worlds 2008

:'(

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but that depends on a suitable reference point.

Bugga.

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Underwater Hockey Rules!

Can I ask why the GB girls have decided not to go to Durban?
I am happy to hear all the reasons...

must be some interesting reasons.

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it's more polite on the grating than on the subs bench

Suspect its being banned by cmas tbh

Off my head the main reasons are:

1) The GB Elite men had already decided to go to Turkey and we feel that the GB teams should stay united.

2) If we want to play in the CMAS world games next year we need to qualify in the euros this year.

3) We have not heard any details about WAA euros for 2009 and if there was WAA euros that year with most of the other European teams committing to CMAS would there be teams to compete against? We want to play as much hockey as possible.

4) Durban is going to be far more expensive than Turkey and the fact that we are unsure what will happen with the WAA and CMAS divide.

The politics sinks and not what armature sport needs but I guess we just have to ride this political storm and see where it leaves us in a few years time.

With regard to your point 1
This will be a first and something long overdue
Point 2
You do not have to qualify to play in the CMAS games as this is an open event.
Point 3
details about the 2009 WAA European championships will be discussed at the Durban Meeting, which you now wont be at to participate in. We already have a venue selected and the same for the 2010 worlds. Further to this the top ranked European teams are attending the Durban event so future CMAS events will have only the B teams present, so you can be big fish in a little pond.

Also by not participating in Durban you run the risk of being relegated to the B division for any future WAA tournaments
Point 4
As CMAS have not released any costs for this event you actually don't know what it will cost. Off course it is cheaper to run a smaller competition and they will not need the same amount of infrastructure and will provide far less to you the athletes.

Anyway enjoy Istanbul as I am sure it will be interesting, and by this decision you have just added to the politics you hate so much.

Cheers

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WAA The best in Underwater Sports

graham is so right in all his points there.

if thats the thinking, you guys have made your decision after apparently almost no research whatsoever, despite people like graham saying they are happy to answer questions on their personal email at any stage.

the cmas games is indeed an open tournament... the fact that a euro-style comp was run in 2007 in marseille and organised by the french should tell you that there will still be comps to participate in, especially in europe... there is no shortage of comps in europe if you are after lots of hockey.

the durban/istanbul expense thing is also pretty thin... no budget for istanbul as wtd has pointed out PLUS the fact that the pound buys a LOT of accommodation and food in south africa... and you have just come off a home worlds in 2006 and apparently no competition to go to and spend money at in 2007 (not for the women at least, the men went to marseille)

what a load of bollocks. i really feel sorry for the players but at the same time, the players are the ones who made the decision so i guess i'm just more disappointed we wont get to play against gb.

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it's more polite on the grating than on the subs bench

moving on from politics to the actual running of the comp... anyone else had any problems getting info from the organisers?

we have been asking for pucks forever and with not even a response.... anyone managed to get any pucks so far?

the pucks, if they are going to be the same as were used in durban in 2005, are NOT the orca puck and are a different design to the standard oreo-type puck that we had in sheffield.

in 2005 we were told they were using the orca pucks and we even got one as a sample to use, but when we turned up to the comp it turned out the pucks were completely different and it took a while to get used to them.... and i dont think we were issued any either.


so what, are the south africans doing the same thing again?

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it's more polite on the grating than on the subs bench

The puck that has been approved for use at the Durban competition is the Natal puck and I am told that it is the same one that was used for the Southern Hemisphere competition. I am also told that they are currently available but I would say that you would not be sent one until your registration fees are paid.

If the fees are paid then I believe they will be sent out shortly. I will put some photos of the puck on the WAA web site this week.

Regards

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WAA The best in Underwater Sports