Territory Stingers continue fight for re-admittance into top division

The Festival of Hockey has exposed the barriers facing the NT’s pipeline of talent. Here’s how HockeyNT plans to fix it.

Brooke Peris in the first Festival of Hockey match between the Territory Stingers and Brisbane Blaze. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin.

Two of Australia’s best-known hockey stars are calling for greater pathways and game development in the Northern Territory on the back of a lacklustre festival showing.

Jeremy Hayward and Brooke Peris, two Olympians whose foundations in the game were developed in Darwin, have put the word out for better development in Territory.

It comes as the revived Stingers played their first games in five years at the weekend’s Festival of Hockey, and were defeated across the mens and womens’ competition in all four games.

But the festival’s main ambition wasn’t to win, but to further demonstrate that the Territory is ready to be re-admitted to the nation’s premier competition, from which it was dumped five years ago.

Jeremy Hawyard (left) has stressed the need for the Territory Stingers to be included in Hockey One. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin.

Kookaburra, Olympian and the world’s current number one ranked defender, Hayward came up for the games to show his support of the Stingers’ push back into the league.

The Darwinite was blunt with his assessment of the current situation in the Territory.

“The level of competition in the Territory is not good at the moment,” he said.

“Once you’re out of that age group for the futures and representative and development sides, you are left on your own.

“There needs to be some sort of pathway, there needs to be a target for these kids.”

Fellow Darwinite, Olympian and Hockeyroo Peris said the heavy losses were “what happens when you’ve been out of the competition for five or six years”.

“You lose that type of intensity,” she said in backing Hayward’s push.

“It’s emotional, I’ve been out of the loop here for about six years.

“I didn’t have a NT team, so I had to play with other states and it never felt the same, I always felt like an outsider.

“I hope other Territorians get the same opportunity I did and hopefully they too can play in the national team.”

Current CEO and Technical Director of HockeyNT Jason Butcher is doing everything in his power to bring back elite hockey to the Territory.

“We’ve (NT) historically produced the most Olympians per capita than anywhere else in the country,” the former Hockeyroos assistant coach said.

“Not token players but unique and highly skilled players that have contributed so much to the rich history of Australian hockey.

“I’m concerned that if we don’t have the avenues and opportunities in place that Hockey One presents, we won’t see the next Brooke (Peris) or Jeremy (Hayward).”

The current Federation International Hockey educator said that Australian Hockey and Hockey One are both supportive in the Stingers’ admittance into the league.