Go jolly hockey sticks!!!!!

riffmongous

And here they are before the India quarter final, smiling, chatting away and well it obviously worked well for them in this game

Cork Boy 53

pjohnson wrote: »

Where the **** is the bloodlust. The decapitated heads of those who tried to fight them before.

And that namby pamby "Irelands Call" we should be giving them a fcuking war cry. Full mofcukin Braveheart, "YOU MAY WIN THIS MATCH BUT WE WILL TAKE YOUR FUKCIN LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVES"

Are you not getting carried away a tad with your war imagery? It`s only a game at the end of the day.

pjohnson

Cork Boy 53 wrote: »

Are you not getting carried away a tad with your war imagery? It`s only a game at the end of the day.

Can you not sense the slight bit of sarcasm in respect to the eejit thinking the girls shouldn't have smiled?

NIMAN

I think this new funding might be wasted tbh.

Our ladies hockey team is now a bit like the England soccer team. They over achieved. Partly due to the draw opening up for them and giving them an easier half of the draw.

Now in the next euros, England will be considered failures if they don't get to the semis again at least. Their fans and media are already saying they are a good shout to win the Euros! Nonsense of course, as 3 other European teams finished above them in the world cup. And of course the likes of Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Holland won't be messing around next time. So for me their only way is down and disappointment.

I can see same thing with Ireland hockey. They have got our expectations up, and supporters will now see them as a team that should be around the semis from now on, when in all likelihood, they'll be nowhere near them.

citytillidie

NIMAN wrote: »

I think this new funding might be wasted tbh.

Our ladies hockey team is now a bit like the England soccer team. They over achieved. Partly due to the draw opening up for them and giving them an easier half of the draw.

Now in the next euros, England will be considered failures if they don't get to the semis again at least. Their fans and media are already saying they are a good shout to win the Euros! Nonsense of course, as 3 other European teams finished above them in the world cup. And of course the likes of Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Holland won't be messing around next time. So for me their only way is down and disappointment.

I can see same thing with Ireland hockey. They have got our expectations up, and supporters will now see them as a team that should be around the semis from now on, when in all likelihood, they'll be nowhere near them.

Those in the game know Ireland have over achieved and will not be expecting that at all, Euros next summer will be hard but no one will be expecting them to reach semi finals there

Cork Boy 53

[QUOTE=NIMAN;107720017]I think this new funding might be wasted tbh.

Our ladies hockey team is now a bit like the England soccer team. They over achieved. Partly due to the draw opening up for them and giving them an easier half of the draw.

Now in the next euros, England will be considered failures if they don't get to the semis again at least. Their fans and media are already saying they are a good shout to win the Euros! Nonsense of course, as 3 other European teams finished above them in the world cup. And of course the likes of Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Holland won't be messing around next time. So for me their only way is down and disappointment.

I can see same thing with Ireland hockey. They have got our expectations up, and supporters will now see them as a team that should be around the semis from now on, when in all likelihood, they'll be nowhere near them.[/QUOTE]

Not following your logic here. Surely that would be more likely to happen if they don`t get extra state funding.

NIMAN

Will the funding allow the girls to go fully professional for say the next 5 years?

In that case, it might not be a waste

blinding

jojofizzio wrote: »

I missed the pre-match protocols yesterday...I know they played Ireland’s call...but what flag was flown instead of the tricolour??

As the Eu’s Fav Pet Lap-puppy surely Ireland could play under the Eu flag .

Hitchens

they needed a few "knowarrameans" in the spine of the team

Trasna1

blinding wrote: »

As the Eu’s Fav Pet Lap-puppy surely Ireland could play under the Eu flag .

Go back to p.ie

riffmongous

NIMAN wrote: »

I think this new funding might be wasted tbh.

Our ladies hockey team is now a bit like the England soccer team. They over achieved. Partly due to the draw opening up for them and giving them an easier half of the draw.

