HOME     |      FEATURES     |      CLUBHOUSE     |      CAMPS     |      LINKS     |      ABOUT US     |      STORE     |      ADVERTISE
PlanetFieldHockey.com Home  
Highlight articles
from the last
International : Int'l Results
Unofficial World Rankings by Patrick Rowley There are 50 comments on this articlex50
Planet Field Hockey
Planet Field Hockey
September 15, 2003 4.5 out of 5
Pat Rowley
> Page Views 11340

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

                    M E N – WORLD RANKING 2003

(Unofficial)                                    (at 15.09.03)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

      PATRICK ROWLEY produces his personal and unofficial World Ranking List annually. The ranking is based on form over a period of time so that a one-off performance, is not necessarily given overdue weight.

 

Rank:  Year: 2003  03  03  03  03  02  02  02  02  02  01  01  01  00  00   

 1 Germany   (CT6) EC1pHm2 Wo1 Az2 WC1 CT2pHa1         CT1 Az1 Hm1 OG5 CT2

 2 Netherlands CT1 EC4p            WC3 CT1pRa1 KL3     CT3 Hm3     OG1 CT1

 3 Australia   CT2 Sy2 Pe1         WC2 CT5 CG1 Ra2 Au1 CT2 Az3 EA1 OG3 CT5

 4 Korea (Sth)     CC2 Az4         WC4 CT6 AG1 Ra3 Ad3 CT6 Az2 Hm4 OG2 CT3

 5 Pakistan    CT3 Sy3 Pe3 Az1     WC5 CT3 AG4 CG3 KL1 CT4 Az4 Hm2 OG4 OQ2

 6 Spain       CC1 EC2pHm3         WC11 Ha4 TK2        WQ2 Ma1     OG9 CT4 

 7 India       CT4 Hm1 Sy1 Pe2     WC10 CT4 AG2 Ra4 Ad2CC1 WQ5 Az5 OG7 Az3

 8 Argentina   CT5 PA1 Hm4 Sa1     WC6 Ha2             CC3 WQ1 Ct1 OG8 OQ7

 9 England /GB CC5 EC3 Va1         WC7 CG5 Mn2 TK1     CT5 Az6 Gn2 OG6 CT6

10 New Zealand CC3 Az3             WC9 CG2 KL4         WQ7         OQ10 Az6

11 Sth Africa  CC3                 WC13 CG4            CC2         AC1    

12 Malaysia    CC6 Wo2 Az5         WC8 AG3 Ad4 Ha3 KL6 CC4 Ea1 Az7 OG11 OQ6

13 Japan                               WC12 AG6 KL5        CC5 WQ6 EA3 OQ8    

14 France      EC5 Cc3 Li3 Ap2 Ca6     EQ1 Eq3 Ap2 Cc2 WQ9 Ap2 Cc3 Ap1 VT1

15 Belgium     EC6 Va3             WC14                WQ4 CC6 Ca3 OQ9

16 Poland      EC7 Ca1             WC15 Eq2 TK3        WQ3 Gn1 Ma2 OG12 OQ4

17 Canada      PA2 Va2             CG6                 WQ8         OG10 Az7

18 Egypt       Li1 Wo3 Ca4              Ca3            WQ13Da3 Ca2 AC2 Ca2

19 Cuba        PA3 Pq1             WC16 Mx1            ----------- AM1     

20 Scotland    EC8 Cc1 Li4 Ca5          Eq1 Mn3 Cc4    WQ11Cc1 Da7 Ed4 Cc2

21 Ireland     EC9 Cc2 Vi1              Eq1 Mn1 Cc1        Cc2 Da9     Ed3

22 Italy       EC10    Ap5              Eq2 Ap5            Mc1 Ap1 SG1 Ap5

23 Switzerland EC11 Li2 Vi3 Ap3         Eq2 Ap1             Ap5    OQ11 Ca4

24 Russia      EC12 Vi4                 Eq1            WQ15        -------

25 Wales       Cc4                 CG7 EQ2 Eq3 Cc3     WQ10Cc4 Ct3 -------

26 Austria         Vi2 Ap4              Eq4 Ap3             Ap6    -------      

27 Czech Repub.    Ap1                  Eq3 Eq3  Ap4        Ap3    Ap3

28 Chile       PA4 Sa2             ----------          WQ12        AM4 Am1

29 USA         PA5 Pq2                  Mx2            WQ14        AM5   

30 Trinidad T  PA6                      CA1            --------------------

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -------- - -------------------

