Paul Agnew on financial changes for the better at the Arena

ICE HOCKEY, the sport, is served well by words like excitement, passion, aggression and spectacle.

Ice hockey, the business, is more used to crisis, maladministration and going bust.

The one word you never hear is...profit. Until now.

Blackburn Hawks are about to make one and that, more as a fact rather than an amount, is highly-significant.

Hawks have been typical of your average British ice hockey outfit over the past half a dozen years -biggish stars, massive costs, lowish interest and erratic income. Money spent has always exceeded money received.

The man who has steadied the local ship reckons past problems on a more national scale have been caused by over-priced and over-rated players from abroad. Canada to be precise.

Des Finlay has been general manager at the Arena throughout the Steve Moria, Mark Stokes, Rocky Saganuik and Ryan Kummu eras.

Down the years he has fought manfully to keep the sport alive in East Lancashire, allowing the Arena's core business, public skating, to pull things around on an annual basis.

A year ago he decided enough was enough. After reporting a loss to Arena owners, Peel Holdings, of around £150,000 on ice hockey, Des embarked on a crusade, a revolution.

Along with Tom Smith and Richard Sterling, his counterparts at Whitley Bay and Murrayfield, he was very much at the pioneering end of the much-derided Northern Premier League.

"The cynics - including the British Ice Hockey Association - scoffed at the very idea. We were labelled the Unwise Men and what we proposed was dismissed. They called it the Goon League."

After one successful campaign and an extended version ready to start in September, those early doubters are chomping hard on their words. "It's probably the first time we have run a league to a budget based on realistic figures. Dramatic action was required. Clubs all over the country were going to the wall. There was a chance of ice hockey disappearing all together as a spectator sport.

"Something had to change. Thinking had to change. People, those who dream on an ideal or float on an ego, had to recognise that losing money hand over fist wasn't the way forward. When we had a reasonable season under Kummu and lost a fortune, the average paying attendance here was around 720-780...it needed to be at least twice that.

"Last season we averaged around 500 without faring particularly well on the ice. We should make a small profit on that, coupled with the fact that we have increased our corporate and marketing area. That's great and we will continue to work hard to keep costs down without running the risk of dropping the standard. If more people come then we will look to plough that extra revenue back into the team. We have cut our cloth and it's working."

With a background in business management and accounting, Des has successfully guided Hawks to at least a position of safety and security. He's also ridden the storm - the Storm!

The emergence of Manchester as a national force led to the belief that Hawks fans would desert the club in droves.

They haven't.

Sport in this region is parochial, people are loyal. If, by way of explanation, Burnley FC went out on business it's unlikely that their followers would immediately rush down to Ewood Park and vice versa. Some would, a few others might, but the vast majority would rather trap their fingers in the car door than team up with the enemy.

That, in an indifferent first season for results, Hawks stayed afloat is proof of the fact. Last year's imports came from Finland and Sweden, didn't cost as much as those forerunners from North America and, by and large proved competent at the new level.

"We will retain a wage capping system, it's the only way to keep the playing side under control. Players' demands have been the drain and everyone has been frightened to make the first stand.

"But we are very mindful of the need to participate in a sound competition and fully acknowledge that the paying public want to see a high standard of play between teams of similar level. Here at the Arena we have kept a weekly check on the accounts and we've been in the black from day one of the season. We are currently piecing together a strong senior squad for 1997-98 and looking at ways of further strengthening our junior development.

"On a wider level I have attended meetings galore and travelled thousands of miles and I have made our plan open to anyone interested. There is only ever so much point in confidentiality, if we can help someone then we will. The stronger the sport the better we'll all be long term. "When we sat down to set up the NPL it was always looked at as a five-year plan. We have negotiated one season, are hoping to extend and fine tune and then, when the foundations are sound, look at attracting a mainstream sponsor."

This coming season will involve not only the NPL teams playing each other, but also a national league structure incorporating games against those in the Southern Premier League.

The helter-skelter race down skid row is over and, while it will take time, British ice hockey appears to be getting its act together. Des Finlay has played - and continues to play - a major role.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.