The Irish Ice Hockey Association (IIHA) has reached a seminal point in the evolution of the governing body just four years after its inauguration. The home of ice hockey in Ireland, the Des Kelly Leisure Complex in Phibsboro, shut down recently and once the doors closed for a final time, it left the IIHA out on the streets, homeless.
The Phibsboro venue hardly constituted a state of the art domicile for ice hockey in Ireland but its meagre facilities at least allowed those who loved the sport to pursue their interest. The future now looks bleak. President of the IIHA, Cliff Saunders: "Im doing everything in my power to try and find a solution but at this stage it is a long haul.
"I just came home from Spain to find that we had no ice. The nearest ice to us now is Belfast. We made some straightforward inquiries about hiring some ice time up there but we were told in a nice way, `no go'. The Super League team (Belfast Giants) has block-booked all the ice, which they need for training." At this moment in time they are queuing to get ice and some can't." "It was quite a shock (Des Kelly Leisure closing) but apparently it had been on the cards for the past year. It was in a fairly dilapidated state but it was home to us. Rumours suggest that he is opening another place but that could be two years down the line for all we know. We had been training there for the best part of 10 years.
"This would include the ice hockey players and the figure skaters, adults and kids. The ice in Phibsboro was quite small, about one third regulation size. Unfortunately we had no other facility and it was home to us. It is from where we built ice hockey in this country. It represented the development and grass roots of ice hockey in Ireland."
Most minority sports could offer grim tales of under funding, a lack of media exposure, inadequate facilities but few find themselves in the parlous state of ice hockey. Saunders accepts that the general public would view the revelation of a national ice hockey team (Ireland boasts two at under-18 and under-20) with incredulity, this despite the fact that they have featured on the several television programmes.
A lack of pedigree, history and a significant playing population projects them as an eccentric bunch. Saunders points out: "We have about 70 members ranging in age from seven to adult level and have under-18 and under-20 national teams. We competed at the World Championships last year.
"We were looking forward to playing in a pre-qualifying tournament against Iceland and Luxembourg in April of 2001 but now have nowhere to train." What of Ireland's in underage international ice hockey? "Ireland are part of the D pool at that level which is basically for the weakest countries: as you get better you go up through the pools. We went in for the very first time at under-18, knowing that we were going to lose every game and we did. It was more or less a test to see what we needed to do with the team.
"Those kids would be competing in the qualifiers at under-20s next season and so from the time the championship ended we set out schedules and training programmes bolstered by a better appreciation of what was required to succeed. The kids have trained really hard. We went to Iceland to play in another pre-qualifying tournament just before Christmas and right up to the last period there was no score."
The IIHA's plight has not tugged at the heartstrings of the Irish Sports Council, nor any previous government sports funding programme. Saunders is a little perplexed: "Every year we apply for government grants and we don't get any. The only time we were successful was a grant from the Educational Committee; that was a minimum allowance, although in fairness when we went away to Bulgaria last year they did give us u1000.£1,000.
"Every time we seem to apply we come under the structural funding grant. We obviously don't have a proper facility. The next step is to get our own facility and in this respect for the last four or five years we have tried to interest big business in sponsorship. The doors have never been shut in our face but it is the cost factor of getting land to build a facility that is the main financial stumbling block. We don't have the money to buy the land."
Next weekend at the Mars Sports Show at the Point Theatre, the IIHA will don another cap - that of the controlling body for In-line hockey in Ireland and trying to promote it amongst young people. Saunders explained: "The International Ice Hockey Federation has taken responsibility for promoting in line hockey because it has been mooted as a possible new sport at the Summer Olympics. They see this as ideal because it means players can play all year round.
"In America many of the professional ice hockey players in the NHL use In-line hockey as a pre season form of preparation. We have looked at the sport and at one stage there were 13 teams in Dublin but the cost of insurance has meant that some of the school halls which were open to us are no longer available. It is not a dangerous sport in that unlike ice hockey there is no body checking and it represents real fun for kids. We are hoping they'll come to the show and enjoy it." In returning to the plight off ice hockey in Ireland, Saunders is philosophical. He contends that anyone who finds out always want to know where they can go along to watch. Still the association plods on regardless of the obstacles.
Unfortunately it is not so much a case of putting the cart before the horse as actually having a cart in the first place. Ice hockey in Ireland is in danger of fizzling out and terminating a 20-year history that began with teams like the Rialto Rockets and Dublin Dolphins in places like Dolphin's Barn. The present incarnation of ice hockey is the Dublin Flyers. They play the odd match and even drew against the top club side on a trip to Iceland. The Dublin Flyers used to play in a league in Belfast, initially succumbing to all and sundry but by the end of their involvement they had beaten all teams in the competition. Every match was played away from home. Their number includes a Russian and two Canadians.
The Flyers have played host to several American teams, something for which Saunders was grateful: "Fair play to the Americans who travelled to Dublin and played on the little crummy rink that we had. Three teams came over in recent years." So what does the future hold for Irish ice hockey. Saunders has spent the last few weeks desperately scouring venues for a little ice time so that the national under-20 team can be afforded even semi-adequate preparation for the World Championships pre-qualifiers next April. His only success was a rink in Wales who could make available two hours, once a month.
This would entail a boat and coach trip to Wales for the team once a month, returning the same day. Saunders admitted: "It's hardly ideal and the expense would probably be too great but there aren't too many alternatives." The IIHA have been left to fend for themselves, have not been privy to government largesse and now find themselves in dire need of intervention.
Where's the future? Ice hockey or In-line staking?
