Wales' Hockey Team Crowdfunding for World Cup
Gareth Furlong scored twice from penalty corners against Poland, helping Wales secure their place at the upcoming World Cup.
The Wales men's hockey team is currently crowdfunding to assist with expenses related to their participation in the World Cup, which will be held in the Netherlands and Belgium this August.
In March, Wales defeated Poland 2-1 in Santiago, Chile, clinching their spot in the tournament. This victory marked consecutive World Cup qualifications for Wales, who made their debut at the competition in India in 2023, finishing in a tie for 11th place.
The team has set a fundraising target of £40,000 to cover costs including travel, accommodation, and competition fees. As a largely amateur program, many squad members balance full-time employment or studies alongside their hockey commitments, often funding their own international travel.
Hockey Wales anticipates that the team's World Cup appearance will serve as inspiration for the next generation of hockey players.
"It means a huge amount to represent the nation, particularly on the world stage at a World Cup," said Jack Pritchard, who scored in Wales' 5-0 victory over Scotland during their World Cup qualifying pool.
Jack Pritchard highlighted the challenges faced by players in a part-time program.
"It's a difficult balance to get right between training and the day job," he said. "We've got a range of ages, some are students, some of them are working full-time, some are working part-time. A lot of the guys come down from London, places like Nottingham and Birmingham, that sort of stuff."
"It is an ask on people to combine work with hockey. Being a part-time programme, we have to fund ourselves year in year out," Pritchard added. "The cost is going up so we have to do something about it."
The 32-year-old player noted that Wales strives to match the standards of other nations despite limited resources.
"For six months of the year during the summer, we try to live like the professional athletes that we need to be to play at this level," he explained. "Our funding has gone down in recent years and ironically our performance [level] has gone up. I know the organisation are doing all they can to help support us, for this summer especially. It's a massive ask to go to a tournament like the World Cup, the costs are huge, and we're all aware of that as players."
Despite these challenges, Pritchard emphasized the pride in representing Wales on the world stage.
Inspiring the Next Generation
Paul Whapham, who transitioned from rugby side Ospreys to become Hockey Wales chief executive in 2023, outlined the financial demands of preparing for the World Cup.
"The overall costs to prepare for the World Cup are £150,000. We've had to try to find that in four months," Whapham said. "That's a difficult task whatever sport you're in and extremely difficult when you're largely amateur and with the resources we have in hockey. Financially we're not paid to go to the World Cup, everything we do is self-financed."
Despite the financial pressures, Whapham expressed hope that the team's efforts will motivate younger players.
"People in clubs can look at people and say 'If they can do it, why can't I?'," he added. "At the grassroots level we're still seeing more young players come through to play the game. Hopefully we get more of them playing from September. It's a great achievement of the men, to repeat the feat [of qualification] and to go back this time is really tremendous. It gives us a shop window to inspire some younger people to take up the sport and it's a huge testament to their work-life balance."
Wales have engaged in warm-up matches against England and Australia and will travel to Spain for additional preparation games. Their final warm-up will be against Chile in Cardiff, followed by three Test matches against the same opposition in the Welsh capital. Subsequently, they will travel to the Netherlands for their World Cup pool matches.
Men's Hockey World Cup Pool D Fixtures
- 15 Aug 18:00 BST: England v Pakistan
- 17 Aug 11:30 BST: Pakistan v Wales
- 17 Aug 14:00 BST: India v England
- 19 Aug 11:30 BST: England v Wales
- 19 Aug 14:00 BST: Pakistan v India
