Notes from James Dean (director) and Matt Crocker (producer) about the making of the film.
We were attracted to the story right away. These are the stories we like to tell – examining the origins of change, charting journeys, and hearing the words of those directly involved.
Hockey’s transformation from one surface to another is perhaps unique in sport. It is an amazing journey and had a profound effect on all aspects of the game. Also, hockey is loved by millions around the world, but its stories are rarely told – so we wanted to give it a voice.
Themes
A 20-minute film can only cover so much, so following our research we decided to focus on 4 key themes:
1. Montreal
Of course, we had to start from Day 1 and tell the story of Montreal 1976 and the first Olympics on hockey turf. Talking to three players who were on the turf in the final was amazing. After all this time you could still hear the emotion.
It’s clear that the players knew the sport had changed, as Selywn says… the moment we saw it, we loved it.
What we found interesting was that although Montreal had immediately changed everything - the change ultimately was quite gradual (it was another 10 years before New Zealand had artificial turf of their own!). We don’t think there was a tipping point, but it certainly seems that around the turn of the century, turfs had become commonplace and a new generation of players who been raised on turfs arrived on the scene.
2. The Skills Explosion
Players like Aymar, Dwyer and de Nooijer were a new generation, they were hockey’s first ‘turf-natives’ and the skills and speed they brought to the game were phenomenal. There was a real step change, which was supported by a new turf technology, new equipment and smart rule changes. And subsequent players have kept innovating; the game now has an aerial component, ironically the better the turfs the more the game can be played in the air!
This skills explosion is our second theme. We had to tell the story of the tomahawk and the drag flick – these were game changers quite literally – and great for the players and fans.
3. London 2012 Blue Turf
At London 2012 hockey moved from green to blue, and the veil of grass was gone. Whereas the skills were gradual, the blue turf for London 2012 was clearly a step change moment.
It is a remarkable change and shows just how innovative hockey is. By 2012 the hockey community knew how electrifying the game had become, and they wanted the world to see this too. It was a bold and brilliant decision, which as the film shows was a real eye opener, even for players within the game.
4. The Future
Finally, we wanted to see what the future of turf looked like; hockey has been so innovative that it was interesting to see what next? And it seems that turfs have become so good to play on that the next leaps will be more about turf’s role as a sustainable facility.
The hockey community is progressive, so it is not surprising to see significant developments in sustainability – the sugar cane story is great. Portability should be another gamechanger – hockey’s big games in 40,000 seat stadiums sounds great.
It was also excellent to see how turf extends player’s playing life. Kids of course love it but to see masters hockey growing in part because playing on turfs are easy, fun and safe. That is great for the game and society.
Amongst the things we couldn’t cover was Hockey 5s. We were going to film the inaugural full international Hockey 5s tournament in Lausanne, Switzerland, but sadly it was cancelled due to COVID. This seems a very exciting direction for hockey – perhaps something for the sequel!
Who to interview?
The Surface was made over ten months, with hundreds of hours of work, terabytes of footage but no airmiles. As the world stood still, COVID-19 necessitated completely reimagining the process of documentary filmmaking but part by accident and part by design, it worked.
Because we are based near London, we were only able to do in-person interviews with participants who are in the UK. For the other countries we had to organize the interviews with local film crews which we attended via video link.
In some ways it worked really well - conducting interviews with an Australian hockey great from a sleepy English village at 3am, takes the conversation to different places! And putting the camera into different hands naturally produces different angles.
Even without COVID there were limitations on who we could interview. Squeezing hockey’s 4000 year history and the 45 year turf story into a 20 minute film is a tough ask! So, we looked for people who had lived the story, could cover several of the broad themes, and were available.
The 76ers
Rick Charlesworth, Terry Walsh and Selwyn Maister are hockey legends. They played in one of hockey’s most iconic and significant games. What is wonderful is that all three have remained deeply involved in game; Ric and Terry have been especially influential in how hockey (on turf) has developed.
