Its on like Donkey Kong listeners – the Ball Handlers are back this week with the breaking news in Hockey Victoria.

Tune in to find out about Kew’s MSL1 team’s meteoric rose from SL2 to second on the SL1 ladder by round 6 of the season just six months later! And if that doesn’t tickle your fancy perhaps you’d like to hear a first hand account of the card fest during the women’s Altona vs TEMS SL1 match where a whole yellow card was shown to a very unimpressed Steph! Or maybe you’d like to know why Jimmy from Camberwell is in bed at 8pm on Sundays…

Whatever you need to know there’s only one way to get the info – and if you work out that way please tell us how. In the meantime though you might like to hear us speculate on some of those stories and more – just use the links to the Ball Handlers on the right of this post or just click here to listen…

Thats right, when you need to get in depth info on whats going in in the hockey world there is only one information source you can trust – the Ball Handlers.

And this week while ALF was visiting the city of churches who better to fill his shoes than the man whose own name is a part of the shows title, Ball-za, we know its a tenuous link but we’re hoping you’ll roll with it… Just 12 hours before he picks up the keys and heads into his first day of work at Hockey Victoria our new CEO graciously granted us the opportunity to interview him… in depth… and if you want to find out the secrets to his success as an Adam Sandler look alike then best you click here to listen to the full show online and get the story from the horses mouth!

And keep dribbling…

DUDES AND DUDETTES!

Have you got your tickets to THE BIGGEST NIGHT ON THE HOCKEY CALENDAR yet?

Get to it. Whip your mouse up to THE SHOP and purchase away.

Tickets are selling like hotcakes, so get in quick.

6.6.08 @ Roxanne Parlour – 2 Coverlid Place, City from 8pm.

NO HOCKEY ON THAT WEEKEND!! 

HV MEDIA RELEASE – 14/5/2008

Hockey Victoria Chairman, Bob Esselmont today officially announced that the Board has appointed Ben Hartung as the new Chief Executive of Hockey Victoria.

Mr Esselmont said “Ben Hartung is an exceptional executive and we are not only delighted but very excited that he will be leading the team at Hockey Victoria at a time where hockey must stand up and be noticed.”

“Ben Hartung’s experience and qualifications make him an ideal leader with a proven track record of getting results of the highest quality and a great operator among people at all levels. Ben has held prominent positions in internationally renowned sporting organisations and from being a player and coach he understands the hockey environment, which I am certain will benefit him greatly.”

Mr Hartung began his career in the sports industry as a secondary school teacher before completing further studies to move into sports management. Mr Hartung’s move away from education saw him progress through the ranks of the Australian Grand Prix Corporation where he reached the position of Event Manager. In this position Mr Hartung was responsible for the overall management of the event and venue operations for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park and the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix at Phillip Island. With a sound knowledge of international events, Mr Hartung’s experience will be invaluable when the 2009 Champions Trophy comes to Melbourne.

As a hockey player and former State League 1 coach, Mr Hartung is well versed in the hockey environment and enters the organisation with first hand experience as a stakeholder. Mr Hartung brings a new wave of enthusiasm and innovativeness, which will rejuvenate the organisation’s goals from grassroots to elite level. Mr Hartung’s proven management skills will be paramount in leading the organisation in this new era of Victorian hockey.

“I look forward to taking a hands on role in further developing every area of the organisation and liaising with all stakeholders to embrace Hockey Victoria’s strategic vision of developing, growing and promoting hockey as a sport for all,” Mr Hartung commented.

This is a major step in the growth of the sport in Victoria and comes at a time where the Olympics will catapult hockey into the minds of thousands of young Australians.

Hockey Victoria welcomes Mr Hartung as the new Chief Executive and wishes him best as the head of Victorian hockey’s governing body.

THS congratulates Kew-cumber Ben all the best in his new job as CEO. We hope to catch up with him in the coming weeks for a quick interview to suss him out, and his thoughts on the job ahead for hockey in Victoria.

Keep Dribblin’

Thats right I got the dreaded call from Alf this Sunday to say he was… ‘late’. Those dreaded words that every man fears – I couldn’t speak for a moment and when I did manage the courage all I could say was ‘are you sure you want to keep it…’.

