Albany to host hockey Championships

Albany will host the 2020 Australia Country Hockey Championships.

Hockey Australia have partnered with the City of Albany and Lower Great Southern Hockey Association to be the host of the national event.

The announcement was made today and Hockey Australia HA CEO Matt Favier said Albany would make a fitting host for the event.

“We’re delighted to announce Albany as the host venue for the 2020 Australian Country Hockey Championships,” he said.

“The ratio of past and present Hockeyroos and Kookaburras athletes who hail from regional centres is amazing, showing that country Hockey is the lifeblood of our game”

“Albany, as part of the Great Southern region which has a fantastic Hockey tradition, is a fitting host for this event and we look forward to this event.”

City of Albany Mayor Dennis Wellington said the City was excited to host the event next year.

“Hockey in Albany attracts an incredible number of participants and some of our players like Kathryn Slattery have gone on to represent Australia,” he said.

“The federal funding to upgrade the turf that was announced in February will provide a state of the art facility for hockey in our region that will continue to support player development and helping them reach the highest levels in the sport.”

Both Lower Great Southern Hockey Association president Sam Brown and Hockey Australia Country Convenor Michael Nelson said it will be an amazing opportunity for Albany too see high quality hockey.

"This event will be a real shot in the arm for the Lower Great Southern Hockey Association and will expose our members to some very high quality hockey,” Mr Brown said.

“We are very excited to be partnering with the City of Albany to showcase our facility including our new turf and our region as a whole.”

The 2020 Australian Mens’ and Womens’ Country Hockey Championships will be played from Saturday 8 August to Saturday 15 August.