Our Black Sticks Men and Women are back on the turf for the first time since the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games to test their stuff against one of the worlds best hockey nations.
Our Vantage Black Stick are back and ready to go for their return to international competition in 2022 with a series of matchups against one of the worlds strongest sides and trans-Tasman rivals Australia.
Unfortunate news came late last week that our Black Sticks men's side has been struck with COVID resulting in player unavailability and a postponement of the games against the Kookaburras until Queen's Birthday weekend. The women's series however will go on as scheduled at the National Hockey Centre in Auckland’s North Shore with four games to be hosted on the 10th, 12th, 14th and 15th of May.
2022 will mark 100 years since the New Zealand and Australian sides first met in international competition against each other. We have several Wellington NHC representatives primed to take to the turf to represent the Black Sticks in the series against the Australian Men’s and Women’s sides.
This will be the perfect opportunity for the Black Sticks sides to test their chops before their return to the FIH Pro League at the end of this year. The New Zealand sides have been operating outside of the FIH Pro League since the beginning of the COVID outbreak in 2020 and as such been limited in their international competition opportunities.
The New Zealand men’s side currently sit 8th is the FIH ranking and the women 9th while the Australian men currently have the top spot in the men’s rankings and the women sit six spots above us at 3rd.
Games will be available to watch via SkySport. Tickets for games and more information are available via Hockey New Zealand here.
