Although final details are still to be thrashed out, next season should see a much more open race for top slot, with the Island’s top player-bases, Jersey Hockey Club and Old Victorians HC, having reached a preliminary agreement to enter teams of a more uniform standard.James Wetherall, the captain of this season’s Division I champions, JHC Gobis, said: ‘The league title race has again been dominated by Gobis and OV Convicts.
The plan for the 2004/05 season is for the Hockey Club to put three teams into the league, as they did this year, and the OVs two, but we will reshuffle the teams so they are of equal strength.
It will change the league by opening it up more.’But he said that while the league would change, the Senior Cup competition will not.’The Senior Cup will continue to be contested by club first teams, although they will be played on a round robin basis instead of the current knockout system and the winners will play in the ‘Upton’ at the end of the season.’The league changes should encourage better play across the board.
It will benefit the Island side too, because while 11-0 easy stroll wins are all very well, they are not the way to improve our game.
The reshuffle should mean that all players benefit from a greater variety and standard of opposition within men’s hockey locally.’The details are still under discussion and the changes will be voted on at the forthcoming agm, but if they are agreed then next season’s league title race could prove much more interesting for teams and spectators.
