Hockey: Rutledge confirms he's on way out

Ian Rutledge

Hockey New Zealand will look for a new women's national coach when Ian Rutledge's term expires in October.

Rutledge, 34, has confirmed he would not reapply for the job.

He said his disagreement with leading player Lizzy Igasan at the Commonwealth Games was not the reason for his decision.

After three years as the Black sticks coach he said he was looking for a a better lifestyle for his family.

He said there was no pressure on him from Hockey New Zealand to resign.

One of the main reasons for his decision was to return to normal working hours and though he had come from Australia to take on the job, he said he, his wife Donnette and their four-year-old daughter preferred to stay on in Christchurch

"I've been a pro coach for six years, and three in this job, and you have to give so much of yourself to the role. It takes a lot of your time and energy," Rutledge told The Press newspaper.

Rutledge said support for the team in terms of manpower was improving, but was not at the level of their main rivals, the teams they were trying to challenge at the top of the world rankings.

Rutledge is in Amsterdam with the Black Sticks at what will be his last tournament - the elite Champions Trophy for the top six teams in the world.

New Zealand failed to win the medal they were chasing at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne and then three weeks later failed to qualify for the World Cup finals, finishing seventh at a qualifying tournament in Rome. The top five went through.

Injuries, retirements and unavailability all added to a disappointing year after the Black Sticks had performed so well in the previous eight months.

"It was a matter of investing another two years of my life and I wasn't sure I could handle the workload physically and mentally and in the end decided I will not apply," Rutledge said.

"In the end I had to decide what was best for me and my family."

Since taking charge of the Black Sticks in April 2003, they surprisingly qualified in 2004 for the Athens Olympics and then finished sixth there.

Last year they won the Champions Challenge tournament and in December beat Australia for the first time in five years.

If New Zealand retain their current sixth ranking, they are likely to qualify automatically for the Beijing Olympics.

Rutledge said he had not decided what he would do after his contract finished in October but would be looking for a regular job.

"His intentions would have been to have gone on, but I think given what's happened over the last few months, he's probably reassessing that and we've had some talks regarding that," Hockey New Zealand chief executive Ramesh Patel told NZPA.

He said the team's failure at the Commonwealth Games and in Rome impacted on Rutledge.

They were two key performance targets written into his contract, and the results ledger for 2006, which reads eight losses, seven wins and three draws was disappointing, he said.

"There's no doubt about that. At the end of the day it would make things a lot easier if we had those two targets accomplished.

"Had that eventuated, the outlook would have been different to what we're currently looking at, and probably so would have Ian's.

"I think the team need to step up themselves because you can't excuse the players from all of this in terms of performance.

"There's obviously issues when your senior players in particular are out, but some of the performances (this year) weren't so good."

- NZPA