Stewart’s UK Ice Hockey Blog - FEEDBACK
 

Hello Stewart, I found your review of Torun 2009 very interesting but disturbing. I must say that as someone who views present day ice hockey somewhat distantly, I took the view that our performance was more of the same with some encouraging aspects. It was only when I saw your analysis that I felt, yes...Stewart is right...and I saw the problems. It is absolutely true: we have more players and facilities than some nations who routinely outperform us and thus we should be doing better. Yes, some have natural ice during their winter and this was an argument years ago. But how much tournament hockey is played on natural ice and is this really a factor? Perhaps those with real winters have a natural, instinctive inclination to go outdoors and play on ice whereas our youngsters have to decide between a multitude of attractions besides the local ice rink. But that is where I feel that the foreigner dominated Elite League actually plays its part. Just as years ago, the young player is drawn to hockey because he wants to be like "name your player". I truly hope that one day we will have enough good home produced players to dictate that our major teams can use as few imports as possible whilst keeping the standard high. But players don't improve in a vacuum of mediocrity and, for the moment, we need to maintain sufficient numbers of imports to (a) maintain the standard of our league and spectator interest and (b) bring young hopefuls on. The second aspect of your review about dysfunctional admin. was also very disturbing. It means that nothing has improved in the 20 years since I last took an active interest in the UK game. So sad! Best regards, Allan Palmer.

Hi Stewart Thanks for you blog regarding GB performances in recent World Championships. Whilst I won’t get overly excited until we get promoted to Pool A ( or qualify for the Olympics), winning a medal for the first time in 8 years (disgrace it took so long) is a start. Like you when Poland equalised I thought there was no way we were going to win and I thought it would be another shoot out loss . Whilst I wasn’t at the tournament from what I read apart barring one bad period against Italy (with all its dual national Canadians) we played well through out the tournament. Although we did make hard work beating a poor Holland side, and we needed Jody Lehman to make over 50 saves to keep the game close against Ukraine The most refreshing news from the tournament was the play of the “ BRITISH ” players both young and old, Robert Dowd was amazing and David Longstaff who I felt was over the hill proved me wrong. However one prediction I did get correct was the stellar play of Jody Lehman, who not also helped us win Bronze but almost got us Silver with his 50+ saves against Ukraine. But as you mentioned in your blog we sadly ran out of gas in the final period. With all due respect to Stevie Lyle I don’t think he is the netminder to get us promotion to Pool A, and as Dave Sims always reminds us on Sky Sports you cant win a Championship with a British Netminder. I fully agree with what you said that Team GB needs to play more games, and I think two weekends should be kept free during the season for Great Britain to play games. My suggestion would be for Great Britain to play France (home and away) every year in the Anglo-French Challenge Cup. France is a regular Pool A side and for goodness sake the countries aren’t a millions miles apart. As I write this email to you I eagerly awaiting the groups and host for next year tournament and having looked at the seeding and my crystal ball here is the possible group, Great Britain will have next year: Hungary Slovenia Great Britain Lithuania Croatia Korea Winning Bronze means GB will be third seeds for this tournament and ideally we don’t want one of the top seeds to host the tournament although my guess is that Hungary and Austria who just got relegated from Pool A will host the two Pool B tournaments. Anyway we wait and see. Cheers Alok

Hi Stewart, All's well over here apart from the locals moaning about the price of petrol at almost $4 a gallon. I'm more than happy to pay that. Good to hear you are still causing rumblings in the bowels of British hockey. It's hard to take a governing body seriously that within weeks states: 1) We are going to promote the success of the GB team, 2) Your six teams can have 11 imports. As you are well aware the significance of 11 imports is 6 forwards, 4 defence and a goalie, so we are back to the token Brit 3rd line and back-up goalie, regardless of import quality. If one team had the nous to spend their budget on quality instead of quantity and moved from the max. amount of imports allowed to a lesser amount but a higher standard, e.g. spend on six imports what you would have spent on 11, that still gives you 3 forwards, 2 defence and a goalie. I had hoped maybe Hull would go down that road as they had enough Brits of a standard to pad their roster. However, with their recent 'summer sale' it looks as if they will be shopping in the Southern Pro League and the tier 3 junior leagues. "The more things change, the more they stay the same", I believe is the quote. Regards, Ian (Green, formerly of Hull, now in Alabama)