Now in the next euros, England will be considered failures if they don't get to the semis again at least. Their fans and media are already saying they are a good shout to win the Euros! Nonsense of course, as 3 other European teams finished above them in the world cup. And of course the likes of Germany, Spain, Italy, Portugal, Holland won't be messing around next time. So for me their only way is down and disappointment.

I can see same thing with Ireland hockey. They have got our expectations up, and supporters will now see them as a team that should be around the semis from now on, when in all likelihood, they'll be nowhere near them.

It's not just that the draw opened up for them though, but that they won their group in the first place, and earned a place on the good part of the draw.

Now is the time to invest, it's still a young team so with investment they can only get better

weldoninhio

Strazdas wrote: »

England (aka Team GB) were the reigning Olympic champions from Rio 2016 and were hosting the tournament and failed to medal : that gives you an indication of what the Irish women achieved.

England stupidly beat Ireland in the final group game, putting them in the difficult half of the draw. Like the soccer WC all of the big names ended up on one side of the draw and smaller nations on the other. Ireland beat teams ranked 7th, 10th and 11th before getting absolutely destroyed by Holland. You'd swear we'd gone on some giantkilling spree. Ireland were ranked 16th going into the tournament, not 160th ffs.

blinding

weldoninhio wrote: »

England stupidly beat Ireland in the final group game, putting them in the difficult half of the draw. Like the soccer WC all of the big names ended up on one side of the draw and smaller nations on the other. Ireland beat teams ranked 7th, 10th and 11th before getting absolutely destroyed by Holland. You'd swear we'd gone on some giantkilling spree. Ireland were ranked 16th going into the tournament, not 160th ffs.

If even at our best at the old mens soccer we did that , People would be Creaming Themselves .

DONTMATTER

weldoninhio wrote: »

England stupidly beat Ireland in the final group game, putting them in the difficult half of the draw. Like the soccer WC all of the big names ended up on one side of the draw and smaller nations on the other. Ireland beat teams ranked 7th, 10th and 11th before getting absolutely destroyed by Holland. You'd swear we'd gone on some giantkilling spree. Ireland were ranked 16th going into the tournament, not 160th ffs.

Am, Ireland won the group, the England game didn't make a difference. England came second in the group. So Ireland were rewarded for going out and winning their group. Yes they got on the easier side but they still had to knock out teams who were ranked above them.
And they are an amateur team. It's a great achievement. There's no denying it. Hopefully they can push on further from here and they get support after it's headline worthy.

cdeb

England could have come third in the group and met Ireland in the quarters. Instead, they met Holland, while we met India again, having beaten them in the group

DONTMATTER

cdeb wrote: »

England could have come third in the group and met Ireland in the quarters. Instead, they met Holland, while we met India again, having beaten them in the group

They would have had to lose to Ireland, a draw and they still would have finished second. Then they could have only lost by 1-0, if they lost 2-0 they were out. So this really wasn't an option.
The easier option for them would have been to beat India and the USA to top the group, then they would have got the same draw as Ireland but guess what happened?
Ireland beat India and the USA, while England only drew with them. Hence Ireland topped the group and got rewarded with an easier draw.

cdeb

Ok; a 1-0 loss. Less likely alright, but still an option.

We did get the luck of the draw in it, and topping the group was only partly responsible.

But had Ireland beaten a mundane Spain and then South Korea to reach the World Cup semi finals in 2002, we'd have been all talking about it. Rightly so, too. No different here

riffmongous

cdeb wrote: »

England could have come third in the group and met Ireland in the quarters. Instead, they met Holland, while we met India again, having beaten them in the group

Did you see the game against England? We had as good a chance playing them again as we did India

riffmongous

DONTMATTER wrote: »

They would have had to lose to Ireland, a draw and they still would have finished second. Then they could have only lost by 1-0, if they lost 2-0 they were out. So this really wasn't an option.
The easier option for them would have been to beat India and the USA to top the group, then they would have got the same draw as Ireland but guess what happened?
Ireland beat India and the USA, while England only drew with them. Hence Ireland topped the group and got rewarded with an easier draw.

