The Rabobank Hockey World Cup was without doubt an incredible two weeks of hockey in both men’s and women’s competitions. I was fortunate enough to spend the whole competition inside the stadium watching the action and the drama unfold. Below are some of the players who caught my eye during those two weeks. These may not necessarily be those players who won awards or gained “official” recognition but they are players I personally enjoyed watching play, for a variety of reasons.

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With the Rabobank World Cup 2014 all over and the return to the harsh realities of real life firmly setting in, it’s time to reflect on what was a spectacular tournament in both men’s and women’s competitions. Judging by the lack of abuse directed my way from social media; regular readers have either been too nice or forgotten that before the tournament three hardy souls and I put forward our predictions for what would happen in the competition. If you’d like to remind yourself who the brave predictors were, click here. If you’d like to find out how we did, read on. (Spoiler: Inevitably I’ve not done so well.) Continue reading →

A wonderful World Cup draws to a close with Australia producing a stunning display to win the final 6-1. Quotes from a few people and the last word, as it should be, from Ric Charlesworth.  Continue reading →

A stunning display from the Kookaburras destroyed the home side’s World Cup hopes as a hat-trick from Chris Ciriello helped Ric Charlesworth’s team to a superb 6-1 win.

Despite falling behind to an early strike from Jeroen Hertzberger Australia came back and were simply ruthless in front of goal. Ciriello’s strikes all came from penalty corners but there were further goals from open play by Kieran Govers, Glenn Turner and Jamie Dwyer, showing the Kookaburras’ all round dominance of the game.  Continue reading →

A brace from Matias Paredes sunk England and captured the bronze medal for Carlos Retegui’s Argentina side. In the game none of the semi-finalists wanted to play in, Los Leones’ No10 struck twice in quick succession to get his side in front and that is where they stayed. Continue reading →