Anyway the long and the short of it is that the Ball Handlers are not on time this week – we finally got into gear tonight and recorded another second rate show for you to listen to… But regardless of the quality of our work we did manage a WORLD EXCLUSIVE with the Ball Handlers not only revealing the name of the new CEO of Hockey Victoria but also getting the inside info about what type of a bloke he is and what experience he has that qualifies him for the top job in Victorian hockey.

We’ve also spruced up our web player so it is easier to see what episodes are available.

So tune in and hear the top eleven reasons to argue about getting a yellow card!

Click here to listen…

THS was contacted by Alan Sinclair, the head National coach of the Oman Hockey Association. He thought we might be able to help get the word out there about our crazy game taking place in the middle east!

The Middle East …. not a gun or bomb or Al Qaeda or Taliban in site.. Not even a wayward Jew and surprisingly not even any resentment or persecution of we so called Christians. Lots of goats, camels and donkeys though… and maniacal car drivers.

No women playing Hockey, no partially clad beach babes, no cold wintery Victorian summers either. Just a lot of dust and sand and heat and flies and men wearing dresses and women being coyly hidden behind unfashionably uncomfortably hot black sheets. Sounds like a few Hockey carnivals I went to in New South Wales and Queensland way back when there were no plastic Hockey balls and for that matter no plastic fields either. And for the intrepid few like me some reasonably good waves to surf.

And there is Hockey. In fact Omanis played Hockey before we Aussies did. Seems when the sailing ships of the British fleets needed a place to get their crews suntanned and fit they stopped off here for a few weeks and began playing Cricket and Hockey to fill in time. Then the Indian labour that makes up over 30% of the population had a little input into the scene a while later. Also Oman used to own half of what is now Afghanistan and Pakistan and there was a great deal of fraternisation between the two continents… so much that there is a recognised tribe here called Balushis that are part Arab and part Pakistani.

So with this influence why does an aging overweight and aggressively competitive has-been want to try to teach them the gospel of Hockey Aussie style? I have often wondered that myself. But what I do know is that these people are superb athletes and willing learners .. if they are allowed to sleep between the hours of 10.00am and 5.00pm. and play all night. Must be something to do with the 45deg temperatures we have right now.

The Hockey??? Well I remember playing a team called Waratahs from near Murwillumbah in New South Wales when I was in my formative years and all of them basically came from the same family and lived on sugar cane farms. Strong arms and thick heads and Hockey sticks that were extensions of their tools of trade. In fact I think some of them used their sticks to cut the cane. So the Hockey was pretty agricultural.Not much difference here. Each street will field a Football team or Hockey team and they get their practice beating the life (could have used a more descriptive word of course) out of anything that moves. In fact I got this job because an assistant coach in the National programme beat the life (almost) out of an umpire and promptly got the sack and 6 weeks in a not very nice holiday camp. Another National player got life from international Hockey for taking to an opponent with his stick in front of the TV cameras and over 800million people saw it. I had to act as an interpreter at the hearing and told the judiciary to give him 50 lashes as well. Fortunately I was not the National Coach then just a lowly goalkeeper coach.

Fortunately (or unfortunately if you are crazy like me) we ex-pats cannot play the game here as it for Omanis only .. except if you come from Pakistan or India and get paid to play like the big boys do in the rest of the world. Each team is allowed 2 of these mercenaries and it spoils the fun as these people can mostly play Hockey but only by themselves. I think you know what I mean there. So it is quite incestuous and with only 15 clubs in the whole country the talent pickings may seem quite slim. This is actually not the case. As I said earlier the talent is here but they need more international competition to bring it out. As well as a better local coaching program of course.

However we have managed to do some interesting things… Our U/21 National Team won a major tournament a few months back … Got us to the Junior Asia Cup and maybe with a chance to the Junior World Cup if we get a reasonable placing. In doing this we drew with Chinese Taipei and then defeated China U/21 twice. We beat them the first time 4 – 1 in the pool game and in the final 3 -2 in extra time and it was like we had won the football world cup. We each even got presented with a nice fat cheque from the Ministry of Sport.

Anyway if you really want a story maybe you could take a little excursion over here or get to Singapore in June where our Senior team will be playing in the Asia Hockey Federation Cup or Hyderabad in July where our U/21 team (take out 3 players from Seniors and add 3 younguns) will be trying very hard to qualify for the Junior World Cup!

