“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavour” — George Bernard Shaw.
PICTURE THE SCENE: You’re playing for Ireland in front of a packed Belfield crowd. It’s St Patrick’s weekend. Even the President has turned out to watch. A win means you become the first Irish hockey team to reach the Olympics in over 100 years.
The challenge is a daunting one, however. Ireland are up against a South Korea team ranked 10 places above them in a playoff. Nonetheless, expectations remain high. A vibrant home crowd waits in anticipation of what would be a historic result.
Things start off positively. Peter Caruth gives Ireland the lead. The Green Machine are then pegged back as their opponents equalise and silence almost everyone watching. However, with less than 20 minutes remaining, Timmy Cockram powers home a penalty corner. Ireland are going to the Olympics, it seems. David Harte is going to the Olympics. The crowd roars. And then silence.
Korea equalise, but all is not lost. The game is headed for extra-time. Ireland’s fate is still in the team’s hands. The tension is palpable. But suddenly, with two seconds of normal time remaining, Nam Yong Lee scores. The disappointment is overwhelming. Ireland won’t be going to London 2012 after all. The team’s Olympic dream is over.
Ireland’s head coach at the time, Paul Revington, described this crushing defeat as “difficult to take”. All the hard work they had put in, all the dreams they had built up, had been shattered in one cruel instant.
Picking up the players after such a huge disappointment would not be easy. Ultimately, this task fell to Craig Fulton – a South African former field hockey player, who competed at both the 1996 and 2004 Olympic Games and who agreed to take up the role of National Men’s Hockey Coach in March 2014.
A former men’s Assistant Coach to South Africa, Fulton was no stranger to the Irish hockey scene. He had previously coached at club level in Ireland with Pembroke and had been National Men’s Assistant Coach between 2006 and 2009. Having been around the set-up for a substantial period, he knew the potential of the group.
Yet as soon as he got started, Fulton recognised the importance of addressing that painful day in Belfield and confronting the team’s dramatic collapse in a brutally honest manner.
It was one of the worst experiences I’ve ever had in terms of the heartbreak and disappointment to get so close to everything we’ve ever wanted and dreamed for,” David Harte, the Irish team’s goalkeeper, tells The42, in reference to the climactic London 2012 qualifier.
“But we didn’t actually use that as a negative point. When our coach Craig Fulton came in, we decided to tackle it head on. Instead of having it in the background and brushing it under the carpet as ‘the unspeakable’ and ‘don’t mention it,’ we turned it into a huge positive factor. One thing to take out of that qualification process is that we were essentially the nearly men — we never made that final step or got over that last hurdle, which required a breakthrough into the elite of world hockey.”
Under the guidance of Fulton, Harte expains how the Irish side learned to almost embrace high-pressure moments, whereas in the past, they may have been prone to underperforming when such tense occasions arose.
We realised the crunch moments and really key phases, we recognised them in big games, so those were what helped us through this year. Recognising the key phases, but instead of ignoring them or fearing them, we actually looked forward to them and were able to override them together as a team.”
Of course, for all their renewed mental strength, the Irish team still needed a degree of luck, which had deserted them four years previously, in order to qualify.
Despite notable victories over higher-ranked teams such as Pakistan, Canada and Malaysia, the Irish side were ultimately made to wait before their Rio qualification was confirmed. A torturous four months of uncertainty followed. The team trained as if they were preparing for the Olympics, but their place in Brazil seemed far from assured.
Ultimately, they were reliant on Australia winning the Oceania Cup at the end of October. Australia had already secured qualification by that point, so their triumph would pave the way for an additional spot for the Irish. On the other hand, New Zealand could secure Olympic qualification by beating the Australians on their home turf in Taranaki.
Prior to the game, paranoia set in. What did Australia have to gain by winning the tournament? Would they adopt the right mindset for a relatively meaningless event. Harte feared the worst when it emerged that Australia’s head coach would not be travelling over with the team. There were also rumours, which turned out to be untrue, that they would send a reserve team to the tournament.
