Harlequins Mens Hockey - Cologne 2004

Harlequins had a very successful training camp in Cologne at Easter. The weekend was sponsored by Wm Black & Sons Ltd and Dawson Travel. The squad played three matches & had a couple of training sessions, one of which was conducted by FIH coach Rudi Haenel.

Results

RW Cologne 2 Harlequins 1 (D. Eakins)
Bonn 3 Harlequins 6 (D. Eakins 3, J. Black, M. Black, D. Egner)
SW Cologne 1 Harlequins 2 (D. Eakins 2)

Squad
W. Bateman, C. Daunt, J. Hobbs, P. Chambers, S. Nicholson, J. Black, P. O'Driscoll, L. d'Alton, C. Harte, R. Hobbs, P. Lombard, J. Aherne, M. Black, D. Lombard, D. Eakins, D. Egner, E. Gash, S. Sweetnam.

Coach - S. Dale
Manager - D. Kingston

06/04/04 - Cologne to provide the balm for Harlequins

By Bill George

CORK HARLEQUINS will look to a four-day training camp in Cologne over the May bank holiday week-end to provide the panacea for the hurt at losing the Irish Senior Cup final for the second consecutive year.

Their defeat by Instonians at Belfield opened a deep wound of disappointment as Harlequins were once again defied by an intransigent and superbly organised Ulster team.

They were denied a first win in the competition by Lisnagarvey 12 months ago principally because a young striker, Philip Stirling, enjoyed a day when he could do no wrong.

Stirling was the principal character in the type of bizarre story that makes sport so compulsive for many he broke his favoured stick in the warm-up, borrowed one he reckoned was too heavy to suit him and then scored three times.

This time round Harlequins were technically and collectively better. Their team skills in particular were of a high standard. Their passing and support play were admirable, but they had no individual to produce the unexpected in the opposition's penalty area.

General reaction to the live coverage of the final was positive, from my enquiries. This confirmed for me the belief that hockey is hugely under-valued as a spectator sport.

The top players train as hard and are every bit as dedicated to their sport as those in any other field game.

This is evident in Harlequins' plans. They have won the Munster Senior League, lost the final of the Munster Cup to C of I, lost the final of the Irish Senior Cup to Instonians, but still have the Club Championship of Ireland to play for.

This is an end of season competition involving the eight top teams in the country. The top three in the Leinster and the Ulster leagues are joined by the top two in Munster.

After a preliminary round of four two-legged matches, the four winners go through to play a round robin series over one week-end to decide the competition.

This championship provided Harlequins with their first senior national trophy in men's competition in 2002. That win followed their first visit to the training camp in Cologne and that visit is now a permanent fixture in Harlequins' programme.

Donal Kingston, manager to Harlequins' senior team, explained that their association with Cologne was developed through the friendship of Rudi Haenel, a professional coach with hockey's international governing body, the FIH. He was coach to the German and Chinese national teams in the past.

Harlequins will travel to Germany with 18 players, their coaching staff and up to a dozen club members. The players and staff will stay at the BLZ sports centre which is a self-contained campus perfectly designed for their purposes.

"This is a purpose-built facility to cater for just two sports, hockey and judo," said Donal. "They have indoor as well as outdoor pitches available, restaurant facilities where the players will dine every day and sleeping accommodation.

"It is an absolutely amazing and incredible place by our standards. We will live there for the four days and the centre is surrounded by facilities for all other sports with a swimming pool and saunas just down the road and available to us as well."

Hockey in Ireland is still very much an amateur sport in the true Corinthian tradition, the Harlequins' players were out-of-pocket after travelling to Belfast and Dublin for the semi-final and final of the Irish Cup.

The trip to Cologne would not have been possible without the backing of the club's main sponsor, William Black & Sons, heating and plumbing contractors in Cork. The principal of the company, Mervyn Black, is father of two of Harlequins' players, Jason and Mark.

"Harlequins has been competing for a long time in men's hockey, but it is only in latter years we have been involved at the business end of things" said Mr Kingston.

"Our win in the club championship in 2002 was our first senior men's trophy at national level and it was not a coincidence that, six weeks before that win, we had paid our first visit to Cologne. That preparation gave us confidence and helped us bring our game to a new level."

Harlequins will play four matches over the four days in Cologne against some of Germany's top teams - three which are based in Cologne and one from Bonn.

"The standard of club hockey in Germany is very high," said Donal. "It is a very intense game they play because there are few stoppages. The umpires try to let the game flow as much as possible and they tend to let a lot of things go that would be whistled here - high balls and stick infringements, for example.

"Our lads are down just now and will be for a while. They'll come back from Germany twice as tired, but fired up at the thought of what can be achieved."