Iain Lewers declaration for Great Britain has caused shockwaves through Irish hockey in the past week. As one of Ireland’s standout players in the past year, the news has come as a big headache for the national team management.
Irish assistant-coach Craig Fulton sums up the mood."It's a huge disappointment. He's come through quite strongly in the last 18 months, and in terms of going forward for the next cycle he was always in our plans, and now he's not, so we have to go back to the drawing board and mix it up a bit.”
Fulton, though, believes that Ireland will be able to deal with the loss and become stronger as the side has a talented pool of young players coming through."We have got a strong U-21 group coming through, 10 of whom were on display in the Celtic Cup, so we're not in dire straits. There's a lot of talent out there and we've got to harness it.
"The players know what we need to do to perform, we're not that far off. If we were drastically off the money I think it would be a different scenario [regarding people declaring for Great Britain]."I think this group who have been through the qualifying tournaments know that massive changes aren't needed, it's just little details.”
Returning to Lewers, Fulton feels the former Annadale man is taking a huge step into the unknown."Iain will get his hockey in Holland, but to take three years out of international hockey at the height of his career … who knows what will happen? It's a tough decision, but you've only got one life."
17 comments:
Nice rose tinted glasses view of things but did anyone really expect them to come out and say we were foooked? It'll be interesting to see whether he is the first of many or an exception.
Interesting that it's Ned talking and not Passmore!!!!
Where did your comment go steve?
Disappearing comment alert!!
Disappearing comment alert!!
Disappearing comment alert!!
Disappearing comment alert!!
Disappearing comment alert!!
Disappearing comment alert!!
Disappearing comment alert!!
Disappearing comment alert!!
Ps Nice site steven (is that the way to get published around here?)
I deleted a comment along these lines by mistake:
On the above point, I was in contact with Craig Fulton rather than Dave Passmore hence his views are here rather than it being a specific decision by the IHA.
How long has Craig Fulton been in Ireland? Could he be persuaded into declaring for Ireland and leading us to domination in the hockey world!
Will this now present an opportunity for players playing that has been consistently overlooked or deemed as not fitting the system. For God's sake get the right team selected and in doing so we may have some chance of qualifying for London 2012.
Fulton would hardly make the Irish side seeing as Mike Maguire absolutley played him off the park in the AIL grand final!
As a coach he would be a fine assett but certainly not as a player.
I think Fulton is a huge asset as a player and a coach. Nobody can question his ability in either facet of the game especially here in Ireland!
its an absolute disgrace the way this has been spun by the IHA. Lewers' decision to play for GB was only part of the motive for going yet he is being potrayed as leaving just to seek the Olympics. THE CURRENT SYTEM HAS FAILED LEWERS AND THIS GROUP OF PLAYERS AND HE IS THE ONLY ONE WITH THE SENSE TO SEE IT! Truth is that the system sucks....the development squad is a joke thrown together to fulfil fixtures, Dave Passmore is accountable to himself as Head Coach and HPD, amateur beyond belief...
This post has been edited
We have lost a whole generation of potential players through having no Under 21's yet we now have an U15 squad ( who no one seemed to know or be consulted about !! ) . We have not progressed at all up the world rankings, have still missed out on EVERY major tournament, for Fulton to say it is only small things wrong is indicative of the brainwashing that is going on in hockey over where we stand in the world. Anyone who has watched international hockey at major tournaments, not some two bit friendlies where the top teams are experimenting will realise we are MILES off qualifying for any major tournament. More players will go if the cuurent system is not replaced sooner rahter than later. At top level sport it is not about the future/development etc....it is about results....not indivdual draws with spain etc but tournament qualification....of that there has been NONE.
Couldn't agree more, this Passmore character had never coached a mens team when he took over the irish job. I know he had done some work with Harlequinns but seriously what kind of stories did he have to spin to make himself appear to be the right candidate for the job. Possibly because there was a lack of quality applicants but from what I have heard that was not the case and also has not been the case when the job has come under review. But Passmore being his own boss just rewarded himself with another contract and then had the cheek to give himself the other job that was available (high performance director) to top up his wages. He's taking irish hockey for a ride and by the time he's stopped he'll be all to happy to leave with all the wads of cash we've wasted on him.
How about an article in one of your papers about the coaching dilemma, stephen? I'm sure the papers would love a bit of gossip/scandal like that!!! With great power comes great responsibility!!
Good luck to Lewers, the guy is too good to be wasting his time with all the training extra require to play for Ireland and get no rewards whatsoever from it! I can't wait to see him play in an olympics, it might make the powers that be take some radical steps and give a new lease of life to Irish hockey.
I was under the impressionm he got some glowing recommendations from seniro players who he was involevd with during his time at Harlequins to help him get the job.
why are comments that slate the system always anonymous!? The lads were within a whisper of Olympic Qualification and have steadily improved over the past 2 yrs. The player on the ditch mentality that exists in most irish sports.. slating oursleves.. is exactly what feeds this belief that we are never good enough.
If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome
Why is the above comment in relation to anonymous comments left by an anonymous blogger????
Anonymous
Post a Comment