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Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Sport
- Irish Independent
Netherlands prove their class with big win over Ireland in second match of Amstelveen double-header
Ireland started nervously, with an early defensive error offering the Dutch a chance that goalkeeper Luke Roleston saved well. They soon settled, and Ben Nelson's reverse-stick effort was well blocked by the Dutch defense. Ireland nearly struck first during a strong spell of possession. Ben Pasley's lifted ball across goal found Alistair Empey, who came close to scoring, but Dutch debutant Mauritz Visser produced a fine save. The Netherlands earned the first penalty corner of the match late in the opening quarter, forcing Roleston into two sharp saves to keep the game scoreless. Ireland continued to apply pressure in the second quarter with an effective press that disrupted Dutch build-up play. A penalty corner which could potentially have been a penalty stroke after a heavy tackle on Adam McAllister, gave Ireland a big chance but Lee Cole's shot was well defended. The Dutch responded quickly. A penalty corner saw Jip Janssen break the deadlock with a drag flick past Roleston. Moments later, another Dutch corner was well cleared, but a deflected cross shortly after allowed Terrance Pieters to volley home their second before half-time. The hosts came out fast in the second stanza, winning a penalty corner within a minute. A deflection off Lee Cole led to a controversial penalty stroke, which Janssen converted for 3-0. Despite Ireland's continued effort, the Netherlands added a fourth through Pepijn van der Heijden, who fired low from another penalty corner. Ireland finished the third quarter strongly. A promising move from brothers Ben and Matthew Nelson down the right side nearly paid off, but a pass instead of a shot allowed the Dutch to clear the danger. The visitors also started the final quarter brightly when Sean Murray intercepted in midfield and found Ben Nelson in the circle, who finished confidently to make it 4-1. However, the Netherlands hit back immediately through Joep Troost to restore the four-goal cushion. Even with the result beyond doubt, Ireland showed attacking intent in the closing stages. Ali Empey came close with a clever lob that hit the side netting, and a flowing move involving Pasley and McAllister forced more defensive work from the hosts. ADVERTISEMENT Learn more Ben Nelson capped a strong individual performance with his second goal, cleverly lifting the ball over Visser. But the Dutch had the final say, scoring on the final whistle to secure a 6-2 win. Speaking after the game, goalscorer Ben Nelson said: 'Playing against the top teams in the world, the Olympic Champions; it's always going to be a difficult game in their own backyard. "It's our first two matches in a block of eight, I think we need to just keep pushing on from now, take the positives from this game, see the areas we need to work on, and then push on to the next six matches.' Head coach Mark Tumilty questioned some of the refereeing, adding 'It's hard to be positive after a 6-2 defeat, but we didn't deserve to lose by that margin. We created better opportunities in the first half and yet found ourselves 2-0 down at half-time.' 'I thought we should have been awarded a stroke in the first half but ended up losing our video referral. The stroke they were awarded should not have been, Luke Roleston was behind Lee Cole on the goal line. I thought those decisions were shocking. I expect decisions to be correct.' Ireland will travel to Antwerp next where they will begin their final stage of the FIH Pro League with an encounter against Belgium on Saturday, June 14 at 2:30pm Irish time.
BBC News
07-02-2025
- General
- BBC News
Teachers pay: Workload 'biggest issue' as offer rejected
"For many, many years teachers and schools and education in general have existed on goodwill."Tracey Roleston is a P7 teacher at Bridge Integrated Primary in Banbridge, which has around 420 is not surprised that teachers rejected a 5.5% pay deal on Thursday and are due to begin action short of a have said the rejection of the pay offer may have been influenced by misinformation on social media. But for many teachers, like Ms Roleston, the increasing demands on teacher's workloads have not been tackled."On the ground, it's teachers and workload that is the biggest issue," she told BBC News NI."We cannot exist and do the job in the time that's been allocated to us."There are cuts in other services that have had significant impact on schools which means that there are more layers added onto our day to day job." Unpaid overtime Bridge Integrated Primary's principal, Teresa Devlin, said that teachers now had many more responsibilities and were asked to do much more than when she started teaching."We might be counsellors, we could be social workers, we could be doctors, we could be nurses, we could be physiotherapists, we could be OTs," she said."We have all of these different hats that we have to wear all the time."Add to that your main job which is teaching, and I think this why people don't understand why workload has become such an issue."Ms Devlin added that "realistically most teachers will do a minimum of 10 hours overtime a week"."So when you total that up over 40 weeks, that's 400 hours of overtime that is unpaid and no-one else that's in any other job is expected to do that." SEN support There has also been a significant rise in the number of pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEN) across all schools in recent years."In terms of SEN if the other agencies are unable to meet the children's needs, the parents where do they come to?" Ms Roleston said."They have a good relationship with the school, we have an open-door policy, and it's the staff who are then taking those phone calls."She said that staff would never say no to a parent if they wanted to talk about help for their child or refuse to take their calls, but it all added to the work teachers that meant working well over her contracted hours, even during the school day."We're entitled to a half hour lunch break, if I take 10 to 12 minutes for my lunch that's the height of it," she said."We are not minute-counters and that has never been the case in education, but we are being forced down that route."Our car park does not empty to almost five o'clock and people take things home." 'I take work home' Paul Scowcroft has been a teacher for 25 years. He teaches P6 in Bridge Integrated Primary, and has run an after-school film also said there were more demands on teachers than ever before."The variety of pupils you have within the classroom and the variety of needs, you have to plan for those abilities," he said."Sometimes you have to fill in paperwork that goes to social services, or for outside agencies."That adds lots of time to your planning, because you want to plan a lesson for a class that they're all going to be enthused by, they're all going to get something out of."You have to plan for all the varieties of children within the class."He said teachers worked for many more hours than they were in the classroom."Quite often I'm taking work home, sitting at the kitchen table whether it be marking or planning or revising plans or filling in certain forms," he said."I'm quite often spending most of my time in the kitchen rather than spending time with my family, and I do it because I'm professional, because I want to give the children in my care the best." 'Long-term impact' In a letter to teachers on Thursday night, the teaching employers - which includes the Department of Education, Education Authority and the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools - criticised the decision by teachers to take action short of short of strike is likely to affect some school activities like school meetings, meetings with parents, administrative tasks, school inspections, planning and participation in board of governors' management letter said action short of strike would have "a corrosive and long-term impact" on pupils in said that by taking part in it "teachers will not be meeting their full contractual obligations".That letter, though, has not gone down well with many while both unions and management have said they will talk more to try to resolve the dispute, that is unlikely to be straightforward.
