Stakes are raised in the English National League

LONDON, UK – The season has not even officially ended in the English National League, yet the recruitment drive for 2011/12 has already begun. The most notable figure joining the league is new Chelmsford Player-Coach Gary Clarke as the Essex club raise the bar another notch in the South.
 
The addition of Clarke could be an anomaly but the implications of such a player dropping from the EPL could herald an increasing chasm between the haves and have not’s of the league. Make no mistake, the former MK Lightning sniper signifies a significant investment by the Chieftains and is a guaranteed goal getter who will be up at the top of the stats pile come the end of the season.

 
So what does this mean for the rest of the league? Well for the top four it means they have to up the ante, as Chelmsford won the play-offs this year and narrowly lost out on the league finishing as runners-up therefore they are already a strong side.
 
Whilst he may be a rookie coach, Clarke has plenty of hockey experience to call upon due to his time with Milton Keynes, Basingstoke, Telford and Guildford all on his CV. He managed a 60+ point season in the English Premier League in 2010/11 so he will be aiming for a 100+ point campaign in the lesser ENL.
 
Chelmsford are not the only club making early noises in the transfer market. Wightlink have announced four new signings with Player-Coach Jeremy Cornish the most significant returnee. Nathan Taylor, Steve Gosset and Richard Facey are all confirmed as returning to the island as Cornish continues his philosophy of signing up his roster as early in the summer as possible.
 
Confirmed departures include Invicta’s Liam Chong who has left for Basingstoke Bison and Cardiff’s Tim Burrows who has stepped up to the Elite League Devils on a full time basis for 2011/12. These departures will hit both clubs, but they will be confident of bringing in replacements.
 
The unlikely but highly effective recruitment tool of Facebook is again likely to play a significant part in the recruitment of players across the league as coaches throw away the traditional black book of phone numbers in favour of an exploratory ‘personal message’.
 
While the serious business will be conducted away from the glare of friends and the general public, the players will continue to speculate online about the sexual activities of Pippa Middleton and muse over NHL clips on their Facebook walls. What did hockey players do before the internet came along? Play Blades of Steel on the Nintendo and watch Don Cherry videos no doubt.
 
The rumour mill in the ENL South is ramping up with each passing day. Reports of Oxford Stars Player-Coach Ken Forshee sat in deep conversation with former Swindon defenseman Lee Brathwaite, whilst eating Calippo ice lollies on a punt through the city are unconfirmed, and indeed factually incorrect, however the Stars are a classic example of a club who are going to have to pull something out of the bag in terms of player recruitment if they want to break into the top four this coming season. This is going to be especially difficult given the loss of star defenseman Andrew Shurmer to Bristol.
 
Streatham and Bristol are the other two senior sides in the league who are in a similar position to the Stars. They (along with the Stars) find themselves with a reduced talent pool from which to recruit from whilst lacking a surplus of home grown players of a high enough standard to call upon, that would allow them to challenge the bigger clubs over a 40 game campaign.
 
The obvious way to combat this is to bring in players from other areas with the lure of the lira as a carrot. Sources would suggest that none of the trio of clubs have significant funds to do this, and indeed with Slough joining the party this season funded by Zoran Kozic, quality players in the South East catchment zone in particular, will be highly sought after.
 
So the circle of British hockey rotates a full 360 degrees as the EPL small fish are squeezed down the ladder to become ENL big fish, whilst the existing and long standing ENL sides either adjust or suffer.
 
Even at this early stage the stakes have already been heightened but in coaches Barry Spours (Streatham), Richie Hargreaves (Bristol) and Ken Forshee (Oxford), all three senior sides have determined, almost stubborn figures who will rise to the challenge and enjoy it at the same time.
 
The second string sides of Cardiff, Bracknell and Milton Keynes will continue to prove themselves as play-off hopefuls, and ever present banana skins for the big boys. For these sides, the long term goal is slightly different, with less supporter expectation and therefore less pressure to perform aside from a mantra of development.
 
Pro Hockey News will continue its coverage of the ENL over the summer months with interviews, general interest articles and occasional report, not least the ENL Play-Off Final that will take place between Chelmsford Chieftains and either Whitley Warriors or Coventry ENL Blaze.
 
Contact the author david.carr@prohockeynews.com