Anyone who has been a keen hockey observer over the past few years, decades even, will have noticed a sizeable shift in the hockey map of the world. The past few decades has seen the rapid spread of the sport, something that has been emphasised in the last four years by the advent of the Hockey World League.
One part of the world where there is a growing number of hockey players and an increasing amount of international competition is Eastern and Southern Europe. And leading this charge in hockey development and with a growing international profile is Poland.
Poland's men and women will both be contesting the Hockey World League Round 2 events to be held between January and April next year. The nation's love for the sport was further bolstered when it was announced that the women are now ranked fourth in the FIH Hero Indoor World Rankings, with the men one place behind in fifth spot.
Polish hockey has been no stranger to top level events. The Polish Hockey Federation has been in existence for 90 years and until 2005, the national men’s team regularly competed in both the Olympics and the World Cup. The game then went through a bit of a slump but now all the signs are that Poland are back on the way up. Poland women's team is currently ranked 20th and the men are ranked 19th in the FIH Hero World Outdoor Rankings.
Captain of the women’s national team, Marlena Rybacha, who plays club hockey for Netherlands Orange Rood in the Hoofdklasse League, was overjoyed when the new Indoor Rankings were released. The news came just days after Poland had finished second in their Hockey World League Round 1 event, where Rybacha had been voted player of the tournament.
Explaining why Poland is enjoying its march up the rankings, Rybacha says much of it comes down to increased exposure to top level competition, whether that is through a better league structure [the men's Championship is particularly strong], playing abroad in other domestic leagues or through internationals, against higher-ranked opposition. She also feel the stability in the national team has played a part in improving team performances.
Certainly, in the past two seasons Poland men and women have found themselves competing with the top ranked teams. The women played in the Unibet EuroHockey Championship in London, England and the FINTRO Hockey World League Semi-Finals in Antwerp, Belgium. Poland men also contested the FINTRO Hockey World League Semi-Finals after they finished runner-up to Malaysia in Hockey World League Round 2.
Rybacha says this is all good experience that the teams can build upon: “Looking at last edition of Hockey World League we are hoping to again qualify for the Semi-Finals and using the experience from tournament in Antwerp to bring a stronger performance against the best teams in the world.
"The core group of our team has been together for a long time now and we have all progressed individually and as a team. Everyone's awareness of what it takes to compete at the top level, such as fitness, tactics and the technical side has improved.
"At the same time, more players are playing abroad now in top leagues and together the team has had more international experience which has helped the growth of our team."
In addition to Poland, other Eastern European nations have also been doing well on the international stage.
In this year’s Hockey World League Round 1, the European based competitions were held in Antalya, Turkey; Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, as well as Glasgow, Scotland and Douai, France. From those four events, a total of 15 men’s teams and 10 women’s teams competed, with Cyprus one of the nations making its debut.
Since the first edition of the Hockey World League, the number of Eastern European teams entering Round 1 has risen from four – Poland, Ukraine, Belarus and the Czech Republic, to nine participants in the second edition, and six in the third edition. Turkey and Cyprus are the latest two southern European sides to join the Hockey World League revolution.
With a place at the 2018 Hockey World Cup at stake via the Hockey World League (at the Semi-Final stage), Poland and Ukraine will be flying the flag for Eastern Europe in the men’s competition, while Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Russia and Belarus will be the women’s representatives.
This progress is evidence of these nations and the European Hockey Federation (EHF) embracing the International Hockey Federation's (FIH) 10-year Hockey Revolution strategy, with one of its main goals to increase the degree of professionalism across the sport.
To find out more about the Hockey Revolution, click here.
More information about hockey in Eastern Europe can be obtained from the EHF.
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