Livestreaming welcome boost for game
IT might only be a small step, but Townsville Hockey life member Brian Kershaw hopes it is one towards the return of the national league in North Queensland.
For the first time since the NQ Barras folded at the turn of the century, Townsville Hockey will enjoy prime time exposure on the association’s grand final day.
Eight matches from the association’s burgeoning junior ranks through to their two top senior grades will have their grand final streamed live on the Townsville Bulletin website.
It is a historic moment for the association, and one Kershaw hopes will put the talent in the region back where it belongs – in the national spotlight.
“I think it a great thing for the local players, I think it has the chance to inspire the local juniors,” he said. “They will also get to see the way the A Grade games are played and the coaches can use the footage to help them with their skills.
“Any publicity for a minor sport is great and with an Olympics year coming up it is a perfect chance to showcase the North Queensland talent and those who have gone on to represent their country.”
Kershaw was a part of the Barras’ inception and inclusion in the National Hockey
League in the 1990s and was a vice-president of the club for several years.
He can remember a time when the Townsville complex was flooded with 3000 fans to watch the national fixtures.
While he said conversations were happening in the background, Kershaw said he hoped the exposure from the livestreams could catapult them back into contention to join the recently adapted national league, Hockey One.
“There have been a lot of players who came through the Barras and have gone on to big things, Colin Batch the Kookaburras coach was one of those,” he said.