Hockey: Triumph to sound of silence

By SUZANNE MCFADDEN

There are no cheers, just empty chairs.

Weeks out from the greatest sporting show on Earth, the world's best hockey teams are playing to an audience of none in the Olympic venue - spectators are banned.

All 15,000 seats in the Olympic hockey stadium in Sydney are vacant.

Homebush Bay - the centre of the Sydney Olympic universe - is a danger zone.

No one is allowed in to watch - even a handful of journalists had to protest before being let through the gates. The New Zealand women's team, who thrashed world champions Australia on Monday, are not even allowed in on their day off today to watch the Aussies play Germany.

The Australian team have cheekily found a way around it - their players double as ball girls for the Kiwi-German tests so they can keep an eye on the opposition.

The State Hockey Centre, like most of the Olympic sites, has been deemed a construction zone.

Builders are racing the clock to get all of the venues ready for opening day, September 13.

So unless you are playing on the turf, you are not welcome.

The Kiwi players find it all a little strange. Suzie Pearce, a veteran of more than 100 internationals for New Zealand, reckons it's a bit sad that they scored one of their greatest victories in silence, bar the buzzing of saws. There's been the odd workman shuffling around. So this is the smallest crowd I've ever played in front of - there's no competition."

"It's great to play in the Olympic stadium, but it's really hard to visualise playing the Olympics here. It would have been nice to have a bit of a dress rehearsal with everyone yelling and clapping.

"It doesn't seem unsafe to me."

But Kim Douglas, the hockey venue press manager, said it would be too risky to let the crowds in when work was still under way.

Three temporary stands of scaffolding - 22 rows high - are still being completed.

Hockey should have no trouble filling the seats when the Olympics come around. The finals days are already sold out.

The crowds will be allowed to watch the final of the women's tri-series this weekend, when the game is moved outside the amphitheatre to pitch No 2.

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