The climactic New Zealand-Australia match took place in the early hours of Sunday morning Irish time. Most of the Ireland team watched the game together in the BBC headquarters in Belfast. Harte, on the other hand, was in Holland, where he has been playing professionally for the past six years (he is one of six professional players in the Irish squad).
Harte’s Dutch teammates had described to him the sensation of playing at the Olympics. They each assured him that it would be “the pinnacle of your career”.
Therefore, given what was at stake, it was no surprise that Harte ultimately refused to watch the New Zealand-Australia game.
I was wide awake and my heart was going like the clappers,” he recalls. “That’s how nervous I was.
“My girlfriend was checking Twitter, but I wasn’t looking at anything. I was hopefully going to get the good news and messages and everything.
“I woke at about two in the morning and the game was on at about three or four o’clock. I didn’t sleep one wink and I just tossed and turned and tried not to look at my phone.”
Ireland's David Harte (left) celebrates with team-mates after Ireland win the Bronze Medal match at the Euro Hockey Championships against England. PA Wire / PA Images
PA Wire / PA Images / PA Images
Fortunately for Harte, however, Australia ended up winning 3-2, enabling Ireland to claim the 11th qualifying berth and reach their first Olympics in 107 years.
With just 12 of the world’s top teams competing in Rio, it was never going to be easy, and consequently, Ireland, currently ranked 12th in the world, have since been drawn in a difficult group with world number two ranked team Netherlands, as well as defending Olympic champions Germany (3), Argentina (6), India (7) and Canada (14).
But having picked up a number of notable scalps in recent months, Harte insists the Irish side won’t be daunted by the significant challenge ahead of them.
Going to the Olympic Games is a feat in itself, but we definitely won’t be just sitting back and thinking we’re here now and that’s it.
“We’ve had some great results against the likes of those top five sides in the world, so there’s no fear factor. We have to be fully aware of their strengths, but also not forget about their weaknesses as hockey nations as well.”
Fulton recently described the current side as “the fittest and most experienced Irish team ever,” and Harte backs up this assertion.
A lot of the guys over the past few years have chosen to apply their trade in professional leagues across Europe. Some already have returned to Ireland, but others like myself, my twin brother, Ronan Gormley in Germany, a few other guys like that, who have amassed over 150 caps each (for the Irish team).”
Harte also highlights the financial support granted by the Irish Sports Council as being key to the team’s success, but adds: “It’s not as much as we would like in the fact that players still have to contribute to play for Ireland — we’re up against full-time professional teams who are getting monthly wages.
“But it’s given us an added incentive and a drive. When we get together for training camps and work together in Dublin, Belfast or Cork, we stay together in each other’s houses. We’re not staying in hotels or splashing the cash by travelling here, there and everywhere. It’s really created a huge bond within the group.”
Another considerable challenge in Rio will be coping with Brazil’s intense heat. In preparation for these unfamiliar conditions, the squad will travel to play a few games in South Africa at the end of January.
Also, guys have already started preparing for South Africa by spending time working out and exercising in saunas,” Harte adds.
“As the year goes on, hopefully we’ll get the funding we require and then we’ll be able to have intense training camps here and abroad. And hopefully, that will help speed up the process to prepare for the Olympic Games.”
Head coach Craig Fulton has helped reverse the Irish team's fortunes. Cathal Noonan / INPHO
Cathal Noonan / INPHO / INPHO
Having long struggled to compete with better-funded sports such as soccer, GAA and rugby, Harte is optimistic that hockey will enter the Irish mainstream’s consciousness once the summer arrives. Having observed the success of the Irish cricket team at recent World Cups, the Cork-born goalkeeper, who has 161 caps for his country, is hopeful that the Green Machine can have a similar impact in Rio.
