“You may have noticed I am wearing a red tie,” the Spaniard told a watchful audience, “and the reason is because red is the colour of revolution.”

It therefore comes as no surprise that hockey has been undergoing an overhaul of its own since Negre took the FIH reins by defeating Els van Breda Vriesman of The Netherlands eight years ago.

Revolution, be it sporting or political, is often brought about through necessity and occurs at times where there is simply no alternative. The Spanish Civil War, a conflict which enveloped the country for three years between 1936 and 1939, is one such example - the state of hockey during the early period of the Spaniard’s tenure is another, albeit on a much less significant scale.

His red tie is a symbol of changes that the sport has undergone since he took over. Rule adaptations, as well as attempts to make the sport more enjoyable to watch on our television screens, have become synonymous with the Negre era, and boy did hockey need it.

In February 2013, merely a year after the sport enjoyed stellar success at London 2012, hockey found itself in unchartered territory as it was placed on a shortlist of five sports under consideration to be voted off the Olympic programme, ending up in the final three with wrestling and modern pentathlon. Fortunately for the Spaniard and the FIH, they survived.

It goes without saying that removal from the Olympic Games, considered by so many as the grandest sporting stage of them all, would have been a devastating blow. Yet for those within the sport’s inner circle, it was perhaps the kick up the backside that they so desperately required.

Around 12 months on from that particular reality check, hockey ensured it would no longer be known as a game of two halves as the format of matches was changed to incorporate four 15-minute quarters in a bid to make the sport more aesthetically pleasing.

The controversial alteration to a long-standing and key element of the game sparked widespread debate and consultation from fans, players and officials alike, and it will be first trialled in the Olympic arena at Rio 2016, something which Negre was all too keen to stress the importance of.

“It is part of the revolution,” he says, with more than a hint of a smile.

“This decision is linked with television and linked to making a better product - television is very important nowadays.

“If you don’t sell the product through the television you will struggle.

“We had a lot of talks with the Olympic Broadcasting Services and they said we as a sport don’t have enough breaks - for commercials, for replays and even for players to celebrate scoring a goal!

“We used to start again [after someone scored] straight away and people say that is crazy.

“In hockey, especially club hockey, we are very conservative and any change is difficult. But we needed change. At the beginning, some people didn’t accept it but after one year or two years they start to see the benefits.”

Amid the alterations to the way we view the sport as a whole, Negre has also overseen the rapid growth of the shorter format of the game, hockey 5s, along with trusted aide and chief executive Kelly Fairweather, which perhaps seemed a distant pipe dream until he made the FIH hotseat his own.

Hockey 5s has already had a taste of the Olympic experience, having been a part of the programme at the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games in 2014, and it is seen as a way to tap into different markets, with a view to growing the game on a global basis.

Played on a half-sized pitch, matches are made up of three periods of 15 minutes and players can score from anywhere, while the traditional 11-a-side penalty corner, where one member of the team is tasked with breaking down the defensive wall laid out in front of them, has been replaced with one-on-one challenges.

The result is a fast-paced, high-octane sport which is enthralling to watch, providing a spectacle jam-packed with entertainment, but it is fair to say hockey 5s has yet to please everybody.

There is concern among the hockey family - something which Negre continually referred to at the Hockey Writer’s Club lunch - that the 5-a-side format of their sport is mounting an assault on the 11-a-side version. For many, the traditional game is their raison d'être, and any lingering threat to that causes grave concern.

The Spaniard was, however, anxious to remind those who follow the sport he so dearly loves that hockey 5s should not be seen as a threat but more of a catalyst to spark the further development of the full-sided game, and that the only way hockey 5s should become an Olympic sport is to be a part of the programme alongside its bigger brother rather than as its replacement.

“IOC President Thomas Bach attended the women’s hockey 5s final in Nanjing and during the match he turned to me and said ‘Leandro, when are you going to change hockey 11s for hockey fives at the Olympics?’” he recalls.

“So I start to smile and said ‘I have a better idea for you - why not have hockey 11s and hockey 5s in the Olympics?’

“Volleyball has two - volleyball and beach volleyball - so why not hockey 5s?

“To have two different disciplines would be a dream for us.

“It is a fantastic and exciting sport. I would like to start to develop that, at the moment it is in my head but 2024 could be [a target]. It would give other countries the chance to participate at the Olympics, which is always an honour.”

It was interesting to hear Negre, who spoke candidly and honestly throughout our lengthy chat, highlight how much it means to countries, players and fans to attend the Olympic Games at a time where one particular nation is attracting the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

Back in November, South Africa’s men’s and women’s teams thought they had done enough to secure a hallowed berth at Rio 2016 by winning their respective Continental Championships, only to be told they wouldn’t be sent to the Brazilian city as they failed to qualify through the highest-level route, the Hockey World League (HWL), by the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (SASCOC).

Understandably, SASCOC’s decision prompted a furious backlash from a large majority of the country. Appeals from the South African Hockey Association to their Olympic Committee and from the FIH to the IOC on behalf of the International Federation were unsuccessful, leaving both the men’s and women’s teams distraught about having their Olympic dream so cruelly snatched away from them.

Though the ruling from SASCOC was made because they felt the African Championships were sub-standard, an undercurrent of political scepticism has been lingering beneath the surface, with some believing it may have even been racially motivated.

The FIH President admitted that was his original view. “At the beginning I think it was a political issue, that is my personal feeling,” he said.

“I think after [Nelson] Mandela, they think of hockey as a white sport. The National Federation perhaps didn’t do much to attract black people to play hockey and maybe that is the feeling of SASCOC.”

The Spaniard, who himself has had the experience of being an Olympian after he represented his country at Mexico City 1968, went on to say how he felt “shame and pity” for the South African teams and that he was “very disappointed” with SASCOC’s decision.

