By Jordan Baker
A controversial goal has ended Australia’s hockey hopes in Paris and left a bitter aftertaste for the Hockeyroos, who were knocked out of the Olympic quarter-finals by a Chinese team coached by an Australian legend of the sport.
China won 3-2, but the third goal was awarded after the ball appeared to hit a Chinese player’s leg before it was whacked into the net. The goal went to the video referee, who allowed it. A 2-2 draw would have been decided in a penalty shootout.
This is the third consecutive Olympic campaign in which the Hockeyroos have been eliminated in the quarter-final. They had high hopes that Paris would break the curse, and were undefeated in their pool. Players were in tears as they left the field.
The video referee’s decision infuriated Australian fans. “If we can slow this down and see the connection to the legs, why can’t the umpire?” wrote former Kookaburra Grant Schubert. “That’s going to be hard to take for the girls. Shocked.”
Former Hockeyroo Georgie Parker described the decision as frustrating. “I don’t know how they could not see that hit the body,” she said. The Hockeyroos’ official X account said, “Can’t help but feel we deserved more from that as we bow out of #Paris2024.”
After the match, Australian midfielder Jane Claxton described the decision as strange. “Very interesting what you see on the big screen compared with what they see on a computer screen,” she said.
The Hockeyroos were devastated at full-time.Credit: AP
“So that’s interesting. Those are the things that change matches. It is incredibly frustrating, because that’s so controllable. It’s images on a screen that you can slow down and see from any angle. If we can see it on the big screen – it’s strange, it’s really strange.”
When asked about the controversial goal and a decision to revoke a penalty corner over a complicated rule about contesting the ball, Australia’s coach Katrina Powell said, “There’s way too many things I would pick out if we started opening that stuff up.
“They [China] were better today.”
China’s coach is Australian Alyson Annan, who played with Powell on the Hockeyroos side that won gold in Sydney and Atlanta. Ric Charlesworth, a Kookaburra gold medallist who coached their Hockeyroos side to those two golds, is her assistant coach.
“I haven’t seen [the footage], so I don’t have a view,” said Annan. “It’s too far away. The video umpire had a look at it, so I just had to trust her judgement.”
Ric Charlesworth talks to Alyson Annan during the Hockeyroos’ Olympic campaign in Sydney Credit: Rick Stevens
Powell was asked whether she expected a strong performance from the Chinese, given her history with Annan and Charlesworth. She said she anticipated its quality.
“We also expected the trickery, if you like, the physicality, the being quite low on the circle’s edge, which isn’t helpful,” she said. “They’re prepared to do whatever. We have our way of doing things and we fell a little bit short today.”
Annan said the team was aggressive in attack, but not physical. “They’re as physical as every other team. If you look at every team here, the 50-50 contest has to be contested. And we’ve [come] to do that.”
China is an emerging force in hockey. Annan has been coaching there for 18 months. “We train pretty much every day. That’s the culture. We have a day off a week,” she said. The sport is so new in China that the team has to travel overseas to get high-quality match practice.
When asked how she felt about her team beating Australia, she said “it’s mixed feelings. Of course I wouldn’t want this to be the quarter-final, where one of us goes home.”
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