Rank:  Year: 2003  03  03  03  03  02  02  02  02  02  01  01  01  00  00

 

                         I N D E X:

OG = OLYMPIC GAMES. OQ= Olympic qualifier.

WC = WORLD CUP. WP= World Cup Preliminary. WQ= World Cup Qualifier.

CG = Commonwealth Games. CT = Champions Trophy. CC = Champions Challenge.

AC=African Cup. AF=African Games. AG=Asian Games. AH=Asian HF Cup. AM=Americas Cup. Am=Americas Cup Prelim. EC=Europe Cup. EQ = Final Euro qualifier. Eq = European qualifier. PA=PanAm.Games. Pq = PanAm qualifier.

Ap=Alps Cup. Az=Azlan Shah. Ba=Barcelona Tournament. CA=Central American. Ca=Cairo Tourn. Cc=Celtic Cup. Da = Dhaka Tourn. Ed=Scottish Centenary. Gn=Gniezno Tourn. Hm=Hamburg Tourn. KL=K/Lumpur Tourn. Li = Lille Tourn. Ma=Madrid T. MC=Meditteranean Cup. Mx=Mexico Tourn. Mn= Manchester Tourn. Pa=Panasonic Tourn. Pe=Perth Tourn. Po=Poznan 2000 Tourn. Ra=Rabobank Tourn. SG= St Germain Tourn. Sy=Sydney tourn. TK= Three Kings 2002 tourn. We=Wettingen tournament. Wo = Worms Tourn. Va = Vancouver Tourn.

Vi = Vienna Tournament. P = decided on penalties

      ends

 

 

 

 

---------------------------------------------------------------------

                   W O M E N –  WORLD RANKING 2003

(Unofficial)                              (at 15.09.03)

---------------------------------------------------------------------

      PATRICK ROWLEY updates his personal and unofficial World Ranking List regularly. This is based mainly on major events but takes into account other results where necessary.