The blog from Alec Roy once again brings up the thorny subject of permitting only players who were born and raised in Britain on the national team. It also brought the EIHA-trained rule under scrutiny & the gentleman's agreement enforced by the gentlemen of that league. Mr Roy made mention of the Australian team and so I thought I would take a look at their roster .. http://www.iha.org.au/mens_national_profiles.asp ... and what do you know? The first name on the list (Stuart Denman) is a dual national British/Australian. I am confident that in other sports there are dual national Brits appearing for other nations, hey, maybe ice hockey, too. Meanwhile, GB flounders along, hoping for the best but never doing anything to increase their chances. The sport needs to open the doors and windows and let some fresh air blow through the hallowed halls of IHUK/EIHA. Enough already. Is it not about time we thought in terms of just winning some games rather than spending so much time and energy inventing new excuses why we fail? As I have commented many times before - protectionism merely coddles the mediocre. Mr Roy also made mention of of the progress a small country like Denmark has made, as opposed to the stagnant state of GB hockey. I'd like to second Mr Roy's comments, and recommend you take a look at this article - http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/10106/2008_wjc_checking_in_with_lars_eller/ Cheers, Malcolm

After reading your blog on your great website I send you this email after yet another disappointing performance by Great Britain at the World Championships. Despite so many near misses it is now 14 years since GB last played in Pool A and I am getting very frustrated by this. I go back to a game I watched which could have changed ice hockey in this country. It was at the Sheffield Arena in December 1996 and Great Britain played Switzerland in an Olympic Qualifier. If GB had won they would have almost certainly qualified for the Olympics in Nagano 98. They drew 3-3 after leading 3-2 in the second period and it still bugs me that neither Tony Hand nor Rick Brebant played 'cause if they did Britain would have won. Almost 10 years on Switzerland have gone on to be one of the leading ice hockey nations in the world playing in Pool A and the Olympics against the likes of the USA, Canada and Russia. Whereas Team GB's international pedigree is to beat the likes of Israel and Korea just to stay in the second tier of international ice hockey. Countries like Denmark (a country GB used to thrash a few years ago) and Slovenia (wherever that is) are Pool A nations and I think it is a disgrace that GB haven’t played in Pool A for so long. Yes I know that if Great Britain ever got promoted to Pool A the chances are they would be relegated straight away. However, I rather we get thrashed by the likes of Russia and Canada then beat the likes of Korea and China. In next year's World Championships there is a chance that GB could play Australia (who just got promoted). I'm sorry but GB being in the same division as Australia in ice hockey doesn’t go down too well with me. I believe the next time GB are in action is for a Olympic Qualifying tournament later in the year. Can Great Britain qualify for the 2010 Olympics or I am just dreaming? And when will Great Britain next play in Pool A? I am not against GB picking dual nationals. If there are Canadians who want to represent us then they should be considered as I believe they have a lot to offer. I am happy to hear that Jody Lehman (Sheffield netminder) wants to play for GB. Hope you find my views interesting and share my disappointment. Regards, Alok Roy, London

Just thought you should know - and certainly you should have remembered, since you and I were the only British journos there - that the year of multiple comings and goings was 1995. That was the year the World Championships clashed with the British Championships at Wembley. Regards, Tony Allen.