Not to mention England were the gold medalists 2 years ago, unimaginable they would go out to lose

DONTMATTER

cdeb wrote: »

Ok; a 1-0 loss. Less likely alright, but still an option.

We did get the luck of the draw in it, and topping the group was only partly responsible.

But had Ireland beaten a mundane Spain and then South Korea to reach the World Cup semi finals in 2002, we'd have been all talking about it. Rightly so, too. No different here

Going out to lose 1-0 and hoping the other team don't get a second? That's not how things are done.
They still had to beat teams ranked above them, it was the easy side of the draw for Spain and India too. And Germany who were ranked 6th. They couldn't do it, Ireland could, hence great achievement.

DONTMATTER

riffmongous wrote: »

Not to mention England were the gold medalists 2 years ago, unimaginable they would go out to lose

It's just crazy talk.

cdeb

riffmongous wrote: »

Did you see the game against England? We had as good a chance playing them again as we did India

Yes. Thought we were very much second-best for large parts tbh.

But unless I've picked up cross-wires, the point is that India/Spain in the knock-outs was much easier than England's route of Holland/Australia (and they didn't get past Holland)

Not our fault of course, but it should still be acknowledged

cdeb

DONTMATTER wrote: »

Going out to lose 1-0 and hoping the other team don't get a second? That's not how things are done.

The 2-0 issue is big alright, but stranger cup results have been seen. Look at England v Belgium in the World Cup, where both sides were happy with a loss. Or West Germany v Austria or Ireland v Holland (82 and 90), where a second goal would have screwed over teams

I'm sure there's plenty of non-football examples too. It's not impossible

DONTMATTER

cdeb wrote: »

Yes. Thought we were very much second-best for large parts tbh.

But unless I've picked up cross-wires, the point is that India/Spain in the knock-outs was much easier than England's route of Holland/Australia (and they didn't get past Holland)

Not our fault of course, but it should still be acknowledged

Why should it be acknowledged?

DONTMATTER

cdeb wrote: »

The 2-0 issue is big alright, but stranger cup results have been seen. Look at England v Belgium in the World Cup, where both sides were happy with a loss. Or West Germany v Austria or Ireland v Holland (82 and 90), where a second goal would have screwed over teams

I'm sure there's plenty of non-football examples too. It's not impossible

The fact of the matter is that Ireland were through in top position. The game against the also rans didn't matter.

Strazdas

weldoninhio wrote: »

England stupidly beat Ireland in the final group game, putting them in the difficult half of the draw. Like the soccer WC all of the big names ended up on one side of the draw and smaller nations on the other. Ireland beat teams ranked 7th, 10th and 11th before getting absolutely destroyed by Holland. You'd swear we'd gone on some giantkilling spree. Ireland were ranked 16th going into the tournament, not 160th ffs.

It's one thing causing an upset in the pool stages. Winning WC quarter finals and semi finals is a massive deal for any team - it takes a huge amount of bottle not to freeze at that stage of the tournament and to win two shootouts.

It would be like saying that Croatia reaching the WC final recently was no big deal for them as they were already in the top 20 in the FIFA rankings (when in truth it was probably the best ever moment in Croatian sports history).

citytillidie

lol at last few posts.

Ireland won their group and got right into the Quarter Finals, India then played Italy who finished 2nd in their group to play Ireland in the Quarter Finals.

You could say that should have been an easy route for India as they played the 2 lowest ranked teams so you should say India should have been playing in the semi final.

Or you could say Germany should have made the final as they were the highest ranked team in that half of the draw. Semi final should have been India V Germany.

Anyway Ireland have jumped 8 spots to 8th in the World now

citytillidie

Just on Hockey and going Pro for both men and woman. Next year sees the start of a New International Pro league which would only help develop the game if they are playing against top teams each year. As it stands they may fall further behind which makes this a great and maybe a very once off experience.

http://fih.ch/events/fih-pro-league/fih-pro-league/fih-pro-league/

Strazdas

One thing that strikes me is that apart from the issue of increased funding, which will be fully deserved, you would imagine this team would be ripe for sponsorship deals.

