Middleton Reveals FIH Pro League Ones To Watch

The 2020 FIH Pro League returns this weekend for both Great Britain’s men and women when they face Australia in Sydney on Saturday and Sunday for their first double headers of the year. 

GB and England’s record appearance maker, Barry Middleton, spoke about why he’s looking forward to the FIH Pro League, especially when it comes to London this summer:

“I’ll definitely be watching the FIH Pro League games at least on TV if I’m not in London watching the home games live. The Stoop is great from all sides, for the players it gives you something different, some more excitement and a big crowd which is great. From the side of the sport, the more we can do by getting it out there and selling the game is definitely a good thing to do.”

With both GB teams competing in the Tokyo Olympics later this year, Barry Middleton believes the FIH Pro League provides a great platform leading into the Games for players and spectators alike, explaining:

“What’s good about the FIH Pro League, that we saw last year, is that teams will have a go. Usually they aren’t tired from playing eight games in thirteen days so they can put everything into those one or two games which makes the hockey a lot more exciting.

“If there’s any games where people are either tired or having to hold back because they’ve got lots of games coming up the hockey drops, but in the FIH Pro League teams go toe to toe for the 60 minutes and see where it lands them.

“It’s nice to have a bit of a lead up into the Olympics, from a spectator side it’s great because you get lots of games on the TV and in the stadium and get to know the teams before they go to Tokyo. Personally, I know from a playing perspective it will be an interesting year in the FIH Pro League to see who’s at their best and which countries take different players to try new things, it’ll be interesting to see how teams go with that through the year.”

2019 saw the Netherlands’ women and Australia’s men triumph and with the 2020 league in its early stages, Middleton gave an insight into which teams he’s got his eyes on:

“I think Australia and Belgium’s men are the two at the moment who are pushing the game forward and fighting each other to be number one. They’ve been strong for a while now and are taking the game forward on the men’s side with a really dynamic, aggressive way of playing but with solid basics. It’ll also be interesting to see India in this year’s FIH Pro League as they weren’t in it last year and are always exciting to watch. They’ll take every game seriously and really go for it.

“On the women’s side, the Dutch are probably number one. If you want to see the best team, they’re the one to watch. Argentina always have a different way of playing and have such skilful players, being able to go and watch them is always a great experience. Australia are coming back in as well so there’s lots of talent in the women’s competition at the moment.”

How can I get tickets for FIH Pro League home games?

Season tickets and four-day passes are on general sale right now by clicking HERE. If you're a club player, umpire/coach or purchased international hockey tickets in the last three years; you're in the Hockey Family and have exclusive access to tickets until Tue 4 Feb.