EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it! Things are being shaken up (at least, in the umpiring world!) at FIH this week with the announcement of the new FIH international umpiring pathway being released (read the FIH news article here). I had a chat with FIH Officials Committee Chairman, Henrik Ehlers, about the new pathway and what it means for the future of international umpiring. The change in the pathway aims to: Reflect current performance and availability, and therefore allowing for movement between panels to serve hockey in the best possible way. Introduce education & training through the FIH Academy, directly linked to panels as a mandatory requirement to maintain status. Significantly increase the talent development of younger officials in partnership with the continental federations. Allow fast-tracking of high potential officials. Slightly lower the criteria for entry-level officials making it possible to celebrate international status for more officials. So let’s step into the world of international appointments… The new FIH Umpiring Pathway – The Inside Scoop Interview with FIH Officials Committee Chairman Henrik Ehlers Firstly, can you tell us a little about your role as Chairman of the FIH Officials Committee? The FIH Officials Committee, which I chair, has the objective to educate, develop, promote and appoint officials across all categories (Umpires, Umpire Managers, Technical Officials/Tournament Directors, Video Umpires, etc.) in order to support the FIH 10 year strategy: ‘The Hockey Revolution’. How did you move into working with FIH after your own world class career as an umpire and then umpire manager? Well, the role is a voluntary one of which you are invited to take on by the FIH President and the FIH CEO. For me it was quite an exciting step after a 20 year career umpiring and a 7 year career as an Umpire Manager at top international level. (Henrik was, amongst a list of many other prestigious appointments – including 4 Olympic Games as an umpire – one of the Umpire Managers at the 2016 Rio Olympics!) So the FIH grading pathway is changing – what the reasoning behind the shift? Our sport is investing enormous amounts of resources to grow our game globally, both with more players and with our fan base. This has led to the development of the soon-to-launch (2019) Hockey Pro League. 72 matches for each the men and women over 6 months in a “home & away” set-up, with huge and loud crowds in the stadium. Adding to the challenge is that the officials will operate outside of the, normally very protected, tournament environment. This certainly raises the bar for our officials as far as professionalism and performance pressure is concerned. Also, for years we have had our categories of officials in different panel structures. Some of these seemed very rigid and didn’t allow for fast tracking of high potential talents. This situation lead to the Officials Committee developing a new panel structure that is similar for all categories. That allows fast-tracking of officials and includes education and training under the umbrella of the FIH Academy. The new panel structure introduces, for the first time in FIH history, a dedicated, non-internationally badged panel that focuses on our youngest officials that show significant talent in order to develop them for an international career. Can you explain to us how the new pathway works? The new Panel Structure has its primary focus to increase our quality of officiating as well as offering officials a transparent structure. The new panels are: Talent Development Panel – The panel for the younger talents in all categories of officials. Should be able to reach Pro League Panel within 6 years. A special education program is dedicated to this group of officials at Continental Federation level. International Panel – The entry-level international panel. Mostly used at continental level. Advancement Panel – The panel for the high potential officials with potential of reaching the Pro League Panel or International Elite Panel within 3 years. This would be even more talent-focused than the old Promising Umpire List. International Elite Panel – The panel for the very experienced official that can operate at both continental and global level. Pro League Panel – Our very best officials. High performance. Serving the Hockey Pro League. The Pro League Panels consist of maximum: 40 Technical Officials 20 Umpire Managers 30 female umpires 30 male umpires The World Cup Panel – Populated by the best Pro League Panel Officials to serve the FIH World Cups. Only populated from appointment to the World Cup and until the tournament is over. The officials then return to their original panels. The Olympic Games Panel – Populated by the best Pro League Panel Officials to serve the Olympic Games. Only populated from appointment to the Olympic Games until the tournament is over. The officials then return to their original panels. How will umpires move through the new pathway? What will be the requirements for promotion to the different levels? Each panel will have criteria to pass. And there are specific qualifying tournaments to reach each panel. For example, to get onto the Pro League Panel, it will have to be quite high level events that has to be the “qualifier”. The criteria will be performance and fitness. If an umpire shows consistently strong performances and passes the fitness test, the FIH will upgrade to the next level. We will possibly be a little bolder with our promotions, or movements as we call it. The new panel structure allows movement in all directions, both up and down based on the CURRENT performance. The idea is that the panel should indicate, as much as possible, where your current performance level fits best. With the Pro League Panel (PLP), we will only evaluate once a year. So basically, every year around July, after the completion of the Hockey Pro League, we will evaluate if any new umpires are coming up. There are only a limited number of seats on the PLP and some will have to come off for others to come up. We believe in the FIH Officials Committee that this competition amongst umpires will be a great asset for our sport and a […]