Quote "If this rule is adopted by the league, my betting is that the only Brits to get a regular spot on an Elite roster will be the very best ones - the Taits, Weavers, Hands and Clarkes - while the less talented will be forced to drop down to the English Premier or out of the sport altogether. As in Superleague, our own brave boys would be squeezed out of our ‘top league’. This is the drawback with running a pro circuit in Britain which can’t afford to pay its players a living wage. North Americans enjoy coming here for a year, getting £300-500 a week, a place to lay their heads (and their girl friends) and a car to get around in. But Brits can’t live on this sort of money unless they have a second job. And there’s no time for that and playing in a professional circuit." Sounds good if just a tad xenophobic. Why would a professional league not opt for the best? After all, the owners are there to offer entertainment, maybe a goal for young players, but most of all to make a profit for the vast sums they put up, just like any other business. The Superleague did not fail because of the number of 'imports' but because the owners did not vigorously apply a hard salary cap. They foolishly exploited their own personal financial differences to the point where the league collapsed. As it has been pointed out recently in some debate on THF, those that are financially raping the system are in fact the British players themselves. Big demand, small availability. By stating that only the best, "the Taits, Weavers, Hands and Clarkes " will be the only ones to make it, you are conceding that the rest of the British players currently drawing down large sums of money do not deserve it. Quote "While the less talented will be forced to drop down to the English Premier or out of the sport altogether." Maybe this is where they should be if their talent is inadequate. The EIHL should not be a make-work project for general rink rats, waifs and strays, much as it is now. What a state of affairs. Players that should not be playing showing up for pay cheques they don't deserve and players that should be playing kept out of the game by protectionism. As noted in the Economist - 'In football, as elsewhere, protectionism merely coddles the mediocre.' Should the EIHL owners be made to coddle the mediocre? Malcolm M.

Quote "Back to basics - Go back down to 5 imports, Imports have to have played 75% of their regular season games before coming to ply their trade in this country, Only 3 imports on the ice at any one time, Bring in quality not quantity!" Strange comments from Marc Twaite, to my way of thinking. An article about the financial problems with the Bison and the thrust of the comments is to bring in more quality players, i.e. more expensive?!. You're a "quality" player. Do you want to waste a year of your limited sporting lifespan playing in a league that either fails to pay or can let you go with 2 weeks notice? Then, of course, you need to replace the lost quantity with more British players ... of what quality? There's insufficient as it is and now Mr Twaite wants more and, hmm, better? As it is now, quality British players cost as much, if not more, than the imports. Economic fact, an abundance of imports means low salaries, shortage of British players means big salaries, at least this is what one GB manager told me. When will fans and the powers-that-be realize that the only solution is not how many imports should play but how many quality British players can be produced to reverse the shortages? The failure in the system is the current administration of the EIHA. They have no idea how to rectify the shortages and the quality of GB players. I hope debate will somehow strengthen hockey in GB. To sum up, you cannot attract better quality imports while your current league is not exactly sound. Professionals have a limited shelf-life and, frankly, if it were me I'd likely stay clear of the Briitish leagues. If you're on your way up you are never watched so your potential is severely limited. And teams falling down on their financial commitments means that halfway through a season you have to look for a new position elsewhere, an unlikely prospect once the season is underway. To take the place of the loss of imports, assuming you do find quality rather than quantity, you replace them with GB players - who are already at a premium and akin to Hen's backteeth :-) Not a sound strategy in my opinion. Malcolm

