Hockey 2022: Australian greats double down on plans to move elite program away from Perth

The Hockeyroos have not won the Olympic gold medal for more than two decades as calls grow louder for a significant change which could turn around fortunes.

Australian hockey greats have doubled down on their plea to move the national high-performance centre from Perth to the East Coast, fearing the country’s days of being a powerhouse in the sport are doomed if they don’t make drastic changes.

It’s been more than two decades since the Hockeyroos won the Olympic gold medal and while legendary coach Ric Charlesworth has gone into bat for Western Australia to keep the national program, former players and administrators disagree.

They believe having the program based in Perth is driving the most talented athletes away from hockey to other sports, closer to their homes on the East Coast.

Double Olympic gold medallist Renita Gerrard, a member of the last Hockeyroos team to win the sport’s greatest prize, said Australia’s chances of winning gold in hockey at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics would be much better if the centre was moved away from Perth.

“There‘s a bunch of us who’ve lived through and have just observed some of the most talented athletes that we’ve ever seen who couldn’t cope with the tyranny of distance,” she said.

“That‘s just such a shame because we need our most talented athletes on the field for 2032 and I just feel like we’re going to lose talent.

Stephanie Kershaw and the Hockeyroos have not tasted Olympic gold success for more than 20 years.

“When I think about 2032, you‘re going to need the most amazing culture amongst your athletes to cope with the pressure so why would you not do every single thing you can because if you don’t have the right culture, that pressure’s going to put at risk the chance you’re going to crumble under that pressure.

“The sport‘s been circling around in the same spot for a long time, particularly for the girls, and I feel like the women’s team coming to a new location gives them a chance to make their own identity.”

Hockey Australia is currently in the midst of a process to determine where the high-performance centre should be based in the future after an independent review into the sport’s ‘toxic culture’ exposed serious problems with the women’s program, where it has been based since 1984.

Although the final decision has not been made, Western Australia is expected to remain as the host site after rival bids from New South Wales and Queensland were rejected, leaving only the ACT and Victoria challenging Perth.

Now under new leadership, HA says the ongoing tender process is fair to everyone and completely transparent, with independent voices on the selection panel.

“All submissions considered equally and weighted against the same selection criteria, designed to produce the optimal outcome for Hockey in Australia,” HA said.

Danni Roche, who was part of the Hockeyroos team that won Olympic gold at Atlanta in 1996 then served as a director, says she understands the pressure HA officials are under to stick with Perth so has urged board members to vote for change,

“The board might feel unsafe in taking this step and they might feel there‘ll be some backlash but they need to know they’ve got the support of a lot of people who really want them to have the courage to do it,” Roche said.

Madison Fitzpatrick takes on the New Zealand Black Sticks at Perth Hockey Stadium last year.

“If you‘re a talented kid on the East Coast, you’ll probably end up playing a different sport because it’s too big a sacrifice to go all the way to Perth. You don’t see your family, you don’t see your friends. Your job opportunities, and your educational opportunities get drastically changed and hockey’s got to get to a place where there’s more exposure.

“It‘s a wonderful, sport for guys and girls so I just hope the board makes the right decision because if we rest on our laurels, there’ll be problems ahead.”

Rob Dalton, the former head of Sport Australia and chair of Hockey Victoria, believes the high-performance needs to be based on the more populated East Coast to access more players and corporate opportunities.

“We are seeing significant reduction in participation numbers in the game and we‘re not using those elite athletes to the best of our ability in some really tough markets,” he said.

“We have to be better. We can’t just reload and say, ‘no, everything’s okay’.

“Our asset is our best players in the country, which are the best players in the world, and we‘re not using them.

“We‘re putting them on the West Coast, no-one knows who they are, they disappear, they’re not involved with big corporates and they’re not involved with being able to promote the game.”

‘Forget about winning’: Legend slams hockey WA move

- Julian Linden

Australian hockey legend Ric Charlesworth has hit back at suggestions the national high–performance centre should be relocated from Western Australia to the East Coast.

The mastermind of some of Australia’s greatest triumphs in hockey, Charlesworth says there is no justification for moving the hugely successful elite program away from his home city of Perth.

Dismissing the argument that shifting the centre to the East Coast would be better for the mental wellbeing of athletes as well as the corporate image of the sport, Charlesworth said it would be a travesty if Perth lost the program.

“Western Australia is actually part of Australia as well, you know,” he said.

“And ever since this program came here, it‘s demonstrably been the most successful for any team in any sport in the country.

“In the last 40 years, we’ve won nine World Cups and Olympics. No other team has done that. We‘re still waiting for the Matildas (national women’s soccer team) to make the quarter-finals.”

Former Australian hockey coach Ric Charlesworth says the only place for a hockey high performance centre is in Perth.

Hockey Australia’s (HA) high-performance program has been based in Perth since 1984 but there are fresh calls to relocate east in the lead-up to the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

HA has already started a full review into where the national centre should be based in the future but the process has already come under fire after the bids from Queensland and New South Wales were rejected.

Only three of the original five tenders remain in contention - from Western Australia, Victoria and ACT - prompting complaints that nothing will ever change because WA is in the box seat to win the contract.

“I‘m not one of these ’if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ sort of guys,” Charlesworth said.

”If I thought there was a better option then I‘d be happy to go but there just isn’t.”

Former champion Hockeyroos, including Danni Roche and Renita Gerrard, and respected administrators such as former Sport Australia boss Rob Dalton, all disagree.

