Sport | Field hockey |
---|---|
Jurisdiction | Australia |
Abbreviation | HA |
Founded | 2000 |
Affiliation | FIH |
Affiliation date | 1925 |
Regional affiliation | OHF |
Headquarters | Melbourne, Victoria |
President | Ross Sudano |
CEO | David Pryles |
Vice president(s) | Patrick Hall Sandra Sully |
Director | Brent Clark, Max Diamond, Sally Carbon, Joanne Scanlon, Craig Roberts, Colin Murphy |
Men's coach | Colin Batch |
Women's coach | Katrina Powell |
Sponsor | Australia Institute of Sport |
Official website | |
www | |
Hockey Australia [1] is an organisation that formed from the merger of the Australian Hockey Association and Women's Hockey Australia in 2000. It is the national body responsible for the promotion, development and administration of field hockey in Australia. Hockey Australia is a full member of the International Hockey Federation and comprises the State and Territory associations.
The British Army has been credited with the spread of hockey throughout the world, but in Australia's case, the British Navy deserves the honours. In the late 1800s, Australia did not have a naval fleet of its own and relied upon the Royal Navy for the security of the coastline. The British Naval officers stationed in Australia taught the locals the game of hockey and laid the foundations for a sport which Australians have developed and mastered. [2]
Hockey Australia is the governing body that oversees Australia's National Teams.
Hockey Australia organises National Tournaments, at various levels. These are as follows:
In August 2015, Hockey Australia announced its Indoor Australian Championships will be held in Wollongong in 2016 and 2017. The three-week festival of indoor hockey will be played at the Illawarra Hockey Centre, in Wollongong. Championships will be played in Open, Under 15, Under 18 and the Under 21 categories, as well as a new Under 13 event, over the 23 days. This is the first time all Australian Indoor Championships are held in one venue. [7]
Source: [8]
The Australian Hockey League is the premier field hockey competition in Australia, it began in 1991, with its arrival the Open National Championships were discontinued.
|}
The Open National Championships were discontinued from 1992 for the Men (The men held a competition called the Kookaburra Cup in 1994 [10] ) and 1994 for the Women. This coincided with the creation of the Australian Hockey League in 1991 (Men) and 1993 (Women) which became the flagship National Competition. In 2019 Hockey One was created to supersede the Australian Hockey League.
The Under 21 National Championships followed a full round-robin and semi-final (1st v 4th, 2nd v 3rd), winners play in the Gold Medal match until 2014.
Since 2014 these championships have operated with two pools of four teams, with the top two teams in each pool qualifying for the medal pool (1st-4th), and the bottom four teams qualifying for the classification pool (5th-8th).
Since 2018 the structure has changed slightly with every two pools of four teams. From there crossover quarterfinals occur with 1st place in Pool A playing 4th place from Pool B, 2nd in Pool A playing 3rd in Pool B and so on, this replicated the finals format from the World League. In the 2018 Men's Championship [52] it meant that Tasmania who lost all three pool games were able to win three knockout matches and be crowned National Champions. Under the format from 2017, [53] this would not have been possible.
The Under 18 National Championships followed a full round-robin and semi-final (1st v 4th, 2nd v 3rd), winners play in the Gold Medal match until 2014.
From 2014 onwards the championships have been contested by ten teams, with New South Wales and Victoria each fielding 2 teams, although in some cases it was Queensland and not Victoria. This required the creation of two pools of five teams each with crossover semi-finals of 1st in Pool A playing 2nd in Pool B and vice versa, the winners playing in the Gold medal match, loser playing for third place.
In 2016 the number of teams increased to eleven with the addition of a second Queensland team.
In 2022 this increased to 12 teams with the addition of a second team from Western Australia.
These four states' teams are selected as a First and Second team, these are their names: New South Wales State & New South Wales Blue Victoria & Victoria Development Queensland Maroon & Queensland Gold Western Australia Gold & Western Australia Black
In 2024, Hockey Australia shifted this age group to Under 16 [54] .
