Hockey is a fantastic sport. Skilful, fast, athletic. Equally enjoyed by male and female, young and old. The Footscray Hockey Club (FHC) is a great example of this spread of participation with approximately 550 active players split almost exactly ‘50/50’ male and female, with players ranging from 5 years old through to several in their 60’s. The culture of the sport is one of respect for team-mates, Club, umpires and opposition, and our Club works hard to reflect those values.
The sport is not perfect though, and one of it’s major issues is the often-seen failure of the sport to reward (unless you sit comfortably within the elite grade in our sport – State League Div 1) those that do the hard work to recruit and nurture young players. If you’re a Club outside of the fairly permanent top 8 in SL1, then it is inevitable that your elite kids will end up playing elite club hockey in a shirt other than that of your club.
Those that benefit from this funneling of elite kids into their systems might argue that it’s an appropriate ‘developmental pathway’, but those that might see the bigger picture for our sport, and sports generally, might say that this dispiriting inevitability is one of the key reasons why our great game is becoming more and more ‘boutique’ as the years go by. Hockey is losing ground and ‘market share’ in Melbourne, despite our city being one of the fastest growing in the western world.
History shows that Clubs/associations ranked #9-#67 in our ‘system’ are little more than ‘feeder’ clubs to the ‘top 8’. They no doubt enjoy their existence for social and other reasons, but they’re deluded if they think that the hierarchy, structure and processes that underpin our sport hold open to them anything other than a very temporary and quite often destructive flirtation with SL1 hockey.
The SL1/SL2 Interface
FHC reviewed and analysed promotion/relegation outcomes at the SL1/SL2 interface going back over the last 30 years. Our observations were fairly sobering, and told us quite clearly that if we ‘play the game’ per usual expectation, then we’ll get the same outcome that other ‘aspirant’ clubs have received throughout this period. It can be summarized as follows:
- Work your butts off and eventually win an opportunity to join the elite in SL1!
- Realize that the gap in playing standard is monumental. Cop some thrashings and immediately get sent back to where you belong.
- For your troubles, have your better/promising players poached, lose a couple of the older guys that give it away, and all of a sudden you’ve gone backwards by several years.
The outcomes for Clubs that go through this process fall into several different groupings:
1. The experience was overwhelming and the impact ultimately fatal. Think Reservoir. Think Glenroy.
2. The experience was overwhelming but fortunately not fatal. Think Clubs like Monash Uni, MHSOB, Footscray (1998), etc – all negatively impacted and playing third division within a few years before the free-fall is halted.
3. The ‘yo-yo’ Clubs that have good feeder systems and are able to re-gather strength and go again. Think Melbourne Uni, Southern United, Albury-Wodonga, Kew, etc. Other than through the current (one-off?) expansion of the SL1 grade, can these Clubs ever experience any more than a dalliance with the big league every second year? Seems to be crazy for a ‘struggling’ sport to not reward these great clubs for what they bring to our sport, but that’s where it’s at at the moment
Footscray’s Circumstances
During the writers experience at FHC over the past 40 years, there have been sporadic periods of significant junior development. These efforts have often led to FHC improving their senior team depth, but never has the Club threatened to achieve SL1 status because the cream has always been siphoned off to (by) SL1 clubs. The dispiriting ‘catch 22’ that ambitious SL2 and SL3 clubs live within is that the harder they work on junior player development, the more (and quicker) ambitious kids leave them behind. I can name dozens of Footscray-developed kids over recent decades who have followed this path. Good luck to the kids involved, but such a shame that they couldn’t play their elite hockey with their FHC friends. The ‘catch 22’ has meant that we can’t hold them long enough to make/survive in the top grade ourselves, so off they go – making the clubs that we need to catch / replace stronger by the year.
Switch forward to the current day. Footscray have again mounted a massive campaign around junior development. Ten years of hard work has seen us compete in 48 junior grand finals over this period. Our junior division has been ranked either first or second most successful junior program (of 67 clubs / associations competing in Melbourne) in Victoria in each of the past 4 years. 45 Junior State Championships reps each of the last two years. 15 junior Vic reps this past season. And the flow-through has seen us grow to be the second largest club in Victoria.
Our Current Strategy
Over recent years the FHC Board has developed and part implemented a three-tier strategy to try to overcome the ‘catch 22’ described above:
(1) Our better kids were getting to the age where they were attracting interest from other clubs. The massive bonanza of relegation-free promotion at the end of 2011 was up for grabs and obviously of great interest to us, but we had to gain SL1 status regardless of that because another season in SL2 might have seen us start to lose talented kids again.
Seeing this circumstance coming, the Board established a plan some years earlier to create a ‘development fund’ to generate some recruiting dollars for the 2010/2011 seasons. These dollars partly came from extending our operating hours, tapping into Lacrosse, American football, other sporting tournaments, etc, operating for 50-60 hours per week – a massive commitment. (Note: there is a perception amongst some in the hockey world that FHC had these funds because our facilities have been given to us on a plate by supportive governments. Our November cheque to the City of Maribyrnong – $500,000 plus towards our ground surface renewals – should put that ‘perception’ to rest). Like our grand final opponents Kew, we took significant measures to try to capture that golden opportunity, and fortune favoured us on grand final day.
(2) Our ‘time of reckoning’ is delayed until 2013 thanks to the prized relegation-free year that 2012 represents. We intend to capitalize on this opportunity by using the pre-season and 18 SL1 rounds to try to fast-track lots of talented kids in preparation for SL1 and Penn ‘A’ in 2013. As well, the senior coach and selectors will be giving older players their due opportunity to ‘state their case’ for 2013. Preparing for 2013 is our key focus in 2012, not accumulating ladder points to satisfy our ego’s. Whilst the ladies section have captured the opportunity presented through several key experienced players moving into our patch over the recent summer, the mens budget will focus on extra coaching expertise to get the young boys up to speed with our more advanced girls program.
(3) What we do at the end of the 2012 season is totally dependant on what we observe over 2012. It would be brilliant for the Club if we had total confidence at that point in time that our mens and ladies squads were ready and able to make us a permanent ‘Premier League’ fixture, but the SL1/SL2 interface research referred to earlier was very instructive in this regard. That research showed us that over the 30 year period reviewed, only one mens Club had bucked normal procedures/outcomes utilizing their developed juniors – that being Greensborough in the 1990’s. Relegated from SL1 in 1990, 1993 and 1995, Greensborough came back into SL1 with a talented young squad a few years later and were able to survive relegation in 1998 (they just got through in 8thposition!) by bringing to the Club several established Victorian/Australian stars from other clubs (Jimmy Elmer, David Shaw and Jason Manos).
Let’s hope that the FHC teams are not in need of such drastic topping-up at the end of 2012. Our resources are not unlimited, and we will never jeopardize the financial stability of this organization. By the same token, we know that the next three years present an opportunity to change the future of this Club forever. We will move heaven and earth to capture this future for current and future FHC kids.
Our State League squads in 2012 could be the youngest ever seen in SL1. Always, week after week, keep in mind our 2012 and 2013 objectives for these teams. Watch the development of our players, not the scoreboard. We need plenty of strong-willed players and supporters around the Club throughout 2012. Will you be able to raise your gaze above the weekly pressures to focus on ‘the big picture’ throughout 2012?
Brendan Sheehan (FHC Chairman) – 0405061536 – Sheehans@bigpond.net.au
