Hockey: Dutch finally free top Black Sticks

Kevin Towns has won one battle, but admits those ahead of him and his Black Sticks men's team will be even tougher.

It was not until yesterday morning that Towns learned for sure that Phil Burrows and Dean Couzins will join the national side in Kuala Lumpur for the 14th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup tournament.

Towns and Hockey New Zealand boss Ramesh Patel have been caught up in a bitter dispute between the two players and their Dutch club.

The club insisted it had a contract which allowed it to hold the players for key matches in the Dutch championship.

Towns and Patel disagreed and went to bat for their players, adamant that no such contract existed and the players had to be released to play in Malaysia.

"It has been a very messy battle," Towns said.

"There has been a salutary lesson in what has happened. It became very tricky, with the players having to sign papers as late as today to ensure they would get the payments due for their coaching work.

"I have been in touch with their coach and he seems a reasonable guy.

"The problem, it seems, is with the club. Obviously there is a lot of money at stake. They were promoted this season, but the players who got them up quickly moved on, leaving Phil and Dean to help them survive.

"If they drop out of the league they stand to lose all their sponsors. It is a messy situation."

Towns said that in future New Zealand players would have to have contracts which had an out clause for when their countries required them.

"And no player in future will be allowed to sign contracts with clubs without having it cleared by the national body. This might mean we have to have a more defined international programme which clearly defines what the players will be expected to be available for."

Towns will now turn his attention to what promises to be a testing tournament in Kuala Lumpur.

"We always hoped we would be invited, as it is a tournament vitally important to our build-up to the Commonwealth Games, World Cup and Olympics.

"We have had the series against Malaysia, but we need some tough games. India, Pakistan and Australia will give us that.

"It is also important to be playing in a tournament with back-to-back games and in conditions which are never easy. Generally - and we have the European tour to come - we are forming a team to play November's Oceania World Cup qualifier.

"We need to get the patterns back in our game before we head to Europe. We have five players coming back into the team after playing overseas, and have four players who have been playing this week's under-21 tournament."

The Black Sticks will have a warm-up game against Malaysia on Tuesday before their first cup outing, against Pakistan on Thursday.