Lewers’ parting shot

DEPARTING Irish international Iain Lewers has claimed his decision to declare for Great Britain was significantly influenced by major flaws in Irish hockey’s top-level structures.

Lewers shocked the Irish hockey world last month by announcing his withdrawal from the senior men’s international team in order to make himself available to play for Great Britain (GB).

The 24-year-old Belfast-born defender, who recently signed a two-year extention to his semi-professional deal with Dutch club HGC, called time on his Ireland career after winning 89 caps in just four years.

Lewers, who played with Annadale before moving to the Hague last summer, will now be forced to spend three years out of international hockey, under eligibility guidelines laid down by the International Olympics Committee (IOC) and Federation of International Hockey (FIH) in the early 1990s.

Lewers says he has played his last game in a green shirt due to a desire to play in the Olympics, something he believes will not happen under the current Irish set-up.

“I don’t think Ireland can qualify for the Olympics at the minute,” he said. “It’s not because I think the players aren’t good enough, it’s because the structures at the highest level are somewhat lacking.

“From what I’ve seen there have been no changes in the past three years. I don’t believe the structures are there to help give these talented players the best possible chance of qualifying for major tournaments.

“I have to make a decision if I want to do something in hockey. I don’t want to sit back and wait and see if anything will be done.”

Lewers said he will declare for England when his enforced three-year hiatus from international hockey ends in July 2011, giving him 12-14 months to make the Great Britain team ahead of the 2012 Olympics in London, which they are automatically qualified for.

Iain Lewers (right), seen here during his Annadale days, believes Ireland won't make the London Olympics without improvements to hockey's top-level structures. Picture: Des Barry/Irish Examiner

“It is a selfish decision, but I’m the same as everyone else, I have goals and aspirations and as long as you have those you have to look after yourself,” he explained.

“I don’t owe anyone in Irish hockey anything, I gave four or five good years to it, I don’t think anyone can argue with that. I won’t especially miss international hockey, I have a decent way of compensating for it by playing in a league against top players, where every match is near-international standard.”

He added that he did not believe his decision would encourage other top Northern Irish-born players, such as Banbridge’s Eugene Magee and Mark Gleghorne of Instonians, to defect, insisting that “it’s a very personal decision, and it’s not something you come to lightly”.

IHA chief executive Angus Kirkland admitted it was a blow to Irish hockey to lose Lewers who, in a strange twist of fate, played his last game in a green shirt against Great Britain at the Setanta Sports Trophy in June.

“It’s certainly disappointing to lose a player, there’s no question of that,” he said. “Sadly, it’s somewhat out of our hands. He’s been part of a squad that’s been working and improving and getting better year by year, so it’s certainly disappointing.”

Lewers‘ decision came just a fortnight after the Democratic Unionist Party’s (DUP) Alastair Ross controversially called for Northern Irish-born players to be allowed to represent Great Britain, without sacrificing their international careers in tournaments where England, Scotland and Wales compete separately.

Mr Kirkland acknowledged that other players may explore the option taken by Lewers: “There’s obviously the potential for other players to look at what he’s done, but it’s an individual decision, and I know Iain didn’t make it lightly.

“Aside from the whole issue of moving from one national team for another, and all the pulls on the heartstrings that may or may not bring to someone, there’s the personal element of whether the player will make another team.

“The big pull in this instance is that Great Britain are guaranteed to the in the Olympics. They have a higher world ranking than Ireland and a bigger playing population, so that’s obviously something he’s weighed up and he’s confident in his ability to make that team.”

Ireland assistant coach Craig Fulton admitted that Lewers, who is widely acknowledged as one of the team’s world-class players along with former HGC team-mates Eugene Magee and John Jermyn, will be missed, but said the future was still bright for Irish hockey.

“It’s a huge disappointment. He’s come through quite strongly in the last 18 months, and in terms of going forward for the next cycle he was always in our plans, and now he’s not, so we have to back to the drawing the board and mix it up a bit,” he said.

“However, we have got a strong U21 group coming through, ten of whom were on display in the Celtic Cup, so we’re not in dire straits. There’s a lot of talent out there and we’ve got to harness it.”

Fulton believes Ireland’s improvement over recent years, which has left them on the brink of joining hockey’s elite, will deter other players from following Lewers‘ lead.

“The players that know what we need to do to perform, we’re not that far off. If we were drastically off the money I think it would be a different scenario (regarding people declaring for Great Britain),” he said.

“I think this group who have been through the qualifying tournaments know that massive changes aren’t needed, it’s just little details.”

“Iain will get his hockey in Holland but to take three years out of international hockey at the height of his career…who knows what will happen? It’s a tough decision, but you’ve only got one life.”

Lewers will become the first Northern Ireland-born player to represent Great Britain in more than two decades if he succeeds in making the 2012 squad.

Jimmy Kirkwood and Stephen Martin helped Great Britain to gold at Seoul in 1988, prior to a ruling in the early 1990s which prevented players representing both Ireland and Great Britain.

Lewers‘ move is not without precedent in recent years. Laurence Doherty and Marilyn Agliotti played for Scotland and South Africa respectively, before taking a three-year hiatus and declaring for the Netherlands.