East Men's and Women's Hockey Leagues
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League News


EWL Premier and EML Premier Anot all Clubs have sent in registration forms.  These must be received before the start of the season.  Fielding unregisterd players may lead to matches being awarded 0-3 against.  Please expedite your forms to Janet Goody or Robert Southgate as appropriate. (apologies for Prem B typo in original entry)

EML League Fees outstanding: Update:
Sept 27:
The following EML Clubs did not pay on time:   Felixstowe, Maldon and Little Baddow.  All matches will be irrevocably awarded 0-3 against until payment received.

EML 5NE and 5NW: Update:  Sept 20: Norwich Dragons 4 and Peterborough Exiles, respectively, have withdrawn from these divisions. There are no replacements and all fixtures will be blanked.  The two clubs should by now have contacted other teams in those divisions.

EHL 2nd teams: 
18 Sept:  As the EHL season does not start until after the EWL season starts, team selection for East League matches this coming Saturday should follow the rule of selecting the 2nd team as though a full strength 1st team was playing .  A note has been added to the New Rules this Season page.  If in doubt, consult your League Manager.

Captain and Vice-Captain details: 
Sept 17:  All teams must email their League Manager with contact details before the first match.  Many have yet to do so.  Failure will result in a £20 fine.

Home game times and venues:  Sept 17: Some Clubs have not yet entered these, much to everyone's inconvenience.  All disputes over match arrangements will be decided in favour of the away team if time/venue details were not posted by the home club by the deadline of three weeks ago. If umpires are inconvenienced, additional penalties will be applied.

Wapping and East London pitch bookings: 10 Sept: Due to double booking by one of the venues, fixture times for Wapping have not yet been added to the website, and for East London match times are likely to have to be changed. Both clubs are working to resolve the issue and will update/amend the website (and advise opposition teams) as soon as possible. This applies only to games at Mile End. John Orwell games for Wapping are unaffected.

EWL Division 2NE and 2SW: 9 Sept: Following the withdrawal of Hadleigh from 2NE, we have now been able to bring in a new team to indirectly fill the gap.  New team Wapping 2 will move into 2SW and replace Sudbury 2, and Sudbury 2 will move into 2NE to fill the gaps left by Hadleigh.  Existing times and venues for home fixtures for the other teams in both divisions will be unchanged.  Both Sudbury and Wapping will set up their home match arrangements as soon as possible.  Any queries re 2NE to Sarah Mann and re 2SW to Samantha Menear as soon as possible please.  Although these rearrangements come very close to the start of the season, we believe that the effort involved is justified by the success of maintaining all divisions at 12 teams and ensuring no loss of hockey due to the original withdrawal.  Thanks are due for the initiative and work of Sam and Rosemary Prince.

EML Division 5SE: 6 Sept: Harwich 1 has withdrawn from the division.  All fixtures will be blanked, and each team will have two empty Saturdays.

EML Division 7NW - change of plan
:  following the withdrawal of March 5, all of that team's fixtures will now be taken over by Spalding 5.

Reverse venues:  Sept 1: an error in the dates list has been corrected.  A club should only be able to access and edit times and venues for its home dates, even when they are being reversed.

East League Fees:  invoices now in post to CLO's.  Payment must be made before Sept 20th (EWL) or Sept 27th (EML and EMVL).
Please note that there is an erroneous reference to umpiring fees on the Remittance slip.  The invoices are for League fees only - umpiring fees are being collected via invoices direct from ERHUA.

Match times and venues: 
Aug 15:  Clubs expecting pool umpires next season should inout home times and venues to the website asap, so that Pool Secretaries can begin scheduling early season appointments.

East Handbook
: 15 Aug:  Handbooks were injected into Royal Mail yesterday and should be delivered to Clubs and individuals early next week.

Under-13 age limits: 
5 Aug: The Board of EH agreed at its July meeting to accept a recommendation from the Regional Consutative Committee that a player becomes eligible to play adult hockey once they reach their 13th birthday. (Previously age at Jan 1st was used).

EH Code of Discipline5 Aug: This has recenrly been changed and incorporated into a new Code of Ethics and Behaviour, details of which can be found on the England Hockey website at: www.englandhockey.co.uk/equityandethics  
The new Discipline Code has been abridged by Norman Stott, National Discipline Officer, as follows ....  more here

East Men's League changes
:
22 July: Marconi have withdrawn from the League and their fixtures in 6SE have been blanked, so this division will be playing with 11 teams. 