Already, their success in qualifying has gained plenty of publicity with nominations for Team of the Year and Manager of the Year at the recent RTÉ Sport Awards among other accolades, and so Harte is therefore hopeful that the acclaim has only begun.
Each time that we put on the green jersey and represent our country, we can only hope that we’re inspiring younger generations and helping more people get involved, almost as role models for those young players.
“For the first time ever, we have a chance to promote a minority sport (on the Olympic stage) against the likes of Gaelic Football, hurling, rugby, soccer et cetera. And now you have kids dreaming of being Olympians like their role models, which is something hockey has never had within this country.”
‘I was wide awake!' Ireland’s David Harte on NOT watching New Zealand-Australia at 4am
“Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavour” — George Bernard Shaw.
PICTURE THE SCENE: You’re playing for Ireland in front of a packed Belfield crowd. It’s St Patrick’s weekend. Even the President has turned out to watch. A win means you become the first Irish hockey team to reach the Olympics in over 100 years.
The challenge is a daunting one, however. Ireland are up against a South Korea team ranked 10 places above them in a playoff. Nonetheless, expectations remain high. A vibrant home crowd waits in anticipation of what would be a historic result.
Things start off positively. Peter Caruth gives Ireland the lead. The Green Machine are then pegged back as their opponents equalise and silence almost everyone watching. However, with less than 20 minutes remaining, Timmy Cockram powers home a penalty corner. Ireland are going to the Olympics, it seems. David Harte is going to the Olympics. The crowd roars. And then silence.
Korea equalise, but all is not lost. The game is headed for extra-time. Ireland’s fate is still in the team’s hands. The tension is palpable. But suddenly, with two seconds of normal time remaining, Nam Yong Lee scores. The disappointment is overwhelming. Ireland won’t be going to London 2012 after all. The team’s Olympic dream is over.
Ireland’s head coach at the time, Paul Revington, described this crushing defeat as “difficult to take”. All the hard work they had put in, all the dreams they had built up, had been shattered in one cruel instant.
Picking up the players after such a huge disappointment would not be easy. Ultimately, this task fell to Craig Fulton – a South African former field hockey player, who competed at both the 1996 and 2004 Olympic Games and who agreed to take up the role of National Men’s Hockey Coach in March 2014.
A former men’s Assistant Coach to South Africa, Fulton was no stranger to the Irish hockey scene. He had previously coached at club level in Ireland with Pembroke and had been National Men’s Assistant Coach between 2006 and 2009. Having been around the set-up for a substantial period, he knew the potential of the group.
Yet as soon as he got started, Fulton recognised the importance of addressing that painful day in Belfield and confronting the team’s dramatic collapse in a brutally honest manner.
“But we didn’t actually use that as a negative point. When our coach Craig Fulton came in, we decided to tackle it head on. Instead of having it in the background and brushing it under the carpet as ‘the unspeakable’ and ‘don’t mention it,’ we turned it into a huge positive factor. One thing to take out of that qualification process is that we were essentially the nearly men — we never made that final step or got over that last hurdle, which required a breakthrough into the elite of world hockey.”
The team duly delivered this year. Not only did they make up for the heartbreak of 2012 by qualifying for the 2016 Olympics, in August, they also clinched a historic bronze medal by beating England in London in front of a packed crowd at the Eurohockey Championships.
Under the guidance of Fulton, Harte expains how the Irish side learned to almost embrace high-pressure moments, whereas in the past, they may have been prone to underperforming when such tense occasions arose.
Of course, for all their renewed mental strength, the Irish team still needed a degree of luck, which had deserted them four years previously, in order to qualify.
Despite notable victories over higher-ranked teams such as Pakistan, Canada and Malaysia, the Irish side were ultimately made to wait before their Rio qualification was confirmed. A torturous four months of uncertainty followed. The team trained as if they were preparing for the Olympics, but their place in Brazil seemed far from assured.
