Throughout this week, the International Hockey Federation (FIH) is celebrating International Women's Day (8 March) by highlighting the progress being made across all levels of the sport thanks to inspiring females. Today we look at the role of officials and how hockey is helping this group develop both on and off the field.
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They are the amateurs who match the professionals step for step. They are the people who hold down top jobs while finding time to travel the world to play their part in sporting success. They are mothers, wives, partners and daughters. As one of their number, Claire Druijtsfrom the Netherlands, said: “We are the only 12 women umpires to have experienced the 2018 Indoor Hockey World Cup and we should be proud of that.”
Druijts was one of five umpires who joined together for a round-table discussion about what being a top female umpire means. The others around the table were: Ana Faias from Portugal; Michelle Meister of Germany; Vilma Bagdanskiene from Lithuania and Australia’s Emily Carroll.
