Withdrawal of Men’s 7XI from league
Posted by Nobody on 25 July 2018
Many of you will be aware that at the end of season 17/18 the men’s league underwent a restructure to an ‘open format’. Based upon factors including their finishing league position, teams were mapped into the new league structure. The men’s 5, 6 and 7 teams were all assessed as being suitable for Midlands NE Division 3 however as the league has a rule whereby 3 teams from the same club may not be in the same division, one of our teams was placed in Midlands SE Division 3.
It was agreed by the club committee and captains that the amount of travel that would be required for the SE division would mean that we would be unable to fulfill our away fixtures in this scenario. We therefore made several strong appeals to the Midlands League Committee in writing and on the telephone explaining our situation yet they were unable to find a way to accommodate us. We sought the help of Notts Hockey Association and England Hockey in fighting our case and please be assured that every possible avenue to retain a 7XI was explored.
(On scrutiny of the new divisions, you will notice that there is a ‘blank’ in NE division 4 and of course we asked the league whether moving our 7XI into that division would be a possibility, however this suggestion was dismissed by the Midlands League Committee).
I will happily share more details of our appeals to anyone who would like this information.
We must now focus our attention on finding ways to accommodate everyone on the men’s side who wants to play hockey within the 6 teams that we do have. I am aware that a number of younger players are departing for university this summer and it is always hard at this stage of the season to know exactly how many male members we will have available come September but through cooperation of our captains and flexibility in squad sizes I hope that the impact will be minimal.
We will of course be considering options for season 2019/20 as time goes on.
Please do not hesitate to contact me, your team captain or Tom Palframan (Men’s Rep) if you have any queries or concerns.
Amy Briggs (Club Secretary)
