Australian Country Squads
Since the inception of annual Australian Country Championships, representative ‘teams’ have been named at the conclusion of the event and in the ‘early years’ completed a tour on a biennial basis. Since 2003 the process has become more formalised with men’s and women’s teams being formally selected, announced and scheduled for a representative tour.
Initially, these teams competed in the biennial Arafura Games and, in the intervening year, toured internationally – New Zealand (2004) and Fiji (2006). Following the 2007 Arafura Games, Hockey Australia determined that an international tour would replace the Arafura Games, providing country hockey players with the opportunity to tour internationally each year.
Since 2008 the senior country teams have toured internationally to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, New Zealand competing in a variety of events and games against various national teams.
Nominations for these teams are called for prior to the Championships and a rigorous and transparent selection process is undertaken during the Championships to ensure quality representative teams are selected. The teams are announced as part of the presentation ceremony at the conclusion of the Championships.
