MELBOURNE: Legendary Australian hockey player Ric Charlesworth has been inducted into the inaugural hall of fame of Hockey Australia.

Charlesworth, presently at loggerheads with his Indian employers, is one of the 22 inductees, including 11 female recipients, whom Hockey Australia have honoured. The honouring comes on the eve of the 2008 Beijing Olympics at the Perth convention and exhibition centre.
Generally the Hockey Australia hall of fame reccognise those who have achieved excellence in the international arena for their achievements enhanced the image of the sport.

Richard Aggiss, a member of the hall of fame selection committee, later said that choosing 22 recipients was a dead end task.

The selection was a difficult but exciting process as per him. Reviewing the history of the game delving back to the early 1900’s and making a comparison with those players against the current era made the selection a huge task,” says Aggiss. He also adds that the present inductees are those who retired before year 2000. He promises to induct deserving candidates in coming future.

“Given the enormous success over the last number of years and to best represent all eras of Australian hockey it was decided to limit the initial group of inductees to those players and officials who retired from international hockey prior to 2000,” feels Aggiss.

He adds that he is looking forward to add more names to the hall of fame from the modern era on a regular basis. Each hall of fame inductee was awarded a custom minted solid silver medallion struck by Perth mint.

2008 hall of fame inductees: Ian Dick, Eric Pearce, Julian Pearce, Paul Dearing, Brian Glencross, Robert Haigh, Ron Riley, Ric Charlesworth, David Bell, Warren Birmingham, Mark Hager, Evelyn Tazewell, May Campbell (nee pearce), Audrey James (nee jones), Wendy Pritchard (nee butcher), Mavis Gray (nee beckett), Dianne Gorman (nee dowd), Marian Aylmore (nee bell), Robyn Bannerman (nee downey), Sharon Buchanan, Liane Tooth, Jackie Pereira.

When it comes to the equipments used in Hockey, the hockey fans have witnessed massive changes. It is visible from the frequent changes in the equipments used by goalies. Gone are the days when goalies in Hockey played with no face protection. Today, all goalies wear face masks or helmets. The style of basic equipments used by goalies has also undergone drastic changes over the past few decades.

Materials:
The materials used for goaltending equipments have made the huge difference. Pads used to be made from leather stuffed with hair. But the pads used nowadays are lighter and flexible. Today, pads are manufactured by the balanced combination of synthetic leather and nylon on the outside of goalie pads. The pads are stuffed with cell foams and plastic.

Not only the pads have undergone a “makeover”, the goalie sticks also come with new and refreshed looks. Goalie sticks are now reinforced with synthetic materials and fiberglass. In order to lighten the burden on the goalie’s arm, the goalie sticks are injected with foam. The goalie sticks that are used nowadays are much more durable than the wooden sticks of yester-years.

Sizes:
Some rules have been set for the length and width of a goalie’s pads. This is to increase the shooting space at the net for players.

The Mask:
It is the mask that defines a goalie. As we mentioned earlier, goalies never used to wear face mask in the older times. But today, a goalie is not allowed to enter the field unless he is equipped with the protective gear. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, goalies used to wear a metal mask in cage and helmet style. This is now replaced by the full mask style. However, the cage and helmet models are still used, but are less in number.