There is a real feelgood factor with these girls and their coach was suggesting at the weekend that perhaps individual members of the team could be sponsored.

Cork Boy 53

Strazdas wrote: »

One thing that strikes me is that apart from the issue of increased funding, which will be fully deserved, you would imagine this team would be ripe for sponsorship deals.

There is a real feelgood factor with these girls and their coach was suggesting at the weekend that perhaps individual members of the team could be sponsored.

If there are going to be sponshorship deals they need to be sorted out as quickly as possible while the public interest is still around. As there will be little or no media coverage of women`s hockey until at least the Europeans next year time is fairly limited.

Strazdas

Cork Boy 53 wrote: »

If they are oing to be sponshorship deals they need to be sorted out as quickly as possible while the public interest is still around. As there will be little or no media coverage of women`s hockey until at least the Europeans next year time is fairly limited.

For sure, better sooner than later. If the women could qualify for the Olympics though, they would be in a great position to capitalise and kick on from where they are at present. The men's team went to Rio but hardly anyone outside of hockey circles knew they were even there.

Drifter50

citytillidie wrote: »

Just on Hockey and going Pro for both men and woman. Next year sees the start of a New International Pro league which would only help develop the game if they are playing against top teams each year. As it stands they may fall further behind which makes this a great and maybe a very once off experience.

http://fih.ch/events/fih-pro-league/fih-pro-league/fih-pro-league/

Yep, pity we have missed the boat here, will only harm hockey here not being involved and playing regularly against the best players.

Did I read somewhere that Pakistan were accepted but must play all their games in Scotland ???

citytillidie

Drifter50 wrote: »

Yep, pity we have missed the boat here, will only harm hockey here not being involved and playing regularly against the best players.

Did I read somewhere that Pakistan were accepted but must play all their games in Scotland ???

I think they had to pick a country in Europe to play in.

Snickers Man

DONTMATTER wrote: »

I think we need to make an All Ireland soccer league first then. That would be a major step towards forming a single team when unity happens.

Yeah. Linfield and Glentoran supporters will really go for that. :rolleyes:

So will the Guards and the Snips. ("Ah Jaysus lads. We want a quiet life for feck's sake")

riffmongous

Drifter50 wrote: »

Yep, pity we have missed the boat here, will only harm hockey here not being involved and playing regularly against the best players.

Did I read somewhere that Pakistan were accepted but must play all their games in Scotland ???

Probably to do with the political and security situation in Pakistan. I'm not sure when that was planned but there was a cricket team bus attacked by militants about 10 years ago that stopped a lot of sports teams visiting

DEFTLEFTHAND

Strazdas wrote: »

For sure, better sooner than later. If the women could qualify for the Olympics though, they would be in a great position to capitalise and kick on from where they are at present. The men's team went to Rio but hardly anyone outside of hockey circles knew they were even there.

Yes they did, RTE covered every game the men played at the Olympics. They received widespread coverage across the media at the time.

The fact of the matter is, hockey is never going to be widely popular. I enjoyed watching the girls at the WC but I'd have no great interest in watching a pro hockey league nor would I dream of paying an entrance fee to view a live game.

Make hay while the suns shines and everything but reality needs to hit here also. This sport is never going to draw consistent revenue, we can't dump crazy money into as there's never going to be a significant return. People just don't care enough unfortunately.

Strazdas

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Yes they did, RTE covered every game the men played at the Olympics. They received widespread coverage across the media at the time.

The fact of the matter is, hockey is never going to be widely popular. I enjoyed watching the girls at the WC but I'd have no great interest in watching a pro hockey league nor would I dream of paying an entrance fee to view a live game.

Make hay while the suns shines and everything but reality needs to hit here also. This sport is never going to draw consistent revenue, we can't dump crazy money into as there's never going to be a significant return. People just don't care enough unfortunately.

I watched the matches in Rio but the team largely flew under the radar, losing four of their five matches.

I agree that hockey will always be a minority sport compared to the other team sports but I think there would be a fair amount of interest in this Irish women's team if they qualified for Tokyo.