Field Hockey & Grown Men From Rye
A recent story in The New York Times spoke about the popularity of field hockey among men worldwide and competition in the New York metro area, including a team from Rye. Anyone know our local competitors?
"Rugby It’s Not. But Watch the Teeth.
NEWCOMERS to the regular men’s field hockey games at Baker Field in Manhattan should be warned: Any notion that this is a sport for tittering schoolgirls will be quickly dispelled.
While field hockey remains almost exclusively a woman’s domain in this country, it is very much a man’s game — and immensely popular — around the world. And most of the roughly 120 men who play in the North East Field Hockey Association — one of the only men’s field hockey leagues in the country — are expatriates. Many of them have immigrated to New York for work and had played on Olympic and national teams in their home countries…
The local league is a testament to New York City’s diverse immigrant population. Teams, formed mostly by common country, serve as a family unit for many recent immigrants and help players maintain ties to their homeland….
The Tri-State Falcons and the New York Islanders are made up of Caribbean players known for their individual skills. A team from Rye, N.Y., is heavily stocked with Indian and Pakistani players. Other teams, including Greenwich, have many English and European players who favor strong defense and passing — “a practical, more conservative style,” said Mr. Haydon, a software sales executive in Manhattan and a native Australian who played for the English national team. The New York City team consists largely of players from England, Australia and South Africa. The Westchester team is almost entirely Dutch."