The Under 15 National Championships followed a full round-robin with the 1st and 2nd ranked teams to play in the Gold Medal match, 3rd and 4th placed teams playing for third place and so on, until 2009.
From 2010 to 2013 Hockey Australia did not play a finals series, so the winners were the teams ranked highest on the ladder after the round-robin competition.
In 2014 Hockey Australia increased the number of teams to twelve with the stronger states (New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia) fielding two teams each. This required the creation of two pools of six teams each with crossover semi-finals of 1st in Pool A playing 2nd in Pool B and vice versa, the winners playing in the Gold medal match, the loser playing for third place.
These four states' teams are selected as a First and Second team, these are their names: New South Wales State & New South Wales Blue Victoria & Victoria Development Queensland Maroon & Queensland Gold Western Australia Gold & Western Australia Black
In 2024, Hockey Australia shifted the age group to Under 14 and made it a National Championship [55] , with a focus not just on participation, but also excellence. It followed a full round robin, but added a playoff game to the schedule (e.g. Final/Gold Medal is 1st v 2nd, Bronze Medal is 3rd v 4th etc...).
The Under 13 National Championship was included as a full National Championship from 2011 (with the inclusion of all States and Territories). Prior to this, an invitational event was run and sanctioned by Hockey Australia but did not hold National Championship status. There are no finals series and the Champion is the team ranked highest on the ladder at the conclusion of the competition.
In 2014 Hockey Australia increased the number of teams to 12 with the stronger states (New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia) fielding two teams each.
In 2015 Hockey Australia renamed this event as an Australian Carnival, with the stronger states (New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, Western Australia) required to pick even teams in order to promote participation over elitism.
Despite this request Victoria continually picks a first and a second team as evidenced by their results (e.g. 2022 [28] Boys Victoria Venom 1st, Victoria Volt 11th, 2019 [56] Victoria Venom 1st, Victoria Volt 10th).
Other states have suggested averaging finishing positions to determine an Overall Winner (e.g. 2022 [28] Boys, Western Australia should be crowned champions, with WA Lightning 2nd & WA Storm 3rd, equals an average of 2.5, Queensland Runners-Up, with Queensland Cutters 4th & Queensland Sabres 6th, equals an average of 5, Victoria in third place with Victoria Venom 1st & Victoria Volt 11th, equals an average of 6, and New South Wales in fourth place with NSW Lions 5th & NSW Stars 8th, equals an average of 6.5).
Matches are also shortened to 20-minute halves with a full round-robin, with teams required to often play double headers (two games) in one day.
In 2019 this was changed to four 10-minute quarters.
Lacrosse in Australia is a minor sport, with a long and proud history dating back to 1876, with a small but dedicated community of participants and volunteers. The established centres for lacrosse are in the greater metropolitan areas of Melbourne, Adelaide, and Perth. In these cities there are organised weekend field lacrosse competitions for men and women at senior and junior levels, played over the winter months. In the off-season, there are informal box lacrosse and sofcrosse competitions, though the majority of players in Australia are mostly of the field lacrosse type. Some lacrosse is also played in Sydney, South East Queensland, Canberra, Ballarat and Bendigo, it is very much at the developmental level.
Winter sports in Australia encompasses a great variety of activities across the continent of Australia, including winter sports played in snow and ice such as ice hockey. Climate varies considerably from the tropical North to temperate South in Australia, and sporting practices vary accordingly. Ice and snow sports like Skiing in Australia are conducted in the high country of the Australian Alps and Tasmanian Wilderness. Australia has relatively low mountain ranges, but a long history of participation in recreational skiing and the Winter Olympic Games. Australians have won olympic gold in ice skating, skiing and snow-boarding events. Australia's generally flat geography and usually mild winter climate otherwise provide ideal conditions for international non-snow/ice winter sports and team games like rugby union football, rugby league football, and association football (soccer), which are all popular sports during the Australian winter and in which Australia has enjoyed considerable international success. Australian rules football is a home-grown winter football code with a wide following throughout Australia. Many other sports are also played or watched in Australia through the winter season.
