The Board of Oceania Hockey Federation announced today that after a competitive bid process it has determined that the host of the next Oceania Cup will be Taranaki in 2013.

Auckland 23-24 March 2013

A review of the Vanuatu Hockey Team campaign at the recent Oceania Junior Nations Cup is highlighted in the attached Newsletter.

Australia takes the stronger seeding through to the Junior World Cup, with both the Australian and New Zealand Men's and Women's Junior teams gaining qualifying berths.

Casuarina Hockey Club has been instrumental in assisting Vanuatu U21 Men's Team in winning a bronze medal at the recent Oceania Junior Nations Cup held at the Gold Coast, Australia...

Close competition was the feature of Day 2. PNG Men defeated Vanuatu Men 3-1 in the first game and Australia Men defeated New Zealand 4-2 in the second game.

The Oceania Hockey Federation Annual General Meeting was held on Thursday 28 February in Labrador, Gold Coast. This meeting was in conjunction with the Junior Nations Cup as a number of member countries were participating in the competition and so the delegates were readily available

The Oceania Junior Nations Cup began today Wednesday, 27th Feb, at the Gold Coast Hockey Association Centre in Labrador, Queensland. 3 matches were played with wins to New Zealand Men, Australia Men and Australia Women. This was the first time that Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu have had teams to enter in this competition and although they were enthusiastic it was a baptism of fire!

A star studded line up of Oceania's International Officials has been appointed alongside a group of talented up-and-coming national representatives to ensure the Junior Nations Cup on-field action is run smoothly.

National U21 Men's and Women's representatives from Oceania Nations will compete in the Gold Coast (Australia) in late February/ early March for two berths at the Junior World Cup to be held later in 2013.

Thanks to the Australian Masters Men, Vanuatu Men and Women will be better protected during their upcoming World Leagua RD 1/OPC Tournaments in Fiji in December. Australia Masters Men have given a financial contribution to Oceania Hockey Federation to be used to support hockey development.

Australia Country grabbed their first-ever Oceania Pacific Cup title when they defeated tournament hosts Fiji 7-5 in the Final.

Fiji women won their first OPC Gold medal ever when they narrowly defeated Australia Country 2-1. “Thank god it’s over. Before the match I told my team-mates to think of their family and friends who have all come out today to see us playing”, Fiji team-captain Melba Nautu said.

The PNG side played their hearts out despite having played a tough clash less than 24 hours earlier against Fiji in the World League Series Round One final. After giving them a tough challenge Papua New Guinea lost their OPC 3rd place playoff match 9-5 to New Zealand Maori.

New Zealand Maori women finished third at this year's Oceania Pacific Cup. They defeated Papua New Guinea 10-0 in the third place-playoff on Saturday morning.

Oceania Hockey has signed up on twitter and facebook!

Fiji men won the Gold medal in a final set up by Oceania Hockey after FIH World League Round 1.

Fiji women defeated Papua New Guinea 5-0 to win the Gold medal in a match set up by Oceania Hockey following FIH World League round-robin action. “Playing in our home country it’s just the best feeling" said Fiji team-captain Melba Nautu.

Samoa Women won the Bronze medal in a 3rd place playoff match set up by Oceania Hockey after the end of Women’s FIH World League Round 1. Fapene Malu scored the 2-1 Golden Goal against Vanuatu to secure Samoa's first-ever medal. This result also meant Samoa finishing 5th ahead of Vanuatu in this OPC edition.

Both national teams of Fiji have won the Hockey World League Round 1 tournament in Suva.

Fair Play has a major focus at FIH World League Round 1 in Suva, Fiji. After every match players of both teams come together in a huddle where both captains will speak positively about the game. Any built up tension that occurred during play is forgotten.

The first match of the new FIH World League Round 1 began in Suva, Fiji today Saturday 8th December with an exciting match between Samoa and Papua New Guinea Women. Samoa began strongly and showed that they had really improved since last year. Papua New Guinea had traveled that morning to get to Suva so they took some time to settle.

