HOCKEY:The IHA have taken a first step toward their goal of making their senior international squads semi-professional by unveiling their Aspire programme yesterday, writes Mary Hannigan.

Forty-eight players have been contracted centrally to the IHA and will receive support to cover "basic subsistence, out-of-pocket training costs and unpaid leave from work".

Some €200,000 has so far been committed to the build-up to next year's Olympic Games, the bulk of it coming from the Irish Sports Council, Sport Northern Ireland, sponsors ESB and Howard Eurocape, and 'Friends of Hockey', a fundraising programme of the IHA.