Annual Report 2018 Contents Hockey Australia Chair and Executive Report 3 Championships Overview and Results 19 A Message from Sport Australia 6 Officiating 22 A Message from Commonwealth Games Australia 7 Financials 24 Men's High Performance Program 8 Hall of Fame and Life Members 39 Women's High Performance Program 9 Sponsors 41 Hockey Australia’s High Performance Report 11 Commercial Report 12 Participation Report 13 Commissions and Committees: Indoor 15 Commissions and Committees: Country 16 Commissions and Committees: Masters 17 2 Hockey Australia Chair and Executive Report As hockey in Australia prepares for one of the From a high-performance perspective, 2018 was performance by the Hockeyroos. Despite finishing most exciting phases in our recent history, we an extremely busy and important year with a the tournament in fourth place and just missing continued to build momentum and share our home Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, out on the bronze medal in the match against wonderful sport with a growing audience across as well as World Cups for both the men’s and Spain, the women played an extremely strong women’s teams. semi-final against eventual gold medallists, the 2018. Throughout the last 12 months, there Netherlands, only losing in a penalty shootout. were a number of memorable achievements, The performances at the 2018 Commonwealth This result saw the team finish the year moving up including individual milestones that we Games resulted in a gold medal for the two world ranking places from fifth to third. can proudly reflect on as we endeavour to Kookaburras and a silver medal for the consolidate our position as one of Australia’s Hockeyroos. In both cases, strong performances For the Kookaburras, the World Cup was incredibly most successful and loved team sports. by our neighbour New Zealand, ensured we close, with penalty shoot outs being significant in needed to play at our very best to finish at the top determining the eventual top three. After narrowly Over the last 12 months, the Board and Executive of podium. losing the semi-final in a penalty shoot-out against of Hockey Australia have progressed our work to the Netherlands, the men won the bronze medal ensure hockey in Australia evolves with the ever- Under the direction of Head Coach Colin Batch, in a dominant 8-1 win over Great Britain. Belgium changing, and increasingly competitive sporting and led by the indominable Kookaburras captain were the overall winners, with the Netherlands landscape. In addition to promoting our family Mark Knowles, in what would be his final outing securing the silver medal. The Kookaburras ended friendly, dual gender and inclusive profile, we also in the green and gold, the men executed their the year ranked number two in the world, moving recognised the need to adapt our approach in a tournament game plan brilliantly. In addition to out of the number one position. number of areas to ensure we remained relevant in winning the gold medal, the 2018 Commonwealth the broader marketplace. Games provided a very special moment for Mark Offering more flexible opportunities to participate and his family when he was awarded the honour in hockey through the emerging recreational Earlier in the year, we implemented a change to of Flag Bearer for the 2018 Australian and social hockey strategy was a key activity in our organisational structure so that we would Commonwealth Games Team at the Opening 2018. A series of grants were provided to Member be best placed to deliver against the strategic Ceremony. The Kookaburras have now won Associations to support the activation and priorities that were identified in 2017. In addition a remarkable 33 consecutive matches at the extension of the J-Ball and Hockey Sixers products. to supporting the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos Commonwealth Games. Initially developed by Hockey Victoria, Hockey on the international stage, the Board, Executive Australia worked with the Member Associations For the Hockeyroos, winning the silver medal was and Member Associations identified four strategic in rolling out these initiatives on a national basis. not the result that we had hoped for going into priorities for hockey in Australia: These initiatives are designed to provide a simple the Gold Coast. New Zealand simply proved to version of hockey to new players and greater 1. engaging recreational hockey consumers; be too strong in the final, resulting in the Kiwis flexibility to time poor and lapsed players. winning their first ever hockey gold medal. While 2. driving sport entertainment events; the outcome was disappointing, a great deal was While we are still in the very early stages, take 3. unlock one hockey; and learned from this performance by Head Coach up across the country has been very positive. 