Cheers.

After Australia’s recent win in the 4 Nations Tournament in Darwin, we managed to catch up with centurion, Andrew Smith.

Congratulations on the milestone, was it an enjoyable game for you?

Thanks guys, I knew that I’d be playing it at some stage in the 4 nations series. We had a win and I got to lead the boys off in the team song, so it was an enjoyable evening.
(I never knew there was a team song. It could become a karaoke classic. We’ll try to get Smitty and the boys to perform it on THS later in the year)

Any extra nerves? Or do you become more settled at that level over the

course of 100 games?

I wouldn’t really say that there was any more nerves, I was just a bit keener and pumped up ready to get out there and play. I’m feeling pretty comfortable and confidant at this level after being in the group for about 7 years now.

Did you have any relatives or friends in the crowd? Or just your great mate gimpy?

Nah, I didn’t have any family come up and watch, but I did get to play with Gimpy, Rusty- a fellow Donny and Vic boy- and the other big Vic fella Luke Dorener. Unfortunately Brooksy is having a few injury problems so he wasn’t there, or able to play. Having all the Vic boys playing would have been awesome.
We certainly hope there will be plenty of Vic boys in the squad.

Did the team acknowledge your 100? How about Hockey Australia? Is that something that is done normally?

The team acknowledged my hundredth game in the pre-game meeting, and then we had a team photo done immediately before the start of the game. Later on that night after the game we had dinner, afterwards Baz got up and said a few words and presented me with an engraved hip flask and an A4 laminated copy of the team shot. Milestones are always recognised within the group, 50, 100, 150 200 caps etc. Its something that as a group we’re very proud of.
Engraved hip flask?!? Not sure how appropriate that is for someone who barely drinks. Is he trying to encourage you to get on it?

Anyway, back to hockey, how many of your 100 games have been played in Melbourne?

Well I scored my first goal in the Aussie shirt against Korea in Melbourne in ’02, where I played 4 games in that series. And I also played 2 or 3 games against Spain in Jan ’06. So all up it would be either 6 or 7 games.
Nowhere near enough for our liking, they should move the next few tournaments here so we can see a bit more of you.

What positions did you play/have you been playing?

Prior to my time away in ’06 I had only played as an outside striker, but since coming back I’ve played all positions on the forward line. The majority of the games have been at inside forward, but I’ve also played on the wing and more recently had a run at centre foreward in two of the games in Darwin.

How would you rate your own performance? It sounds like Gimp is also playing well.

My performance over the games in Perth and Darwin was mixed, with some stuff I was pretty happy with and some things which I’m defenitely keen to improve on. Gimpy is in some pretty good form, he’s a bit of a freak that fella.

Indeed he is, although I think you (and he) are pretty modest. You should talk it up a bit…
There seem to be some young guns playing and scoring that many Victorians may not know.

Yeah, Des Abbott is one of the younger players in the group and played some fantastic hockey up in darwin scoring three goals in his three games up there. Eli Matheson was also in some great form and scored some fantastic goals.

Most Australians would never have seen the Chinese mens team, what are they like? Are they a classic asian side in their style and skills?

We played the Chinese guys in the final of a test event in Beijing in August last year, and they have improved markedly since then. They are coached by the former Korean coach, and so play a very similar style to the korean team. they are very fit and quick with a real tenacious attitude. they’ve got a handful of players that a very skillfull, and base their game around that.

How will they fare at the Olympics?

With a home crowd, I think they’ll cause a few upsets at the Olympics.

The final sounded pretty intense, going to strokes. Did you take one? If so, did you get it in?

The final was pretty intense, and very hot! To go into sudden death strokes made it even more exciting. Unfortunately I wasn’t called upon to take a stroke. I would have loved to have taken one though.

(No doubt if you’d taken one it would never have got to sudden death strokes in the first place)
What did you think of the tournament overall- Aus performance, your own tournament, the opposition?

The series was a very good learning experience for us as a team, and also for me individually. We played some very good periods during the games, but then also had times when we were poor in basic skill execution. Pretty sure that our focus leading up to the Champions Trophy is going to be on that basic skill execution, and putting the very good hockey into a full 70 minutes.

