(Field) Hockey

Poll

Field Hockey - (Wo)Men's Sport ??

Ok....
I've been playing hockey for 8years already and it's my favourite sport by far!!
A friend of mine now told me recently that in England or the UK in general they see hockey as a sport for "pussies", "sissies", whatever one likes to call them :wink:

...

I hereby open the poll:
Field Hockey - (Wo)Men's Sport ??

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1

notts

that is the general perception.
in america you are pretty much gay if you play field hockey, apparently.
in holland it is a sport for posh people.

i have played for about 5 years, definitely doesnt make me less of a man!

Reply 2

Lady Narcissus

Its blatantly for anyone who loves to play. In England a lot of boys are not given the chance to play in P.e. I.E when we did hockey, they did rudgy. Timetabling and all.

Reply 3

Renal

Clearly, it's all about Mixed Hockey.

(Not that I play hockey of course, I just go for the mixing :wink:

)

Reply 4

simatemcprimate

i play hockey as well and it can be pretty violent! In one game i was playing in someone got hit in the neck with a hockey ball! And they hurt!

Reply 5

guest1984

I play hockey too.

The only injury i had was a cut on my head.

If you don't go crazy getting the ball, opponents don't usually do bad tackles on you.

Reply 6

Sofa King

Hockey can be brutal, definitely not for the faint hearted. I've had 16 stitches to my face as a result of being twatted (hard) by a stick, plus countless bloody knees/elbows. Friend of mine had both his front teeth cut clean off. But in a weird kinda way, the danger element is part of the appeal... Could just be my sado-masochistic nature though :-p

Its my favourite sport by far too.

Reply 7

63fill

I play field hockey, and am about to start my 5th season. First practice match is nearly here, only got to wait to the 2nd of september. I've never really had a serious injury playing myself, hit on the head by both ball and stick the worst, but last season someone collapsed during one of our 4th team matches and our player had to give him mouth to mouth to keep him alive. Now I'm not saying that can't happen in other sports too, but it happened in our game, and you don't get much more serious then that.

Reply 8

Xenon

I had someone hack at my finger continuously for a bit, and wouldn't stop till I said 'ow'! Boy did it hurt and I had a huge cut, a small mark of which can still be seen today! The team I played agianst were crap and just hacked at the ball continuously.

Reply 9

aSian_cUtY

Renal

Clearly, it's all about Mixed Hockey.

Big up

Reply 10

63fill

First game of the season yesterday :biggrin:

Since the end of last season I've lost all fitness and any semblence of good control and accurate passing. Good job it was only a friendly really. I'm really stiff now, and I can feel muscles straining that I didn't know I had. Not good.

Reply 11

ninmurai

Penalty corners are the worst. Being the 1st runner when defending, and being the primary dragflicker when attacking, I've seen it all. If people want to believe that it's a sport for women only, let them. I quite honestly couldn't care what they think.

My most guilty moment was knocking someone out very briefly when dragflicking for the top corner. It hit the person in the forehead. The result? penalty flick to us and a very sore head

Reply 12

Lilly2006

As a keeper i'm pretty lucky i'm padded up, worst injury....broken nose. Drag flick from top D and it freakishly ended up inside my cage.....man that hurt!!

Reply 13

zillysteph

Yeah - I wouldnt say its a sissy sport. I play with a load of guys and some of them really hit the ball hard. My feet have suffered on many an occassion.

Reply 14

HighlyEvolved

i've been playing hockey for about 7 years now and it's definately not a sissy sport. Unless it's just the northern league where a brawl almost breaks out every match, you definately have to be able to stand up for yourself.

I've had many many injuries, the worst was taking a hockey ball to the nose which shifted it (my nose) a couple of centimetres to the right, had to have an operation to reset it. I've also had to have stitches in my head, chin and shin on other occasions.

It's only seen as a girl's sport because they usually do it in PE while's the "men" do rugby.

Reply 15

croissantfever

I been playing hockey for about 7 years, worst injury I had was a broken thumb, was first runner on penalty corner in training (usually play keeper) and got in the way of a shot, worst one I caused, I accidentally broke a girls ribs... We were playing on grass and I took and almighty kick at the ball, it lifted and smacked her right in the ribs.

Worst I've seen however was someone being carted off in a ambulance, they died later. It was a game on pitch before us, someone tripped and fell in front of a shot and took a stick in the throat. Freak accident, but definitly NOT a sport for pussies.

Reply 16

walker20

i have sustained more injuries in hockey than I have in any other sport, more bruises mainly. i'd like to see how many people would call me a sissie when they put my goalkeeping kit on and have one training session!

Reply 17

nad11

there are more injuries in hockey than rugby thats for sure!!
its a good sport and takes alot more skill than people think to be able to play

Reply 18

walker20

amen to that!

our rugby team at school wanted to take us on because they thought it was too easy, however their rugby coach vetoed it because he didn't want anyone getting injured!

Reply 19

D-Ice

Being another veteran of the North hockey league I can verify it's not a girl's sport. I've been knocked out, given several black eyes, had more stitches than I can remember and a few broken bones, all in the last few years, not to mention the state of my knees after all the grazes I've picked up.

I'd like to see rugby players face a short corner being drag flicked at 74 mph at their head and still say hockey's for sissies (the speed a few drag flicks have been clocked at in the current hockey world cup).

I think it's quite a sad misconception about what is a very enjoyable sport, which certainly requires a lot of skill and strength, and the fitness level of the top players is astounding.