The second season of the FIH Hockey Pro League gets underway in January 2020 after a hugely successful first edition. We caught up with the coaches and players from the participating teams as they prepare for the new-look FIH Hockey Pro League season to get underway. In the following interview, Great Britain men’s forward Chris Griffiths looks ahead to forthcoming season and what the Pro League means to him and his team.
Great Britain (FIH World ranking: 7) finished the 2019 FIH Hockey Pro League season in fourth position. Their 2020 campaign starts with an away fixture against Australia (WR:1) on 1 February 2020.
What did the side learn from the first season of the FIH Hockey Pro League?
Chris Griffiths: “I learnt that hockey is expanding, you could see that from every game we played as there were good crowds there. There was a lot of excitement and buzz around it. You only really get that normally when there are big tournaments, so to have that consistently, I think is massive for the sport. I think it is something that can only get better, particularly with the Pro League being so consistent over the course of four or five months. I think it is something that us as players love, and the fans are really engaging with it, which is excellent.”
What are the team’s ambitions for this second season?
Chris Griffiths: “It’s a good question, and my answers might differ slightly to the coaches! I think as a player you want to build on the performances each game as they come, building up towards the [Tokyo 2020] Olympics. Having said that, it is an Olympic year, so it is a good opportunity to really put our mark out there, to show teams what we are about leading into the Olympics.”
What are your thoughts on the new FIH Hockey Pro League format that will be introduced in the second season?
Chris Griffiths: “As hockey players you become used to playing back-to-back games. It is something that will happen at the Olympics, which I think is eight games in 14 days. It is something that happens in every tournament you play in, you have back-to-back fixtures, particularly in semi-final and final. It’s something we’ll be used to, but there probably will be some slight changes, with one or two players coming in for the second game just to add a bit more energy and a bit of extra legs. But I don’t think it’s something that a lot of people will be too worried about.”
What fixture are you most looking forward to?
Chris Griffiths: “For me, Australia away. I love playing Australia, it is always a really good battle. We didn’t do so well away last [edition], but that was our second Pro League game. Since then we’ve had some good battles with them, something we are all looking forward to. It will be quite early on, so something the guys will be focussing in on over Christmas. It will be at the forefront of everyone’s minds.”
What was your #MyProLeagueMoment moment of the first season?
Chris Griffiths: “My Pro League moment last season was definitely the game at Twickenham, playing in front of 11,000 people at the Stoop. We had a lot riding on it as well, so a few results had to go our way, but we knew if we beat New Zealand on that day we would qualify for the Grand Final. That added some extra sweetness to it, knowing that we’d qualified for the Grand Final in front of a record crowd in this country since the [London 2012] Olympics was a pretty special moment.”
What message have you got for the fans to get them along to watch the matches in the second season?
Chris Griffiths: “I would like to invite all of ‘the Pride’ to come down to Lee Valley and the Stoop to watch us play in the Pro League. It is a very exciting opportunity for us as players, and something you’ll definitely love as the crowd, so please come down and support us.”
Re-live the first edition of the FIH Pro League on www.fihproleague.com and www.fih.live!
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