The Australian men's national ice hockey team represent Australia in the sport of ice hockey under the jurisdiction of Ice Hockey Australia which is a part of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Australia competed in the Winter Olympics once, in 1960, when the team lost all of their matches. They have also competed in the Ice Hockey World Championships, 33 times with their best result being a ninth-place finish at the same Olympics with a 13th place in 1962. The national team currently are in division two after being relegated from division one in 2013 with the team being currently ranked 35th in the IIHF World Rankings.
The Australian Ice Hockey Federation, currently trading as Ice Hockey Australia (IHA), is the official national governing body of ice hockey in Australia and is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation. It was first established in 1908, making it one of the oldest national ice hockey associations in the world.
Hockey Victoria (HV) is the governing body for the sport of field hockey in Victoria, Australia. It is responsible for the administration of intrastate competitions, state representative teams, officials and the financial position of the sport. Its office is located on the ground level of the State Netball and Hockey Centre in Parkville.
InterVarsity Hockey refers to field hockey competitions in Australia between rival universities, dating back to 1908. The Men's and Women's competitions were organised and run separately until 1978, when they became a 'combined InterVarsity', before becoming part of the Australian University Games in 1993.
The 2014 Australian National Handball Championship was split into three stages. Stage one was held in Sydney during July for Under 21 & Under 18 titles. Stage two took place in Brisbane during October for the Open titles. Stage three was in Sydney during November for the Under 14 and Under 16 titles.
The Joan McKowen Memorial Trophy is the annually awarded championship trophy, of the Australian Women's Ice Hockey League (AWIHL), to the winner of the AWIHL finals. Originally donated in 1995, the trophy is named after Joan McKowen who died September 15, 1992 and her husband Maxwell McKowen died in 2010.
The National Rugby Sevens Championship is an annual rugby sevens competition hosted by the Australian Rugby Union. Tournaments are held for senior men's and women's teams, as well as for junior men's and women's teams with an under-18 age requirement. It is contested by teams from Australian states and territories, and National Indigenous representative sides, as well as teams from the Australian Armed Services, and Australian Universities.
The 2016 Women's Under 21 Australian Championships was a women's field hockey tournament held in the New South Wales city of Sydney.
The 2016 Men's Under 21 Australian Hockey Championships was a men's Field Hockey tournament held in the New South Wales city of Sydney.
The 2015 Under 21 Women's Australian Hockey Championship was a women's field hockey tournament. The competition was held in the Tasmanian city of Hobart, from 12 to 19 July.
The 2014 Under 21 Women's Australian Championships was a women's Field Hockey tournament held in the Western Australia city of Perth.
The 2015 Men's Under 21 Australian Hockey Championships was a men's Field Hockey tournament held in the Australian Capital Territory city of Canberra.
The Under 18 Australian Championships are Field Hockey tournaments held annually in Australia. The tournament hosts ten teams from around Australia, one from each of the eight states. The event is split into men's and women's tournaments, played usually in the middle of the year.
The 2014 Women's Under 18 Australian Championships was a field hockey tournament held in the Victorian city of Melbourne.
The 2015 Women's Under 18 Australian Championships was the a field hockey tournament held in the South Australia city of Adelaide between 8–16 April 2015.
The 2016 Women's Under 18 Australian Championships was the a field hockey tournament held in the Tasmania city of Launceston between 8–17 July 2016.
The 2013 Under 21 Men's Australian Hockey Championships was a men's field hockey tournament held in the Queensland city of Brisbane.
The 2012 Under 21 Men's Australian Hockey Championships was a men's field hockey tournament. The competition was held in the Tasmanian city of Hobart.