The top tier of men’s club hockey in Munster could have a more minimalist look about it next season if a radical proposal to alter the Division One structure is passed.
The outgoing fixtures committee of the Munster Branch of the Irish Hockey Association (MBIHA) believe Division One should be reduced to just four teams — Cork Church of Ireland, Cork Harlequins, UCC and Bandon — next season.
The committee has submitted a motion along such lines for consideration at the province’s AGM on May 3, believing such a move would be “in the interest of the development of the sport in Munster”.
“We propose that these teams play each other four times, meaning a total of 12 league fixtures,” the proposal reads. “We believe that this will raise the standard of competition in the province, and better prepare our teams for national cups and Irish Hockey League.
“To cope with the gap in standards in the new Division Two, we propose a league competition in two parts, in which the league would split after the first round of games. This would ensure a fairer matching of teams in the second half of the season, in each half of the split.”
The composition of the men’s league is a constant bone of contention in Munster hockey, due to the ongoing domination by the ‘big two’ of Cork Church of Ireland and Cork Harlequins and the presence of their second-string teams in Division One.
A proposal to remove the latter sides from Division One was defeated by a single vote at the 2009 AGM, though there was widespread agreement that something must be done to foster increased competition in the province.
Since then, however, little has changed at the top; C of I and Quins continue to dominate and neither has dropped league points to any side except each other in the past two seasons.
While Bandon and UCC are arguably now closer to a breakthrough in this regard than they have been in previous years, many would argue the overall standard has decreased — in part due to top players leaving the province for one reason or another — while Catholic Institute continue to struggle in the top tier, losing 10 or their 12 games this term.
The potential for change is complicated by suggestions that C of I and Quins may be invited to compete in the Leinster league from next season.
While no official approach has been made, nor any motion tabled along such lines for the Leinster AGM, club representatives have been made aware of such a possibility in recent days via informal discussions.
Such a move is unlikely to get universal support from the smaller clubs in either province but would likely find favour among C of I and Quins’ players and management, who often take issue with the lack of competition domestically, which they believe leaves them under-cooked for national competitions.
something needs to be done.mens hockey in munster is on the way down.think this could possibly work
Everyone involved in Irish hockey is worried about the state of the game in all provinces but especially Munster. I don’t have any magic solution to offer but in my opinion if this structure change goes ahead in two years it will only be the big two playing in leinster and in another two years they’ll be dead as well. The only policy that comes to mind is an emphasis on schools hockey. Once schools are playing clubs are fine
Sport is a numbers game the more who play it, the better the standard of the sport. Munster needs 12 Phil Oakleys working in schools in Munster, this is the only way, the sport needs to spend all its money on recruiting players for the future. That means over the next 6-10 years all money is on development and development only otherwise it is a dead sport.
As much as I feel that Munster Mens Hockey is in a decline, I think that there must be a way forward.
I dont think spinning off the so called Big 4 into a group where they play each other every other day is the way forward. Is this perhaps a reaction to CI and Quins potentially moving to Leinster? I do think having a top 4 competition is a good way forward but schedule it in the second half of the season after all Div 1 teams play each other once (drawn out for home or away advantage.Give the “weaker” teams something to play for. Think Cup/Trophy/Challenge
Take a winter break – Start the season in Mid August. Use the winter break to develop an embryonic indoor league which will can be province wide and will immesurably help develop skills in the game. Use the winter break for IHL early rounds perhaps
Cork is a lucky place to have feeder schools to develop from. Limerick only has one in Villiers but both Limerick clubs have consistently looked to develop a fantastic underage setup where a lot of the players you see playing have come through from. Wouldnt it be great if collectively we recognised the need to have a premier comp for these players to aspire to? Perhaps some of the top players in Cork could come up for a session to Limerick and give something to groups of underage players to ensure they stay with the sport.
Galway is in an worse state, no playing school for boys and a dedicated club that somehow pulls out teams week in week out but because of their geographic location have to play some games in Limerick. Im sure the plausible reason for this is to cut down on travel but perhaps we need to look at bringing high quality games to Galway to DEVELOP interest.
Our top teams in munster deserve quality opposition. Why not motion the IHA to expand the IHL to 18 teams bring 2 extra in from the 3 playing provinces and play it over a longer period of time??
These are my own unsolicited opinions.Im sure the ANONs of the world will pick more holes in it than in a block of Emmental 🙂
Finally, as a proud Limerickman, proud munsterman and lover of the game that we all participate in – a strong all-munster div 1 needs to survive to ensure we are inclusive. Its up to the non-cork teams to stay in the league or qualify for it.
Wrt top 4 next season – makes sense as Institute I’s have struggled last couple of years. It’s important that they can get back to enjoying their hockey – can’t be easy to get teams out with the results over the last couple of years. Very important that they use next season in Div 2 to get them back on track.. get a bit of confidence going & treat it as one step back, 2 steps forward.. happened them before & kick-started a revival after coming back up..
Wrt schools, a new team has started in the Comp – mostly first years – they played Villiers recently & hopefully this can kick-start a 2nd front to help develop players in their early teens for Institute.. lot of boys coming through both Limerick clubs – hopefully they will get the majority of them through to senior ranks..
Wrt CofI & Quins going to Leinster – few issues arise – primarily costs of travelling to Dublin every 2nd wk in addition to IHL/ISC committments..
Also how will they qualify for IHL? Will they expect to be automatically in IHL or do they qualify through Leinster leagues? How will other Munster clubs qualify?
As a Div 2 player, I have no interest in being hammered by CI B and Quins B. The Division 2 league is very competitive as it is and CI C beat most sides well, never to mind adding in their seconds.
I reckon it could cause a lot of people to stop playing.
I agree though that something has to be done. I went to the men’s meeting in January and the message was that the clubs were not taking advantage of the Tricks and Sticks primary school programme the IHA ran and so they were going to stop putting money into it as it hadn’t been successful. The downfall in the men’s game is the clubs’ own fault perhaps for not being proactive in getting players in and then keeping them?
Our game is desperate trouble from all angles. look through the munster senior league. Bar Ci and Ucc’s all teams seem to be ageing more and more. this wouldnt be an issue if the lower leagues were different, but they tell a similar story, with limerick the only exception. Everybody, (not just committee members or club captains/presidents) need to wake up and get involved. volunteer/coach whatever each person can, across the board consistnetly, or you could be left with the only hockey being played is school stuff. furthermore, this should of happened when belvedere dropped out. That should of been the spark to get people to wake up. But things have been left to fall further and further. The reason Ulster and Leinster continue to prosper and we fail, is numbers, and i echo the comments from above about phil oakley. having seen schoolboy and underage hockey in the recent past, its obvious that we have the ability to produce excellent talent. its actually the lack of depth that hinders underage success. i also feel indoor hockey is vital to build undervalued skills in our game. but it is less of a priority right now. people should stop worrying about their own clubs or their own teams and start worrying about whether or not the sport will survive.
The CI team winners of the division 4 league and cup were all u-16 apart from one. So there is a glimmer of hope.
It is all about getting young players involved in the sport. Changing the league structure like this won’t solve the real problems. Our leagues are full of aging players.