The FIH were told that, under the terms of the Olympic Charter, all parties must respect the integrity and authority of their National Olympic Committee. Negre, therefore, said he had no qualms with the IOC, who he feels were unwilling to “set a precedent for the future” by going against SASCOC.

South Africa being denied an Olympic place has left the FIH with a situation they were hoping to avoid as no representative from the continent will be present in the hockey tournament at Rio 2016, with Spain’s women and New Zealand’s men the beneficiaries of the controversy.

That in itself goes against another one of the Charter’s mantras - universality - and Negre revealed the whole fiasco has made the governing body consider changes to its Olympic qualification system, though he believes sending an African replacement for South Africa would have been detrimental to the event as a whole due to the apparent lack of strength in-depth in the region.

“In this moment we are reviewing our competition for the next 10 years,” he said.

“We are thinking about changing our qualification process.

“Perhaps we take away a place at the World League to give to an African team but there is a big gap between South Africa and other national teams. In the women’s, Spain is about the same standard as South Africa but there is a big gap to the next best team.

“That would be Ghana and if you send them, it would not be good for the quality of the Olympics as they may lose by 20 to some of the better sides.”

The fiasco surrounding South Africa’s participation is an issue that cannot be ignored, and it also highlights another problem hockey - and indeed many other sports - is facing. The absence of an African representative at Rio 2016 yields doubt about the standard of hockey on the continent, and surely it is the job of the FIH to help bring what they call The Motherland up to the same level as the rest of the world.

It must be said, this is often difficult for a sport which garners considerably less financial weight than some of its Olympic counterparts, including the behemoths that are football and athletics, but steps must be taken to enhance the development of African hockey-playing nations if the sport is truly to banish its past demons.

Aside from the South African teams themselves, at the centre of the furore lies the HWL as a concept.

The HWL at its best is a thrilling campaign where the world’s top sides do battle on a regular basis, but at its worst is a confusing and, at times, unnecessarily drawn-out process which, if simplified, could truly make a mark on the global sporting calendar.

Players and coaches alike have often been left completely bamboozled by how it works, particularly in terms of Rio 2016 qualification, and even the most ardent of hockey supporters must have been left scratching their heads at times.

In the 2014 to 2015 HWL campaign, the men’s competition featured nine events of four to eight teams in round one, with the women’s including seven events of three to nine teams. These were then whittled down round by round, with the semi-final comprising of two events of 10 teams.

The top six nations at the end of the semi-final competitions not already qualified through the continental route were given a quota place for their country at Rio 2016. Just explaining it is confusing.

The HWL's place and significance in the sport has also frequently been called into question. What is its value? How does it affect the so-called lesser nations?

Wholesale changes to the HWL are expected over the coming years, with Negre admitting they are looking to move in a similar direction to that of rugby union’s Six Nations tournament - contested by England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales - in the near future.

It’s all part of the revolution, remember.

“The changes to the structure of our future events and competitions will also be important,” the Spaniard said.

“We would like the World League to be the final round and really a league, like the Six Nations, with teams playing each other home and away. I ensure you this product is much better than the previous one and I am optimistic for the future.”

While some may be unsure of what the future holds, Negre, who came across as a passionate man who is desperate to maintain the development of the sport which he has dedicated a significant proportion of his life to, is not one of them.

He revealed that he will stand for a third term as FIH President during the body’s Congress, due to be held in Dubai in November, and fully expects to be re-elected for a maximum third term. Such is his confidence, he even claims no-one will want to stand against him, paving the way for him to hold on to his role unopposed.

Negre’s reasons are understandable. For all of the sport’s well-documented issues in the past, it is difficult to argue with the progress he has made within the governing body, particularly since the IOC targeted a thinly-veiled threat of removal from the Olympic programme at his organisation.

A key marker of this came back in January 2014 when the FIH penned an historic media partnership deal with Star Sports, one of India’s leading broadcasters, which was reportedly worth around $250 million (£176 million/€230 million) over an eight-year period, which began last year, in an attempt to showcase the sport on a more regular basis.

Not only that, but Negre claims he has overseen a four-fold increase in income for the FIH, which has mostly come about through sponsorship and television deals, such as the one inked with Star Sports, who will distribute content to more than 100 countries during the agreement.

“We have multiplied by four our income from eight years ago which I think is a very good achievement,” he said.

“We have achieved that by television rights, which are very important, and also we have more sponsors. Now we can say the FIH is more independent, in the past we have more links with the money coming from the IOC and NOCs.

“We are very happy with the future. We have, for the first time, people knocking at our door. Until now we have been looking for sponsors but now they are coming to us.”

Listening to him describe his tenure, it is easy to comprehend why there may be those who chose not to run against him for the FIH Presidency. After all, it seems he would be a tough act to follow, but he knows the hard work is not quite done yet. Far from it.

“If there is somebody who would like to stand, I don’t know who it is at the moment because there is no movement,” he said.

“Everybody is very quiet because they need time to go to other countries and continents to introduce themselves and campaign.

“If someone is doing something like that, for sure I don’t know.

“I don’t think anyone will stand against me - that is my feeling at the moment.

“It is difficult. We have achieved a lot of things and I think the world hockey family is happy with our staff and how the FIH is being run.

“I have done a lot of travelling and visits to other countries and have even got to know the wives of the people I have met, which can be important.

“There are some people who have aspirations and expectations but they prefer to wait until I have finished my term because they know it will be difficult to win if they stand against me - I like to be honest.”

The insightful and extensive speech he gave at the Hockey Writer’s Club lunch marked an eighth appearance at the annual event and judging by his confidence, don’t bet against the revolution continuing with his ninth visit as FIH President to the Royal Thames Yacht Club in 2016.