Hi, Stewart, Just read your blog. As ever, a good read for hockey buffs. I also saw Andrew Weltch's piece on ‘hockey as an international sport’. I can see the point he is trying to make but wonder about his objective. He says that outside North America and Europe hockey is poorly represented. True, but soccer and cricket have virtually NO visibility in North America, the world's biggest sports audience. Also, if you look at continents, hockey can claim representation on three. Again, compared with soccer, a long way behind. But if you look at countries, hockey looks a bit better. I feel that hockey is played in more countries than the number of countries playing in the Cricket World Cup...and how many of them are no more than senior club standard in southern England? I'll meet Andrew half-way re ice hockey in London. You and I know, Stewart, that there was a time when London had 30,000 fans watching hockey on a Saturday night. The trouble is...that was then, this is now. As Andrew says, we can't even support a decent hockey club in London and, in my opinion, that hurts British hockey more than is realised. Time was when you could see the best hockey in Europe in London, so what happened? Did Londoners turn away from hockey or did hockey turn away from them? The closure of the three major rinks and Streatham produced a ‘nuclear winter’ for hockey from which Andrew seems to have concluded that our interest in hockey is about the same as American interest in soccer. I wonder about that. If promoted correctly and given a central London arena as dedicated to hockey as, say, Harringay once was, would Londoners respond? Well, they did once...but that was a long time ago when, possibly, the demographics of our capital were different. It's an interesting talking point and one which, in my view, should be aired with a view to resolution. We can take a negative view about our sport and produce ‘facts’ to convince ourselves that hockey is a poor sporting relation. Or we can go hell-for-leather to get the NHL lads to return and hopefully give an impetus to our home-grown product through TV exposure and the quality of the fare on show. Best wishes, Allan Palmer

Hi Stewart, Just been reading your blog about the Bison in money trouble and the Caps giving players 2 weeks’ notice. Nothing surprises me, matey. It’s all down to fact that the Elite League is run by hockey fans/businessmen claiming they own an Elite League team... wow! It’s embarrassing for the sport the way it’s run right now. Why sign players on an 8-month contract only to be given 2 weeks’ notice whenever the team perform badly? Haven’t heard of any coaches or management being given notice, have you? And wasn’t Gerad Adams the first player/coach to give his team 2 weeks’ notice? I remember playing for the Devils under Bob Phillips. The coach was told to do the exact same thing back in 2001. I also feel sorry for the fans as I’ve known 2 parents that have bought their kids a team jersey costing £40-£45 only for the players to be released a week later! Yes, the parents were furious as it’s more money to have a name and number put on. Maybe the Bison are trying to get more names on shirts to get that merchandise selling up to the £70k they thought... ha-ha! Letting Stevie Lyle go before any imported player just shows the development of the Elite League! As the number one goalie on our national team I bet he’s really glad he came back to Britain - his home country - and got money troubles within 2 months of signing. The only British goalie in the league should be looked after whatever club he’s signed for. I was really sorry to hear that David Clarke broke his ankle playing in Italy. They’ll miss him there like I bet they miss him here. There isn’t one imported player this year in the Elite League that can score goals like my ex-linemate and Great Britain team member. I’m sure Mike Ellis is missing all those goals this time around for the sake of a pay rise..,. but hey, he’s British! Steve Thornton... great guy and an ambassador for the sport in the UK. But Steve is how old now? Still ripping the league apart because the standard has dropped in comparison to Superleague when Steve was in his prime... Just shows. Back to basics - Go back down to 5 imports, Imports have to have played 75% of their regular season games before coming to ply their trade in this country, Only 3 imports on the ice at any one time, Bring in quality not quantity! Chris Heaton-Harris, my Euro MP, has demanded a meeting with Elite League and IHUK, by the way. Also I’ve heard from my local MP, Paddy Tipping, that he’s spoken to Gerry Sutcliffe, sports minister, in depth about what I’ve told Paddy. The result is a meeting being called very soon with all ice hockey stakeholders to turn up and face the music. Finally, I must mention the Ice Hockey Players Benevolent Fund which is the only registered charity in ice hockey. Fact - the Elite League has never paid in a penny. If anyone has any questions I would love to face them and answer them accordingly - unlike the Elite League! Marc Twaite. Marc, a native of Nottingham, was injured while playing for Norton Lea’s Sheffield Steelers. When the operation which Mr Lea paid for went wrong, Marc received no compensation, apart from a donation from the Ice Hockey Players Benevolent Fund. He is currently fighting his case through his MP.

