When Great Britain men and women step out for their first home matches of the FIH Pro League, the stands at the Lee Valley Hockey and Tennis Centre at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will erupt as 10,000 fans show their support.
Since the London 2012 Olympic Games and enhanced by a gold medal for the women at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, a new form of hockey culture has been growing in the UK. At a reunion of former Great Britain and England women internationals, held in London during the Vitality Hockey Women’s World Cup, Val Robinson, a multi-capped, legend of the game, reminisced about the times the England team took to the grass pitches of Wembley and 75,000 school girls cheered the team on. “But this is so different,” she says, indicating the crowds at Lee Valley. “Everyone comes to watch hockey now.”
Support for the game has grown exponentially in the United Kingdom in the past decade, with more players at all levels, more people rushing to buy tickets and more people involved in the sport in a volunteering capacity. From chief executive of England and Great Britain Sally Munday, to the army of Hockey Makers who work at each event, there is a pride of belonging to the ‘hockey family’.
It is an army of support that Great Britain captain Hollie Pearne-Webb says plays an important part. “It is an amazing feeling, to step onto the pitch and hear the crowd roaring you on, you know they are willing you to win” she said, speaking at the recent Wanglibao Hockey Champions Trophy in China. Her colleague Lily Owsley agreed: “Yes, there is such a buzz. It can be a little daunting at first, but you learn to embrace it and use it to your advantage.”
Home advantage for both the Great Britain men’s and women’s teams will not start until later in the FIH Pro League competition. The men’s first home match is 4 May against Spain, followed by a meeting with Pakistan the next day. For the women, the USA are the first visitors to visit Lee Valley on 27 April.
All the home matches will be played at Lee Valley except the final round of league matches on 23 June. On that occasion, both the men’s and women’s teams will be playing New Zealand at another iconic London ground, The Stoop, home to Harlequins Rugby Club.
The move will involve the highly technical process of overlaying an artificial hockey pitch on top of the existing grass rugby pitch. The result will be another 5,000 people adding their voices of support for the teams as The Stoop can accommodate nearly 15,000 spectators.
Hockey fans following the men’s and women’s squads will be hoping that both sides will create some magical memories at the inaugural FIH Pro League. As reigning Olympic champions, albeit with a very different squad, the women will be looking to build on some positive moments from the recent Champions Trophy in Changzhou, while the men will be buoyed by a fourth place finish at the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar. Goalkeeper and member of the men’s leadership team, George Pinner, spoke glowingly of his squad’s ‘X-Factor qualities’, and a full house of home supporters will be hoping for stellar performances in the months ahead.
