WWC10 x DAY10 x NZ v IND

Today is Krystal Forgesson’s Birthday. New Zealand haven’t won a game as of yet but deserve more. Krystal has scored at will here in Rosario and against India, there’s a chance for more, a chance for a win.

Family and friends were in the stands with banners and a Haka before the game to amp up the players.

The win would propel the Black Sticks up the ladder to 4th, a much better placing in a tough group. India are not easy beats as they dispatched of Japan in the last game.

New Zealand look very structured. Very sharp, very clean, very fast and very fit. Their relentless pressure on attack propped chances all over the place but were unable to convert to goals. It didn’t happen in the first half, but patience and pressure made it happen in the second.

When Krystal moved the ball with grace into the D and then pinpointed a rocket pass to a stretching Katie Glynn, the game was well in their grasp. They were in control.

New Zealand started showing flare as India allowed them space in the midfield and the Black Sticks looked poised and in control. And control they had. A great and belatedly deserved win, 3 goals to 0.

No goals for Krystal, but a win. A perfect pass to score.  Happy Birthday.

Photos: Daniel Carson | www.dcimages.org

WWC10 x DAY8 x AUS v NZ

We’ve seen all teams now play four games each and some equations have come up, with this game being quite a big cog on that mechanism.

Earlier Japan lost to India, but both teams were already out of contention.

Holland beat Germany 2 to 1. The Dutch booked themselves in the finals and more than likely top spot.

Now…  Australia and New Zealand battle.  NZ need a win to stay alive for Champion’s Trophy next year and Australia need the win to stay alive for the World Cup now.

Damn tight is what happened, especially when New Zealand’s scoring metronome Krystal Forgesson opened the scoring for the match we had a game on our hands. It wasn’t till late in the half when the Aussies equalled the score.

New Zealand will go down as very unlucky here in Rosario as Australia ended up scoring quickly at the end of the match with three more goals. They had control of the game through the half, as they have all other games. It was Australia who were efficient infront of goals to score when they had a sniff.

With the Aussie win they move to play Germany and look for a finals berth for the winner. A do or die game.

New Zealand… well they have and are playing some of the best hockey to watch. They deserve a win. They deserve a higher placing than what they will end up with.

WC2010 x HERE IT IS x ATTARD

World Cup 2010… here it is.

The Hockeyroos tour started with a rather long trip, from Perth Australia, across the country to Sydney, over the ditch to NZ, around the world to Santiago, over the Andes to Buenos Aires and then a 4 hour bumpy bus ride to Rosario, but we made it and we are stoked to be here.

We have spent the last week in Rosario getting used to the time difference, settling in at the hotel, practicing and playing on the turf and adjusting to the typical Argentine late nights and long sleep ins!

We have played a couple of practice matches in this time, one v South Africa and one v Argentina. The match v Argentina was a lot of fun, hockey wise and in general. We were able to experience the crowd and amazing atmosphere that the Argie locals can produce but also get up to the fast pace and skilful hockey we expect to meet with most of the teams during the World Cup. As a whole we are well prepared for the tournament and are looking forward to facing some strong competition.

The vibe in Rosario is pretty special and it was kicked off with the opening ceremony a few nights ago. We arrived, fashionably late to the ceremony with all of the other teams there and a crowd of around 4000. We were given a warm welcome by the city and the hockey world with some traditional Argentine dances followed by an awesome fireworks display.

The games then began. We were the last game of the first round and faced a frenetic Japan side. We started off a little slow with a fair few debutants, but as the game went on we found our straps and came together well. It was a tough game where we missed a few of our opportunities but came away with a 2-1 win and 3 points on the board.

It is a rest day today and we have enjoyed a sleep in and a little bit of down time. We will do some research on India this evening and prepare for the match tomorrow. Game on!

xo T.

Photos: Daniel Carson | DCIMAGES.ORG

WWC10 x OPENING CEREMONY

The games don’t start till Sunday but the events of the Womens World Cup in 2010 have certainly got going.

And with a bang.

Literally.

Hockey doesn’t draw massive crowds, fanatics, politicians, dancing and fireworks usually.  Usually…

Tonight has changed my mind of what hockey can be, what hockey is. Tonight the Opening Ceremony is what I am sure is just the catalyst. The crowds packed into the National Flag Monument in Rosario for something special. A sea of people. It’s a term used a lot.

When you are at the pointy end of the sea, it certainly feels like they could crash forward down onto you. Crowds this size are big no matter the event. Argentina has shown us why the World Cup should be here.

Spectacular light shows.

Dancing of all sorts regionalised to Argentina and South America.

Fireworks.

It was all here tonight and so were the chills going up my spine.

