Hockey players are, quite literally, calling for a level playing field to enable them to compete with the region's top nations.

Bermuda's two premier teams from the men's and women's divisions recently returned from the Pan American Championships in Barbados.

And although the men of Chameleons lost all five of their games and the women from Swallows lost five and drew one of theirs, they believe they were at a distinct disadvantage to their rivals from Argentina, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Uruguay, Canada and Venezuela.

Whereas all those teams play on astroturf, only Guyana and Bermuda still play on grass - and Guyana at least have the Test cricket Bourda Ground in Georgetown on which to play.

Justin Freisenbruch, who coached both Bermuda's entrants, said there was a dire need for a state of the art pitch on the Island.

"One of the lessons that we learned was that the gulf between Bermuda and the other teams in the Caribbean and South America is growing as a result of their players now playing 100 percent of their hockey on astroturf," he said.

"The new generation of players coming up in those countries know nothing but astroturf. For Bermuda to continue to compete at this level, there is an urgent need for us to obtain an astroturf facility."

Provision has apparently been made for just such a pitch at the new National Sports Centre, but nothing concrete, or astroturf, has been put in place as yet.

"The long term benefits would extend beyond field hockey. If you have an astroturf facility there is the chance, if it is laid properly, that other sports could take advantage of it as well. You could play netball on it, you could play football on it in the off-season," said Freisenbruch.

"While in Barbados we talked to their field hockey association which runs the Banks Tournament down there that attracts between 70 and 80 teams from around the world. They estimate the tournament brings millions of dollars into the tourism industry."

Freisenbruch admitted that money from external sources might be required to put the facility in place, but he did not believe that finding it would be a major problem.

"As far as we know the space has been allocated to us at the new National Stadium. Beyond that it is just a question of getting the pitch built," he said. "There may well be a need for us to obtain some corporate sponsorship. We were very fortunate that in our most recent trip the Bank of Bermuda were the primary sponsors for both the men and women. We also received some fantastic support from Allianz Risk Transfer as well.

"But we would need some sponsorship to build the pitch and to get the resources we need to develop the game as a whole.

"The astroturf facility I hope would be something that would be attractive to a team of or one individual sponsor because if we had the same sort of facility that they have down in Barbados we could be holding the Pan American Club Championships or the Pan Am Championships.

"We would attract all the top college teams from the United States down to train and teams from Europe would come down in the winter.

"Throughout the federation with the contacts we have both in the Pan American region and throughout world we would be able to attract large numbers of teams to take part in an event such as the old Bermuda Hockey Festival which was always a tremendous success."

Although the skills gap is growing, Freisenbruch believes it would not require too much time to redress the balance.

"The talent is there. Bermuda in all sports, not just field hockey, has a tremendous pool of talent - raw, natural athletic ability - in its young people," he said.

"If we had an astroturf pitch and we could encourage that talent to the game of field hockey the sky is the limit.

"There are plenty of people in the higher levels of the game, in coaching positions, who have the necessary experience to be able to bring these players on and have them playing at the same level as the teams down in the Caribbean."

Freisenbruch said the Bermuda Field Hockey Association had a history of lobbying for a purpose-built venue on the Island and he expected the calls to Government and new Sports Minister Randy Horton to get even louder over the next few months.

"There has been a long standing lobby in place but I think with the two teams coming back from the Club Championships a new impetus will be found and a much more dedicated effort is going to be made by the Federation towards getting an astroturf pitch," he said.