Tuesday 3 October 2006

Hockey

The Dutch female field hockey team is performing rather well during the Worldcup in Madrid, Spain, at the moment. They won their first 3 matches and are leading group A and have good chances to reach the semi-finals. They won from England, Spain and India. The matches weren't the most exciting once, hardly I would say, but it is a trend in nowadays hockey that it is getting more and more "professional". With professional I mean down-to-earth/plain/business-like. No more exceptional tricks, special moves or dashing shows. It should all be straight, safe and simple. I understand that it is imperative to win and to consolidate the advantage. Also the differences between the teams are getting smaller and smaller. The golden years that the Dutch were dominating the world (as the Pakistani before them) are over and countries like Australia, Spain, Germany and some Asian ones are at the same level and give fierce competition. The game itself has changed (more zone defense and less man-to-man for example), but the physical state of the players has grown tremendously. In this field the Dutch were behind, as countries like Germany and Australia started with more physical workouts way before the Dutch.
I do miss the magical passes, tricks and moves though. It makes the game so much more vibrant, alive and fun to watch. I love the sport, but it starts to get a bit boring.

PS quoting a spanish hockey friend of mine: "Women's field hockey is not a sport. You can't compare men's and womens's hockey by far." Should I agree?

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