AUSTRALIA'S CHARLSWORTH SPEAKS OUT ON MARKETING

From The News & Observer

LAHORE, Pakistan, Nov 2, 1998 -- Australian hockey legend Ric Charlesworth said today that field hockey was in danger of dying as the game had not been sold and marketed properly.

Charlesworth, a full time coach of Australian women's team, is here to see the 20th Champions Trophy Men's Field Hockey Tournament.

"I think field hockey is in danger of dying as it has not been marketed properly. Don't expect people to come to you and give money, you have to make it a saleable product," said Charlesworth, who led Australia for 12 years.

The former Australian captain blamed the International Hockey Federation (FIH) and administrations in each country for the loss.

"Look at the crowds here, its disappointing just because the event is not sold properly," he said.

Very few people have turned up to watch matches as the event clashed with the mini World Cup cricket tournament in Dhaka.

Charlesworth coached Australian women's team to the World Cup title in Utrecht, Holland in May and then to Commonwealth Games title in Kuala Lumpur in September.

A veteran of four Olympics from 1976-1988, Charlesworth led Australia to the silver medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, when Australia lost to New Zealand in the final.

He was a member of the Australian team when it won the World Cup in Willesden, England in 1986 and won silver at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

He believes that the no offside rule has made the game more defensive.

"Hockey is less attractive now than when we played, as everybody is defending. There has to be changes in rules and I have been shouting, but no one is listening," Charlesworth said.

In spite of his fears for the game, Charlesworth is confident field hockey can continue to be an Olympic sport.

"I think field hockey is still more attractive than some of the sports, but the governing body must do something to improve the situation," he opined.

Charlesworth termed the downward slide in the standard of hockey in the Indian sub-continent to a lack of planning and imagination.

"I learnt all my hockey from people who came from the sub-continent, but now Pakistan and India are looking in the past rather than in the future," he said.

Charlesworth advised that Pakistan and India learn from others.

"When I was young I learnt from watching Pakistan and India. Our coach in 1976 was Merv Adams, who was a policeman in Bombay, and we learnt from them, but there came a dramatic turn around in the sub-continent," he said.

Charlesworth said Holland is playing the best hockey in recent times and fancy them to do well in coming tournaments.

He foresaw a bright future for women's hockey.

"Their game is coming up. They tend to do what men do and its becoming quite a spectacular game," he said. 1