Likely funding cuts threaten future for elite hockey players

A probable funding cut allied to a new round of collective bargaining is expected to bring simmering resentments between the country's elite hockey players and their national body to the boil.

The players are due to enter collective bargaining with Hockey New Zealand in 2015, a process that will focus on the changing high-performance requirements within the sport.

Hockey NZ's revenue is almost entirely dependent on Sport New Zealand handouts and club subscriptions, yet it has placed increasing demands on elite players that often exceed those in other professional sports.

Glen Sulzberger, executive manager of the Hockey Players' Association, said: "We are looking forward to sitting down with Hockey NZ and negotiating a new agreement given the changing landscape of the high-performance environment."

The Herald has learned there are several issues waiting to be aired and at the top of the agenda is what elite players see as pressure to move to Auckland to be nearer centralised training facilities.

The women in particular believe they are being made to train like a fulltime professional on just a fraction of the compensation an elite athlete requires.

Sulzberger did not want to discuss details of the negotiation but noted that it was becoming increasingly difficult for players to commit and stay involved in the sport.

The more centralised model is essentially stolen from Australia and it is perhaps not surprising that the most important high-performance positions - high-performance manager, men's and women's national coaches - in the country are held by Australians: Terry Evans, Colin Batch and Mark Hager respectively.

The difference is the Australian players are encouraged to build and consolidate their profiles and commercial opportunities and are paid the equivalent of the minimum wage, something that has not been feasible to this point in New Zealand.

These underlying tensions are one of the reasons a number of experienced players have called time on their international careers just 18 months out from an Olympic campaign.

A source said that several players were sick of being made to feel guilty about missing training camps because of work commitments.

There is also dissatisfaction from those who have shifted to Auckland and then find no Hockey NZ support once they arrive.

The flipside of that is the women's programme appears, on the field at least, to be in rude health. They may not have won a big tournament yet and still have a propensity to lose in the clutch, as was in evidence during their penalty shootout semifinal loss to Australia at this week's Champions Trophy in Argentina, but they are perennial challengers and will be expected to be near the podium in Rio.

According to the same source, few if any players have committed beyond Rio 2016, mainly because of financial constraints.

The issues facing the men's programme are different but no less challenging.

A seventh-place finish at the world cup at the Hague in June could see PEG funding and Sport NZ grants slashed, leaving Batch's programme existing hand-to-mouth.

In some respects this will make the decisions of the country's best players easier.

The lucrative northern European leagues and nascent Hockey India League give the men money-making options not available to the women.

What they also do is make our best players less likely to be available for cornerstone tournaments here and, possibly, some international campaigns.