They have called on HA to have a major rethink, arguing the elite centre should be on the East Coast, where the majority of elite athletes hail from, which would allow them to be closer to home - an issue that was raised after the recent exposure of a ‘toxic culture’ in the women’s program.

“I just don’t agree with that argument, “ Charlesworth said.

“If you believe in a centralised program, and I think it‘s clear that we do because we didn’t win any major tournaments before we had a centralised program, then athletes have to move.

“If you aspire to excellence in any sport, and you want to achieve your dreams, that’s what you have to do. But if you don’t want to be part of a national team, you don’t have to do. It’s their choice.

“And if you don’t want a centralised program, well good luck and forget about winning.”

Others have called for the high performance unit to be moved somewhere on the east coast in order to improve athlete wellbeing. Picture: Getty Images.

Charlesworth said Perth was far and away the best choice for the centre, because of a lot of reasons. It’s closer to Asia, where hockey’s powerhouses are based, and easier to get around than Sydney, he said.

He also said the weather was better in Perth than Canberra and Melbourne, while rejecting the notion that being based in any of the three East Coast Olympic cities would benefit the sport.

“It‘s about your ambition and the quality of your program, it’s not about your numbers necessarily,” he said.

“If you put the hockey program in Melbourne, you‘d just get lost in the AFL. Nothing gets traction there. It’s not like suddenly the AFL will go off the front page.

“Presently, our sponsors come from Western Australia. You‘ll lose them if you go somewhere else. Who else is going to pick you up? It’s a pretty competitive market out there for sponsorship.

“I understand things evolve but I‘m not convinced that suddenly by moving everything will be solved.

“We had the same argument before the Sydney Olympics. It went on for years but we just didn‘t want to be in the middle of a building site.

“We actually won the gold medal in Sydney so that proved we didn’t need to be there and in fact being away from Sydney was the best thing because we didn’t get caught in the middle of all the hype and yahooing when we were preparing.”

‘SACRIFICIAL LAMB’: HOCKEY AUSTRALIA’S LATEST POISONOUS ROW

Hockey Australia’s leaders are back in the spotlight after being warned they’ll be making a grave mistake if they don’t relocate the sport’s tainted high-performance program away from Western Australia.

Less than two years after HA officials promised to fix the women’s national program once and for all after an independent investigation exposed a shocking toxic culture of abuse, bullying and athletes’ self-harming – another poisonous row is simmering.

This time, it’s about where the sport’s high-performance centre should be based, and emotions are running so high that it could lead to a full-blown mutiny.

“I don‘t like the idea of sacrificing our sport just so WA can have a high-performance program,” Hockeyroos legend Renita Garard said.

“It‘s almost like we’re the sacrificial lamb.”

Danni Roche, another Hockeyroos Olympic gold medallist, said the sports’ leaders needed to put the interests of athletes first.

“Perth’s a great city but the sport’s got to evolve,” she said.

“Athlete welfare has evolved, competition for athletes has evolved and the sport has to evolve and I hope the board members have the courage to do that.”

The program has been in Perth since 1984 but there are calls to start afresh and relocate the elite unit to the East Coast – where most of Australia’s top players hail from – so they can be closer to their homes and families for mental health reasons.

Hockey Australia has been urged to shift its training base away from WA. Picture: AAP

Now under new leadership, HA has agreed to a full review as to where the national centre should be based in the future but the process has already come under fire after the bids from Queensland and New South Wales were rejected.

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Only three of the original five bids remain in contention – from Western Australia, Victoria and ACT – but the sceptics believe it’s all just a smokescreen and nothing will change because WA is a shoo-in to get a renewed contract.

HA refutes that suggestion, saying everything is above board and the process will continue as planned, with a decision on the winning tender expected before the end of the year.

“There is no justification to pause what is a robust and impartial process,” HA said.

“Hockey Australia has taken every step to ensure the selection process is impartial and independent.”

The Daily Telegraph has spoken to several current and former players and administrators who have expressed their fears that the mental health of athletes will be jeopardised if the program remains in Western Australia.

Some spoke only on condition of anonymity, fearing repercussions if they identified themselves, while others went on the record.

Former Hockey Australia director Danni Roche has urged the current board to be brave.

Roche knows the inner workings of HA better than most.

She served as a director for seven years and says she understands the external pressure some officials will be placed under to stick with the status quo.

“I think that‘s been a concern for a long time,” she said.

“But have they got the courage to actually do what we need to do for the sport.”

Like Roche, Garard is an Olympic champion who moved to Perth in her youth and later served on the board after she quit playing.

She said the HA board should reopen the bidding process to reconsider moving the program to Queensland in the lead-up to the 2032 Olympics.

“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” she said.

“Because this is a blank canvas, it seems to have been excluded and they haven‘t been able to foresee the opportunities, which as a hockey person, I find incredibly disappointing.”

Hockeyroos great Renita Garard has urged the governing body to relocate its elite training base.

Hockey is the only national Olympic program based on the West Coast so WA officials are very protective of it but Rob Dalton, the former Acting boss of Sport Australia and chair of Victoria Hockey, said the decision should be about putting athlete’s interest first.

“I don‘t see any of the other major sports or sporting organisations doing this centralisation where you must live together and you must stay together and train together and all that sort of stuff,” he said.

“I get that to get better you‘ve got to be together but I’m not sure that that’s the environment.”