More photos of the night can be found at my site: www.dcimages.org

Photos: Daniel Carson | www.dcimages.org

BONJOUR x SCHEFFER

CT10 WOMEN x POSTER x REBECCHI

As we have for previous Champions Trophies, Gryphon will be making some posters that’ll be available at these events. Pop into the Gryphon tents and grab a free poster then go and get them signed. Something to do between the matches, besides the eating and beverages.

Now we profile one of the up and coming, well actually she’s there already, front guns of the Las Leonas. The Argentineans are the defending champions of this tournament and Carla Rebecchi is a striker that delivers. She’s quick, skilled and score goals.  Look out for Carla at the Champions Trophy Nottingham 2o1o, if you can keep up.

Download Carla’s poster preview – this design is in Portrait and may not be perfect for a wallpaper – CT10_GRYPHON_REBECHI_POSTER (16)

GRASSROOTS x WA COUNTRY CHAMPS

This past weekend was marked by the first round of the Australian Hockey League [AHL] for Men. International players a plenty. But what else is happening around the hockey world?

In Perth, the Womens Western Australian Country Championships were played. Called country week, in the month of June three week long competitions are held for a massive amount of hockey clubs that are not based in the city. One competition each for men, women and juniors. Perth happens to be the most isolated capital city in the world, and the state of Western Australia is huge. Perth is closer to East Timor and Indonesia than it is Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane. WA itself is about 5 times the size of Texas or 20 times the size of England.

The towns are sparsely distributed. These country weeks are  big deal. Huge amounts of teams and players influx into Perth and play great hockey at the home of Hockey in Australia, where the Hockeyroos and Kookaburras play and train.  It’s a great experience.

With this in mind, below is the an article in the Kalgoorlie (about 600km east of Perth) newspaper today about the tournament. Their team came second in division one, but looking at the coverage that the paper gives, it’s not taken lightly. The photo features Ashlee Lavery running deep in attack in the final with her Gryphon Taboo Magnum.

These events are supported heavily by a Gryphon Premium retailer in F-H-E.com as a major sponsor.

Up next are the Junior Country championships held at the same arena.

For more photos of the Mens and Womens finals days of these events at grassroots hockey, DC’s gallery has the latest.

WC10 INDIA x DC’s TAKE x PART1

Well, I’m back in Perth and recovering from an amazing 17 days in India, and one brilliant night.

I know I’m not an elite Hockey player and maybe what I have to write is not interesting for you, but I think some of you out there may like to see and hear what the World Cup in India 2010 was like from someone outside the teams

My roles in the World Cup are many with the primary directives being within official Media, mainly as a photographer but as well as to some of the guys in the teams as “that damn guy with the camera who’s not cooped up in the hotel!” My ability to have more freedom than the players gives me a different outlook on the event away from the fact that I’m not an elite hockey player giving everything I have for the World Championship.

Part 1 of my post-World Cup blog will be about the event itself and the security and controls that went with it.  I am also open to people commenting here with questions for me to answer and hopefully add more insight to what goes on around the Hockey world’s largest tournament.

The Stadium in New Delhi is a totally revamped existing structure. Personally I have never seen anything like it for Hockey. A place that over 16,000 people can cram themselves into and scream for their team in Hockey is nothing short of awe inspiring and unique in my experience. The amazing thing is how quickly the stadium fills, and without notice. One minute you are looking at a game and about 1/3 of the seats are full, then you turn around to check why your ears are hurting and the place is packed with flags, face paint and screaming.

The Hockey itself?  I am hoping that many of you were able to watch some of the games, listen to broadcasts, watch some highlights or just read about it.  It’s a long tournament with each team playing between 6-7 games each in a period of 13 playing days. Funny enough on the surface it would appear less taxing than say a Champions Trophy where the teams play 5-6 games in 10 days. A big difference is that there are 12 teams in the World Cup, that’s a lot more organising, a lot more team preparation, a lot more of everything and from what I saw it took its toll on the teams.

In my personal opinion on a whole, the quality of hockey in Melbourne was more exciting and faster, better for the neutral spectator than this World Cup. Of course when the event burrowed down to the final few games the level increased, but I think there is something about having the best 6 teams in one place, in one concentrated time. That said, a highlight game for me England v Germany in the Semis where I believe we saw some great hockey and classic “sport” emotions.

Security, what was that like?

Going into this World Cup, a lot was said, done, discussed, debated, acted upon, speculated, joked about regarding the security issues of the event. Having a directly targeted threat on the India World Cup was not what it needed only days before the first game. It was to be expected that the security would be pretty high, and well it was.