Rank    Year:  03  03  03  02  02  02  02  02  01  01  01  00  00   

 1 Argentina   PA1 RA3 Sa1 WC1p CT2p Ch1       CT1 AM1     OG2 CT4 

 2 Netherlands EC1 RA2 Kt6 WC2p CT3 BR1        CT2         OG3 CT1 

 3 China      -------      WC3 CT1p AG1        CT4 Kt1 EA3 OG5 OQ5

 4 Australia   RA1 Kt4 Oc1 WC4 CT4 CG3 Sy2 GT2 CT3 Kt3 EA1 OG1 CT3

 5 England     EC4 Kt1     WC5pCT6 CG2 CC1 Ma1 WQ1 Kt4     -------

 6 Korea (Sth) Kt2 GT      WC6pCC2 AG2 Sy1 GT1     Kt2 EA2 OG9 Tr2

 7 Spain       EC2 CC2 Kt5 WC8                 CT6         OG4 OQ4

 8 Germany     EC3 CC1 RA  WC7 Ch2 BR2 GT5     ----------  OG7 OQ3

 9 Japan       CC3 GT      WC10p AG3 Sy3 GT4   WQ4 Kt5 EA4 OQ7    

10 India       (Mo1)       CG1 AG4 Wq2 CC3 Ma2 WQ7         OQ10   

11 N.Zealand   CC4 Oc2 GT  WC11 CT5 CG4        CT5         OG6 OQ1

12 U.S.A.      PA2 CC5     WC9p Wq1 VB1 GT6 CC5    Kt6 AM2 OQ6 Ma4

13 Sth Africa  Kt3         WC13 CG5 CC4        ----------  OG10 CT5

14 Ukraine     EC5 (Mo2)   WC14 Eq1            WQ3       ----

15 Ireland     EC6 Cc1     WC15 VB2 Eq1 Ma3 Cc2WQ5 Cc1     OQ8 Ed4 

16 Scotland    EC7 Cc3 Va1 WC12 CG6 VB Eq2 Cc1 WQ6 Cc4     -------

17 France      EC8 Cc4 Ap2      Eq4 Ap2 Cc3    WQ9 Cc2 Ap1 Ap1      

18 Azerbaijan  EC9              Eq2

19 Russia      EC10 (Mo3)  WC16 BR4 GT3 CC6    WQ2 Gn1     OQ9    

20 Italy           EC11 CC6 Ap1     Eq3 Ap1 Ct1        Ap2     Ap3  

21 Lithuania                    Eq5            WQ* Gn2     ---------

22 Uruquay     PA3= SA3         Sa3            WQ14 AM4     Am1

23 Chile       PA3= Va3         Sa2            Sa3          Am2  

24 Canada      PA5 Va2     CG7                 WQ10 AM3    ---------

25 Kazakhstan              ----------          WQ11        --------- 

26 Malaysia                CG8                 WQ12 SE1    ---------

27 Wales       EC12 Cc2 Va4     Eq3 Cc4           Cc3 Gn3  ---------

28 Belgium                 Eq4             WQ13       ---------          

29 Czech Rep.                   Eq6 Ap3             Ap3     Ap4  

un Grt Britain   ------------------------------------------ OG8 OQ2

---------------------------------------------------------------------

Rank    Year:  03  03  03  02  02  02  02  02  01  01  01  00  00   

 

                              I N D E X:

OG = OLYMPIC GAMES. OQ = Olympic qualifier. * = withdrew         

WC = WORLD CUP. WP= World Cup Preliminary. WQ= World Cup Qualifier.

Wq=One off World Qualifier. CT = Champions Trophy. CC = Champions Challenge.

AC=Asian Cup. AG=Asian Games. AF=African Games. AM=Americas Cup. Am=Americas Cup Prelim. Ap=Alps Cup. BR= Bremen Tourn. CA=Central American. Cc=Celtic Cup. CG=Commonwealth Games. CH = Chile Tourn.

Ct = Catania tournament. Du=Dublin Quad. EA=East Asian. EC=European Cup. Gn=Gniezno tourn. GT= Gifu tournament. KT= Korea Telecom Cup. Ma=Mar del Plata tournament. MK=Milton Keynes tournament. Mn=Manchester Quad. Mo= Uno Moscow Tourn, Oc = Oceania Cup. PA=PanAmerican Games. PQ = PanAm Qualifier. RA = Rabobank Tourn.

Rs = Rosario Tourn. Sa=South American. SE=South East Asian. Sy =Sydney tourn. Te=Terrassa Tournament. Va = Vancouver Tourn. VB = Virginia Beach Tourn.

 


E-Mail this article to a friend
Rate This Article

Your opinion counts.
Rate this article or enter your comments below.

Opinions expressed here do not represent the official views of PlanetFieldHockey.com or its staff. Comments will be removed if they are considered offensive or of a personal nature.
Comments on this article
Navid
06-19-2003  4:38 pm 		Report this post
Reasonably fair rankings
 These rankings are fairly accurate.

However I feel India should be rated a better team than Argentina
in the men's rankings.

These rankings don't take into account the strength of the opposition at tourneys.
Let's face it the Asian Games is a far superior tournament to the
Pan American championships - Asia has 4 sides in the top ten compared to 1 from the Americas.

Yes Argentina did better at the World Cup than India and at the qualifiers, yet their head to head over the past 3 years has been in India's favour 3-1. India did better at the last Olympics, the Champions Challenge and have won a couple of major grade tournaments featuring top six sides in the past three years (the win over Aus and Ger in 2000 and Aus and Pak in 2003).
Now has Argentina won any such tournaments ?