I much enjoyed your write-up giving your impressions of the NHL games at the O2. As you say, for all true hockey fans, to see NHL hockey in good old London Town was a delight...even though I still feel that the games had an early season feel to them.   I was also pleased to note that you felt something that occurred to me: that present day stadia are a little overpowering. And like you, I did wonder how much the fans at the back in the Gods saw. Where you and I might part company is that I always felt that the Empire Pool & Sports Arena, Wembley was not in the same league as the old Harringay Arena...but then Harringay was virtually a purpose-built hockey arena based on the old Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens. Like us all with hockey blood in our veins, I hope that the NHL guys come back...and not only after they've done their European tour to Prague, Berlin, Stockholm, Helsinki and suchlike. On that basis it would be 2020 before we see them again. At 73, I don't think I'll make it!! I wonder if the NHL could become the International Hockey League and we could have our own top team in London? I guess that if, as you estimated, only half the O2 audience was British, it would be hard to justify a major league hockey team in London over an entire season. Gates of (say) 10,000 would be insufficient to support such a venture I would think. Allan Palmer, Billingshurst, Sussex

Hard to see hockey as 'the most international of team sports'. Soccer is surely light years ahead of everything else, perhaps followed by rugby union, basketball, cricket. Even baseball probably beats hockey, given its popularity throughout the Americas and Asia, and pro leagues in Europe.   I suppose it all depends how you measure 'most international'. As top-level ice hockey is virtually confined to North America and Europe, it's hardly global. Cricket has top-level teams (ie actual or potential world champions) on five continents and rugby on four, plus both have compettiive countries in every corner of the world. Soccer beats them all by a mile, though. The Canadian book 'The Death of Hockey' (http://www.villagevoice.com/news/9849,reif,1890,3.html) highlights hockey's inflated view of its own international status, but that is written by a couple of middle-aged cynics, so not like you or me at all. I suppose Britain's lowly status in hockey will always count against it when it comes to the big events. As London can't even support a decent club, it would suggest Prague or Berlin (or just about any other capital in Europe) would be more deserving. Then again, the English language and lots of North Americans in London could sway it. Andrew Weltch, Wales

Quote - How many shifts will Brits get? About a third of each squad is home-grown. Though this is encouraging, it remains to be seen just how many British lads will get a regular shift. This should really read ‘how many shifts do Brits deserve?’ I don't think players should be simply legislated a roster spot, like a mathematical equation. The fact is quality British players are akin to hens’ teeth, few and far between. The failing does not lie with the Elite League, just like it doesn't lie with football’s Premiership. Both are entertainment businesses and hence are run as businesses, not charity organisations. There’s a short line to join for owning an Elite team. The fact is (and this seems to be a common denominator in British sport) we are not producing quality players in numbers. The Elite can't produce a quality sport with a less than adequate supply of athletes. Britain has played the sport since the early Thirties. I watched ice hockey in Britain from the early Fifties. While other nations - Germany, Slovenia, Denmark and Norway to mention a few - have made huge strides since then, Britain has stayed still. I’ve just been watching the Super Series between the best of Canadian youth and the best of Russian youth. Who would have guessed a sweep by Canada 7-0-1? The Russian squad had excellent coaching and great players. But the league the Russian kids play in is only a shadow of the competitiveness of the league the Canadian kids play in. The Canadian athletes always won the race for the loose puck, they always won the face-offs and the battles in the corner, they had speed and heart. You could go on and on. But the word that summarises it is competition. The Canadians competed harder than the Russians in every facet of the game, although there is no doubt the Russians had some great talent. If anyone from Britain had seen this series, they would have learned a lot. Britain’s youth system desperately needs a competitive league structure. The question is how do you do that, keeping in mind the lack of expertise on the EIHA board, the ‘parent Mafia’, and the paranoid fear of imports? To my mind there are three ways of producing a more competitive environment for our youth: We can ship our youngsters abroad to play. This is why track and field stars and swimmers move to the USA or Australia, etc. to compete. It's why Canadian footballers and rugby players head to Europe or New Zealand to compete. Unfortunately, most parents cannot afford this route and often the best can never afford to enjoy this system. There are a number of Brit kids in paid schools or teams in North America already, but only a handful. We can bring more talent to our shores by enticing North American or EU players at the lower levels, i.e. the English National League. The current ratio of one import to five players is doing nothing to improve the Brits. This would force the Brits to compete harder at a younger age thus producing better players. We can make a simple start by developing a youth Super League, i.e. the best of the nation’s young players reduced to maybe four or five teams. Maybe one each from the North, Midlands, South and Scotland or similar. All systems can contribute one way or another but the most attainable, I think, is 3. But we have to make a start, no more dawdling and politics. It will need a tough leader in the EIHA who can communicate the goals and the methods. Or, of course, we can do nothing and let things drift for a few more years and continue to whine about the lack of ice-time at the Elite level for local players. Frankly, we grabbed the wrong end of the horse and it's showing. To illustrate my points, this is a clip of the current ‘development league’, the English National League. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vp2lBhnXqU8 The title should be ‘how ice hockey should NOT be played’, but it’s the way it’s taught to the players being developed by the EIHA. Watch the player (white 14) with the puck. He picks it up behind his own net and goes through the entire opposition. Never once is he checked, the defensive team’s skating is pathetic. No lateral ability, no speed, never square up to the attacker, no back checking, and then the only D back decides to chase the puck carrier behind the net and leaves not one but two guys open in the front of the net. Thankfully, the first one fans on his shot (LOL) and the second player scores. This is GB's future?? The sorry answer is yes. This is what the development league is pushing. By the way, the player carrying the puck and setting up the goal is an import! You would like to think that this would serve as a bad example, but dollars to doughnuts nothing will ever be said to the players and they'll likely do the same thing again and again. Something has to be done. Malcolm

