HOCKEY: Last October when the International Hockey Federation (FIH) hit upon a formula to rank international sides in the fairest manner, Ireland may have felt optimistic about where they would figure.
However, the rankings that came out this week following the end of the international season at the close of the Olympic Games failed to justify such optimism.
The Irish side is ranked 23rd in the world. Having failed last year to qualify for the A division of the European Championships in Barcelona, Ireland must now travel to Rome for the B division next summer in an effort to try to scrap their way into the top flight.
But does the team now belong there? Ranked 23rd in the world represents quite a fall from the 12th or 13th place the Irish team once held in the 1980s. Scotland is now above Ireland on the ladder. So is Cuba, Chile, Canada, Poland, Egypt and New Zealand.
The Kiwis, always held up as a nation with about the same population as Ireland, are ranked ninth in the world. England have dropped to eighth place and Argentina 10th so there is obviously a changing dynamic in World Hockey, which cannot be put down simply to the new method of calculating the team rankings.
Ireland also failed to qualify for the under-21 World Cups this summer in both the men's event in Belgium and the women's tournament in Belfield, Dublin. Very disappointing, both.
This comes about despite the fact the national sides at under-16 and under-18 levels have had exceptional success at European level, European Champions in fact. It seems mind blowing that Ireland can slip so far over the course of several years of development.
The dogs in the streets know the Irish Hockey Association is short of money but 23rd in the world is a fall too far for even limited resources. Ireland is still looking for a full-time coach and a chief executive. Those two decisions by the IHA will be the most important the organisation has made for some time.
Something needs to change dramatically before Ireland can even start to think seriously of themselves as possible candidates in Olympic or World Cup events, or now sadly, even the top flight of European competition.
