HockeyHKWS 23-24 Circular No. 10 - League, Tournaments, Player Registration and Match Card Reminders

Dear Convenors, 

As a follow up to the convenor's meeting on league structure and further clarification of recent questions raised, please find the following information.

League Structure

The Premier Division will be split into Premier A and Premier B after the 1st round. The Top 5 teams after the first round will play in Premier A, and the following 3 teams will be joined by the first two eligible teams in Division 1 to play Premier B. The remaining teams in Division 1 will play one more round of matches. The Winner of the Premier Division will be the first-placed team in Premier A after all rounds of games, whereas the winner of D1 will be the first-placed team in D1 after the first round of games. The winners of all other divisions will be the first-placed team after completion of two rounds of their respective leagues.

For the avoidance of doubt, only the first two eligible teams of D1 will join Premier B, all other divisions will remain the same and there will be 2 rounds of matches for D1 to 4. 

One-day Tournaments

This year, all divisions will have a one-day Hockey 5s Tournament in January. Details will be announced at a later date.

Knockout Tournaments

All Premier A and B teams will play in the Guv Dillon Cup. The Division 1 teams competing in Round 2 of the league will play in the Knockout Cup. Division 2 teams in the Knockout Plate. Division 3 teams in the Knockout Bowl. And Division 4 teams in the Knockout Saucer.

The draw of the tournament brackets will be done after round 1 has been completed. As per HockeyHKWS Competition Bye-law 15.7, eligible teams will be seeded based on first round ranking, and the top four seeded teams in each tournament will not meet in the preliminary round.

Player Registration Rules

Clubs are reminded that designation of Core players is not about reliability or availability, but about hockey ability. The HockeyHKWS have made efforts to review the Core player designation for reasonableness but a reminder that all player designations should be made in the spirit of the game and not perceived to gain player movement advantages.

Moreover, if a non-Core player is registered in Bauhinia, HKUHC or Masters, said players cannot play down in a lower-ranked team of their affiliated club team. This should not impact Core player selection, but both clubs and players should be careful not to infringe upon this rule.

As a gentle reminder, with the Premier league starting - No player movement (including non-Core players) is allowed between any team in the Premier Division and the lower-ranked teams in their respective Affiliated Club until both (or more) teams involved have completed their first two (2) matches of the HockeyHK League. (Bye-law 7.4) This bye-law does not apply to teams both outside the Premier Division.

Finally, to further clarify point IV in the Key Points of Bye-law Changes - the lower ranked team for whom a non-Core player from a higher ranked team plays for cannot have more than (12) registered players for that team in relevant match.

Match Card Submission Reminder

Please be reminded to submit your match cards on time, within 24 hours from the end of the match, or else clubs will be fined according to the Second Schedule of the HockeyHKWS Competition Bye-laws. Any issues concerning match card submission such as system error, umpires having yet to submit their match cards or other arising issues, must be explained in writing and sent to nortonleung@hockey.org.hk within the 24 hours timeframe.

Please also see the match card submission guidelines for your reference.

Kind Regards,

HockeyHKWS