Tribune News Service
Indervir Grewal
Bhubaneswar, January 19
Chile hope that playing in their first World Cup would become a watershed moment for hockey in the country.
“Hockey is not very popular in Chile but it is improving,” said Chile’s Axel Troncoso. “The federation is trying to expand hockey’s reach by bringing it to new schools. But the effects will start showing after several years,” he added.
Chile qualified for the World Cup by reaching the final of the Pan American Cup in front of home fans last year. They were beaten 5-1 by Argentina in the final. Troncoso feels they can improve by playing more matches against teams like Argentina. “When Belgium were coming up, they had Netherlands nearby. We have Argentina, and if we can take advantage of that we can improve. But it will be difficult and we will need a lot of exposure at the top level,” he said.
The World Cup is the perfect platform for it. Incidentally, Chile got to play Netherlands today, and it was a harsh lesson for them. They entered the record books, for the wrong reasons, unfortunately. Netherlands won 14-0 to set the World Cup record for the biggest margin of victory.
But Chile cannot be too disheartened by the result, considering the vast contrast between the hockey scenes in the two countries. Netherlands have the biggest and richest league in the world, with the clubs paying their players handsomely.
Almost all of the Chile players “seek professional opportunities elsewhere”. “We are trying to change that. A lot of the players went to Europe to play for clubs last year,” said Troncoso, who works as a software engineer.
Even getting the funding to travel to the World Cup is a challenge for teams like Chile. “It must have been difficult for the federation to raise the funds. But it is changing slowly as more sponsors are coming in. We are finishing higher, which is raising the profile of the game,” he said.
Not the only one
The Netherlands-Chile game wasn’t the only uneven match-up of the day.
The India-Wales tie was also a game between opposites. The Indian federation is arguably the richest in the world. Indian players get handsome incentives from the federation and governments. They get secure jobs, usually in the government sector, which they are not even required to join as long as they are in the national camp. Training in camps for almost the whole year, hockey is the only thing on their minds. In stark contrast, the Welsh players have to pay £1,000 per year to play for the national team. It’s a way of helping their national federation.
Even to get to the World Cup — Wales’ first-ever — the team needed crowd-funding. They were able to raise almost £25,000 pounds to cover the expenses for the World Cup trip.
But the future looks promising, with the creation of a national fund to help clubs in Wales.
The Be Active Wales Fund was created in 2020 by Sport Wales. In two years, almost £80,000 from Wales’ national lottery funding has been awarded to 43 hockey clubs across the nation.
For all the latest Sports News Click Here
