AUSTRALIAN hockey has reached a golden age where our national teams are at the pinnacle of world ranking.
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They don't win every match but they are always in the gold medal hunt. No other team in the world can plan a path to success without factoring in Australia. It's been that way for years.
We are world champions, not by birth, but through endless skills training and mentoring, and it all started with local school teams and local clubs.
North-West Tasmanian hockey officials should join the dots and grasp the great opportunities for the sport, to have homegrown Olympic champions play with their old clubs.
Launceston star Tim Deavin has been banned from playing with his old club Tamar Churinga because another club believes it will affect their finals prospects.
Deavin's club is at the bottom of the pennant ladder. The ban would apply this weekend where Deavin is due to play in a fund-raiser, but a showdown looms because his club says they will defy the ban for this particular game.
Deavin lives in Western Australia where the Kookaburras team is based. Even if he was in fact moving home to see out his playing days locally, the involvement of a star in the local sport is what this country needs if our dominance at an international level is to continue.
Do we have to spell it out? The presence of an Olympic star attracts more spectators and more interest in the sport so that there are better gate receipts. It provides a role model for kids toying with the game and an inspiration to regular junior players to reach for the stars.
The Deavin policy would ban our many AFL stars and champions like Ricky Ponting from ever playing again in their home state.
It is a recipe for mediocrity, no doubt fostered by sports bureaucrats with forgettable playing careers.