Cap on internationals in MHL

There will be a limit on national and international players in the forthcoming Nalaysian Hockey League.

The consensus was reached at a meeting between the NHC Competitions Committee and club representatives at a meeting last Sunday at the National Hockey Stadium.

With this new ruling, it means a team can play at any one time a maximum of eight internationals, of which only six foreign players can be registered.

This doesn't stop teams from registering more then eight internationals but at any given time only 8 can be on the field.

The definition of Malsysisn international will be based on the list of 25 national players to be named by the MHC after taking into account the performances at the recent Razak Cup.

" We had a discussion and all the clubs agreed to this composition," said George Koshy the Chairman of the Competitions Committee.

" We hope this will create a more level playing field as well as a wider representation of players."

George added that the Prenier Division of the MHL will most probably comprise of eight or nine teams.

Those who have confirmed participation thus far are Tensga Nasional, Sapura, Maybank, UniKL, , KLHC, Terengganu and UiTM.

Two other teams that might join in the fray are Thunderbolts and Nur Insafi.

" We are looking at a start date of August 5 or a week later depending on the number of teams," added George.

"This is due to the fact that the MHL must end by September  25 as the national team will be playing in the Australian  League."

The MHC is expected to call for entries by the end of the week with the closing date set for July 1.

" It will be played on a home and away format and teams will be responsible towards finding the home pitch" said George.

It is learnt that Sapura may opt for Seremban as their home turf while UniKL heads towards Kuantan and KLHC may consider Ipoh as an option.

" As of now no discussion of any increase in prize money has been held and this will be deliberated at the next Competitions Committee meeting before being put forward to the Executive Board.," added George.