HOCKEY:The Irish Hockey Association announced plans yesterday for a new men's and women's international tournament with Setanta Sports the title sponsor. Mary Hanniganreports.
The first of the invitational competitions takes place at Belfield next month (June 13th to 17th), with the Irish women facing Olympic champions Germany, South Africa and Scotland, and the men taking on Canada, Egypt and Wales.
Setanta will provide full coverage of the matches, the start of a three-year hockey package that will see the channel broadcast at least 29 school, club and international matches a year.
Setanta have also agreed to cover the semi-finals and finals of the men's and women's All-Ireland club championships, the Kate Russell All-Ireland schoolgirls championship and the Leinster schoolgirls Cup final for a further three years.
"This is a fantastic opportunity for the Irish sporting public to see both our senior national teams in competitive action against top hockey nations in their preparations for the European Championships in Manchester in August," said IHA chief executive Paul Varian.
"Our goal in creating this high-level, prestigious annual tournament is to ensure that the Irish sporting public is exposed to top, competitive international hockey year-on-year. In the Setanta Sports Trophy we have achieved this and we are delighted that Setanta Sports has extended this commitment to Irish hockey and offered exciting hockey competitions to their subscribers."
