New man wants to make sport more accessible

GUERNSEY'S island men's team will be playing at home in the first round of the HA Trophy against Plymouth University on 6 October at Footes Lane. Under the newly formed Guernsey Hockey LBG's restructuring regime, one of the main focuses will be on the new men's Investec leagues, with six teams in the top division and nine in the second.

The majority kick off this weekend.

Another primary objective will be setting up the junior hockey league, which is well under way.

'It has historically had the perception of being a public school sport but has never been that exclusively. It's a sport that is open to all ages,' said newly appointed LBG board chief executive Andy Roberts.

Youngsters can start hockey in the island at the age of five - Year 1.

'We are looking to attract more and more players and tap into that resource. We want more primary and secondary school players which is why we have the Outreach programme,' he said.

'The seniors will develop as the juniors grow and the Business League is very important for the seniors.'

He stressed that the many people involved in local hockey from the grass roots to the top made a huge commitment to the sport.

It would struggle to continue without its financial backing.

'Sponsorship is our lifeline and without it hockey could not survive at its current level,' he stressed.

Two other board of director positions on the Guernsey Hockey LBG board have yet to be filled - director of marketing, sponsorship and communications and director of rules and umpiring.

The new LBG members are Guernsey Hockey Club, Independents, Unwantables and Mavericks.

Several committees come under the LBG umbrella - Easter Festival, junior hockey development, league and cup competitions, marketing and sponsorship, rules and umpiring and Island teams.

The long-term goal is to expand the Outreach programme, which is going to a number of secondary schools, after having seen an enormous increase in the number of primary youngsters attending the Sunday morning training sessions.

This is on top of the PWC school of excellence for the elite young players and junior teams.

'Our long-term goal is its future,' said Roberts.

The junior hockey development committee is new and more defined.

Senior leagues and the Business House leagues will be looked after by the league and cup competitions committee.

Sponsorship and media relations will be the main functions of the marketing and sponsorship committee.

The rules and umpiring committee will take over from the Guernsey Hockey Umpires' Association.

Inter-insulars, the HA Trophy and senior island representative teams will be dealt with by the island teams committee.

'The island teams are very important and we have resolved the issues with the leagues and cups.'

Inter-insulars are in Jersey this season.

Hockey now has what the former GHA wanted in the first place, with more men's Investec division one league teams taking the total to six and nine men's division two teams as well as five women's teams.

But the sport is battling with others for players.

'There is a lot of cross-over with a lot of sports. We have a lot of football and cricket players and try not to clash with the training sessions,' stressed Roberts.

He has plans to work on the senior women's competitions as they have only the odd ones and smaller tournaments, which he is keen to develop further.

'We have a lot of junior girls coming through. I think we need to generate another couple of teams in the next few years and arrange more fixtures.'

Under the restructuring, Guernsey Hockey will launch a new website by the end of the month which will include a comprehensive up-to-date results and fixtures service and news reports. It will become the main source of information for players and non-players.

Cooper Brouard, Praxis and PWC are hockey's three junior sponsors, Investec look after the main leagues and island teams, BDO Novus sponsor the umpires and the teams in the Brewin Dolphin Business House League have multiple sponsors.