4. becoming digitally agile. Paul Gaudoin, which has served to influence In the coming 24 months, Hockey Australia and several key decisions following these games. the Member Associations will continue to track These priorities have been at the centre of our the level of uptake with a view to refining these strategic work across the year. The 2018 Women’s Hockey World Cup was held in product offerings by endeavouring to make these London in July and resulted in a much-improved opportunities even more accessible. 3 Hockey Australia Chair and Executive Report At the conclusion of 2018, our participation allocations for the inaugural 2019 FIH Pro In the next phase of work, Hockey Australia numbers were up overall. Disappointingly League series with Melbourne, Hobart, Perth will work to develop the benefits case in however, the number of registered players and Sydney being confirmed. relation to ‘Unlock One Hockey’ to identify the declined from the previous year by 1.6%. While opportunities to deliver a more efficient and this decline in registration numbers reflects The FIH Pro League remains an ambitious cost-effective way of working. a broader trend in sport, the importance of a project for the FIH and Hockey Australia that more flexible offering, coupled with exploring requires careful navigation in the early stages At the 2018 Annual General Meeting, the CEO more contemporary membership models will to ensure it is commercially successful. At of Golf Australia shared the journey of ‘One continue to be an important area of focus. the very start of the process, the Hockey Golf’ which highlighted the way in which the Australia Board recognised that it would take sport of golf has attempted to navigate a Encouragingly, our Hookin2Hockey time to build the necessary profile of FIH Pro more efficient operating model. In July 2018, participation grew across the year. A review League to deliver a commercial return. We Michael Johnston was recruited to the role of the program will be undertaken in 2019 to are excited about the potential of FIH Pro of General Manager, Strategy and Game identify opportunities to improve it League, particularly the partnership between Development who is positioned to lead this where possible. the FIH and Fox Sports and the opportunity work moving forward. In the coming phase, this presents to reposition the sport within the Hockey Australia will be working closely with Across the year, a tremendous amount of work Australian broadcast landscape. Sport Australia and the Member Associations continued to be undertaken in relation to our to determine the best fit approach for hockey. plans to revitalise and reimagine the national From a championship perspective, Hockey hockey league. The tournament style event Australia continued to delivery a full suite of A digital review was completed in 2018 that under the ‘Australian Hockey League’ brand national championships across the Country outlined our digital strategy across the next served hockey extremely well in recent years, for U13s, U15s, U18s, U21s, Country, Indoor period. The new digital strategy identified the but it failed to provide fans with sufficient and Masters. For a small team, Hockey importance of ensuring that customers and opportunities to engage with our best players Australia supports the delivery of more than fans are at the centre of our thinking and the when played in a single location. 1000 matches across the eight months of the need to deliver high quality content. Across year for the benefit of over 4000 players at the 2018, we have seen a huge increase in our The efforts by all Member Associations in national level, which is simply incredible. social reach across all of our platforms. Of working with Hockey Australia to deliver this course, there is more to do in the coming year important change to our national league is to There is no doubt that ‘Unlock One Hockey’ to ensure this momentum is maintained and be commended. On behalf of the Board and is one of the most ambitious, necessary that the story of hockey reaches more people. Executive team, we thank all of those who and important projects for the sport for have been involved to date as we look forward the future. As the national body, we are In September 2018, Hockey Australia to delivering the new league under the brand compelled to consider the most efficient and assembled a Strategic Planning Advisory ‘Hockey One’ in 2019. effective structure that will deliver sustained Panel to undertake a process to generate a benefits for the hockey community. Over the new four-year strategic plan for 2019 – 2022. There was ongoing engagement with the FIH course of the next two years, this project will The panel included the HA Executive Team, across the year in preparation for the FIH Pro further explore and identify a more effective along with David Thompson (CEO Hockey League set to be delivered from January 2019. way of working by examining our current NSW), Andrew Skillern (CEO Hockey VIC) and Hockey Australia undertook an expression operating model and where possible, strip Gavin Hunt (CEO Hockey ACT).