Wales win something

[the other bob wilson]

I don't know as much about this as I should but my loose understanding is that there's a twofold problem.

Firstly, the money that comes into GB Hockey is almost exclusively filtered into the English set-up. There was a good example of the contrast between the two in the build-up to the Euros when warm-up games were arranged at Bisham Abbey (which is stunning by the way, what's the Welsh equivalent?). While the professional England team were there as part of a preparation camp, the Welsh lads had to take a half day off work then drive down from Cardiff, London or wherever two days in a row and basically step out of their cars and on to the pitch for a hardly surprising arse-whooping. The long-standing Welsh manager left to join the GB (England) set-up a few years ago because they could offer him full-time employment. As proud a Welshman as you could find but it was a no-brainer for him.

The second problem seems to be with the Welsh Hockey organisation itself. The boys were upset and demoralised to find how much they were expected to contribute this season, it felt like a real kick in the teeth considering the progress they've made on the pitch in the past few years. There's talk of Welsh Hockey going bust but, whatever the issues with funding, it's hard to believe they haven't been able to cash in on 3 Euros and a World Cup by sorting out any kind of sponsorship deals. There was a weird incident in India where a guy came over to where a few boys were sitting and said that Drakeford was keeping in touch with their progress and was trying to sort out a deal with Tata Steel but nothing came of it.

I'll try and find out more about the situation when my youngest gets home but I'm certainly under the impression that the boys feel betrayed by the lack of support they get. The sub goalie in India did his ACL out there, only to find the proper insurance wasn't in place and he still hasn't had the surgery on it 6 months on. The team had to book pitches and organise training sessions themselves this summer because the preparation schedule for the Euros was so poor. It's not a good situation and, as I said, it wouldn't surprise me to see more of the squad dropping out if the situation doesn't improve soon.

I know that with UK funding (lottery?) the likes of cycling are doing really well because it’s successful, but sports have to keep on being successful to continue getting the level of funding they want and there are those that have lost their funding cut completely because their standards have dropped from a peak achieved years ago.

This doesn’t sound like that sort of case if Wales are suffering as much as that compared to England. The mention of Drakeford is interesting because, with football and rugby enduring something of a slump at national level, the hockey team is a success story even if the Euros didn’t go as well as hoped - seems tome that the WAG could get involved more in something like this.

[Loramski]

I know that with UK funding (lottery?) the likes of cycling are doing really well because it’s successful, but sports have to keep on being successful to continue getting the level of funding they want and there are those that have lost their funding cut completely because their standards have dropped from a peak achieved years ago.

This doesn’t sound like that sort of case if Wales are suffering as much as that compared to England. The mention of Drakeford is interesting because, with football and rugby enduring something of a slump at national level, the hockey team is a success story even if the Euros didn’t go as well as hoped - seems tome that the WAG could get involved more in something like this.

I'm aware of the issues regarding lottery funding but I don't know where hockey stands there. England seem to be going from strength to strength for now (they finished runners-up in the Euros) so if funding has been cut to GB hockey it's not them that's suffered.

Drakeford was at a send-off for the boys before the World Cup and one of his sons used to play so I can believe he has a personal interest but I guess minority sports just aren't sexy enough to justify putting public money into them.

For me, the issue of sports funding is an important one. Covid showed Britain up as one of the sick men of Europe. If we cut down on the access to sport, be it in schools, grass roots or elite level, that situation is only going to get worse. If sport becomes more self-funding it's going to become harder for working class people to participate. There are all kinds of long term implications here, not that any politician thinks long term these days.