Hockey: Britain plans for Atlanta

PHIL APPLEYARD, the president of the Hockey Association and chairman of the Great Britain Men's Hockey Board, gave reassuring news to the HA council yesterday in London when reporting on Britain's Olympic performance in Barcelona.

He said that the Board would be meeting at the weekend for the first debriefing, and that in November open meetings would be held in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Reading and Cambridge to consider plans for the Atlanta challenge. 'We are determined to put everything right that we can do within financial constraints.'

He stressed that there was no complacency and that he felt Britain's team for 1996 would be a better side than that in Barcelona. Nevertheless it was important for British hockey to go along the path already followed by Germany, the Olympic champions, and the Dutch to introduce full-time coaches at club level.

A further nail has been hammered into the coffin of indoor hockey, from which England has already withdrawn at international level. Following the switch of the Royal Bank of Scotland's sponsorship from the national indoor cup to its outdoor counterpart, and the loss of BBC television coverage of the final, it has been decided to cut out the 'last 32' regional round of the competition.

Instead the tournament will proceed with reduced divisional nominations, two each from the Midlands and South, one from the other regions, plus St Albans, the cup-holders, making the eight teams for finals night.

Even greater confusion seems likely in this weekend's National League programme following the decision to withdraw the Hockey Rules Board amendment issued only last week in an effort to reduce the danger at the new experimental mandatory penalty-corner rule. The requirement for a hit-out at a penalty-corner from a spot on the goal-line more than five yards outside the circle to be stopped, inside or outside the circle, before a shot at goal can be made, has now been withdrawn.