The official hotels were fortresses. The player’s hotel from the front looked like a prision with high walls, razor wire, a billion cameras and sniper nests. I’d loved to have taken photos but early on I was threatened to have my camera confiscated by the police taking a photo of a building.

To get into any World Cup venue (hotels, stadium, etc…) you’d need to have your car checked with underbody mirrors, all boots and bonnets opened and gizmos with noises waved over the contents. Once through there, you personally had to get through something like an airport security checkpoint more than once, all surrounded by many army or private security with large guns.

To get into the Stadium as Media, I had to pass through 4 metal detectors, be frisked 4 times, pass through 1 x-ray screen, have my bags opened and manually checked 1 to 2 times, be tested for explosive residue finally have my credentials read over, and double checked 5 times while all the time passing commandos and sniper nests.

The hotel I was in wasn’t too much different and as an Aussie I had two armed men at the front of my corridor at all times. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. My room was checked every day by experts and the staff were overseen when doing the room service.  It all was a little overwhelming to start with, but once you got used to it, it became welcoming and you could really see that the organisers really thought about the issues coming to India very strongly.

Where does it leave the event for me?

It’s the World Cup.  Everything worked eventually and smoothly.  Good and great Hockey was played and it was a safe event.  Really what else can you ask for. We were there to cover the Hockey and that was done.  The players were there to play, and that they did.

Part 2 will be about what I was able to do and see outside of the Hockey specifically, things that many of the players were not able to.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned, and remember feel free to comment and ask questions.

DC

AUSTRALIA WORLD CUP 2010 CHAMPIONS

There’s not a lot to write when so much emotion pours out through a group of players who have put so much into this one night. This one day. This one game.  This one moment.

One moment in time. One moment when the final whistle is blown.

Australia wins the World Cup in Two Thousand and Ten.

They defeated the youngest team in this tournament but also the team that has stopped them in their tracks two World Cups previous. This time the Kookaburras achieve what Ric set out to do. Grant Schubert keeps his promise to win the Cup.

It’s over.  Australia 2.  Germany 1.

DC

Photos: Daniel Carson | DCIMAGES.ORG

WC10 x SEMI FINAL x HOL v AUS x VIDEO INTERVIEW

Two semi finals and two intense games that, well could go either way.  Those in who normally wear Orange were in white tonight. The Kookaburras haven’t move off their gold uniform for the whole tournament, and they were looking a little used.

I digress…

Oh and Gryphon’s Grant Schubert won a motorbike!!!  Check the video below to see why.

The past few games between these two team head to head have finished with the Aussies comfortably winning each one. This time the Dutch looked ready to try and break this trend but the past must have been playing on the player’s minds.

Game plan for Holland was to sit a lot of players back inside their circle and release one to two players on the break. This was so extreme that the Dutch multiple times launched the ball with an over-head into the Aussie circle making the keeper come up. Much the same tactic that saw Gryphon’s Fergus Kavanagh score that amazing goal in the Champions Trophy final in Melbourne.

This tactic lead Australia to have 13 chances on goal in the first half alone.

Australia was eventually going win a Corner or a goal, and in the 27th minute the Aussies won a Corner and converted first time to take the lead.

Both teams were fantastic in defence, very rarely conceding a free hit in their 25 let alone a corner.

First half ended with Australia on top with all levels of the game including the score 1 – 0.

Into the second half the Dutch kept the same game plan but took it to an extreme. It forced the Aussies into the deep the corners of the circle, not having straight chances.  That said they did have quite a few clean strikes.  Man of the Match Grant Schubert was fantastic with his run, diving and leading.  I highly rate diving as a photographer…

Kavanagh, Brown and Begbie were heavily worked on the run with their tackles. Begbie was a serious standout with his tackles saving more chances to the goals at full tilt than you could keep track of.

Eventually the Aussie pressure had to break the wall and in the 55th a brilliant field goal was scored putting the men in Gold up 2 to 1.

The game looked a little like it was over. Not so true.  The Dutch kept to their game plan and won a Corner which was dealt with, but on a video referral it was changed to a Stroke which was cleanly taken in the 58th minute.

12 minutes of hockey at it’s must tense then followed. Dutch were full of run trying to create chances. Australia making tackles in their 25 over and over then releasing their midfielders Hammond an Co. to then push the ball again into a dangerous position.  It was back and forth attacking hockey at it’s best and intense.

Luckily the game ended as I would say the players and the crowd would eventually succumb to a medical condition.

Australia win 2 goals to 1 and now face Germany in the Gold Medal final… again!

Holland play England and would fancy themselves.

I was able to grab Grant Schubert and Rob Hammond after the game for a surprise interview on level:

Photos: Daniel Carson | DCIMAGES.ORG

Next Page »