Directing change from bottom up

As the hockey club championships come to Cork this weekend for the first time, the sport as has just taken its first tentative steps into a new era of change. Leading the way is the Irish Hockey Association’s new chief executive, Paul Varian. He tells Declan Colley how he sees the sport developing.

THE new water-based hockey pitch at the Church of Ireland club’s facility at Garryduff is symptomatic of the changes happening within the sport in this country.

The magnificent facility reflects the fact that hockey as a whole is undergoing massive change - change which will bolster the sport in Ireland and in an international context.