Alex Danson, the former Great Britain captain, has called for English clubs to follow steps made by Dutch hockey’s top sponsor and implement equal pay and opportunity from 2025.
Last week, Dutch banking giant ABN Amro, which sponsors around 50 clubs in Holland and several Premier Division teams, launched its ‘Time to catch up’ campaign. As part of its initiative, clubs whose sponsorship contracts are up for extension must commit to the bank’s gender balance target in hockey across player salaries, coaching and administration positions.
“Fair play is of paramount importance,” the bank said in its launch statement. “Yet, looking at the position of men and women, it is anything but ‘fair’. Women in hockey don’t receive the same opportunities as men do.”
In figures compiled by ABN Amro, male players in the top-flight Hoofdklasse league earn “five to 10 times more” than women, 80 per cent of hockey club presidents are male, the same percentage of sponsorship funds is spent on men, while only 30 per cent of coaches in all teams are female,
Danson, now an assistant coach with Wimbledon women, told Telegraph Sport: “I believe following a similar step that is being made by ABN Amro in the Dutch league to help equalise salaries across male and female club players, this is something that needs to be followed by clubs in our Premier Divisions.
“We are one of the most equitable sports in the UK in terms of coverage, participation, and UK Sport/National Lottery funding at GB and England level, but I don’t believe this translates to our top level club hockey.
“I know some clubs are under huge financial pressures at the moment, but what message are we sending to our female players if we don’t believe they are of equal value to their male counterparts?”
England Hockey’s top leagues are currently without a title sponsor, while Diederik Chevalier, the HC Rotterdam chairman, supported the Dutch bank’s campaign, but said that some clubs’ disparity in gender equality could prove problematic.
“With us, the first women’s team plays one class [division] lower, then you compare apples with pears,” he told Dutch newspaper Het Parool. “But take a club like Bloemendaal, where the men are invariably championship candidates and the women are not, then you have to deal with different budgets.”
ABN Amro said it had also played a key lobbying role in the Euro Hockey League (EHL) becoming a gender-balanced, equal prize money tournament from this season. The EHL, European hockey’s domestic club showpiece, had previously been run as a men’s event since 2007, but the 2021 finals will feature the top eight women’s sides — including English champions Surbiton — for the first time next April in front of the EHL TV cameras. The top women’s sides had previously played a separate tournament.
“It’s great to see how everything is all coming together,” the bank added. “That’s how we are setting female empowerment in motion. This is not only necessary, it’s high time.”
Great Britain climb Pro League table
After a condensed tour featuring four games in six days, the GB women’s programme fitness proved beneficial in their 2-1 win over Belgium on Sunday. After a defeat and shoot-out loss to Holland last week, followed by a shoot-out bonus point win against Belgium on Saturday, GB won their first game outright of their eight-day tour thanks to goals from Lily Owsley and Sarah Robertson.
The five points from a possible six in Brussels saw Mark Hager’s side climb into fourth place of the FIH Pro League standings. Hager blooded several emerging talent over the four games, including Fiona Crackles, the 19-year-old Durham captain who was named player of the match on Sunday. “I think we are a really resilient team”, said Crackles.
GB men — who lost all four of their games — and women are next slated to play Germany in two weeks’ time behind closed doors, their final Pro League games of the year.
England Hockey suspends league
The scheduled GB games on November 14 and 15 will be the only competitive matches played this month after England Hockey curtailed all club and community matches until December 4 at the earliest. England Hockey released its decision just 24 hours after Saturday’s lockdown measures were announced, which grounded all outdoor team sport from Thursday.
Hockey has at least enjoyed some activity compared to other grassroots sports after commencing leagues in September. England Hockey had implemented promotion and relegation for this season, rules which also dictate that every team must play each other once, and 80 per cent of matches, before a points percentage basis kicks in to decide league outcomes if the season is curtailed.
