A maiden trip to the Olympics has been a long time coming for hockey umpire Gareth Greenfield.
The 41-year-old will set off next month to Paris to umpire at the games for the first time – 16 years after first stepping foot on the international stage.
He lives and breathes the sport, playing occasionally for the Southern United club as well, where he is club captain, and manager of the Just Hockey/Cricket Express store in Riccarton.
Gareth Greenfield will umpire at his first Olympic Games in Paris next month. Photo: Geoff Soper.
“It’s something I’ve been striving pretty hard over the years to try and achieve.
“When you’re young and you start umpiring, it’s a bit of a goal.
“I’ve been umpiring since I was probably 13 or 14, just been plugging away at it and coming through the years and I guess, the Olympics are the pinnacle of an umpire’s career.”
In 2008, he took charge of his first international match, between New Zealand and Chile in Pukekohe.
“Back then you’re a bit of a possum in headlights,” he said.
“But I guess, it just comes with experience and trust in your process.”
Since then, he’s umpired 110 international games, including trips to the 2010 and 2014 Commonwealth Games and the FIH World Cup last year in India.
But he said the Olympics were simply next-level.
“It’s something special because it’s a multi-sport event. You’ve got not just hockey eyes watching, whereas at a hockey World Cup, generally, it’s the hockey community following that.’’
Having not umpired an international since the Olympic qualifiers held in Oman in January, Greenfield has been keeping his skills sharp by officiating Christchurch club games.
“(It’s) what we need to do to refine our skills.”
He said there were a few differences between international and club hockey.
“At club hockey where there might be a little bit less skill and structure, there’s more clashes, more mistakes from the players.
“But you owe it to those guys to give it the best you can.”
