Hockey clubs reject SHU plan

SCOTLAND's national league clubs have rejected the reconstruction suggestions proposed by a sub-group of the Scottish Hockey Union (SHU) management committee aired at a consultative meeting of clubs.

The SHU blueprint would have reduced the first division from ten to eight clubs, squeezed the league programme into a 13-week period from September to November, leaving the clubs to play in a non-competitive environment, without their international players, after the winter shutdown.

These proposals, designed to cover the period 2011-2015, were to allow the international squads to prepare for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

The 15 or so clubs who attended the meeting were almost unanimous in their rejection of a smaller first division, and also of the league split presently operating.

Instead, the message was to increase the first division to 12 clubs, playing each other twice in an unbroken competition from September through to April. The international players would be available for their clubs throughout all 22 games, with the top two teams qualifying for Europe.

A club spokesman said: "The clubs were calling for suggestions that they believed would lead to better competition domestically, better results in Europe, and, as a knock-on, better international results." The SHU hierarchy will now reconsider its position.