While Hockey New Zealand still plans for the Black Sticks Men’s team to attend the Hockey World Cup in Delhi, it has decided to keep the Black Sticks Men’s team in Perth until further notice.
This decision has been made in light of recent threats made against the Hockey World Cup the Black Sticks Men are scheduled to compete in next week. The team was scheduled to depart from Perth for India on Monday, February 22.
Hockey New Zealand CEO, Hilary Poole, says the safety of the players, coaches and team management is of paramount importance, and at this stage it makes sense to further assess the situation before sending the team to Delhi.
“We have been monitoring this situation all along. But the events over the past 24 hours have lead us to reassess the situation,” says Poole.
Hockey New Zealand has been receiving security advice from the New Zealand Government" which is part of the Combined Government Response team which includes England, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. It has also been working closely with the FIH (International Federation of Hockey) and other national hockey associations in terms of security arrangements for the World Cup event and other sporting bodies such New Zealand Cricket and the New Zealand Cricket Players Association.
The Black Sticks Men are in Perth to play Australia in a two test match series. The first test is tonight and the second test is on Friday.
Courtesy of Hockey New Zealand
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