Dubai: Field hockey bosses have been inspired by the highly popular Dubai Rugby Sevens and plan to launch a similar event in the UAE next year, according to Kelly Fairweather, CEO of the International Hockey Federation (FIH).
Fairweather is in the UAE as a special guest of the Dubai Sports Council (DSC) ahead of Wednesday’s presentation of the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Creative Sports Awards. Eighteen sports stars and institutions will be recognised at the annual event at the Dubai World Trade Centre, with the FIH due to collect its Best International Organisation award.
Fairweather believes innovations such as ‘Hockey 5s’ will help popularise the sport in the Arab world as, apart from Oman and occasionally Egypt, no other countries have embraced it.
The FIH has a ten-year strategy for boosting hockey’s popularity called ‘Vision 2024’ and Fairweather on Tuesday told Gulf News: “Our ambition and goal is to have a global game that inspires the next generation. Our purpose is to raise the global status and popularity of hockey.
“We need to improve our global footprint and the best way to do this is to make hockey more attractive. We have seen the success of Twenty20 cricket and rugby sevens and that is how we have floated this concept of Hockey 5s.
“We needed to have a product that is accessible to youth and Hockey 5s has given us the answer. At the moment it is a trendy sport, just like the sevens or T20 or futsal. There are fewer players, the space is less for better involvement and the youngsters like the excitement. Hockey 5s is easier to play. It’s informal and it’s fun.”
A Hockey 5s series is expected to be launched worldwide after the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and Dubai figures prominently as one of the stops.
“Rugby has grown massively in the past few years due to the sevens. And, while Hockey 5s will be a good addition, the involvement of schools will be equally important to lend the spark needed to popularise a sport like hockey in the UAE,” Fairweather added.
