The tealeaves were there...
The tealeaves were there...
A more nuanced opinion on the non selection of Rosie Malone for Australia
In Australia the Hockeyroos selection is again in the news. Several years ago it was about the culture and mental wellbeing. This time it’s a single athlete who appealed her non-selection for Paris that got some traction in the media.
Rosie Malone, a striker from the Australian team, reacted to her non selection with the instagram post below and an official appeal… Obviously an emotional post, but at first glance reasonable in her arguments as well:
In all honesty I do not see enough of women’s hockey to have an informed opinion. I do have connections in the coaching world, so I rely on their assessment. One of them referred me to the podcast by Simon Orchard (former Australian international player) and Adam Clifford (communication professional and member of the Hockey One board) “Parlez vous hockey” with an Aussie view on our game of hockey and the Paris Games. So for a more nuanced opinion on this I would recommend you listen to their podcast here ↓
The analysis of these two is more or less in line with the one I got from coaches who know what they’re talking about… The tealeaves were there…
Individual awards never mean anything
It also highlights the problem of the ridiculous individual awards the FIH promotes every year. As do many national associations… It comes from the American view on sports and life where even in team sports it’s got to be about the indidual (instead of the team) and the mediatisation of the entertainment product takes precedence over the sport and sport values…
Don’t take any of these individual awards serious! These are marketing gimmicks and have no value at all when it comes to sport. So the argument by Malone she was among the so called top 5 of the world is a non starter.
Orchard and Clifford, in their podcast also touch on the different reaction to his non selection by Nick Bandurak for Great Britain. Of course it’s always difficult, if not impossible to compare different people, teams and situations. But that was another one with the possibility of exploding opinions in the (social) media sphere…
Parlez vous hockey
To close off I’ll share the link for those interested to the podcast by Orchard and Clifford with an Australian point of view on hockey at the Paris Games
And an interesting episode was the first one in which both men predicted the Australian selections prior to these being announced…
Enjoy… :)