40 years on, Batch recalls Olympic boycott

In March, athletes around the world were disappointed to hear the news that the 2020 Tokyo Olympics would be postponed for a year due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Plans were reshuffled, retirements postponed, and competitors across all sports prepared themselves for another year of training.

Yet for Kookaburras Head Coach Colin Batch, this is surprisingly not the first time that an Olympic campaign has been abruptly put on hold.

Sitting down for an interview with respected hockey commentator Ashley Morrison, Batch looked back on what would have been his debut Olympics but a tournament he would not end up competing in.

After making his debut in October 1979, Batch was the youngest player selected in the Australian team for the 1980 Moscow Games at 22 years of age.

The Kookaburras had a settled team and were coming off a silver medal at the previous Olympics in Montreal, and there was hope that the team would go one better.

“There was a lot of expectation after ’76, it was really a breakthrough tournament,” said Batch.

“I remember the fallout from the Olympics and the enthusiasm around hockey, particularly the national team.”

But as 1980 arrived, major developments were happening surrounding the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the idea of a US-led boycott of the Games began to take shape.

Many countries joined the boycott, however the Australian government left the decision up to the Australian Olympic Committee, who initially indicated that they would participate in the Games.

Individual athletes had the opportunity to decide for themselves if they would pull out or not, while the Kookaburras held a vote on the matter which came back in favour of going to the Games.

“It was a strange time, it really was. Having just got in the team I remember we were in Karachi in January 1980 and we were sitting there, and that’s when we first learned that Russia had invaded Afghanistan,” Batch recalls.

“Greg Browning, I remember a comment that he made about how this was going to be trouble for the Olympics – he was very correct.”

While the Kookaburras had agreed that they would participate, and with each player receiving their Olympic blazer ahead of the Games, it was a matter of days until pressure from the government caused a backflip on the decision.

Looking back on what could have been, Batch admits that not only would Australia have been among the teams to beat in 1980, but the boycott may have had an influence on the 1984 Los Angeles Games as well.

“The age and experience from ’76 would’ve carried through to ‘80, and I think then if you skipped forward to ’84 we had an outstanding team but maybe some of the guys that didn’t go in ’80 might have finished then,” explains Batch.

“Perhaps in hindsight the team needed some fresh blood for ’84.”

Fast-forward to today, where Batch’s debut Games as a Kookaburras coach have been affected much like his debut as a player albeit in much different circumstances.

Unlike 1980, there is hope that the 2020 Games will eventually be able to proceed safely after a year’s postponement.

Both the Kookaburras and Hockeyroos are in full preparation for Tokyo ahead of their new start date of July 23, 2021.

Batch’s experiences as a player and a coach have taught him to appreciate the Olympic experience and take nothing for granted.

“I was fortunate enough to go to two other Olympics as an athlete and four others as an assistant coach and head coach, so I feel very privileged to go through those and have the opportunity to do that,” Batch said.

“I’m really looking forward to Tokyo next year.”