Hook Hockey

7 Responses to “Doherty adds to Belgian brigade”

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   September 3, 2010 12:17 pm
   The Hooded Claw says

   This really is astounding. I am amazed at the amount of Irish squad players that have now gone abroad.

   I certainly dont blame them. The opportunity to go abroad and get paid to play doesnt come around very often and they should jump at it.

   The question is what effect is it going to have on the domestic leagues, the IHL as well as the National team with most of the top players moving away.

   This is now going to set the standard for developing players to aim to play abroad.

   Pembrokes squad has been dessimated.It will be interesting to see what happens and how they will adjust.

   Is it good for Irish hockey? Is it good for the National Team? How are the IHA going to make it attractive for players to stay to play in the domestic leagues?

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   September 3, 2010 2:35 pm
   fabianski says

   Firstly let me start by saying a word of congratulations to all players who have obtained profesisonal contracts to play abroad. There is no doubt that to get paid for doing what you love to do is something that only a very few sportsmen ever achieve.

   While the exodus of Irish players to Europe will have a major impact on the quality of the domestic leagues it’s clear that the international squad players will develop as individuals. How this supports national development is not so clear.

   Where developmental players have in the past been able to train and learn from senior squad member this will no longer be the case. From the perspective of developing the national team Mr. Revington may need to conduct training sessions in Mainland Europe.

   One irony that strikes me is that of all these players moving to play in the various European leagues only 1 or 2 will compete at the upcoming EHL.

   Good luck to all.

3. 
   
   

   September 6, 2010 7:54 am
   NotGood says

   Our clubs will find it tougher than ever to compete at EHL level & our rankings will drop very quickly. If this trend continues we won’t have any clubs competing at the top level of European hockey.

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   September 7, 2010 6:53 am
   Edward E. Nigma says

   Funny, all the best players in the country leave Ireland a year before the EuroHockey Nations, which take place in Germany in 2011….what better preparation than sending them all overseas at the same time….

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   September 7, 2010 8:25 am
   Queso says

   @NotGood… spot on, it’ll be very interesting to see if either Glenanne or Pembroke progress beyond Round 1 and how this may then affect Irelands ranking (6th) and our entitlement to 2x EHL places.

   Poland and Russia are only 1/2 a point behind us in the rankings with France just a point behind in 9th place. If all these countries do better than Ireland we will lose one of our EHL places.

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   September 7, 2010 12:57 pm
   stoic says

   I agree with the above comments that our club game will suffer at European level. But surely our international side can only get better with all these players playing abroad at a much higher standard in some of the toughest leagues in the world. If we lose our 2nd spot in the EHL and the Irish team is performing much better does it matter? If we want to get to the olympics it’s the Irish teams that’s important not the clubs.

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