CHENNAI: The International Hockey Federation (FIH) will be taking up the loan programme put together by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Swiss government. Many international federations (IFs) could have a cashflow problem because of the postponement of the Olympics, apart from standalone events being indefinitely put on hold or cancelled. To help them tide through this crisis, the Swiss government — most IFs are based out of Lausanne — put together a loan package in May.
In an email to The New Indian Express, FIH CEO, Thierry Weil, said they would be taking up the option. "We’d like to extend our sincerest thanks to the IOC and the Swiss federal and cantonal authorities who have put together a loan programme for international federations, which we intend to benefit from," he said. Even though the FIH has not had the need to lay off staff just yet, Weil opined that the world body 'looks at our financial status on a permanent basis' because of the pandemic.
"As a responsible organisation, we manage our finances with utmost care and look at our financial status on a permanent basis. This is even more the case now. As is very much discussed around the world, the pandemic will have consequences on global economy. Therefore, we absolutely take this situation into account when it comes to our finances and budget planning, bearing in mind as well that the overall uncertainty of the situation is another factor to consider."
Unlike other team sports like football, bulk of the wealth in hockey is concentrated among 2-3 nations. This is a problem because a few of the smaller national associations could run out of funds by the end of the year. Even though FIH's help cannot be monetary, they have already reached out to a couple of the smaller associations to help them.
"The help FIH can give to National Associations (NAs) is not of financial nature but we do provide assistance in other areas. For example, guidelines we issued on restarting play were partly issued due to a number of NAs asking us for guidance at this unprecedented time. Furthermore, we have multiplied online courses (coaching, management, administration) and those have been very successful with many NAs joining. I personally had an online interaction with NAs at the beginning of June. These are just a few examples. That support is really important for NAs," Weil explained.
The Frenchman also confirmed that the FIH is looking at restarting the Pro League later this year, subject to the pandemic and local laws. "Although it will of course depend on the evolution of the pandemic globally, we are hopeful of restarting the FIH Hockey Pro League towards the end of Q3 or in Q4 of this year," Weil said.