Over the last three weeks, Katie Mullan and Róisín Upton have experienced dancing in abundance, obligatory chai tea in ceramic cups after training and a rare dose of hockey on the sub-continent. They can also call themselves trailblazers as Irish women’s players.
When it came to the first Women’s Hockey India League (HIL) auction in October, the Dublin-based pair had “no expectations” with only four franchises competing in the first season, as well as a cap on eight foreign players per team.
Mullan first woke up to a message from Upton that she had been drafted. The hammer went down at around €10,000 (£8,432) for both players after they were picked up by the Shrachi Rarh Bengal Tigers.
“We are lucky to be here,” Upton says from the team hotel. “And to now feel like you’re at the start of what could be something really exciting for women’s hockey.”
The Irish pair are on ‘one-year’ contracts (effectively nearly one month’s work) with other players on a three-year deal at franchises as wealthy conglomerate owners look for a long-term business outlook. The women’s event, expanding to six teams in 2026, is being run alongside the men’s competition which is returning after a seven-year hiatus.
“It has been a fantastic experience, and if the opportunity arose again, we would have to look at it,” explains Mullan.
“We see it as something no female Irish players have done before and, hopefully, it paves the way for the next generation.
“We saw David Harte do it a decade ago in the men’s HIL, and now, the more we can play overseas Leagues, the better it will be.
“It’s so good for hockey in Ireland to take opportunities like this as well as having the chance to play in India as it is the national sport here.”
Upton and Mullan ended up on the same Bengali-based team – Jaime Carr and Tim Cross were also purchased on the men’s side – due to their coach, Australian Glenn Turner, having had Canberra connections when the duo played in the Australian domestic League two seasons previously.
Alongside the India-heavy team are English, American, New Zealand and Australian players.
“I’ve not experienced anything like this where we have so many different nationalities who play the game differently,” Upton says. “We meshed off the pitch pretty quickly.”
“Through dancing,” smiles Mullan. “It is so embedded in their culture.”
With hockey a full-time career for a majority of Indian players, Mullan and Upton are remote workers alongside hockey. Mullan works in sustainability for construction business Park Developments, which has been supportive of the former Green Army captain. Meanwhile, Upton is employed at her brother’s Limerick-based consultancy business.
“We had put our expression of interest in months before, we hadn’t heard anything, then all of a sudden the auction was happening in two days,” says Mullan. “It was on RTÉ Radio and my boss had heard it.”
Free-to-air coverage of the competition has helped boost commercial visibility, with hockey chiefs looking towards a 10-year HIL growth plan.
The previous weekend, the pair took the train from Ranchi when they played the Odisha franchise at their home in Rourkela, a match which was nearing its 20,000 capacity.
“It’s almost like the GAA at home where you have the loyalty to your home state team,” says Upton.
“We are both 30 and maybe coming towards the end of our careers, but we would have come free for an experience like this.”
The Irish pair could finish on a high, too. They must beat Soorma Hockey Club on Friday and hope other results go their way to line up in Sunday’s inaugural Final.