Ultimately, they were reliant on Australia winning the Oceania Cup at the end of October. Australia had already secured qualification by that point, so their triumph would pave the way for an additional spot for the Irish. On the other hand, New Zealand could secure Olympic qualification by beating the Australians on their home turf in Taranaki.
Prior to the game, paranoia set in. What did Australia have to gain by winning the tournament? Would they adopt the right mindset for a relatively meaningless event. Harte feared the worst when it emerged that Australia’s head coach would not be travelling over with the team. There were also rumours, which turned out to be untrue, that they would send a reserve team to the tournament.
The climactic New Zealand-Australia match took place in the early hours of Sunday morning Irish time. Most of the Ireland team watched the game together in the BBC headquarters in Belfast. Harte, on the other hand, was in Holland, where he has been playing professionally for the past six years (he is one of six professional players in the Irish squad).
Harte’s Dutch teammates had described to him the sensation of playing at the Olympics. They each assured him that it would be “the pinnacle of your career”.
Therefore, given what was at stake, it was no surprise that Harte ultimately refused to watch the New Zealand-Australia game.
“My girlfriend was checking Twitter, but I wasn’t looking at anything. I was hopefully going to get the good news and messages and everything.
“I woke at about two in the morning and the game was on at about three or four o’clock. I didn’t sleep one wink and I just tossed and turned and tried not to look at my phone.”
Fortunately for Harte, however, Australia ended up winning 3-2, enabling Ireland to claim the 11th qualifying berth and reach their first Olympics in 107 years.
With just 12 of the world’s top teams competing in Rio, it was never going to be easy, and consequently, Ireland, currently ranked 12th in the world, have since been drawn in a difficult group with world number two ranked team Netherlands, as well as defending Olympic champions Germany (3), Argentina (6), India (7) and Canada (14).
But having picked up a number of notable scalps in recent months, Harte insists the Irish side won’t be daunted by the significant challenge ahead of them.
“We’ve had some great results against the likes of those top five sides in the world, so there’s no fear factor. We have to be fully aware of their strengths, but also not forget about their weaknesses as hockey nations as well.”
Fulton recently described the current side as “the fittest and most experienced Irish team ever,” and Harte backs up this assertion.
Harte also highlights the financial support granted by the Irish Sports Council as being key to the team’s success, but adds: “It’s not as much as we would like in the fact that players still have to contribute to play for Ireland — we’re up against full-time professional teams who are getting monthly wages.
“But it’s given us an added incentive and a drive. When we get together for training camps and work together in Dublin, Belfast or Cork, we stay together in each other’s houses. We’re not staying in hotels or splashing the cash by travelling here, there and everywhere. It’s really created a huge bond within the group.”
Another considerable challenge in Rio will be coping with Brazil’s intense heat. In preparation for these unfamiliar conditions, the squad will travel to play a few games in South Africa at the end of January.
“As the year goes on, hopefully we’ll get the funding we require and then we’ll be able to have intense training camps here and abroad. And hopefully, that will help speed up the process to prepare for the Olympic Games.”
Having long struggled to compete with better-funded sports such as soccer, GAA and rugby, Harte is optimistic that hockey will enter the Irish mainstream’s consciousness once the summer arrives. Having observed the success of the Irish cricket team at recent World Cups, the Cork-born goalkeeper, who has 161 caps for his country, is hopeful that the Green Machine can have a similar impact in Rio.
Already, their success in qualifying has gained plenty of publicity with nominations for Team of the Year and Manager of the Year at the recent RTÉ Sport Awards among other accolades, and so Harte is therefore hopeful that the acclaim has only begun.
“For the first time ever, we have a chance to promote a minority sport (on the Olympic stage) against the likes of Gaelic Football, hurling, rugby, soccer et cetera. And now you have kids dreaming of being Olympians like their role models, which is something hockey has never had within this country.”
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Craig Fulton David Harte Hockey Interview Ireland Olympics Rio 2016