I suspect Argentina are ranked higher simply because India had a dreadful world cup -- but I expect India will do better than the Argies
in forthcoming tournaments.
NZANts
06-19-2003  6:31 pm 		Report this post
Awesome, very interesting rankings. I cant disagree with what you have here
Brian S.
06-23-2003  3:49 am 		Report this post
?
 I realise that these are unofficial rankings, but I can't understand why several Asian countries have not made it in to the men's rankings. Teams such as China, Bangladesh and Hong Kong have been ommited, despite having attended some of the tournaments listed. Surely China must be within the top 30 ranking for starters. Perhaps HK and Bangladesh have not been to enough events to qualify, but then again, Trinidad appear only to have been present at one event. HK were at the Asian games, lost only by one goal to Japan, who appear to be fairly well ranked, were present at the East Asian Games, and are also Asian Hockey Federation Cup champions. Likewise for the women's team. One thing I would guarantee is that these three teams would beat/ certainly give any of the teams beneath the top 15 a run for their money.
Sourdough
06-23-2003  9:48 am 		Report this post
thank you
 Once again a thank you to Patrick Rowley for this gigantic effort. Realizing these are unofficial ratings, they are still an excellent conversation piece and give everyone something positive to talk about.
Mr A
06-23-2003  11:31 am 		Report this post
I Could not agree more, everybody will have an opinion about the relative subjectivity of the rankings but the bottom line is they are the best indicator out there at the minute. a pity that the FIH would not endorse them even though they post them on the website as they are a great marketing tool for the sport.

well done Patrick and keep up the good work !
Sourdough
06-23-2003  3:16 pm 		Report this post
winners/losers over the past year
 Biggest gains in the mens division over the past year on Mr. Rowley's rankings are posted by Ireland ( improved 11 spots), Italy (9), South Africa (7), and Switzerland (7). Biggest loses are by Cuba, Canada, France, and Chile (all down six spots) and the United States (down 5).

Among the women, biggest gain is by India (moves up 7 places), biggest loss is New Zealand (down 7).
Pesty
06-24-2003  10:01 am 		Report this post
Recent Series in Perth & Sydney
 Having seen the recent series in Perth and Sydney. India outplayed Pakistan every time. I know the Paks didnt have all the best players but you have to go by results. Australia wont the series in Perth beating India in the final. India in turn beat the Aussies in the final in Sydney.
YEN
06-25-2003  8:02 am 		Report this post
YEN
 WELL DONE , I AGREE
THANKS
hockey no hoper
06-25-2003  10:02 pm 		Report this post
Good stuff Pat
 Seems like a lot of work went into this and the rankings appear close enough.

Was wondering if your international results section could get incorporated into this as well. Maybe have a "played-won-lost-draw" table - this can be adjusted for the relative strength of the opposing teams, ie a team who regulary competes well against the top nations would be a stronger side than one with wins against lower ranked teams?

This analysis may also show a trend - that the higher ranked sides do in fact play more games than the rest (?)

Just a suggestion though.
Tom Harris
06-26-2003  12:58 am 		Report this post
Thank you, Pat. This is a lot of work for not much praise.
Hendrik
06-26-2003  1:06 am 		Report this post
very good
 I thik German should be no1 they are top team! Kuntz is big and great flick but most of all like ve fat guy no4 player at ve back crone shows us fat guys can play good hockey.
Gaurav Chhawcharia
06-27-2003  3:27 am 		Report this post
almost perfect..
although in men's section, India shud have been ranked ahead of argentina and pakistan going by the head to head to results of the last two years..
nevertheless the rankings give a good overview of the current world scenario of field hockey..
Canuck #1
06-28-2003  4:31 am 		Report this post
Opinions:
 Its obvious that the Germans are the team to beat right now. But from the 2nd seed to the 22nd seed there is much that could be debated.

I am not sure how Italy got such a high berth, they haven't won anythin since Mussolini barely took Abysinnia (Ethiopia).