Due to the late withdrawal of Samoa Men from the tournament a new draw has had to be issued. This has been circulated to all the teams. Fiji Presidents XI which is the remaining players from the Fiji High Performance Hockey Unit will come together to provide a match for NZ Maori on Day 1 of the competition to replace the scheduled match that they had with Samoa men

With only 2 days until the start of FIH World League Round 1 in Suva Fiji organisation is at fever pitch! A superb team of volunteers have been feverishly working under the guidance of Fiji President Dr. Robin Mitchell and Tournament Administration Manager, Hanisi Visanti.The facilities have been washed and scrubbed down, lights replaced and wiring completed to provide fast wireless service to both tournament administrators and also for players and spectators.

It was hugely disappointing for Samoa Men that they had to withdraw on Tuesday evening from competing at the FIH World League RD 1 and OPC Tournaments. This was due to transportation difficulties and so it was decided by the Samoa Hockey Federation just to send the Women's team.

The hockey competition was very close during the PNG Games held in Rabaul between the 20-24th November. 6 Provinces competed : Eastern Highlands, East New Britain (hosts), Madang, Manus
Morobe and NCD.

PNG Hockey Federation took the opportunity of having 6 provinces in Rabaul for the PNG Games to conduct their Annual General Meeting. The meeting was well attended and a copy of the current strategic plan was available for each province and the key objectives discussed. It was an excellent chance for each of the provinces to give a summary of their year's activities and needs for 2013.

Oceania Hockey Federation Officiating Committee, in conjunction with Hockey Australia and New Zealand, has developed a new officiating framework that will be be consistent across the continent. During the Papua New Guinea Games in Rabaul (18-24 November) 15 participants took part.

The FIH Congress 2012 was held in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia between the 31 October - 4 November.
The theme of the Congress Forum was "It's All About Events"

Oceania Hockey Federation have formed a Competition Committee. OHF have more competitions to deliver and with more members participating it is important to ensure that events
that come under Oceania Hockey Federation are well delivered. New Chairman, David Peebles, is seen in the photo discussing plans with OHF Secretary/Treasurer, Bob Claxton. This was taken at last week's FIH Congress in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where the main theme was " Its all about Events

After the process of seeking nominations from member countries, the Oceania Officiating Committee is pleased to advise that the following list of officials has been ratified by FIH and appointed to the 2012 World League Round 1 and Oceania Pacific Cup Tournament to be held in Suva, Fiji 8-15 December.

December 8-15 will see the Oceania Region host the FIH World League Round 1 run alongside the Oceania Pacific Cup (OPC) Tournament in Suva, Fiji.

The Vanuatu National Women's Hockey Team have set up a Fundraising page with options for donations to assist with getting them to the World League Round 1 in Suva in December.

Papua New Guinea (PNG) held a very successful Level 1 Coaching Course on Saturday 2 and Sunday 3 of June in Port Moresby.

This was the first time that a comprehensive workshop had involved participants from Bougainville Island as well as representatives from Lae, Madang, Manus, Eastern Highlands and Port Moresby.

Vanuatu received a tremendous boost to their schools youth hockey programme with the arrival of sticks, balls, shin guards and small goals from Hockey Australia as a result of an equipment grant through the Australian Sports Commission.

Gill Gemming, Oceania Hockey Federation (OHF) Continental Development Officer (CDO), made a trip to Vanuatu to meet with the Vanuatu Hockey Federation Executive to review their annual plan.

After missing out on the 2011 Pacific Games, it was a real joy for Oceania Hockey to hear the news that hockey had been selected as an optimal sport for the 2015 Pacific Games to be held in Port Moresby. Congratulations to the Papua New Guinea Hockey Federation for the comprehensive applications and documents that had been prepared to support the inclusion of hockey.

The Samoan Hockey Federation Executive have been very busy introducing hockey to the villages and supporting their involvement by providing equipment.

Samoa Hockey Federation has recognised the need to build a strong youth base to make their sport sustainable. President Taiva Ah Young is to be commended for the development of the Youth programme and the initiatives taken in 2012

Coaching and Umpiring workshops were run in Apia, Samoa between 22-25 May

President, Faamausili Taiva Ah Young, took an opportunity to brief 2 television stations and 3 newspapers of the progress of hockey over the past 9 months. This news conference was held in conjunction with the OHF CDO Gill Gemming's very successful visit to Apia, Samoa from the 22- 26th May.

The NZ BlackSticks women and trans-Tasman rivals, Australia's Hockeyroos take a win each in the two leg format Four nations tournament held in New Zealand.