The Australian Women’s Hockey team are known by the familiar nickname of Hockeyroos and have been at or near the top of world womens’ field hockey since winning the gold medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. Since that victory the Hockeyroos have won a further 2 Olympic Gold Medals (at Barcelona and Sydney) as well as 2 World Cup gold medals.
Kate Hollywood of Australia
Naturally over these past 20 years the team roster has changed with retirements and new players joining the team. It is testament to the strength of Australian Hockey that the standard has been able to remain as high as it has for as long as it has.
Despite this long-running high performance the Hockeyroos will not be competing in the 2010 Champion’s Trophy in England because the English team, who are the bottom placed team is immune from relegation because they are hosting the event. Because the make up of the Champions Trophy is decided on the Beijing Olympics standings, where Australia finished 5th, the team has been relegated for the first time in the history of the event.
This hasn’t held the team back with another outstanding performance in the Oceania Cup with a win ensuring that the team has qualified for direct entry into the World Cup in 2010. With the closest of margins deciding the event in extra time on the synthetic turf pitch at Invercargill, the result complemented that of the men’s team which also was a little more comfortable.
Women’s hockey remains at a high standard worldwide with a growing number of teams that are challenging for the top honours in high class events. As of the 1st of September, 2009 the official top 5 nations in the FIH world rankings for women’s hockey were as follows: 1. Netherlands, 2. Argentina, 3. China, 4. Germany, 5. Australia.
One of the nations that have dropped in the rankings in recent times has been India. One of the reasons put down for their fall from the head of the pack has been the introduction and widespread use of artificial turf fields. As a poorer nation that cannot afford to install synthetic turf hockey fields throughout the country, the opportunity to play on these surfaces does not arise for all players and so, the crucial experience is missing. Other nations have surged ahead, able to play at a speed that is simply too fast.
Given time and an injection of necessary funds into the sport, it is expected that the heads of state in the game will once again be joined by India.