Outrage In Spanish Hockey. The Young Promises Pay To Play For The National Team

With the onset of the crisis, many federations began to impose taxes on athletes, forcing them to pay an amount for participating in different championships representing Spain. In the case of hockey, a minimum payment for the concentration of 80 euros was established, plus 60% of each concentration to the under-16s and up to 15% to the under-21s

As El Confidencial Digital has learned, in 2013, the Royal Spanish Hockey Federation found itself in the situation of having to implement an economic fee system for players in the lower categories. From the institution, they accused the Higher Sports Council of “drastically reducing subsidies.”

Relatives of the future promises of Spanish hockey have recognized ECD that, due to these fees, different players have not been able to participate in important championships or their families have had to do all kinds of adventures to ensure that their children can play with the national team.

This Year There Has Been No Sale

In the three years since the mandatory fee was introduced, there was only a small reduction last year. With the reduction, the under-21 team went from paying 20 to 15%, the under-18 team from 50% to 40%, and the under-16 team from 80% to 60%.

In the case of the under-18s, both the men’s and women’s teams have participated in the European Championship held in Santander, paying 504 and 536 euros respectively for the members of each national team to play the tournament and the concentration prior to said event.

In the case of the U-16 team, both boys and girls have participated in the 4 Nations Tournament, played in the Netherlands for men and in Germany for women, paying 650 euros for the concentration and the championship.

With this change and with no major tournament this summer, each player from the U21 team will pay 160 euros this year.

When this mandatory payment was imposed on all the young promising nations, the players of the U21 team paid the same amount for each concentration in Spain, 80 euros. In addition, in 

They Started Playing In 2013

order to participate in the World Championship that was held in India, each athlete had to pay 865 euros. In total, in 2013, each player paid 1,105 euros, 20% of the total trip.

For its part, the U-18 team, both the women’s and men’s teams, had to bear 50% of the costs of each concentration or tournament they went to. The men paid 1,070 euros to participate in the 4 Nations Tournament, a Technical Concentration, and a European Championship.

In the case of the under-16s, they had to take care of 80% of the total costs of the trip, coming to pay 449 euros to play a single tournament in Valencia.

The Explanations Of The Federation

The Royal Hockey Federation assures ECD that “the introduction of an economic fee to players should not, in any case, mean that any player has to renounce their participation in the national team for economic reasons. In this sense, the RFEH will enable the necessary formulas to solve the exceptional cases that may arise ”.

From the institution, they affirm that these fees are “a temporary measure and that it derives from the current impossibility on the part of the organization to cover all of these costs”.

They add that it is the only way to guarantee the participation of all Spanish teams at least in all official competitions with minimal preparation.

Catalonia Still Does Not React To The “Stick Complaint”: They Only Support Hockey

The sports officials of Catalonia have given silence in response to the complaint made by the athlete José Luis Blanco, the finalist of the 3,000 obstacles in Helsinki.

The sports officials of Catalonia have given silence in response to the complaint made by the athlete José Luis Blanco, the finalist of the 3,000 obstacles in Helsinki. The obstructionist appeared before the TVE cameras waving a “stick” to denounce that “in Catalonia, they only pay attention to those who go with a stick in their hand”. Blanco explained that Catalan leaders only look at hockey while forgetting athletics: Spain has been the third country with the most male athletes in the World Cup, and only three were Catalans. The fixation with hockey is logically related to the creation of a “Catalan national hockey team”.