Indian players react after losing against New Zealand, in the 2023 Men's FIH Hockey World Cup match, in Bhubaneswar, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023. (Photo|Shamim Qureshy, EPS)
Indian players react after losing against New Zealand, in the 2023 Men's FIH Hockey World Cup match, in Bhubaneswar, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023. (Photo|Shamim Qureshy, EPS)

Hock-eye view

With the 15th edition of the World Cup coming to an end, a look at some of the wider trends during the last 20 days.

With the 15th edition of the World Cup coming to an end, a look at some of the wider trends during the last 20 days.

FIH could keep coming back to India
Thanks to the skewed nature of economics, the FIH would have no choice but to keep coming back to India to host some of its bigger events in the short-term and medium-term nature. While their point is it makes business sense to do it, critics may argue that it could lead to a point where some of the other countries may not even bother bidding to host events. This is not to knock the conduct of this World Cup. By all accounts, all the teams this paper spoke to loved the hospitality and the new facility in Rourkela.

3

India have hosted three of the last four World Cups and could be in line to host another big-ticket FIH event in the near future

Data remains a bone of contention
The FIH has held two press conferences during the World Cup. And both times it has run into trouble while answering questions regarding availability of statistics, numbers and past records. That a vast majority of records is missing something that the FIH have come on record to say multiple times doesn’t help the body. It also doesn’t help when it comes to researching.

Australia, only challengers to European elite
The last two World Cups have seen Europeans dominate the latter stages of the tournament, taking six of the eight slots on offer. On both occasions, Australia emerged as the lone challenger finishing as losing semifinalists both times. There are many theories as to why this is the case but the main reason is the club structure automatically gives Europe a big advantage when compared to the other regions in the world. That there has been at least one European nation in the final of the World Cup since 1978 is a testament to this point.

1975

Last time the final of a World Cup witnessed an all non-European final (India vs Pakistan in Kuala Lumpur).

Penalty corners and a web of issues
As far as the sport is concerned, penalty corners are pure theatre. It’s a made-for-TV event just because of the anticipation, drama and the excitement it creates. But it could also be very unsafe. Thankfully, there haven’t been many big injuries at this event. There have also been conversations around the decreasing conversion rates from shot corners. While that was observed in Odisha as well, there hasn’t been any overall decrease when you compare penalty corner goals as a percentage of total goals scored. It’s remained between 33-38% for a while now. 

Upsets too few
South Korea reaching the quarterfinals at Argentina’s expense was a wonderful story but there haven’t been many upsets. The top four seeds, according to the FIH, comprised the semifinals. Apart from South Korea’s fairytale, India failing to beat New Zealand was the only other genuine ‘wow’ moment in terms of an upset. It speaks of how elite the elite teams are in this sport. And with Germany coming back into the picture after failing in the last few tournaments, the sport’s elite are operating at a totally different level when compared to the other teams.

6

The top six ranked nations lost one match between them before Finals day. And that was Germany who scored the winner with six seconds remaining on the clock (India and England lost via shoot-outs).

Not a level playing field
This may be true for every sport in the world but in hockey there remains the added challenge of players crowdfunding or self-funding to events like the World Cup. Less than a month before their maiden World Cup, Wales began a crowdfund to ensure their flight charges could be covered. Then, they faced India, one of the most well-funded teams anywhere on the planet. That’s the level of difference that exists in this sport.

FIH’s mixed message on sustainability
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) are making a big push to make the sport sustainable. With a view to that, their big push is for the future where turfs will not be watered. At least that was what was said at a press conference by FIH president, Tayyab Ikram. While it’s an initiative that ought to be lauded, not everything in this tournament has been environment-friendly. Take for instance the two sets of firecrackers that was burst every time a team scored a goal. Sure, it may look good on TV but if you truly want a sustainable future, these little things matter the most.

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