Ireland miss out as FIH World League 3 hosts

The Irish Hockey Association(IHA) has recently narrowly missed out in a bid to bring both the Men's and Women's FIH World League 3 tournaments to Ireland in 2013. The IHA engaged in lengthy discussions and submitted formal proposals for the hosting of the two major tournaments which would have seen elite International Hockey on Irish shores.

The IHA worked around the clock over the Christmas period and early part of 2013 to try to secure the prestigious event for Ireland. There was a very tight time frame for the FIH to make a decision on Ireland's bid due to deadlines which had to be met regarding travel arrangements for World League 2 in India & Spain if unsuccessful. Unfortunately the FIH, on this occasion, chose other nations to host both events and as a result, Ireland will instead continue to compete at World League 2 later this month as originally scheduled.

There were a number of contributing factors to the IHA's desire to bring FIH World League 3 to Ireland including the opportunity for our National Teams to compete at the highest level, the promotion of the sport, the commercial opportunities for the IHA and importantly the financial implications of having both our Men's & Women's team qualify directly for this stage of the tournament, thus avoiding expensive trips to New Delhi, India and Valencia, Spain.

We were confident that the support and extremely proficient level of volunteerism seen during the Olympic Qualifiers from the Irish Hockey community, coupled with the work of our own professional staff would have ensured a hugely successful World League 3 tournament off the field as well as on it.

The IHA will continue to work hard to bring more elite competition to Ireland and ensure our teams have the best opportunities to compete at these levels.