Oli's Blog

These comments by Jason Lee, the Great Britain men's coach, caused quite a lot of debate among our screen presentation team.

He says he is against video referrals himself on moral, sporting grounds. But then goes on to say: "[There are] times when we would be more competitively hardened." towards making use of the video referrals.

The debate around it centred on the use of video referrals for tactical advantage in a game of hockey.

Compare these comments to what Helen Richardson was saying after England beat Germany 2-1 in the women's Champions Trophy.

Helen made the referral about Germany's Nina Hasselmann's feet both being on the pitch for injecting the penalty corner, she says in her interview (see below) they had been studying video footage before the game about this positioning of the feet by Nina.

She seems to be suggesting England have used the video referral system for tactical advantage.

Now Jason is against this, but then says the quote above.

If it is the difference between us winning and losing, and video referrals are a part of the laws of the game - I say let's use them to our advantage.

I want (as a fan of GB and England) more victories and for us to win.

Kate Walsh suggested in the press conference after that Germany match, that other top international hockey sides have been doing this for some time, and that we needed to make more of this competitive edge.

Very interesting and let's get more 'competitive hardening' into our game - this is my new favourite phrase.