January Start For MHL, March For JHL

The Malaysian Hockey League will commence on the first week of January 2017 and end by February.

And the women's league will commence after the completion of the World League Round 2 in Kuala Lumpur and end in March.

In addition the MHL Knock Out Tournament will be played before the league matches get underway, meaning more likely to be on a carnival basis.

And another major change is the Malaysian Junior Hockey League will  commence after the National Under 16 in March and end before the beginning of the fasting month in May.

These were the decisions taken at the team managers meeting of teams in the three competitions held in Kuala Lumpur this morning.

"We will be calling for entries early November with the closing date towards the end of the month," said MHC Competitions Committee Chairman George Koshy.

" The number of foreign players will be the same for all three competitions, which is a maximum of six players.

" The significant change is that the knock out tournament will be played before the league gets underway.

"As for the junior league we have moved in forward and it will not clash with school examinations"

Koshy said that so far there has not been any request for national players to be released twice a week to train in preparation for the World League in Trinidad & Tobago.

National coach Stephen van Huizen when contacted  in Kuantan said that he would request the players be assembled twice a week during the MHL week.

"There has been no request yet but I believe it should not be a problem," said Koshy.

A total of 5 teams played in the women's league, 6 in premier league and 8 in division one this season.

No other changes have been made in terms of prize money or incentives.

As in this season all teams will need to identify their home ground.