Ireland need professional game

MEN'S HOCKEY:With more nations playing hockey professionally, the sport here is going to have to face the prospect of moving players into full-time training just to keep up.

While professionalism in hockey pre-dates rugby's opening of the game, Ireland have always struggled to keep up with the top nations.

This week the Irish Hockey Association (IHA) acknowledged that this is likely to be a problem in the future. The teams which win world competitions are full-time, and as Ireland continue to play tournaments without their full complement of players, it is becoming one of the most vexed questions in the sport.

"With the hockey teams of so many nations around the world turning professional, it is becoming increasingly difficult to compete under a full amateur status," said IHA CEO Paul Varian this week.

"The association has recently announced a programme of athlete support that we hope will ultimately bring our senior national teams to the level of semi-professionalism that is necessary to compete regularly at Olympic Games.

"However, while we are receiving increased funding from the Irish Sports Council toward this programme, we are still some way short of the finances needed at this early stage.

"In that regard, the Olympic Solidarity grant from the OCI and IOC is a welcome boost to our national teams and is much appreciated by the association and the international athletes themselves."

Plans, announced at last weekend's annual hockey conference commit an unprecedented sum of over €260,000 to projects at national and branch level focused around increasing rates of participation in hockey here. The plans tie in heavily with the IHA's national development plan.

But where the money will come from to support elite players in their training and in their careers, which inevitably suffer, is what will determine whether Ireland play in the second tier of world hockey or mix with the best.

The side have just made the leap up into the European Championships. This summer's competition in Manchester against full-time players should indicate how far along the road the team have travelled and how much further they have got to do.

FIXTURES: Irish Junior Cup (quarter finals):Cork Church of Ireland II v Annadale II 2.0, Garryduff; Pembroke Wanderers II v Three Rock Rovers II 2.30, Serpentine Ave; Bangor II v Cork Harlequins II 2.30, Bangor; Banbridge II v Raphoe II 2.30, Havelock Park. L einster Senior League: Division Two -Suttonians v Avoca 1.0 Sutton Park School; PSBPP v Skerries 1.0 DCU; Clontarf vs Navan 11.15 Sports Link; Naas v UCD tbc Caragh Road, Naas; Weston v Kilkenny 2.45 Kings Hospital.