These standings will change significantly in the next year. I expect Spain, Canada, New Zealand and Chile to make gains in the next year.
Barner
06-28-2003  7:19 am 		Report this post
Spain
 The only dark horse in the rankings as they defeated Germany at the World Cup 2002. They were in the group of death and would have probably got to the Semi Finals if they were in England's group.
Dizzy
06-28-2003  10:13 am 		Report this post
??
 What Trindad???? Where are the China men???? It seems like most Pom's,,, East Asian tournaments, are forgotten or overlooked...

How about Hong Kong or Banglasdesh...again come on...Trinidad would loose 10 nil to any of the teams above
Rak
06-28-2003  2:27 pm 		Report this post
Ranking
 Pat must be on some drug, he ranked paki an Argerntina ahead if India. I don't know what match he is wataching or report he is reading. He should check his stat again.
Pancho
06-28-2003  10:23 pm 		Report this post
speaking of missing teams
 where is the Netherlands Antilles---conquerors of the mighty USA at the recent Pan Am pre-tournament in the Dominican Republic? That should have placed them ahead of the Yanks. Some people called it a David beating Goliath---more like David beating Mini Me from Austin Powers.
bharath
06-29-2003  6:59 am 		Report this post
india is sidelined instead of its performance
 hi this is a good ranking but i think indians are sidelined as they have won against the aussies and also doing well at germany u should be well accurate
Pedro
07-01-2003  11:45 pm 		Report this post
Argentina - India
 Argentina always beat India , I think 5 out of the last 6 games, that why they are above...they are better!!! As you can see its done with Maths, not emotions.......Indians are emotional about hockey and that is nice...
james oluoch
07-03-2003  11:14 am 		Report this post
Kenya
 Thanks Pat for the good work, the rankings are fairly accurate but you forgot that country in africa called Kenya. Remember us ? we were ranked no.4 in the world as recent as 1972. We have not lost our skills overnight. We can beat Trinidad, Hongkong and Bangladesh ANYTIME. You don't gain or loose certain standards overnight.
Prince of Persia
07-03-2003  5:00 pm 		Report this post
Pedro - you're very incorrect
 of the last five meetings, between India and Argentina,
India have won on four occasions.

Sydney OLympics 2000: India 3 Arg 0
Sydney Olympics 2000: India 3 Arg 1
World Cup Qualifiers 2001 : Arg 5 India 3
Champions Challenge 2001: India 2 Arg 1
Hamburg Masters 2003: India 4 Arg 1

In fact the overall head to head is very much in India's favour: 18 -7
I think, even though Argentina have beaten India on some high profile occasions.

Not that I disagree with the rankings - Argies deserve to be ranked
higher than India because India have had this tendency of failing at the big tournaments - whereas Argentina had a fairly good world cup last year.

However, in my personal opinion ( I have nothing against Argentina -
I regard them as a wonderfully talented team), India are a better team
now -- I just think the Argies lack the creativity in midfield that India possess and there is the feeling in world hockey (not just shared by me but also by players from Germany, Holland and Australia) that
if Lombi's not on song, Argentina do struggle.
Mr A
07-04-2003  1:58 am 		Report this post
Guys.

you are all focussing too much on one off results or on tournaments outside the "majors". during these tournaments many of the top sides (and not so top sides) will experiment with styles and peripheral players thus it may produce the odd result which is not indicative of the relative strength of two countries. The only true test is where these sides finish when it comes to Olympics, World Cups, Champion Trophys and to a lesser extent their continental championships.

The rankings provide a good insight into relative strenghts particularly for sides not playing that many games a year.

i mean are we now going to get Canadians posting in to say they should be ranked about GB ? when if the full English side was there they would in all likelihood defeat them ?

