Field Hockey

[Magrat Garlick]

NL men, so useless.

 

[Chubb]

NZ men out, Argentina through. To be honest it’s not a big surprise, this was not a strong NZ team compared to previous years.

 

[Meridio]

Yeah we were pretty bad tonight. Those first two goals we gave up were just awful. And we created nothing in attack, looked really toothless and short of ideas.

I don't really see our women going far either, think that win over Argentina was a bit of a fluke. Our best players have dropped off in the last couple of years and we always seem to have a random shocker of a game in big tournaments - last Olympics it was against GB in the semi, hopefully the game against Spain has woken us up a bit but I think we're a long way behind the top teams, and teams that were near us in quality have now gone past. Hope to be proven wrong, but not holding too much hope for going past the quarters. Especially if we play the Dutch in them.

 

[Anil]

Do the Indian men have any chance against Great Britain?

 

[stephen]

NL men, so useless.

Thankfully.

 

[Chubb]

Do the Indian men have any chance against Great Britain?

I think it will be a close game, GB aren’t that good.

 

[Chubb]

High quality quarter finals so far. The kookaburras far from convincing against the Dutch though the penalty shootout was never really in doubt. Belgium had a brief scare against Spain but pulled through.

Now it’s time to watch the private schoolboys get thumped I hope.

 

[Aritro]

Now it’s time to watch the private schoolboys get thumped I hope.

Isn't that everyone who's there?

 

[Chubb]

Isn't that everyone who's there?

Not really. This is a hobby horse of mine so I won’t start ranting about it but in NZ state schools boys play hockey. In Britain they don’t. I never got the chance to play hockey at school in the UK and thus never experienced what a great game it was until I moved to NZ.

I started playing in NZ because I could earn a little extra money as a journalism student by covering hockey games for the local paper and decided to try it to understand what was involved.

it is unfair on the British team to be so opposed to them, and I know I have a chip on my shoulder about it.

 

[Aritro]

Not really. This is a hobby horse of mine so I won’t start ranting about it but in NZ state schools boys play hockey. In Britain they don’t. I never got the chance to play hockey at school in the UK and thus never experienced what a great game it was until I moved to NZ.

I started playing in NZ because I could earn a little extra money as a journalism student by covering hockey games for the local paper and decided to try it to understand what was involved.

it is unfair on the British team to be so opposed to them, and I know I have a chip on my shoulder about it.

Interesting. They have hockey teams in state schools in Australia but I always got the feeling it's something taken far more seriously in private schools, as per the cliche.

 

[Chubb]

Interesting. They have hockey teams in state schools in Australia but I always got the feeling it's something taken far more seriously in private schools, as per the cliche.

Yeah I guess my point is, at least they have a team. I am a big believer that the lack of sports culture in UK state schools can be directly linked to the UK's relative lack of performance per capita compared to NZ. Cricket is exactly the same.

I'm opposed to private education on principle but my experience in NZ has shown me that state schools can be as good as UK private schools, if people and government can actually be bothered to care about it.

 

[stephen]

Yeah I guess my point is, at least they have a team. I am a big believer that the lack of sports culture in UK state schools can be directly linked to the UK's relative lack of performance per capita compared to NZ. Cricket is exactly the same.

I'm opposed to private education on principle but my experience in NZ has shown me that state schools can be as good as UK private schools, if people and government can actually be bothered to care about it.

On what principle are you opposed to private school?

 

[Chubb]

The principle that everyone should get an equal opportunity and I shouldn't have had to suffer for six years in a bog standard comprehensive that still gives me nightmares 16 years later just because my parents didn't have money. I ended up with a first class degree and a great career, I got to live in NZ and Melbourne, but many others do not get to escape from it. The British state education system is designed to crush talent and fosters a lowest common denominator mentality in its students. Unless you can persuade teenagers to take personal responsibility for themselves it destroys people.

I'm well aware this is unreasonable, believe me.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

NZ women have had a bad tournament and play the Netherlands in the quarters tonight. They were 4th in 2012 and 2016, so it would be nice to upset the Dutch and grab a medal.

 

[Fuller Pilch]

Why is hockey not played much in British state schools? Is the cost of building turfs too prohibitive?

 

[Chubb]

Why is hockey not played much in British state schools? Is the cost of building turfs too prohibitive?

I think that's one reason. In NZ some state schools have turfs but more often they share the town/suburb/regional turf. Timaru is a good example. The Timaru Boys High and Roncalli Catholic along with the girls schools share the South Canterbury turf. The "rough" school, Mountainview, has a turf of their own. In Oamaru the schools share the North Otago turf, in Invercargill the Southland turf, in Gore the Eastern Southland turf, and so on.

In general, with most sports, Britain relies on clubs rather than state schools to bring through non-private school talent. It's also the case in cricket - the families of people who play cricket and people who went to private school play it.

I am not claiming I would have been an amazing hockey player if I'd done it at school - I just don't have the athletic ability - I just think Britain wastes an enormous amount of talent across many sports with this attitude and it restricts the opportunity for growing sports like hockey and even cricket (hence "The Hundred").

 

[stephen]

The principle that everyone should get an equal opportunity and I shouldn't have had to suffer for six years in a bog standard comprehensive that still gives me nightmares 16 years later just because my parents didn't have money. I ended up with a first class degree and a great career, I got to live in NZ and Melbourne, but many others do not get to escape from it. The British state education system is designed to crush talent and fosters a lowest common denominator mentality in its students. Unless you can persuade teenagers to take personal responsibility for themselves it destroys people.

I'm well aware this is unreasonable, believe me.

Sounds to me now like you despise the public system rather than the private.

A strong private school sector helps reduce suburb inequality and takes financial burden off the government.

But education is really hard to get right since school culture is the most important aspect of an education experience and money doesn't fix that - parenting and family culture is the most important factor. No amount of school funding is going to fix those issues.

 

[Chubb]

Sounds to me now like you despise the public system rather than the private.

A strong private school sector helps reduce suburb inequality and takes financial burden off the government.

But education is really hard to get right since school culture is the most important aspect of an education experience and money doesn't fix that - parenting and family culture is the most important factor. No amount of school funding is going to fix those issues.

I always just assumed that was the way it was. The rich kids went to private school, people like me had to go to state school, and there was nothing that could be done to fix it. And then I went to NZ and realised many of the state schools there are as good as the private schools in the UK and there was really no excuse why it had to be like that.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Private schools reducing inequality is a new one

 

[harsh.ag]

Yeah it's definitely possible to make schools better in rich countries if the rich and the poor had to share schools.

Run a lottery over which school in the city/town/village the rich kids get to attend. Quite quickly one *should* find all of them improving drastically.