Your point about Kopitar was a good one. It highlighted the fact that desire can overcome all the other hurdles I'm sure he had to overcome when playing in Slovenia.   The same could be said for Cristobal Huet, the French kid, playing in the NHL. However, you should take it back one step - these kids all left home early to play in more competitive leagues.   Kopitar played in Sweden and Huet in the Swiss league. They received not only good coaching but they had to compete internally against other quality players to get their ice time or a start in net. Competition brings out an athlete's best effort in every game and practice. Hockey is a funny game due to the fact that not only are you competing in a game against the opposition, for the good of the team you MUST also compete against your team-mates on the bench. It makes the team stronger. No internal competition means playing less than 100%. Your last shift should determine if you get another shift. We, GB, cannot get our youngsters into good competition and so we fail. But maybe more important than that we need to put them in an enviroment where there is a winning attitude, where the thought of failure never raises its ugly head, where they can foster a belief that winning is good, losing sucks. As the Nike tee-shirt says 'Coming second means you're the first loser'. Geordie4ever

An interesting blog and I can understand why some of the supposed EIHL movers and shakers would be knocked off guard by it. I find it a little difficult to understand why Sheffield, in the form of Mike O'Connor, has taken such a dislike to the article when it doesn't directly implicate the club. At least Dave Simms has taken a pragmatic approach in brushing the blog off with a quick one-liner in much the same way as people dismiss his own scribblings. After all if every club took the O'Connor approach to banning those who criticised them, the Simms approach to winning friends would see his beloved Steelers have few opponents. The response I find hardest to understand is that of Rick Strang. I see the purpose of a blog to publish one's opinions on one's existing knowledge. Your blog does little more than this. To brand all of your articles as propaganda is a little strong. Indeed having read Rick's comment I have re-read a number of older Annuals just to check that I am not being deceived. Sure enough if you omitted the editorial there is little else designed to reflect your views on the issues of the year. To me your editorial in the Annual and your blog are the few times you present your personal opinions. If a journalist cannot express his personal opinion for debate by the wider readership through their personal columns then journalism would be reduced to the presentation of the objective truth. How dull. Those who criticise you should be grateful that ice hockey is a minority sport and that it does not come under the constant tabloid spotlight of our national games. Regards, Andy Smith

