Clubs divided over IHL vote

Lisnagarvey Hockey Club will be casting a positive vote to the current IHL proposals.

The Hillsborough club’s men’s first XI, if the vote is passed, will almost certainly go straight into the top IHL division next season, when they would be playing a full league campaign against the top teams from across the island. The ladies’ team also hope to earn a place with a strong campaign in the current Ulster Premier League season.

“We’ve always been pretty clear that we’re for an extension of the IHL because it’s raising the level of hockey for our first XIs,” said chairman John Gray.

“The level above Irish hockey is the European competitions and when you look at how our teams have done, it’s a huge step up from playing six or eight All Ireland 
games a season.

“The Premier League has changed. Where you used to have very competitive games, now you don’t really. Ulster sides have won three All Ireland titles in nine seasons. That’s a very low percentage so we need to make the Ulster teams more competitive in Irish hockey and give us more chance to get into Europe.

“Ulster have very strong under age players so we need to take that into senior level.”

Garvey had originally voted against the proposals at the Ulster Hockey meeting back in May. Gray says their stance at that time was “due to circumstances at those meetings, the proposals at that stage and the pages we were handed outlining why it wouldn’t work.”

Although the club have done a u-turn, Gray admits that, should the proposals be passed, those issues outlined by Ulster Hockey will need to be worked through.

“It will by no means be the end of it,” he said. “It would just be the start of the headaches.

“We have a lot of schoolboys, schoolgirls and teachers involved in the club. That’s something that we need to look at and work out.

“The way the sport is going now, it’s different to what it was 20 years ago, particularly in terms of the commitment that senior players have to 
make to it.

“It’s something that has to be managed. We have to look at the fixture times and work with schools. We’ll have to work with Friends and Wallace to see what way we can solve any issues. Hopefully everybody will be on the same page but if the vote goes through, there will be a whole new raft of issues and problems that we will have to work through.”

South Antrim will be supporting Ulster Hockey’s stance in Sunday’s vote.

The Union asked all of their clubs not to attend the meeting, instead allowing Ulster Hockey representatives to issue a ‘no’ vote on their behalf while outlining the concerns discussed at an Ulster Hockey meeting in May.

And that’s exactly what South will be doing.

“We give our backing to Ulster Hockey,” said South Antrim chairman Andrew Brown. “They will bring back any outcomes. It will be interesting to see what the other Unions have to say about it.

“We’re still aspiring to get into the Premier League in the next season or two so we have a vested interest.

“We had a meeting of our own and discussed the proposals. We then sent our representatives to the vote in May and left them some freedom to listen to the arguments put forward.

“At that meeting, a lot of Premier League clubs appeared to be against the proposals and our guys voted with the majority.”

South Antrim’s reservations over the proposals are wide-ranging.

“We have a lot of schoolboys and schoolgirls playing for our teams and the proposals would have a big impact on them,” began Brown.

“Some of the bigger clubs have the financial clout and sponsorship to be able to fund the trips but we are relying on donations so we wouldn’t have the capabilities. Costs like travel, overnight stays and food

all add up.

“We have also been worried that if we get to the Premier League, it could be without a few of Ulster Hockey’s top teams.

“That would be a watered down league for the rest. We would be left behind.

“We’d be concerned that by satisfying the wants of a few, we could severely hit Ulster Hockey sponsorship for the rest in one fell swoop.”

The South Antrim chairman does understand the views of several high profile players, who have publicly backed the proposals.

“I sympathise with all the top players, who want to play against the other top players and clubs in Ireland,” he said. “There is an IHL structure currently in place at the end of the season which could have been a compromise to keep everyone happy but obviously it’s not.”