ensure a gender balance, one being male, one female,
· Five Continental representatives (one from each Continent)
· One athletes’ representative.
· Ten elected Ordinary members (at least four male and four female).

Chairpersons of committees, if not elected, will become ex-officio members with voting rights.
 The first duty of the newly elected Board will be to appoint new committees, and these will be formed in close co-operation with the elected chairpersons.
 It was agreed that Congress will continue to be held bi-annually.

Juan Calzado, the President of the FIH, took great pleasure in making the following presentations:

Pablo Negre Trophy:
Jointly to the Australian HA and the Australian Womens HA.

President’s Award:
Ibrahim Almohandis (Egypt), Dr. L E Jubber (Namibia).

Diploma of Merit:
Evlyn Raistrick (Scotland), Dato Seri P Alagendra (Malaysia), Fumio Ogura (Japan).

Order of Merit:
Brenda Read (England), Robert Lycke (Belgium), Leandro Negre (Spain).

Fair Play Trophies:
Sydney Olympic Games: Women – Argentina. Men – Poland.

The following awards have been announced but have yet to be presented:

Pablo Negre Trophy:
Scotland.

President’s Award:
Dr Shams-Uz-Zaman (Pakistan), Takafumi Ishomura (Japan).

Diploma of Merit:
Avtar Singh Solal (Kenya), John McBryde (Canada), Roger Webb (England).

Order of Merit:
Pam Tye (Australia), Kathleen Watson (Jamaica), Jimmy O’Connor (Ireland), Robert Watson (Great Britain), Alan Woods (USA).

Guust Lathouwers award:
Corinne Pritchard (New Zealand).

Super Fair Play Trophy:
Lithuania.