Re your comment on the GB team and funding thereto, you omitted the financial support over recent years by the GBSC. I also believe that the IIHF underwrites some of the costs - hotel accommodation and air flights. Martin Harris

Wow Stewart, you certainly know how to stir things up! Rick Strang used no less than the first 162 words of his 'blog' to vent his frustration out, not on ice hockey, but on what was (in his opinion) good and bad journalism. I've no idea who Mr Littlejohn is as I don’t read the Daily Mail, but when Mr Strang eventually got around to his personal attack on you, it gave me the opinion that you are probably in good company. Mr Strang believes that the days of the Ice Hockey Annual are numbered. This year is the 32nd year of publication. In ice hockey terms, that is an incredible figure and should be congratulated. How many other hockey publications have survived 32 years? How many teams have survived 32 years? How many leagues have survived 32 years? Will the Elite League survive 32 years? You've only got to take a look at what old copies sell for on eBay to see how much The Ice Hockey Annual is still highly valued by hockey fans. With his tirade on you, Mr Strang seems to have conveniently missed the main point of your vision. His beef is that you are anti-Elite League. He ignores the fact that you are campaigning for an independent national governing body, one united league system and a focus on improving the standing of the Great Britain national team. You’ve only got to look at what the Ashes' success did for cricket, and the World Cup for Rugby Union to realise that a successful national team will open lots of doors for your sport. While the present situation lasts, there is no chance of ice hockey being taken seriously. Over the years, as a sports fan I have had the privilege to watch many top sporting events in various countries across the world, but despite a lot of enjoyable experiences I always come back to ice hockey and I believe that, as in north America, if it was governed correctly it could be one of the top four sports in the UK. There has been a slow decline in crowds and media coverage in recent years and we are not going to see any improvement until the powers-that-be take a long hard look at themselves and hold their hands up to their mistakes. Surely it is not rocket science to realise that we would be much stronger pulling as one rather than just making decisions for our own backyard? Trevor Boyce

Well said. Glad to see someone has the guts to say it how it is. As others have said, you have hit the nail right on the head. Joyce Kent

You have again hit several nails on their heads, Stewart. As usual with British ice hockey, you have to laugh - or else you'd cry. Keep up the good work! Andrew Weltch Weltch Media

With regard to Dave Simms’ petulant comment that “there are those that do it and those that write about it”, I wish there were more who wrote about it. It seems to me that Stewart Roberts is the only true ice hockey journalist left in this country. Stewart does a lot of work to point out what is wrong with the sport he loves in this country. Another thing that is wrong with British ice hockey is that there aren’t more people like Stewart publicly holding the authorities to account. It is little wonder journalists in the wider sports media choose not to give hockey more coverage when the authorities offer no transparency about the governance of the sport. Dave, there may well be “those that do”. But what exactly is it that they do? And when will they make themselves available to have their decisions and processes questioned by a free press? More worrying is Mike O’Connor’s response. Aside from the fact that he is wrong in one fundamental aspect (Stewart does not have a damning view of our sport. He loves our sport. He has a damning view of the governance of it), to attempt to stifle free speech and fair comment by banning his book rather than answer his criticisms is frankly depressing. John Liddle

Hi Stewart It is the first time I have read your blog but thoroughly enjoyed your latest one, in fact chuckled all the way through! See you next season at a rink. Regards Dawn

Stewart, just caught up with your latest blog on the website. First time I've seen it but think it is fantastic, a real insight to what is going on and appreciate all the links. Many thanks, Peter Jones (Fife)