East Men's League changes:16 July: there have been some minor changes to fixtures:  5SW now has the correct team St Albans 5;  in 3NE the H/A sequences for Harleston Magpies 3 and 4 have been reversed - this will have no effect on other clubs' pitch bookings.

Match venues and times:  7 July: Now that fixtures are reasonably well settled, the system for adding your home match venues and times has been activated.  To use this you need your usual club password.  Access is via the link on the left. To see venues and times that have been added, follow the Results and Tables links.

Find a Fixture: 5 July:  dates for 2008-9 season now applied.

Club Updates: 4 July: These clubs did not meet the deadline for updating their info page and will pay a 50% surcharge on league fees: Hadleigh, Lincoln

EH Code of Discipline:  5 Aug: This has recenrly been changed and incorporated into a new Code of Ethics and Behaviour, details of which can be found on the England Hockey website at: www.englandhockey.co.uk/equityandethics
The new
Discipline Code has been abridged by Norman Stott, National Discipline Officer, as follows:
I suspect players and umpires will be particularly interested in the new provisions for dealing with red cards and matchday misconduct offences, and it is here that some of the most significant changes have been implemented. In particular, we have tried to simplify matters by reducing the number of categories of offences from 7 down to 3. Under the new arrangements, a red card/ MMO will therefore be categorised as either:-
a. Physical violence neither used, offered nor threatened;
b. Physical violence offered or threated to another person (including another player); or
c. Physical violence offered or threated to an umpire/ match official/ tournament official.

The principle of mandatory minimum suspensions continues to apply and has been set at 16, 30 and 60 for categories (a), (b) and (c) respectively. It is however, important, to appreciate that these are mandatory minimum suspensions, and that the changes do not represent any softening to the ”zero tolerance” approach to poor discipline.
The other significant change has been to try and introduce greater consistency in penalties. CDAs will therefore have discretion to impose penalties not exceeding 30 days for offences in categories (a) and (b), and not exceding 60 days in category (c), but will need RDA approval for penalties above those times. From a practical point of view, this means a CDA could impose a suspension not just of 16 but (say) 25 days for a category (a) offence under his/ her inherent authority. If the CDA felt that the offence merited suspension in excess of 30 days this too would be permitted under the Code, subject to the approval of the RDA having been secured.
A Summary of the Code of Ethics and well as the full Code of Ethics, that now includes the Discipline Code can be found on the EH web site, http://www.englandhockey.co.uk  Click on Equity and Ethics and it is the first two documents on the right hand side under links/documents.

Fixtures30 June: All East League fixtures loaded on the site.  Follow the Results and Tables link. Please advise any apparent errors as soon as possible. 
Changes have been made to all NE divisions, to 7SE, 8SE and 9SW.


Kenneth Lochhead:  
23 June: All involved with East hockey will be saddened to know that Kenneth died yesterday.  Further details of funeral arrangements will be published as soon as they become available.  Follow this link to see detailed arrangments for the Funeral and Thanksgiving.

Women's League Divisions 2008: 
 18 June:  The allocation of teams to divisions is now complete, and fixtures will be produced shortly.  A few suggestions that would reduce travel for some clubs were considered, but not utilised as they would result in a disproportionate increase in travel for others. Follow the Preseason link to see the final layout.

Men's League Divisions 2008:  
16 June:  The allocation of teams to divisions is now complete, and fixtures will be produced shortly.  Follow the Preseason link to see the final layout.

Men's League Divs 5,6 and 7NE:
16 June:  The email debate about the structure of these divisions has ended with a decision to revert to a 12-team 5NE and a 14-team 6NE.

Club Changes:  
3 June: Norwich Union are leaving Pinebanks and will play under the name of Norwich Dragons from this coming season, and St Albans Exiles have merged with St Albans HC but will continue to play under the Exiles name.Women's League tables: 31 May:
These are now finalised and show all promotions and relegations, including the extra relegations caused by the restructuring of the EHL, and changes due to match awards against Ipswich, Old Loughtonians and Sevenoaks in Premier and 1S. 

Men's, Women's and Vets Leagues: 9 May 2008:  All Clubs playing in these Leagues next season must complete an entry form and update their information page.  This must be done after April 1st and before June 30th, on penalty of increased league fees.  No dispensations are allowed. Some Clubs have already completed the form, most have not.  Apologies to any Club with an AGM later than June 30th, but a later deadline would cause delays in publishing the East Handbook. Use the Club Update link onthis or the Home Page.

Club changes:  3 June 2008:  please note that Norwich Union are leaving Pinebanks and will play under the name of Norwich Dragons from this coming season;  Marconi HC has merged into Old De Ferrians HC; and St Albans Exiles have become part of St Albans HC and though continuing to play under the Exiles name will adopt St Albans colours. 10th June: Correction:  Marconi will remain as an independent Club.

