skip to main |
skip to sidebar
THE MALAYSIAN Hockey Confederation (MHC) competitions committee Saturday decided to accommodate six late entries, turning the Junior Hockey League (JHL) into a record 36-team tournament this season.
Last year there were 30 teams, and the same number registered when entries closed.
But Malacca Young Hurricanes, Anderson PHA, Seratas, MSSWPKL, SM Sains Johor and MISCF-UFL placed their entries anyway -- and the competitions committee chaired by George Koshy did not want to deprive anybody of playing hockey.
"On a positive note, the record entries shows that hockey is a popular sport in the country and many teams are hungry to play in junior tournaments.
"But we need to wait and see if quality balances with quantity," said Koshy.
Ten teams will play in Division One, where SSTMI Thunderbolts have been reigning supreme with four back-to back doubles.
In Division Two, the 26 teams will be divided into South, Central and North Zones
"Nine teams will play in the South Zone, eight in Central and nine in North. This was done to cut down on travelling as well as cost per team.
"The top-two teams in each Zone will then be divided into two groups and the top team in each group will play in the final," said George.
Division Two will see Felda and Malay College Kuala Kangsar play in the North and Central Zones respectively.
The JHL was incepted in 1995 when the late Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) secretary S. Satgunam proposed, planned and kick-started a league to develop youth.
"Even if each team only produces one good player, we will have 36 quality players to be trained for the country. Hopefully, teams in Division Two make and impact by playing good hockey and not just make up the numbers," said Koshy.
The tournament starts on Jan 15, and MHC will provide a grant of RM3,000 per-team.
DIVISION ONE: SSTMI Thunderbolts, UniKL Young Guns, Pahang Sports School, Old La Sallians of Klang (Olak-PKT), SSTMI Juniors, Bukit Jalil Sports School, Politeknik Malaysia, Petaling Jaya City Council, Nur Insafi and SMK Datuk Bentara Luar Johor.
DIVISION TWO: North Zone: Perlis Young Lions, Perlis Young Lions Jnrs, Matri Perlis, MSSD Larut Matang, MSS Kedah, MSSP Penang, Kedah HA-MSNK, Seratas, Malay College Kuala Kangsar.
Central Zone: Sek Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Felda Juniors, Anderson Thunderbolts, MSNPK-ILHC, Anderson Perak HA, BJSS Juniors, MSSWPKL, MISCF-UFL.
South Zone: TBSS-Tampin, Malacca High, Young Hurricanes, SMK Datuk Taha, Sabah Sports School, MSNT-Terengganu HT, Pahang Hockey Academy, Datuk Bentara Luar Jnrs, SMS Sains Johor.
MALAYSIA have been relying on a 'rojak' system to develop hockey for the last three decades, but things are about to change after the third week of January.
Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) development chairman S. Shamala (pic) will hold a workshop themed 'National Hockey Development Plan' which will finally encompass all the share holders to work towards one system with fixed goals.
Shamala said the objective of the workshop is: "We have many development programs in the country which are being run independently with some success, however there needs to be more coordination between all these programs to ensure that we maximize our respective efforts as opposed to having many overlapping programs."
She mentioned clubs like UniKL, Kelab Aman's Happy Hockey and development by Ipoh Lads which are now independent, and need to be coachd as well as strengthened to bring our better results.
"Right now clubs, schools, 1Mas, sports schools and Thunderbolts programmes are being run around the country and many of them overlap each other and there need to be a more concerted effort to stream-line them.
"There must be one system, one goal and no overlapping of development programmes," said Shamala.
And with the National Sports Institute (NSI), National Sports Council (NSC), Education Ministry and MHC speaking at the workshop, Shamala's committee will compile the data and feedback to formulate a National Hockey Development Plan.
"After each agency (stakeholder) present their complete structure, we will analyse them to derive a complete documentation on a development program. Upon the completion of these two steps, we will derive the National Hockey Development Plan."
The Development at All Tiers will be presented by Technical Director Terry Walsh.
The now defunct Malaysian Hockey Federation (MHF) had held a similar workshop and came out with many plans after the 1998 Commonwealth Games, but there was no implementation and monitoring done and it remained as paperwork collecting dust in somebody's cabinet.
But Shamala is re-igniting the fire, and hopefully there will be follow ups and the National Hockey Development Plan will see Malaysia in a better position a decade from today.
THIRTY teams registered for the Junior Hockey League, with Sabah making a come-back, when entries closed yesterday.
last season also saw 30 teams in two divisions, with SSTMI Thunderbolts nailing their fourth straight double and are expected to be the dominating team in Division One again.
The JHL is expected to start on Jan 15, and it will remain as an under-19 affair even though calls were made to turn it into an under-21 league.
"We received 30 entries and its a positive sign which shows there is still massive interest among schools and clubs for the 21st edition," said Malaysian Hockey Confederation (MHC) CEO K. Logan Raj.
But there were no foreign entries even though Asian and Asean countries were invited.
"No, we did not receive any foreign entries and only Sabah are from across the ocean," said Logan.
On the proposed girls JHL: "We are in the midst of preparing for that and most likely we will be calling for entries before the end of January," said Logan.
Women's hockey is set to receive a big boost next year as the Competitions Committee are looking to revive the RNA Cup and introduce two more for the ladies.
"We plan to hold the RNA Cup next year (same as the men's Razak Cup) and also invite states to organise two more women's tournaments on the same line as the men's Azlan Shah Cup and the boys' Sultan of Johor Cup," said competitions committee chairman George Koshy.
Koshy also plans to re-introduce the Tun Hussein Onn Cup, last held in 1986, with foreign clubs invited. The Trophy is believed to be in a cabinet in New Delhi.
On the recently named coaching set-up, MHC clarified that only the top coaches can't handle clubs from next year onwards, while the other coaches named by the MHC on Saturday can still coach in the JHL and MHL.
To avoid conflict of interest, the MHC have barred seven coaches who have been appointed for top level coaching to handle clubs while the rest can still be hired by JHL and MHL clubs.
The seven are Tai Beng Hai, Stephen van Huizen, Lim Chiow Chuan, Wallace Tan, K. Dharmaraj, K. Gobinathan, Lailin Abu Hassan.
