IT’S no secret that funding for elite sport has taken some severe cuts recently. Last year, UK Sport announced a number of sports were to have their funding slashed while earlier this year, it was revealed that Scottish sport was facing a 20 percent reduction in funding over the next three years. 

Last month, the Scottish men’s hockey team qualified for the World League semi-finals for the first time in their history. They did so, against the odds, by finishing in third place at World League II in Belfast. That this team continues to perform to such a level is impressive, to say the least.

The Scottish men’s team receives a level of support far below that of many of the teams they are competing against. The men’s elite programme receives no funding at all from sportscotland so must operate on a shoe-string budget.

They are so strapped for cash that the squad have been forced to launch a crowd-funding campaign in an attempt to help fund their assault on the World League semi-finals, which will take place in London in mid-June. Their campaign has, at the time of writing, raised just over £4000. They are aiming for £10,000 by the end of May. 

A feeling prevails that there is something profoundly unjust about a national team having to scrabble about for cash to support themselves on the biggest stage they will ever have graced. In London, Scotland will face the Netherlands, India, Pakistan and Canada. At No.23 in the world, Scotland are rank outsiders with Pakistan being the next lowest-ranked team in the group at 13th.

The Netherlands are the fourth best team in the world, and significantly, are all full-time professional. By contrast, the Scottish players must pay £250 towards costs every time they have the honour of representing their country.

Hockey is not a second-rate sport in Scotland. In Alan Forsyth, this country currently has one of the best players in Britain. The GB striker plays his club hockey for Surbiton and last weekend, was awarded the English Premier Division’s Player of the Year trophy for the second year in a row. Yet support for the Scottish men’s national team remains depressingly absent.

When sportscotland announced their funding awards for the 2015-2019 cycle, Scottish Hockey had its award cut by almost 11 percent from the previous four year cycle, a cut made as the funding body had decided specifically to reduce its support for the Senior Men’s Squad, although funding for the women’s team was retained.

“They keep cutting our funding, but then expect us to raise the bar- and they give us unrealistic targets,” said head coach Derek Forsyth at the time, Forsyth also describing the funding cuts as “ridiculous.”

The team’s recent performances have assured them of a place at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast next year but it is impossible to expect them to continue to defy the odds when, time after time, they compete against teams which receive far greater levels of support than the Scots. The Scottish men train together for a mere few weekends in the lead-up to major tournaments yet they are up against teams which have spent hours and hours training and preparing together.

“It’s frustrating because we have a lot of talent and I feel like we’ve not been given a full opportunity in the sense of financial support to allow us to fulfill that potential,” Alan Forsyth told me. “If you look at the countries which are doing well, money is a huge part of that because it allows the team to train together. So it’s very tough for us.”

Sportscotland is on something of a hiding to nothing when it comes to funding decisions. It is impossible to keep every sport happy. Yet, the decision to hit the men’s national hockey team quite so hard is profoundly depressing.

There is a significant number of sports which receive funding despite not having the widespread appeal that hockey does. If elite sport matters, and sportscotland (as well as UK Sport) continue to argue that it does, then the men’s hockey team deserves at least a modicum of support. Currently, there are 5470 under-18 and youth members registered at Scottish clubs with an estimated 25,000 kids playing in schools.

But what incentive is there for young boys to bust a gut to get into the national team? The argument that elite sport can inspire young athletes is continually peddled yet by shortchanging the men’s national team, the impression is that hockey is not a viable career to aspire to in Scotland.

The current crop of players is, despite the obstacles they face, maintaining a remarkably high level of performance. Were men’s hockey to become a hinterland of Scottish sport, it would be incredibly sad. So let’s hope that this men’s team can work a few miracles and get their funding reinstated.

Until then, go on, chuck a few quid at their crowd-funding campaign. 
To support the Scottish men’s team, visit crowdfunder.co.uk/back-the-
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