BHC will set up Olympic Fanzone on Saturday
Banbridge Hockey Club member Eugene Magee will make history this weekend alongside his teammates from the Irish Men’s Hockey Team as they become the first Irish hockey team to play at an Olympics since 1908.
The Irish men will play the first of their games at the Rio Olympics on Saturday 6 August against India at 3.00pm. To mark the occasion, the club are hosting an Olympic themed skills day for kids and are setting up as a ‘fanzone’ for the hockey that day.
BHC President Roger Martin stated; “We are absolutely delighted to have an Olympic athlete as part of this club and to mark the occasion we have organised an Olympic themed Skills Day for kids, a BBQ and will then be screening the game live in the clubhouse. Everyone is welcome to come down to the club and we look forward to seeing a good crowd at Havelock to support Eugene and the green machine as they start their Olympic campaign.”
Girls and boys aged 6-15 are welcome to attend the Skills session from 12.30pm. The cost for this is £5 which will include a hot dog, face painting and juice. The BBQ will run from 2.00pm with the game starting at 3.00pm, costs for adults will be £10 and includes entry into the raffle. The GB game will follow the Irish game. Everyone is welcome and encouraged to wear green to get into the spirit of the games!
Ireland’s fixtures are as follows:
Match 1
August 6th – 15:00
India Vs. Ireland
Match 2
August 7th – 22:00
Netherlands Vs. Ireland
Match 3
August 9th – 16:30
Germany Vs. Ireland
Match 4
August 11th – 15:00
Ireland Vs. Canada
Match 5
August 12th – 23:30
Ireland Vs. Argentina
*All match times listed are GMT
From there, depending on pool standings, they could be in quarter final action on Sunday August 14th.
Ireland sit in Pool B alongside world number two ranked Netherlands, defending Olympic champions Germany (3); Argentina (6); India (7); and Canada (14).
Pool A sees reigning World and Hockey World League champions Australia, currently ranked number one in the world, face Great Britain (4 – based on England’s ranking); 2015 Hockey World League runners up Belgium (5); New Zealand (8); Spain (11) and hosts Brazil (32).