BS: england hockey

Subject: BS: england hockey
From: bobad
Date: 02 Dec 07 - 01:59 PM

The brother of my next door neighbour is playing professional hockey in England for the Sheffield Steelers and I am wondering about the popularity of the sport over there, does it have as rabid (though obviously not as large) a fan base as does soccer? I can see it appealing to a certain subset of the soccer fan as it is quite physical and can be violent at times. Anyone?

Subject: RE: BS: england hockey
From: GUEST,Cyril Lord
Date: 02 Dec 07 - 02:13 PM

Bobad,

Ice hockey is very much a minority sport in the UK, in terms of both players and spectators. It's only popular in the few places that have ice rinks (Sheffield, Nottingham, Belfast, etc.) and its entire national fan base, in terms of those who turn up for a game, would leave plenty of seats vacant in Sheffield Wednesday's 40,000-capacity stadium.

Bear in mind that some 200,000 people turned out in appalling weather yesterday to watch games in the Championship alone (that's the English second division, pyramid-wise). Add to that the Premier League games spread over three days, all the FA Cup ties, and a whole myriad of non-league games and we're talking about more than a million turning up for 90 minutes of footballing ecstasy or nightmare.

In other words, sorry, but the overwhelming majority of the sports-going public here couldn't give a damn about ice hockey.

Subject: RE: BS: england hockey
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 Dec 07 - 02:24 PM

"Hockey" in the UK means what they call Field Hockey in North America. The game North Americans call Hockey is always referred to here as Ice Hockey. Confusing.

All much smaller scale than football, and no tradition of fan violence and so forth,

Subject: RE: BS: england hockey
From: bobad
Date: 02 Dec 07 - 03:15 PM

"In other words, sorry, but the overwhelming majority of the sports-going public here couldn't give a damn about ice hockey."

There must be a reasonably significant core number of fans because he is paid rather handsomely to play there. Perhaps you are not aware of it's popularity because you haven't any interest in the sport.

Subject: RE: BS: england hockey
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 Dec 07 - 03:31 PM

The fact that the overwhelming majority don't give a damn can still leave enough room for a sizeable enough following that does. As with folk music.

Subject: RE: BS: england hockey
From: Mrs.Duck
Date: 02 Dec 07 - 03:31 PM

Well Bobad, its never shown on TV here so not really likely to have that much of a following. I think some would like it to take off here but so far it hasn't. As for ordinary hockey doubt if most folk here were even aware that international matches were played. It is played mainly by girls at high school as the equivalent of football for boys.

Subject: RE: BS: england hockey
From: GUEST,Cyril Lord
Date: 02 Dec 07 - 03:34 PM

Bobad,

There isn't a single national newspaper in the UK which features daily coverage of ice hockey (and, believe me, some of them desperately try to fill 16 and more pages on sport every day). In other words, the sport has no 'popularity' here.

I wonder how much the brother of your next door neighbour is actually being paid and how that equates to the average footballer in the Premier League (from £20,000 to £150,000 per week). Even an ex-test cricketer could well be on £60,000 for just six months of the year.

Subject: RE: BS: england hockey
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 02 Dec 07 - 03:37 PM

bobad,

I toured England and Scotland in the eighties with a Senior team of Canadians from the Toronto area. Hockey had a small but devoted fan base. For some reason, it was most popular in Nottingham, apparently they sold out pretty much every game. But it was also quite popular in London (Streatham Redskins), Durham and Billingham. It seemed to be even more popular Scotland. At that time, there were import rules, no team could have more than three imports. That has changed. They formed what they call the Superleague. From what I have heard the calibre of hockey is much better than it was when I was there. There are several ex-NHLer's playing as well as North Americans who played Junior A and/or University hockey. It seems that they have a number of Europeans from the same places that the NHL get Europeans. I understand that there are very nice new arenas in Nottingham and Sheffield. I think that it's popularity is still minimal compared to Soccer etc., but growing.

Subject: RE: BS: england hockey
From: Steve Latimer
Date: 02 Dec 07 - 03:48 PM

I don't know how they are being paid. I believe it is comparable to some other leagues in Europe that players of a similar calibre go to. The last I heard of Theoren Fleury he was playing for the Belfast Giants.

I can't seem to get the blicky maker to work. Here is the URL for the league.

http://www.eliteleague.co.uk/

Subject: RE: BS: england hockey
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 02 Dec 07 - 05:38 PM

But remember, in England talking about "Hockey" when you mean the game played on ice is a bit like talking about "football" in the States when meaning the game played with a round ball (and the feet). Liable to lead to confusion.

Hockey "Field Hockey", men's and women's is pretty well established here, but relatively small scale, and amateur, and it's essentially a participants' game. Ice Hockey exists in a few venues, and it's essentially a spectator sport.