Dear members of the European Hockey family,

The EHF offers its full support to Ukraine and the Ukrainian hockey family.

As part of this support, we have opened this FUNDRAISING PAGE for CLUBS and INDIVIDUALS. We urgently ask our hockey family to provide support. Read the Ukrainian Hockey President’s words
below and you will see how important it is that they get your support. Please donate (by clicking on the link above) – even the smallest amount will help. All funds will be used for current and future needs.

Serhiy Dontsov, President of the Ukrainian Hockey Federation, said: “The war caused by Russian
aggression brought great disasters, destruction, and countless victims to the Ukrainian people. Many
citizens of Ukraine were left without a roof over their heads as a result of the barbaric bombardments of
our peaceful cities. Many Ukrainian people left their homes, fleeing the horrors of war and became
forced refugees. The consequences of this war will be felt in Ukraine for a long time to come. We are
grateful to everyone who aids our country. Only in unity can we survive and endure in this difficult time. I
am grateful to the European Hockey Federation for the initiative to create a platform to help the hockey
family of Ukraine. All your donations will help the restoration and development of hockey in Ukraine.”

Regards,
Angus Kirkland
Director Genera

Message from Trevor Watkins, Chairperson of Hockey Ireland and addressed to the
Provinces, Clubs and members of Hockey Ireland: Read here.

A notice of changes to the membership fees for the 2021/22 fees to be introduced after the Hockey Ireland AGM on 20 May 2021 has been circulated to the Clubs. Some important changes to the fee structure are going to be introduced:

Following an extensive consultation process with the Branches and Clubs, the introduction of a new online membership system has now been achieved, with the result that we have a national database for the sport of hockey with the capability to gather reliable and accurate information about those who participate in hockey in Ireland while ensuring all GDPR requirements are being adhered to. Over 30,000 playing members are now registered on Hockey Ireland’s membership system.

The next phase of rollout will see added functionality enhancing day-to-day management and administration benefiting clubs, branches, and ultimately all our members.

This added functionality will provide accurate national player information which is crucial to the development of the sport across the island of Ireland, in supporting Hockey Ireland’s sport grant applications and to also assist in marketing and commercial sponsorship.

To read more about the new membership system, click here

The EuroHockey Championships starts in 2 days and our mighty girls in green take on the hosts Holland on Saturday 5th June at 2.30pm. All the matches are being shown on RTE2.

Look out for number 17 Hannah McLoughlin and number 30 Sarah McAuley in particular who started their hockey career at Avoca Hockey Club.

It’s going to be a tough encounter as the Netherlands are the World Cup Holders; but this is excellent preparation for the Olympics next month when the two sides meet again in Tokyo!

See here the announcement from Hockey Ireland regarding Covid protocols for return to play on the 26th April 2021 for all players U18 years of age.

Dear Hockey Ireland Members

I am absolutely delighted to be able to present, the new Hockey Ireland Strategy 2021-2024, ‘Change the Game’ to you. This strategy document is the culmination of months of hard work by volunteers and staff across the entire Hockey family.  

I would like to thank each and every one of you for your contribution in setting out our ambitions for the next four years, particularly during what has been a very difficult period due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Strategically, our focus will be on the following: 

1. Safeguarding our sports future through developing a financially secure and commercially focused organisation.
2. Broadening and growing our Hockey community by providing leadership and direction to ensure the enhancement of member services to all of our clubs.
3. Maximising our potential as a High-Performance sport.
4. Leading our sport by ensuring that we are operating to the highest standards at all levels throughout the organisation.
5. Engaging professionally with all of our stakeholders to build meaningful, positive and collaborative relationships.
6. Establishing Hockey Ireland as a nationally respected sports brand.

As you read through the document you will see that there are key actions and delivery goals linked to the achievement of our objectives in each of the six strategic pillars. 

One of the pillars, ‘Leading our Sport’, has the following key action, ‘to provide national leadership on key structures, models, processes and pathways’

The delivery goal on this action is to ‘conduct a root and branch review of the national operating, financial and governance model and implement recommendations.

It is my intention to immediately begin the implementation of this review process by engaging an external consultancy firm to carry out the work on our behalf. The review will examine every part of the organisation but will particularly focus on the current structures and resources employed at Board, Branch and Office level. The aim will be to evaluate whether they are fit for purpose and consider how well they integrate under a single agreed operating, financial and governance model.

We will, over the coming days, be in contact with you to provide further information regarding the specifics of the review.

As soon as it is possible to meet face to face, I will visit each of the provinces and meet with you to discuss how we all work together to ‘Change the Game’. Both our Women’s and Men’s teams have achieved extraordinary success over the past number of years through their dedication, commitment and singular focus to succeed. I have no doubt that as an organisation we can also excel by working as one team to achieve our goals as we emerge from this very difficult period. 

Stay safe and best wishes.

Eric Brady
Chair – Hockey Ireland

Following a meeting of the Inter-Pro working group with representatives from the Provinces, Competitions and High Performance on the 9th of February, Hockey Ireland has declared this year’s U16 & U18 inter-provincial competitions as cancelled due to the on-going restrictions related to COVID-19.

Hockey Ireland High Performance will continue to lead out on the junior age player development programmes at both National and Provincial level to ensure the provincial players remain on a development pathway – where possible scheduling challenge games between the provinces and subject to Government restrictions in late spring / early summer.

Hockey Ireland is in regular communication with Government authorities and international hockey bodies and is monitoring Government advice and restrictions on an ongoing basis.

The Inter-Provincial programmes will return in the 2021-22 season in a revised year-round competition format for the various junior age groups.

Hockey Ireland would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding during this time and appreciates the efforts many of the players who are training while at home.

Please keep safe. For further information on Covid-19: https://www2.hse.ie/conditions/coronavirus/coronavirus.html

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/

If you have any further queries, please email info@hockey.ie