9 May 2008
League dates 2008-9:  now available on the Preseason Page.  Follow the link on the right.
League Committee: April minutes now posted.

5 May 2008
EHL play-off results: Harleston Magpies and Holcombe Ladies kept their promotion hopes alive until the last day of the play-offs, but by the end had narrowly missed out, Harleston on goal difference and Holcombe by just two points.  Regrettably, that will lead to extra relegations from our two premier divisions and downwards.

25 Apr 2008
EWL Premier Division : Following an extensive review, a number of matches were awarded against Old Loughtonians 2 and ipswich 2 due to incorrect selection of 1st team players.  The league table and results pages have now been amended to show these awards.  Clubs in Premier should note that the relegation of Cambridge City 1 from the EHL has increased the relegation places to four.  Should Holcombe fail to qualify for the EHL in the playoffs (due 5th May) there will be five relegations.

25 Apr 2008
Presentation Day and AGM: Details of venue, times, and propsed new rules and officers are now available. Follow the link on the right to see the AGM pages.

04-04-2008
Return of League Trophies: A number of Clubs have not yet returned their trophies awarded last season.  Theyshould be sent immediately to David Burt, 30 St Peter's Street , Duxford, Cambridge , CB22 4RP  (01223 834097 / 573550 (H/F)   07881 815567 (M)     d.burt@bas.ac.uk)   Late trophies attract a £50 fine.

04-04-2008
2008 Handbook photographs:  If you have any club hockey action photoes from this season that you would like to see on the cover of the Handbook, please email a jpeg to the webmaster along with a note of the match details.

19-03-2008
East Women's League, Divisions 2C, 2N, and 2S: following the decision to enlarge the League next season, there will be no relegation from these three divisons at the end of this season.

19-03-2008
Promotions and relegations: These are now being indicated on some league tables.  Clubs shoukd remember that these are for the moment provisional placings, and may be modified in light of EHL promotions/relegations or disciplinary point deductions and match awards yet to be decided.  For the Men's league, promotions and relegations in lower divisions may as always be affected by the number of league entries made next season.  The best policy in light of any uncertainties is to endeavour to win all your remaining matches. 

18-03-2008
Men's Premier B and Women's Premier Divisions: A detailed investigation is being carried out on team selections by some EHL Club 2nd teams playing in these divisions.  The League Management meeting on 17th April may consequently apply penalties and match awards.  Unfortunately, no relegation positions can be determined for these divisions until that process is completed. The patience of the other clubs not under review but potentially affected by this would be appreciated.  Sad to say, a further consequence of this issue will be an extensive tightening of League Rules 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3 for next season.

10-03-2008
East League Champions: Congratulations go to Harleston Magpies for establishing an unassailable lead in Premier A and becoming East Champions.  Harleston from EML and Holcombe from EWL will now go forward to the Slazenger National League play-offs after East.  We wish them the best of luck in that competition.

27-02-2008
Natonal League promotions and relegations (clarified) :  At the end of the season, the teams in 11th and 12th positions in EHL North and South Divisions will be relegated to their regional leagues.  The two teams finishing 10th will have a play-off, and the loser will go into the regional play-offs from which there will be only two promotions to the national league. Our East Champions will not be automatically promoted to the national league, but will also have to enter the regional play-offs.
If our Champions fail to be promoted or if an East club should drop down from the national league, there may be additional relegations from our Premier Divisions. In EML Premier A we have already allowed for one such addtional relegation by reducing the number of promotions from Prem B this year to two, but that is not the case in the EWL.  Looking at current national league tables suggests that the EWL is more likely to be affected than the EML, with a knock on effect on lower divisions.

27-02-2008
Website : Thinking about next season, it would be very helpful to hear reactions from users about the current layouts of results and tables pages compared to the old layouts.  Given a choice, which would you prefer - one division per page, or groups of divisions per page?  Is there a better layout than either of these?  Please email the webmaster with your comments, and help to inform planning for next season. 

18-02-2008
League Management Meeting : Minutes of the meeting on Feb 7th are now posted on the site.  Main topics included an agreement to expand the East Women's League in 2008/9 by a further Division 2 to reduce travel distances; the need to have more stringent rules for postponements for indoor; the Club Umpires website list showing that virtually every club complies with League rules on numbers of qualified umpires; alignment of regional league rules, and the need for stricter procedures for inter-league transfers;  and various playing and disciplinary matters arising during the season so far.