Again .. Well Done Pat and keep up the great work for the sport.
Brian S.
07-04-2003  5:21 am 		Report this post
When was the last time that England played in the champions league, Mr. A? Itīs not as though they got particularly good results in the world cup or the olympics either, so perhaps it is not a great comparison, although I do agree with what you say to an extent...James Oluoch-youīre right, Kenya didnīt lose their ability over night-but itīs 2003 now, over 30 years since you were ranked 4th-Kenya wouldnīt stand a chance over Hong Kong, Bangladesh or Trinidad-you still play on grass-does Kenya even produce world class players anymore?
Cecil L
07-04-2003  8:25 pm 		Report this post
I thought the Champions trophy is an annual challenge for the top six sides in the world. Cannot understand how India is out of the top six rankings. India have won more olympic golds than any other country and have also won the world cup. Argentina have won, hmm oh the Pan American cup where the only other team in contention is Canada. Oh by the way these two were whipped by Cuba in the last Pan American Hockey tournament. Off course bottom placed Cuba propped up all the other teams in the last World Cup. By the way India also won quite a number of Asian Chamionships and Games gold medals. India, Pakistan and Korea are neck and neck, although Korea were eliminated from the top six Champions trophy.
Cecil L
07-05-2003  10:27 am 		Report this post
Noticed that the results for the Hamburg and Sydney tournaments were not included in the rankings. Apologise for the rantings above. However, it will be interesting to see where India moves in the rankings after the two first positons at Hamburg and Sydney. Two of the top hockey nations also participated in those tournaments which also included Argentina.
Toad
07-07-2003  11:27 am 		Report this post
Rankings
 It is interesting to note that despit there being 18 Ladies tournaments/series in 2003 to date, Mr Rowley's Top 10 exactly mirrors the results of the last World Cup.

As for the men, South Korea and Malaysia have been experiencing dreadful runs of form since the Asian Games and hardly merit their lofty rankings.

For those of you interested, I've come across another Ranking list on a South African website - www.planethockey.co.za

It also has its talking points, but then again that's half the fun, isn't it?
Mr A
07-08-2003  3:23 am 		Report this post
Cecil L - it is time to get a little perspective just because India was won more Olympics (over 30 year ago) that anyone else does not mean that this should still have a bearing on their current ranking. The same goes from the ridiculous comments about Kenya, if they are good enough they have to be out there playing International Hockey and proving themselves like other countries.

The rankings from the SA site are too skewed to recent results and countires are all over the place from month to month, hence i would have serious questions over the accuracy of their model.

Yet, again i think Pat has got it as right and better than anyone else in the World.
Cecil L
07-12-2003  1:12 pm 		Report this post
Mr A, you obviously did not read my retraction. However, the rankings in all sports are fairly volatile, and are amended periodically. You did not notice, the two most recent top class prestigious tournaments (Hamburg and Sidney) were not included. Also, Germany finished second in Kuala Lumpur. Holland are relatively inactive and as such should really drop down in the rankings.

If you say that olympic records (most grand prix of hockey) do not count for much, then you should explain the following phenomenon. Brazil did go through a dry spell ever since they won the world cup of soccer in 1970. However, if you do check the soccer rankings since then, you will find that they always figured in the top five in the seventies and eighties. The main reason, being that the Brazilians were always believed to have the talent that was at the forefront of soccer and capable of winning any tournament. Likewise India always did have the talent, but even at the time of the Willesden World cup, did not have an astro turf pitch in the whole of India. All the major Indian tournaments were held on dated grass pitches. The rules of the game and surfaces are changed significantly to favour the bigger, stronger and fitter European and Oceanic teams. Also, in a number of European hockey coaches (I happened to have been one) opinions, the Indian and Pakistani teams were always the more skilful sides, however, they have adapted at a painfully slow pace to the ever evolving and most fascinating sport of hockey.
Mr A
07-15-2003  3:04 am 		Report this post
Cecil L - i have seen the retraction now. it was not up when i posted mine despite the timing showing other wise. i think as a member my postings are automatic where as your as a guest go through a screening which delays them.

