Opposition Senator Mark Pettingill has called for financial and physical support to be extended to what he called "the Island's third largest sport by participation'' -- field hockey.

Speaking in the Senate last week, Sen. Pettingill said that while the sport was making great strides to draw young people in -- and consequently channelling their energies away from negative activities -- unless proper facilities are available their potential would be lost.

"It's an exciting sport and when young people start to play it they really enjoy it,'' he said. "It's one more opportunity for young people to do something. The talent is here, the talent at youth level is incredible but we need to address this issue of a facility.'' With six women's teams in each of two leagues and five men's leagues, Sen. Pettingill said that 12 to 14 games of hockey are played every weekend. "It's a great weekend activity. Whole families go down to watch.'' Both Sen. Pettingill and his wife play in the Island leagues and he pointed out that the women's national team will be competing next month in Jamaica and plans to play in the next Central American and Caribbean games.

Although a hockey pitch is among the facilities planned for the National Sports Centre there is as yet no clear indication of when that facility might be finished.

Currently hockey is played at the former National Sports Club in Devonshire, but when Montessori school takes over the property the scramble to find a place to play will be on.

The Senator pointed out that although the Under-21 teams are at a disadvantage to overseas teams due to absence of a facility, they consistently perform strongly at international tournaments.

"International hockey is now played on Astroturf,'' he said. "The facilities at Nationals are horrible if not dangerous. Teams are not going to progress without the ability to train on that surface.'' And he said that hockey organisers are considering trying to raise some of the money for the pitch themselves in order to have it built faster. They would like to approach it as a joint project with Government.

"It will take four months to put the pitch in place at a cost of $1 million,'' Sen. Pettingill said of the planned facility at the National Sports Centre. "One million is not a lot of money and the knock on effect is tremendous.'' The pitch is needed within the next year, he said adding that a new facility might also be good for tourism.

"There used to be an international hockey tournament here every year that was really popular, people really enjoyed coming here. We could host an international hockey festival every year if we have the facility. It could be very popular along the lines of the Rugby Classic.'' PHOPO Mark Pettingill