Christianson, 58, was in at the start. After his time as news director for Channel 7 in Perth, he has moved on to the point where he has become the voice of hockey.
"I have been involved with hockey all my life. I had done sports reporting and commentary and when 7 won the rights to cover the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I became involved," said Christianson in a break from his hectic four-matches-a-day schedule. "
What followed can only be described as a disaster as a stand-off with the international federation resulted in Channel 7 deciding not to show any hockey for two years after the FIH had insisted the station should pay $10,000 for access to news highlights which could be obtained from agencies at no cost.
Eventually the FIH changed tack.
"I had left 7 on a fulltime basis by that stage and at their [FIH] request I wrote a business plan outlining the need to lift the quality of hockey broadcasts. I knew we needed dedicated people so we formed a flying squad who would go to events, set up the cameras and provide English commentaries.
"We told the FIH we would deliver a product free of charge, apart from satellite costs, on the understanding they would guarantee they would, in turn, show it worldwide," said Christianson. "The whole thing was cost neutral. It was all about presenting a quality product. That monthly show has grown to 84 episodes of which the first 25 were made in my little office in Perth."
Christianson's first commentary came more or less by accident.
"I was player-coach at a club in Darwin but I got injured and couldn't play. The ABC were to do a commentary on a match and they asked me along. My first fulltime gig was on Packer's Radio Network in 1986. I then switched to basketball on Channel 9 and did that for seven years."
Christianson later linked with the FIH and from 2002, when he covered the women's Champions Trophy in Macau, has provided commentaries at every Champions Trophy (men's and women's) and every World Cup since then.
Christianson is on his eighth visit to New Zealand - half hockey-related - and has enjoyed his work at North Harbour Hockey Stadium.
"The atmosphere here is great but nothing like the noise 55,000 fans at the National Stadium in Lahore create or even the 15,000 screaming Argentinians in Rosario. Being six stories up on a scaffold was pretty scary."
Of hockey's place in world sport, Christianson quickly keeps things in perspective. "Hockey won't challenge a sport like football [soccer] for a number of reasons," he said. "At the Olympics we feel nationalistic and that is great but we are not the most popular television sport. The game is bloody hard to understand if you don't know the rules but I hope [through commentary] I have been able to tell it as it is and explain it as we go along."