Ric and Terry were filmed at the Perth Hockey Stadium in Australia. Selwyn was filmed at the Harewood Hockey Club in Christchurch.
The Leaders
We were delighted that Tayyab Ikram was willing to talk about his time in the game. With a lifetime in hockey, he covers so much ground; from hockey in Asia to London 2012, from elite coaching to youth participation to sports administration to Tokyo sustainability. Tayyab gave us an insight into the golden age of India and Pakistan hockey, which he sums up perfectly as... glamourous.
Tayyab was filmed at the National Stadium in Lahore – the largest hockey stadium in the world. Thanks to Asian Hockey Federation for their help in arranging this location.
We were able to meet Sue Catton in person and her belief that hockey has no limits is infectious. She was at the heart of two of hockey’s major innovations – blue turf for London 2012 and Big Stadium Hockey. These were brave decisions that require huge determination to deliver.
Sue was filmed on the actual London 2012 turf which is now in situ at Sheffield Hockey Club.
We were able to do a face-to-face interview with Jon Wyatt while he was in England. Jon’s experience in the game is unique; as a player he started on grass and ended up playing Olympic hockey during the arrival of the ‘turf natives’ and he is now FIH Sport and Development Director which means he is at the forefront of where hockey goes next.
The Players
Luciana Aymar, Nikki Symmons, Jamie Dwyer and Jeroen Hertzberger are all hockey legends.
Picking who to represent the players in this story was an impossible task. We got lucky that these 4 great players were available. Luciana and Jamie ignited the skills explosion; they both took the game to new levels. Between them they have 13 World Player of the Year awards! It was a real privilege to meet them.
Jamie was filmed at the Perth Hockey Stadium (along with Ric and Terry).
Nikki is a European Hockey hall-of-famer who experienced first-hand hockey’s move from muddy grass to turf and witnessed London 2012 and Big Stadium Hockey in Dublin. She certainly has seen the before and after.
And Jeroen is a current Dutch and global star and hockey innovator; he gives back to hockey by sharing his knowledge through his excellent HertzbergerTV YouTube channel.
Jeroen was filmed at the HC Rotterdam in The Netherlands.
The Historians
To understand the transformation, we first had to show what hockey was like. Mike Smith and John Willmot from The Hockey Museum were invaluable in this regard.
Both have lived and loved hockey all their lives - during the interviews you can hear their affection for the game and the hockey community.
Unlike sports like cricket, golf or tennis, hockey doesn’t have a tradition of capturing and celebrating its history. The Hockey Museum is therefore a vital resource; they have a treasure trove of photos, magazines and equipment.
They have great archive film and photos from hockey in England and some capturing those early remarkable players from India and Pakistan. Unfortunately, there is little archive showing hockey developing in other parts of the world – our apologies to countries who feel they have missed out.
Where are the 80s and 90s?
Some of the old cine film looks great and of course the recent digital footage is very good, but there is a huge gap in what you might call the ‘VHS years’. Hockey developed so much in the 80s and 90s and early 2000s, but the video tapes have either been lost or degraded. As such there is very little archive available of the influential players we were told about... like Dhanraj Pillay, Shahbaz Ahmed and the champion Australian Hockeyroos and many more… If anyone has old hockey tapes in a box at home, please contact The Hockey Museum!
The Turf Expert
We didn’t want the story to be technical, but we needed some comments about how turf actually changed along the 45-year journey. The innovations have been gradual punctuated by major step changes. These changes really make a big difference, for example 3D play became possible when turfs moved to softer fibres so the ball didn’t carry on bouncing.
Thanks to Paul Kamphuis from Polytan Asia Pacific. Paul has installed turfs at the last 4 Olympics and over 500 in total, so he knows a thing or two.
Thanks to everyone who featured and contributed pictures and footage and to those behind the scenes who helped with this film. Thanks to Polytan and AstroTurf for their support.
The sport has been and will be shaped by pioneers; we are confident that hockey’s innovative spirit continues.
