(Image permission: Linda Crabtree)
BILLINGHAM, UK – Today we have had the announcements of the different competitions for the sparkly new National League, as well as the Moralee and Laidler Conferences, cup competitions and play-off format.
Excellent – now teams can start planning for what is going to be a Mickey Mouse season of epic proportions.
Let’s start with the new National League. The league competition will be split into northern and southern Conferences, that’s fine.
What makes no sense however, is that MK Lightning are in the northern section and Peterborough Phantoms are in the southern conference.
That one decision will mean (by using a quick Google Maps search) that Milton Keynes will travel an extra 240+ miles per round of fixtures in their conference than they would in the southern section.
Peterborough will also travel more per round of fixtures by being in the south, although admittedly not by a huge amount.
Whilst a small issue, it is a simple gaff that shows how chaotic and poorly run the NIHL divisions are, as we will see as we continue through this article.
Moving onto the ‘original’ NIHL section and we will start with the Moralee Conference which will have only seven teams.
This is despite strong rumours that Murrayfield Racers were keen to join the party, but were prevented from doing so by a couple of Midlands-based clubs.
The EIHA had stated publicly many weeks ago that there would be an eighth team joining Moralee D1, with the likes of Widnes Wild or Telford Tigers 2 strongly tipped to make the step up.
However, both clubs quickly made it clear that they would be remaining in Laidler D2, leaving the EIHA in a bit of a pickle.
It’s highly probable that Murrayfield would have been asked again if they fancied stepping in at the eleventh hour, but having been rejected once no-one could blame them for honouring their commitment to the SNL.
That means that teams in the Moralee D1 will have just 24 league games this season, down from 36 last year.
This will be followed by a post-season format that has taken away something that the fans love in the Play-Off Weekend.
Now the EIHA have stated that “there will still be a play-off weekend for the National League with the potential for a North/South Final being played on the Sunday”, but that will appease no-one.
This will come after a strange, group-based play-off structure that is caused by a lack of league fixtures, a lack of teams and a need to have a certain number of fixtures to enable teams to continue.
Then we come to the NIHL North Cup. Murrayfield and Dundee will take part in a five-team competition alongside Solway Sharks, Whitley Warriors and Billingham Stars.
Quite why other SNL clubs like Paisley Pirates, Kirkcaldy Kestrels and Aberdeen Lynx aren’t involved is anyone’s guess, particularly if the structure ends up being just eight games during the group stage.
All this means that, in a 30-week season, there could be just 16 home games! How on earth is the league supposed to grow stronger with this kind of short-sighted ‘me, myself and I’ attitude?
This announcement has already led to a number of people around the league, who have held season tickets for years, to say that they are seriously considering not renewing next term.
Way to go EIHA – keep on slowly destroying a sport that should be thriving off the success of the national team.
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