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Aaron Nell: The Brand of Ice Hockey is Growing, and We Must Help It
SWINDON Wildcats forward and new head coach Aaron Nell writes for Total Sport every week. This week, Nell examines the sport of ice hockey itself as a brand, how it is developing in both Swindon and the UK and how it can be helped...
Since I have been playing ice hockey, the commercial aspect and brand of the sport has changed night and day. It really has been that distinct.
We're lucky to play in an ever expanding sport in the UK and, while hockey is yet to reach the heights, I believe it's not too far in the offing.
It's crazy how much the commercial side has changed, particularly within our own ranks at Wildcats. When we brought in Sally as marketing manager, she basically revitalised our brand completely, making it bigger and better than ever before, and that is what us and other clubs need to do in order to elevate our status and the status of the sport itself.
In recent times we've managed to bring more sponsors to the club and fill more seats at the rink, which is ultimately what we strive to achieve. We want this club to be successful but we also want people to get involved, which of course includes the fan base and sponsorship partners.
Promoting ice hockey is certainly easier now than when I first started playing, and I think social media has played a huge part in doing that. Online presence is huge, and the better you can circulate yourselves as a big club the more beneficial that will be.
Our team is lucky in that there is a lot of local media coverage surrounding the Wildcats, from various outlets who we have great relationships with. This helps us grow all the time, and promotes us to the public attention. I just hope this continues to increase the fan base and introduce more youngsters to the world of Wildcats.
When people actively want to come and see your sport, it's easy - but this sort of thing always works two ways.
It is the role of the social, media and marketing teams to get the club's name and image out there and make sure people know about Wildcats and what we're doing. But then, once those same people come to the rink, the duty then rests with us, the players.
We need to ensure those coming to watch us, be that existing fans or Wildcats newcomers, are excited by what they see on the ice, and are ultimately entertained by the brand of hockey we play.
If the stands are full of people, the promotion side of the work is done. But it is then up to us to deliver the product and show what we can do as a team. We have a good side and we know we're capable of this, we just need to keep upping the game.
This makes me think of our UK game in comparison to that in Canada and the States, and what we can do to replicate or work towards that model.
I used to live in Canada for a period and Ice hockey over there is just the same as football is here. They eat, sleep, drink and basically live the sport, it's fantastic.
The exposure is huge and the demand to be in and around hockey teams from fans has the media endlessly plugging the sides to new levels. Of course, with that comes an avalanche of added extras, including social media presence, finances and ultimately a very high calibre of hockey players.
Looking at the Canada and US model, television coverage for them is huge. Imagine if something similar happened here, and a broadcaster such as Sky Sports was to get involved with UK ice hockey. It would undoubtedly revolutionise our game and rewrite the script as to how the sport is perceived by the British public.
We are a few years away from that point at least, unfortunately, but there is no reason why something like this could not develop in the future.
Until something like that does come along we must continue to work hard with what we're doing. It makes me proud as a Wildcats player to see how fantastic our support is at the rink, week-in week-out. The fans know what we're trying to achieve at the club, they understand our vision and they too want the Wildcats to be as big as possible.
But they don't expect miracles. They know where we're at and appreciate that we will work as hard as possible. People come to the ice hockey for different reasons, and that's something I love. Some people come because they just need to get away from everything, and the sport helps them unwind. It's great that hockey can support people in this way.
I've always said that the day we make the Olympics will be the turning point for UK hockey, and that achievement is getting closer and closer. The first qualifying matches fall next February, and everyone involved in the sport must push as hard as possible to make this happen.
We're getting stronger as a hockey playing nation, but much still needs to be done from a grassroots level. The way I see it, currently, there is no real distinct pathway of progression through our sport and this needs to be fixed.
We need to look at other sports and take example from their systems. In hockey you could have a whole range of players together within a club, from six-year-olds up to 35-year-olds who are also playing for Great Britain. If we work on this structure, it will aid progression as a whole - it's all about forming that pathway.
It's a numbers game at the end of the day. At the Wildcats we see expansion in a grassroots level every year, going from 100 juniors to 200 within a ten year period. Signs like this are positive and there are many people trying to help ice hockey grow and be as prominent as it deserves to be.
We just all need to do our bit to nurture it along.
You can see Aaron Nell and his side in action at the Swindon Ice Arena this Sunday, as Wildcats face Basingstoke Bison. Tickets available here.
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