A message from our CEO, Rich Beer, ahead of the season

This time last year, I write a note at the start of the season with some trepidation as I started in my new role as CEO. Over the last year it has been a real pleasure continuing to connect with people at all levels of the game either by pitches, at events or through the many online meetings. 

Overwhelmingly I am constantly reminded it is the people who make our sport and the energy and innovation shown never fails to inspire and energise me. Reassuringly, when I do have the chance to pick up a stick, teammates and opponents are also never shy in coming forward with advice or to remind me of my limitations! Some things are constant.

For the team at England Hockey much of this year has been a year for implementing changes that had been agreed and building plans for 2027. The changes to Club Membership agreed by clubs in March 2025 are being delivered and we are really beginning to see the impact of them. 

The three key strands to this work are all starting to demonstrate results:

• People Development through free courses with over 6,000 doing coaching and officials courses and workshops and 5,000 doing safeguarding courses. You can find out more here:https://www.englandhockey.co.uk/deliver/club-membership/people-development-through-free-courses
• National Hockey Fund: This project is in it's pilot year and a coordinated set of interventions are coming together from first contact at Primary School right through to Project 2011 - the state school only England U15 representative team that started this year and
• Free to Air hockey: In the membership changes we promised to show the 32 games of the FIH Pro League but we have been able to amplify that by acquiring the rights to the recent World Cup. All with our partner Channel 4.

These, amongst the many other initiatives we have undertaken this year really are building a sense of excitement as we look ahead to the KETTLE (R) EuroHockey EuroChamps27 (LINK). In recent days this partnership announcement, along with Curaprox and BearingPoint for England Hockey, is indicative of the confidence in the approach that we are taking. 

Partnerships offer brilliant opportunities to build the brand of our sport and reach new people and hockey is uniquely placed as a team sport as genuinely equitable and accessible for a partner. We are keen that we can continue to broaden our partnerships over the coming months as excitement builds.

Fundamentally, I believe we have to all work together to make our sport visible and engage people. There is the national angle to this that we are striving to address by acquiring rights and making hockey content accessible. There is much still to do here but with free to air international matches over 100m views of our social media content this year we are making good progress. Events like the Kettle EuroChamps27 also help to amplify this even further. Tickets and the schedule are available now so make sure you are a part of it with us 

Visibility is also a local thing, while national coverage aims to create awareness local presence is crucial in creating the connection and the motivation to engage in the game. It is great to see the work that many clubs are doing to promote themselves. From innovative social media (anyone else follow Derwent HC?) through to simply making sure that your Hockey Club is promoted on the parents whatsapp groups. Collectively we need local councillors and politicians to know we are there, providing opportunities for local communities and bringing people together. Let's be seen and be proud of our clubs and our sport. If we do it well having too many players can only be a good problem to create.

For those playing this weekend remember to play with spirit and win (or lose) with grace!