Good morning Stewart You asked for views on your blog. Here is mine: One of the joys of good journalism is reading a piece that brings out all of the elements of a story and develops an interest in the reader that allows them to make up their own mind as to the direction of their thought. The journalist draws all of the threads together in a fashion that furnishes the reader with the joy of making up their own mind on an issue. Of course this isn’t the only type of journalism out there. Some journalists prefer a more crusading approach. Think Littlejohn and the Daily Mail. Great stuff if you happen to sympathise with their cause but just drivel for the rest of us. Ultimately this type of journalism is simply propaganda but unfortunately for those who have yet to form a view it is all too easy to be drawn in and start to believe what you are told. This I regret to say is exactly where we are at with Stewart Roberts. I was able to have a brief e-mail exchange with Stewart last night and whilst civilised it was nevertheless quite disturbing. Mr Roberts is an individual who abhors the EIHL and everything it stands for. He is, it would seem, hell bent on bringing the EIHL down. Whilst everyone is entitled to their personal view, the concern with Mr Roberts is that his personal view has become his professional view in extremis. He now actively and regularly briefs against the EIHL with the intention of doing all he can to discredit it. And that’s where it gets personal for me. You see, I like the EIHL. I know we’re not allowed to say that but I really do. Yep, it’s got more problems and issues than you can shake a stick at but nonetheless it delivers a weekly diet of high quality, high impact, top level hockey throughout the UK. I don’t want four import hockey. I don’t want regional conferences. I don’t want “the good old days” whatever they were. I don’t want the BNL back. I want what I’ve got and where there needs to be change I want that change to be evolutionary, collaborative and stabile. Mr Roberts is intent on taking that away from me and all other EIHL fans and thus it is personal, the more so that he is abusing his privileged position to advance a personal agenda. Whilst this gentleman does indeed have a very serious hockey pedigree I’m afraid that quite simply he has lost the plot. I suspect that the days of The Ice Hockey Annual are numbered. Today’s online generation could garner all they need from the internet and an online version of the Annual is sure to come. I feel that Sheffield have acted quite rightly to refuse to promote this tome and thus financially aid its sadly misguided editor. I hope the rest of the EIHL can also take steps to do the same. Mr Roberts is not interested in free speech and debate. He is simply a propagandist with a single agenda masquerading as a legitimate journalist. If he loves the game as he professes then I’m sure he’ll have no qualms about plying his trade in the EPL. There’s plenty of good hockey there. In the meantime I would urge the EIHL to suspend his journalist’s credentials. If he wants to watch EIHL games let him pay for the privilege. Furthermore I would strongly urge EIHL fans not to buy his book. Whilst his ranting and my request may well be a rallying cry for those of a similar ilk it is those who are not so deeply involved in the game that are of more concern. The seasoned forumites on here that already have their minds made up regarding the EIHL are already lost but there are an enormous number of individuals and fans outside of this forum and elsewhere who are oblivious to the sports issues. That their first encounter would be the ramblings of a journalist now beyond his sell by date with a personal agenda hidden behind a façade of legitimate journalism is extremely disturbing. It’s a shame Stewart but the very thing you have set out to protect and defend is in fact the thing that you are now damaging. I would ask you to re-appraise your position and stop and I would ask genuine fans with open minds to be very wary of this gentleman’s motives. Rick Strang

It was very interesting to read your latest blog, and also the responses that you have got to it. Dave Simms says there are those that do..... well, in my opinion, for a long time now they have not been doing it very well, and certainly not in the interest of British ice hockey as a whole. I don't know how many 'Annuals' you sell at Sheffield, but I promise to buy an extra one this year. Feel free to add my comments. It's about time that the silent majority was heard. It would be criminal if the 'Annual' was embargoed by the Elite League after the contribution it has made to British ice hockey. Trevor Boyce

Hello Stewart, Dave has passed your blog link which I have read. What I fail to understand is your sour and damning view of our sport and in particular our League. Please be advised that we will not be selling The Ice Hockey Annual in our building for you and I will strongly encourage my counterparts in our league to do the same. Mike O'Connor Sheffield Steelers Ice Hockey Club Ltd

I read it Stewart, wasn't interested in reading it, but I read it. There are those that do and those who write about it. David Simms

Hi Stewart Loved your blog, especially: "We can’t comment on last season’s system for the simple reason that the league never told anyone what it was" So, so true and made me laugh! have a great weekend Tina Robbens

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