The EuroHockey Championships in Monchengladbach proved a success for the visiting media – not least because of the tournament being hosted there two years previously.
Any previous teething problems tournament organisers may have had were ironed out as EuroHockey hosted European media once again.
The press tent was situated just yards away from the main pitch’s press seats, which made accessibility very easy and minimising movement time for photographers too.
After match interviews were well catered for via a digital form. And the media staff, led by Stephen Findlater and Siobhan Madeley, are well versed in making sure everyone has what they need.
European media is generally led by the Belgian contingent of print, digital and TV journalists, followed by a smattering of Dutch print media, with hockey.nl staff in good attendance. There were several German media, news agency and local/national papers but seemed low in numbers.
With an abundance of photographers in situ, there was one teething problem with wi-fi (perhaps due to uploading) but this was soon ironed out.
Photographers said that the EHF media team keeping everyone informed was a good pro-active move and that wired internet access would be better.
Some fans were also supplied to press desks with air conditioning at a premium.
There was excellent provision for food and drinks, although a couple of the ’sitting’ times clashed with the match schedule, meaning that we had to choose between taking photos or having dinner.
The provision of pitch-side locations to work from was initially very good, photographers reported, but the inevitable wrestling with the TV requirements did necessitate reductions in the positions for the photographers. This happens at nearly every tournament, but the EHF media team did a great job in finding the best possible solution/resolution.
The LED advertising boards that are now prevalent around the edge of pitches can be troublesome, as they strobe at different frequencies and cause banding in digital images.
HWC members have enquired whether organisers can publish the frequency of the boards, as many cameras can now be set up to compensate for this.
Otherwise they are having to experiment with settings and rely on trial and error. The colour frequency for the floodlights being published would greatly help in setting up the correct white balance for images.
