Eleven women – one goal (or as many as they can get): Hockey heroes’ bid for glory
IT’S been an almost impossible fairytale for the Ireland women’s World Cup 2018 hockey team.
After failing to qualify for the 2016 Rio Olympics, the Irish first 11 have confounded all expectations and landed themselves slap-bang in the middle of the game’s elite.
The team made history on Thursday by beating India in the quarter-final in London and today their journey continues with a semi-final against Spain.
The proud parents of the players have been in England supporting the team for most of the competition – and even more family members and fans have descended on the English capital since Thursday to cheer them on in today’s game.
The success of the players is as much a reward for their parents as it is for the players, according to one source close to the camp.
The parents of the women on the team are doing great, despite a nail-biting penalty-laced finish to the quarter-final, and are fully embracing the experience, the source told the Irish Daily Mail.
‘[The parents are] great, this is just rewards for them as well; they are the ones who introduced these girls to hockey at a very young age and drove them all around the country to training and regionals and all that type of stuff,’ said the source. Meanwhile, Minister for Sport Shane Ross has sought to clarify recent reports the team paid their own way to the World Cup.
Minister Ross rejected reports that each team member had been asked to pay a yearly €550 levy to meet the full operating costs.
‘We gave a substantial amount of money to hockey this year already. They weren’t levied and the media is absolutely carrying that story very widely.’
His comments were supported by the CEO of Hockey Ireland Jerome Pels, who said: ‘Hockey Ireland is grateful for the support from Sport Ireland and Sport Northern Ireland and the sponsors, in particular SoftCo.’
The game airs on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player and starts at 2pm.
AFTER the euphoria of Thursday night’s quarter-final, family and friends of the Ireland ladies’ hockey team are out in force for this afternoon’s World Cup semi-final against Spain.
The team of amateurs really has put it up to the professionals, and the country is incredibly proud of what they have achieved to date, no matter what happens today. What a lift it would give the country, though, if they made the final. We wish them the best and hope their incredible run in the competition continues.