What’s next for you guys, and over the next few months?

Our next big tournament is the Champions Trophy in Rotterdam in June. I’ll be finding out about selection either the end of this week, or early next week. The CT will be our final hitout and opportunity to impress for Olympic selection, so I’m hoping that I’m in the group to go away and I can keep putting in the hard yards and hopefully get that Olympic shirt.

You’ve always put in the hard yards Smitty. We’ll cross everything for you and the other Vic guys.We really wish you all the best over the next few months, and hope you rack up some more caps, especially in August.

Thanks guys, the support from you guys and everyone back home has been awesome for all the Vic boys over here.

It’s finally here! Hold onto your hats people, or if you’re super trendy hang on to your designer fedora – because HOCKEY ONE is here. The official season launch party for THS in 2008. A great chance for all the hockey community to get together and have a great night. It’s on Friday 6th of June, which is the Queen’s B’Day weekend (so there’s no hockey!).

WHAT: The Hockey Show season launch

WHEN: Friday the 6th of June (from 8pm til late)

WHERE: Roxanne Parlour, Coverlid Place, City.

HOW MUCH: You can buy tix for $10 online (just click on the shop link above) or $15 on the night.

NB: It’s strictly an 18yo+ event.

So grab your tickets online now and save yourself $5 while guaranteeing your spot at the hockey event of the year.

Aaah, the glory days of the Victorian Redbacks.

Below is the 1997 squad – see how many you can remember? Bonus points if you get their nicknames according to the media pack at the time!!

Great to see that some of these players are still kicking around…and in SL1 no less!

Hawthorn’s long-haired lothario Paul MacKinnon has been kind enough to write us a little piece on his time over in Spain, where he’s been playing for the last little bit.

We at THS thought it might open everyone’s eyes to the possibilities of playing overseas and how wicked it can be!! Over to you Paul…

Hey all you hockey buffs.

As most of you were aware, the Victorian league has been invaded by a number of Spanish Conquistadors last year and again this year. But I decided to get a little bit back and made the journey in the opposite direction to harass them, Australian style.

I’ve been playing with Club Egara in the city of Terrassa. Of any city in the world you could go to for hockey this maybe the best. Hockey here is seriously ‘The’ most important sport in the city. Sure football is loved but the status of hockey is amazing.

The Spanish league itself is country wide so from any given weekend we are travelling and playing anywhere from Barcelona to the west coast just above Portugal and to the beaches of San Sebastion. So through the hockey I have been able to see a lot of Spain.

The club houses at some of the clubs are amazing, and my club is one of the good ones. My club, where hockey was the original sole sport, has 2 full fields and a half field. 14 tennis courts, 6 padel courts (Spanish tennis), an indoor and outdoor pool, fitness rooms, a new gym, a café, a restaurant, a hair dresser (no funnily enough I know what you are thinking but I haven’t used it), a day spa (or this) and a kids day care. Yes it is a lot different to the shack at Greensborough or the two rooms at Hawthorn. And this is not the biggest club. Club de Campo has two golf courses and their own post code!!

The hockey is a very good level. The league itself is somewhere in between SL1 and AHL, but the top 4 teams would be competitive if not have a chance of winning AHL. With players such as Edi Tubau, Pol Amat and Sander van der Veida (all nominated for World Player of the Year at some stage) you can imagine the league is pretty good. My team finished as minor premiers in the league but unfortunately lost in the semi finals last week. Unlike in Melbourne, here we have a 3 match series and the winner goes into the final.

On top of the regular season there is the Copa Del Rei (King’s Cup) which we lost in the final of and also, which has been an unbelievable experience to play in, the Euro League. If you are unaware of the Euro League, it is like the Champions league of football. The best 24 teams from all of Europe come together for a competition. We have gone from 24 teams and now after our four games, one of them beating Bloemendaal and Teun de Nooijer (my old team), we are into the final 4 of this competition to be played this weekend in Rotterdam, Holland.

So without going into too much detail I hope this has given you all a little insight into my hockey experience in Spain. I look forward to getting back to Australia and getting stuck into the SL1 comp again soon.

Paul MacKinnon

If you have a story you want to have heard, or simply want to spread the word on something…(that’s relevant of course) send it to us at info@thehockeyshow.org