Agree with your synoposis of the Indian hockey transition from late 70s through to today in terms of playing surface and the game in general.
Waseem
07-22-2003  4:56 am 		Report this post
It's true that Indians have performed really well in last couple of tournaments but how can u say that Pakistan doesn't deserve to be ahead of india in the rankings???They lost in Aus because 3 of their top players were not playing and playing without top 3 players will affect any teams performance in the world. Didn't Pakistan win a tournament in Germany where they defeated the top teams????? And there performance had been good prior to that Germany tour. These rankings are based on the overall performance and if some people are arguing that India have won more olymipc Golds than any other nation then Pakistan have won more World cups than an other country. Similarly if someone argues that India defeated Pakistan in Australia so they should be ahead in rankings then why is Pakistan placed below South Korea who were defeated by Pakistan twice on German Tour?? It's simply because rankings are not based upon couple of games and that's why Pakistan deserves to be 5th in the Rankings and India is much much superior to Argentina No doubt about it.
Waseem
07-23-2003  12:40 pm 		Report this post
i meant Azlan shah cup in Ipoh(not Germany) where Pakistan defeated Malaysia twice, Won 6-1 against NZ, also defeated Korea and lost only one match 4-3 against Germany and too krevenge in the final beating Germany 1-0 which was quite good achievement and that wasn't long ago, it happened in March.
Aussie
07-29-2003  2:27 am 		Report this post
gw
 good work mate! People, stop argueing about the argentina india debate, whilst it is true that india has beaten argentina in most of their past matches, doesn't mean they are a better team, maybe they are only better at playing against the style of game the argentinians play. The truth is that the indian mens team has not performed well at the olympics and other large tournaments, whilst argentina has performed rather consistently. These are UNOFFICIAL rankings of what he believes, deal with it.
Brian S.
08-01-2003  5:03 am 		Report this post
Just a not to say thankyou to Toad for highlighting the South African hockey site, because it is far more accurate than Patrick Rowley's rankings, which does not take into consideration some of the less well known hockey nations. The only two "odd" ones there seemed to be were Japan-far too low down the rankings, and Chinese Taipei, who are a very good side, but their previous results in the AHF cup indicate that they should not be ranked quite so high up. And also, Aussie, you're absolutely right, these are unofficial, but these rankings suggest that if you aren't within a certain "niche" then it seems as though you don't exist at all, and it is a shame to see that such a widely played sport as hockey isn't competed in the same manner amongst the smaller nations as they are with the big guns. Hockey is being gobbled up by media attention towards football, rugby, and tossy American sports, but it is quite clear that, with the exception of football (referred to as soccer by some!) That hockey is played in more nations than any of the other sports, despite the fact that it has a comparatively small player base worldwide. It ought to be the duty of all those involved in the administrative aspect of the game to build on the internationl hockey community.
Braeden H
08-01-2003  10:58 pm 		Report this post
Hey John
 Hi Pat thanks alot for eeverything
Jampi
08-05-2003  8:35 pm 		Report this post
On the rise
 Pat, it all looks pretty acurate. It certainly motivates less known countries to fight for a spot on the list. I think you should start reserving a spot for the Netherlands Antilles. Cheers, Jampi
David
08-09-2003  11:49 pm 		Report this post
To Aussie
 I don't understand your logic mate.

India finished 7th at the Sydney Olympics while Argies 8th.
India finished 1st at the 2001 Champions Challenge and Argentina 3rd.
Argentina finished ahead of India in the World Cup and the World Cup
Qualifiers (where India were understrength). So its 2-2.
Throw in also the fact that India has won 4 out of their past five meetings with Argentina, and India are certainly a better side.

If u've seen these 2 sides play, there is lttle doubt India are a faster and more skillful team than Argentina.
Argentina rely too much on JOrge Lombi anyway.
Shahzad
08-20-2003  6:31 pm 		Report this post
sarcastic
 Its totally sarcastic.......
Chris
09-09-2003  4:10 am 		Report this post
Patrick Rowley's rankings
 Well done Pat. Another great effort. Some people will disagree but when will that archaic FIH finally get around to doing something similar. All leading sports now do this - golf, tennis, football, cricket, rugby etc. This would provide a great deal of extra interest in the sport and you could even generate sponsorship - eg the Zurich rankings. Surely there is someone at the FIH with some vision? Or is the problem that in Holland and Germany this is not popular...?
Expat
09-16-2003  2:00 am 		Report this post
ZIm
 Where are Zimbabwe?
zim
09-20-2003  1:30 am 		Report this post
expay
 zim is ranked 35ths
Chife
09-26-2003  8:48 pm