Good foundations will help keep the house in order

It may have been on the cards for some time, but now that Belvedere have held their hands up and admitted they can’t continue in Division One, inevitable questions are being raised about the future of men’s hockey in Munster.

Southern Fried doesn’t have all the answers to such questions, but it’s as good a time as any to take the pulse of men’s hockey in the province, which has been struggling for some time with a widening gulf between the haves and have-nots.

When things go wrong in any community, the blame game inevitably begins, and the easiest targets are the powers that be. Anyone can look at a seven-team top tier comprised of just four clubs, shake their head and draw the straightforward conclusion that the Munster Branch haven’t got a clue what they’re doing – but it’s never quite as simple as that.

Consider this – a similar imbalance exists in a different sport in a different country, in a league that has millions at their disposal to solve the problem. Yet, in the Scottish Premier League, they still haven’t figured out how to end the Glasgow-led dominance of Rangers and Celtic. Sound familiar?

This is not to suggest the branch are entirely blameless – fixing games for 11.30 on Sunday mornings is hardly conducive to raising hockey’s profile, though that’s one of a number of issues for another day – but John Rose has a point when he says some of the onus must come upon the clubs to develop their own players.

The potential crossover appeal of hockey in hurling strongholds is evidenced by Irish international women's captain Eimear Cregan, who also played Ashbourne Cup camogie for UL. Picture: Adrian Boehm

To this end, there has been much talk over the last couple of days of clubs needing to build from the bottom up. Unfortunately, this realisation has come after too many clubs have seen the skyscrapers they envisaged come tumbling down, because they neglected the foundations of the structure in the first place.

Volunteerism, or more pointedly, its decline, is a thorny issue across all sports – just ask the GAA. But in a minor sport like hockey, it is vital to its survival. And in this regard, some clubs have inadvertently contributed to the downfall of volunteerism.

Not so long ago, the third and fourth teams of each club were served by a motley crew of former first-teamers too old to handle the top level, plus other 30- and 40-somethings who were never good enough to make the firsts anyway, but played hockey for the love of it.

These teams were immune to the win-at-all costs mentality of top-level sport, and their members talked a better game over a pint than they ever could dream of displaying on the pitch.

But they were also the lifeblood of their clubs, making excellent committee members, umpiring and coaching at underage levels and organising fundraisers.

However, somewhere down the line, clubs decided that winning Division Three or Four was suddenly a top priority. Promising 13-year-olds were parachuted into the thirds’ first XI, as participation began to come second to winning.

Unable to keep up with the increased pace and standards, the game stopped becoming fun for the old guard, and many superb servants were lost to clubs as a result – as, inevitably, were the third and fourth teams themselves.

It is therefore little wonder that so many clubs find themselves struggling to fill two teams these days, let alone have people willing to put out the cones on a Saturday morning.

Now we find ourselves in a situation where all and sundry are crying out for more schools and youth programmes, without enough volunteers around to run them.

Nonetheless, as one contributor to this website eloquently pointed out, time, investment and novel ideas are all still needed to raise the game’s profile at schools level.

Such initiatives face fierce competition from rugby in particular, which has blossomed outside its traditional strongholds largely thanks to Munster’s success.

C of I's David Hobbs teaches and coaches at Ashton, his alma mater, while a number of other Irish internationals partake in guest coaching roles at schools where hockey is in its infancy. Picture: Adrian Boehm

But, perversely, the rugby blueprint is something hockey can learn from. The sport has notably snowballed at grassroots level in Kerry, where Gaelic football is king – just look at the number of 06 area codes in the list of associate schools at MunsterSchoolsRugby.com.

The similarity between the sports has undoubtedly helped the transition from the round ball to the oval one. Certainly, it’s a bigger jump from sliothar to stick; but rugby has proven that it can succeed outside its traditional Protestant bastions.

However, as IHA western development officer Phil Oakley pointed out, there is a notable caveat in the fact that Irish hockey suffers from a lack of international profile to help boost participation at grassroots level.

Nonetheless, Belvedere, who saw their traditional supply lines from Mayfield and Douglas community schools drip dry, are attempting grow the sport in Colaiste Choilm and Ballincollig Community School. Similar initiatives, which provide tournaments for up-and-coming schools, are also underway in Leinster, and are worth keeping an eye on.

However, targeting primary schools – and introducing children to hockey before their head has been turned by other sports – may be a better long-term plan for both clubs and branch.

But first and foremost, hockey must find the bodies to carry out such tasks. Solid foundations, and all that. Reinvigorating the social hockey scene would be a good start.

What do you think? What can be done to help raise participation levels and the profile of men’s hockey in Munster? All comments and suggestions welcome!