Stratford and Taranaki Hockey receive good feedback following Olympic qualifiers

The hockey Olympic qualifiers held in Stratford in November was not only successful for the Black Sticks, who secured their spot at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but also for the region and district, says Grant Boyde member of the Taranaki Synthetic Surf Trust.

A 40-page review of the Olympic qualifiers against Korea and the test series against Japan released by Hockey New Zealand has put Stratford in the spotlight.

The report included details about broadcast numbers, engagement and the overall success of the two events. Grant says Stratford should be extremely proud.

"Stratford really stepped up and the support made everyone feel welcome."

The total broadcast reach of the Black Sticks Men vs Japan test matches was over 127,556.

Grant says this a huge achievement.

"There was an average broadcast reach of 31,889 with each test. There was 3762 total hours watched with an average time of 940 hours per game. I'm absolutely blown away with the broadcast results."

The international search for the test series was most watched in Japan, Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Chairman of the Synthetic Turf Trust, Lloyd Morgan says hosting the Olympic qualifiers was a great achievement.

"When comparing it to the other places that hosted the qualifiers like London and Vancouver, it really is a big achievement for Taranaki Hockey and Stratford."

The umpires and officials of the events also experienced a large part of the Stratford district while they were in Stratford, Grant says.

"The umpires and officials went to Whangamomona for meals and visited a number of other places. They saw a lot of the district."

Statistics released in the review show there was plenty of engagement with the matches.

Facebook activity over the two series show there was 57 posts with 20,365 post clicks, 13,588 engagements, 1,017 comments and 59,291 page views.

"We've profiled ourselves and put ourselves on the map," Grant says.